Morgan Bartley, a nineteen-year-old college student who lives in Ventura, California, has been chronicling her weight loss journey on Instagram, using the account @morganlosing.
The teen has posted many bare-but-innocuous photos throughout her weight loss journey, which has been even more challenging than you’d guess at first glance: Morgan can’t remember a time when she didn’t struggle with her weight.
When she was fifteen, she was diagnosed with ovarian torsion, a painful condition that caused the loss of one of Bartley’s ovaries, and led doctors to believe that she’d never be able to have children biologically.
Even though she was only fifteen, she became depressed and developed a binge eating disorder, which led to her gaining seventypounds.
“I felt as if my body had failed me, and that I had no control of what was happening with my life,” she said. “Binging was the one thing I could control, it was my escape.”
But at seventeen, Bartley decided she wanted to “take back control of [her] body and save [her] own life.” She had weight loss surgery, changed her diet, began working out and also seeing a therapist,and she’s since lost 115 pounds.
That brings us to today and this picture lauding her success that was taken down by Instagram.
Why?
Instagram deleted thebikini-clad photo documenting her transformation without notifying Morgan or even giving her any explanation.The original post doesn’t appear to violate Instagram’s community guidelines she’s not naked! and it left her feeling hurt and confused.
“Having my vulnerability in that initial post overlooked and rejected was embarrassing and hurtful,” she said. “I questioned my own transformation, my own body.”
Unfortunately, she might never know why Instagram removed her post and who reported it, if that was the trigger.
“I share my journey online in hopes of inspiring others to take control of their own lives, so I was devastated and surprised when Instagram deleted this post from my account in the first place,”she said.
But she’s not about to let that keep her down.
“I’ve worked relentlessly to accomplish what I have, and I refuse to let anyone take that from me.”
Shehopes to drop another thirtypounds, and is doing her best to avoid obsessing over the numbers on the scale.
Instead, her new goal is to work on her mental health and nourish her body with nutritious foods, particularly now that doctors think improvements in her health could be reviving her fertility.
And with all the online support that she has, it’s clear that she has everyone rooting for her.
Take that, Instagram.
Via: Cosmopolitan
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