16/02/2026
My LIPOEDEMA story…
(I want to keep putting this message out there because I’m watching a vast sea of women beginning to realise this is their story too, and if we want to get help then we have to keep talking!)
I knew there was something not right about my legs from the age of 5, but it was only as a teen that they really started to bother me.
It was the dimpling, the bruising, the blotchy skin, and the heaviness and swelling.
They were too soft.
Not shapely enough.
I was told they were like tree trunks and that my knees rubbed together when I walked 🙈
I was a normal healthy weight but I didn’t see legs like mine on anyone else.
So I hid them constantly and chose outfits carefully. I can even recall wearing jeans to the beach in Ibiza!!
I carried a constant fear of judgement and rejection which slowly ate away at my self esteem and confidence.
I didn’t talk about it (we weren’t a family that ‘did’ feelings) but I read my mums dieting books and pored over all the latest magazines, & their “lose 10lbs in 2 weeks” promises.
I started to learn about calories and how to burn them.
I told myself “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”. (Yeah, thanks for that Kate Moss.)
I lost some pounds but my legs didn’t change and so I believed that I was just not trying hard enough.
So I tried harder.
In fact I became an expert in weight loss!
I over-exercised compulsively.
And I restricted, eventually to the point of losing myself and becoming anorexic.
And none of it worked - because what I had wasn’t just weight. It was Lipoedema, a chronic condition that returned as soon as my weight improved.
And although I made friends with my body over the years, through my psychotherapy and yoga work, it still floored me when I was diagnosed with lipoedema at the age of 55!
It was amazing to have an explanation but it made me so sad 😢
All that shame, confusion, and pivotal years of my life lost to self-blame…
I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
That’s why I’m speaking up. Because maybe someone out there will read this and realise:
🩷 You’re not lazy.
🩷 Your pain is real.
🩷 You deserve support—not shame.