An Atlanta woman who was so obsessed with calorie counting and fitness tracking that it hospitalized her is now speaking out to warn others of their downsides.
Dani Fernandez, now 25, had been battling an eating disorder for years since she was a young teen.
It had reached a point where she would feel “guilty” for not constantly moving and boosting metrics on her fitness tracker, South West News Service reported.
“My identity was in how much I was working out … I felt I had to deserve food by burning as many calories as I could,” said Fernandez, who first developed the disorder after being told she lost too much weight to play soccer at age 15.
She would force herself to walk 45 minutes a day along with other workouts despite being in pain .
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“My feet hurt so bad because I was walking so much,” she said.
Fernandez would even avoid going away with family so she wouldn’t break the aggressive “calculated” routine.