VICKY Pattison wishes she could go back in time to give herself a hug after pushing herself too hard to be “perfect”.
The former Geordie Shore shared shocking before and after workout photos of herself, which showed how she exercised “obsessively”.
Vicky, 32, said her heart broke for the person she used to be and posted the pics on Instagram.
She wrote: “My heart breaks when I look at this. I wish I could give the girl on the left a hug. I wish I could tell her that things get better.
“That her self worth is not defined by a number on a scale. That being thin doesn’t mean you’re healthy. And having a thigh gap wont make you happy.”
Vicky added that she wanted women to know they are not “meant to be perfect” and that “we’re all meant to be perfectly imperfect.”
She wrote: “Our beauty lies in our uniqueness! We’re not all meant to look the same or even want to look the same- so stop striving to look like everyone you see in the magazines or Instagram & start embracing who YOU are!”
“Women are meant to be curvy, or maybe slim, we’re meant to have big boobs or little ones! We’re meant to have lumps, bumps & cellulite too!
“We’re meant to laugh, to love, to enjoy a g&t or nail a cheeseburger every so often, we are meant to travel, fall in love, have families & make friends.”
The reality said women were supposed “to do exactly what sets our soul on fire.”
She wrote: “We are meant to be whoever we want to be & do whatever makes us happy.
“We are not put on this earth to exercise obsessively, cry over a number on a scale, deprive ourselves & count how many blueberries we put on our porridge.
“Because quite frankly that is some boring & basic bulls***.”
Vicky said she no longer punished herself for enjoying life and is embracing her shape.
“I finally have balance in my life & a healthy relationship with exercise & food,” she wrote.
“Instead I train because I love it. Because it makes me feel empowered, strong & capable & because it is good for my mental health.
“I eat right 80% of the time because I function better when I do. And I ate cheese and haribos the other 20% of the time because BITCH THEY TASTE GOOD.
“I’m much happier being the girl on the right, & it’s written all over my face. I Hope this brings some comfort to any ladies out there who may be struggling. Please be kind to yourselves & never forget, you’re beautiful exactly as you are!”
Vicky recently opened up to The Sun Online embracing her curves and surviving her year from hell.
The Geordie is recovering at last from a year of hell when she lost her best friend and her beloved grandma, dumped her cheating fiance and secretly battled depression, losing weight along the way at a worrying rate.
She is now back to what she calls a “healthy size 12 to 14”.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, she said: “I love Kate but the whole ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’ is just ridiculous.
“She’s clearly never had a profiterole tower from Marks & Spencer or a Pepperoni Passion from Domino’s!
“The best feeling is being healthy and for some reason, I mistook what ‘health’ was.
“I thought it was a number on the scales or fitting into a size eight.
“But being healthy is waking up before your alarm clock goes off, smiling more, dancing in the street and not being bothered anybody is watching.”
The 2015 I’m A Celeb winner hit rock-bottom in 2018.
Her best pal Paul Burns, dubbed “Mr Newcastle,” died in June, she lost her grandma Mavis and ended her engagement to businessman John Noble after he was pictured getting close to other women in Dubai.
Vicky credits therapists Nik and Eva Speakman with her recovery.
She also hired a life coach who helped her prioritise and she is now putting her mental health “above anything else”. She has a new man in property developer Ercan Ramadan, 26, and a new food and chat telly show on TLC, called Vicky Pattison Spills The Beans.
For that, she hosts dinner parties with celebrity pals to show off the culinary skills she picked up on last year’s Celebrity MasterChef.
