'Anorexia blogs nearly killed me': Even when Grainne, 17, was starving to death, 'thinspiration' sites encouraged her to lose more weight

• Grainne Binns, from Dublin, became addicted to 'pro-ana' blogs that told her she was fat and eventually her weight plummeted to below 6st
• It was only when she collapsed from exhaustion that she realised how ill she was and how her behaviour was tearing her family apart
• She spent 10 weeks in hospital and has made a slow but steady recovery
• Recently she went on holiday with friends and enjoyed milkshakes and cake - something she didn't think she would do 'in a million years'
  

By Daily Mail Reporter

Updated: 13:47 EDT, 21 August 2013

A teenage girl almost died after her weight plummeted to less than six stone as a result of an obsession with anorexia blogs.

Grainne Binns, now 17, became addicted to posting pictures of her skeletal frame on 'thinspiration' sites and constantly checked the comments that her virtual ‘friends’ left.

Despite eventually weighing less than six stone, internet posters would continually tell her that she was fat and needed to lose more weight.

It was only when the she realised that her illness was tearing her family apart that she admitted that she needed help.

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Grainne Binns became obsessed with 'pro-ano' sites that told her she was fat. She would obsessively check the comments left by virtual 'friends' who told her she needed to lose more weight

Now, the teenager, from Dublin, Ireland, is on the road to recovery and is starting to enjoy normal life again.

Grainne said: 'I used to love trawling the pro-ana websites for tips and looking at pictures of the girls with their bones jutting out.

'I thought they were beautiful, and I started up my own blog, where I posted pictures of me, for other people to judge.

'They’d say I was too fat and I just wanted to please them by losing more weight.

'It was only when I collapsed from exhaustion and could see what I was doing to my family that I realised I needed to get better.

'I’m now on the road to recovery and I’m horrified when I see pictures of what I used to aspire to.'

Grainne first began to obsess about her weight when, aged 15, she bought a new dress and struggled to fit into it.

Despite already being a size six, Grainne crash dieted to lose five pounds to be fit into it.

Before developing the condition, Grainne (pictured before her weight loss) was an outgoing, happy young woman who was interested in fashion

Grainne is pictured before she developed anorexia, aged 15. She was a healthy weight but already very slim and did not need to lose weight. It wasn't until she found a dress she could not fit into that she started to diet and the disorder quickly took over her life

She said: 'I was devastated when I couldn’t fit into this beautiful dress. It was an extra small, but I felt fat when I couldn’t fit in it.

'I started dieting, and I was amazed how easy it seemed to be to lose weight. Once I’d fit into the dress, I just carried on dieting. 

'I kept a fashion blog on Tumblr, and I’d often see weight loss blogs or pro-ana sites pop up, and I’d always thought they looked awful.

'But when I started Googling weight loss tips, I started looking at them in a different way.

Within 12 months of developing anorexia, Grainne had lost almost a third of her bodyweight and had plummeted to less than six stone

'The weight was falling off me, but I felt fat compared to the girls I saw on these sites. I wanted to look just like them.

'There was another girl in my year at school who suffered with anorexia, and I’d hear people saying how skinny she was, and I wanted them to be saying that about me.'

Before developing the eating disorder, Grainne weighted a healthy 8st 8lb.

But within 12 months, she had lost almost a third of her bodyweight and had plummeted to less than six stone - with a dangerously low BMI of 14.

And despite spending 10 weeks in hospital and undergoing intensive treatment, she remained determined to lose more and more weight.

Grainne said: 'I had been ill for about a year when my mum and aunt took me back to the doctors.

'The doctor looked at me and said: “Grainne, you’re going to die if you carry on like this."

'It was only when I saw the look on my mum’s face that I knew I couldn’t keep doing this to her.

'The GP wanted to send me back to hospital but I begged her to give me a week to turn things around. Amazingly she agreed, and I went home determined to get better.

Grainne (pictured while in recovery) said: 'I was obsessed with what my online family thought of me and pleasing them - until I realised what I was doing to my real family. I never want to go back to that place again'

'It was a long, difficult road, but with the support of my family, I knew I could get better. I deleted my secret blog and started another one about healthy living - eating well and exercise.

'Slowly, I started to be able to join my friends and live a normal life. When they went out for a Nandos, I finally felt I could join them, and this summer, I’ve been on my first girls’ holiday.

'I even had milkshakes and ice creams - which I never thought I’d be able to do in a million years.

'I’m finally back to the weight I was before I was ill, and I’m well on the road to recovery.

'I want other people who are suffering to know that it is possible to turn your life around.

'I was obsessed with what my online "family" thought of me and pleasing them - until I realised what I was doing to my real family.

'I never want to go back to that place again.'

Grainne’s mother, Ann, added: 'Grainne felt the key to happiness was skinny but her skinniest was her most unhappy time of her life.

'It is heart-breaking as a parent watching your beautiful daughter self destruct.

'However, I made sure I understood as much as I could about the illness so I could learn how to help Grainne. This is how we coped.

'For her younger siblings, it was extremely distressing watching their full of life, vivacious fashion-mad sister turn into a vacant shell, who clung to me like a child, who cried constantly and who talked about wanting to die.

But Grainne is now on the road to recovery and is recently went on holiday with school friends (pictured while away). She said: 'I even had milkshakes and ice creams - which I never thought I'd be able to do in a million years'

Grainne's mother Anne said: 'Grainne (pictured during her recovery) is now living life to the full, looking forward to working hard and getting the grades to get her place alongside all her friends in university next year. We have our beautiful, very loud and vivacious daughter back'

'It was so frightening for them and what is so sad is that Grainne really loves them and would never want to hurt them but had no concept of the devastation she was putting them through.

'Thank god she is doing great. But we still take one day at a time because its like any addiction, its too easy to fall back into. Any trigger can set her back.

'She is living life to the full, looking forward to working hard and getting the grades to get her place alongside all her friends in university next year.

'We have our beautiful, very loud and vivacious daughter back.'

• If you think you or someone you now might suffer with anorexia or another eating disorder, visit anorexiabulimiacare.org.uk for more information