You can’t tell, Dyleen Maas from Son seems like an ordinary young woman. But she has had anorexia for years and posts photos and stories about it on her Instagram account. In this way she helps others and herself. She talks openly about it in the Omroep Brabant talk show KRAAK.
She has come a long way since anorexia took hold of her five and a half years ago. It started with uncertainty, a lot of pressure at school, something had to change. She was overweight and was losing weight. That went fast, faster and faster. Until she hit rock bottom while on holiday in Italy. “I told my friend, I can’t make it anymore.” Dyleen thought she was going to die on the spot. They drove home in one go. She was admitted there immediately.
After a lot of therapy and especially learning to eat again, she put energy back into her body and was able to climb out of the valley. She now helps others on Instagram by talking openly about her eating disorder. “I still have anorexia,” says Dyleen. “I’m not there yet but I’m at a healthy weight and I’m eating again.”
“I have come a long way and I am increasingly realizing that.”
She lost a total of 60 kilos and is now doing much better, but the eating disorder remains part of her. “It doesn’t mean that those voices are no longer there, but I no longer act on them. If I were to listen to that, I would fall back again and I don’t want that anymore. I have come a long way and I am increasingly realizing that. ”
“I chose to make it public because people don’t understand what it is. I want to break the taboo around eating disorders. People say, you just have to eat, but that’s not it. It’s a disease.”
“I find myself helping others, we support each other.”
She gets a lot of comments on her Instagram account. “I have met a lot of girls and have three best friends. I am so grateful for that. My account helps to remove ignorance among people by providing information about eating disorders. I notice that I help others, we support each other. I talk about the positive things about recovery.
On Instagram, Dyleen posts childhood photos and videos in which she addresses her younger self, almost apologetically. “You see a happy me. I wanted that back. No worries about life, but more laughter and enjoyment. I want to make little Dyleen proud again.”