The Life Of Bryony - Laura Adlington: Body Confidence, Bake Off Fame, and Overcoming Diet Culture

Episode Date: November 25, 2024

Welcome to The Life of Bryony, where we explore life’s messier moments. GUEST: LAURA ADLINGTON In this empowering episode, Bryony Gordon sits down with Great British Bake Off alum and advocate Laura Adlington to discuss body image, self-acceptance, and living life unapologetically. Laura shares her journey from struggling with diet culture and disordered eating to becoming a vocal champion for body neutrality and inclusivity. She talks openly about the challenges of existing in a society that prioritises appearance over health, the impact of social media, and how fashion can be a tool for self-expression. From rejecting extreme weight-loss surgery to finding joy in life’s everyday moments, Laura’s story is one of resilience, growth, and refusing to live a half-life. Laura’s message is clear: everyone deserves respect and representation, no matter their size. This episode is a celebration of individuality, courage, and the importance of embracing yourself fully. Follow Laura on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laura.adlington Get in Touch 🗣️ If you want to get in touch, I’m only a text or a voice note away! Send your message to 07796657512, starting with LOB. 💬 WhatsApp Shortcut - https://wa.me/447796657512 📧 Or email me at [e-mail] Don’t forget to share this podcast with someone who might benefit from it! Bryony xx For More Information and Support: This episode touches on topics such as disordered eating and body image. If you’re struggling, here are some resources for support: Beat Eating Disorders: Call 0808 801 0677 or visit beateatingdisorders.org.uk. Mind: Call 0300 123 3393 or visit mind.org.uk. Samaritans: Call 116 123 or visit samaritans.org for free, 24-hour support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Life of Briny, where we embrace life's messier moments, no matter how big or small. Today, I'm joined by Laura Adlington. You might know her as a finalist from the Great British Bake Off, but Laura's story goes far beyond the baking tent. She's become a powerful voice for body acceptance and self-love, challenging toxic beauty standards and sharing her journey with refreshing honesty. So many things, opportunities I missed out on and I think why it's so important to me what I do now is just to say to people like don't live a small life just because you're bigger. Dear listener, are you ready to take up the space that's

rightfully yours and fucking shine just as you are? My chat with Laura coming up after this. You're joining me from my house. If you hear eggs being whisked in the background, that is because my husband is making an omelette for himself not for me. Are you going to make me an omelette Harry? A bit late now. Do I want one? Yeah I'd quite like one actually. Anyway so two weeks today when this goes out I will hopefully have sent the first draft of my next book. And I think it is book number nine. I should know this. I should know this because it's like they're like children books. But it is my first novel by which I mean it's my first fiction. So all my other books have

been nonfiction apart from one. So it's not really my first novel. I wrote a novel for teenage girls, a YA book a while ago, but it's my first novel for adults, by which I mean it is entirely made up. It's fiction. But it's so much harder than writing nonfiction. And I have to say, I'm about halfway through, just over halfway through with two weeks to go, which, and just so that you know, it has taken me since March to write the first half. So I'm not confident that I'm going to be able to write the second half in two weeks. That feels like a big ask. However, I am very much the kind of person who responds well to a deadline. I need the massive stress of something looming over me to motivate me to get on with

it. And also, writing for me, I always say that 90% of the writing happens before I ever write a word. So there's a lot of sitting around what some might call procrastinating, but what I would call brainstorming, structuring, creating the sort of bones of this book. But oh my God, what procrastination also does is it makes me feel really guilty. It basically poisons all the rest of my free time. the evening when I could be relaxing and going, God, I'm really proud of myself doing eight hours of writing today. I'm going, God, I'm really, really disappointed in myself. Do you procrastinate when you've got a massive deadline? I call it procrastination, but really it's a form of self-sabotage, I think. It's

a way of my brain telling me I can't do this. I'm shit at this, I'm rubbish at this and whatever I produce is going to be crap. Why are you bothering? Tell your editor that they've made a terrible mistake, give them the money back and just get on with your life like the talentless sack of shit you are. That's what my brain tells me. That's not what I'm telling you, dear listener, just so you know. I'm telling you this because I hope that by sharing some of the crueller words that my brain tells me that you might feel better about some of the things that your brain tells you, I would need to kind of call out that really negative voice in my own head. Because sometimes I say things to myself that I would never dream of saying to anybody else. And I'm definitely in that sort of fear, self-sabotage, I can't

do this phase. So after I've recorded this intro, I'm going to get up and I'm going to do it. I'm going to do five or six hours of writing and I will report that next week as to how I've gone. Hopefully I will have done 20,000 words. I can do this. I'm so intense. I'm such an addict still, even though it's been years since I had a drink or a drug. I still behave like an addict. It's extremes. I'm either intensely doing something or not doing it at all. Also, I just wondered if I could ask you guys for some advice. If you have any tips for avoiding procrastination, please do WhatsApp them to me or email them to me. I just need them. I have an app that kind of disables all the apps on my phone

so I can't look at my social media, but that's not really what I procrastinate with. What I procrastinate with is I sit at home and I'm like, I better do some washing, oh I'll do some tidying, I'll do this, oh I'll do this this thing that absolutely does not need to be done right now as opposed to the book which does. Any tips gratefully received you can find all the contact details in the show notes. If you liked this episode, we think you'll love this. This week on the life of Briny, I'm joined by Lottie Clark. She shares the story of her husband James's motor neuron disease diagnosis, his decision to go to Dignitas and their campaign for the right to die with dignity. If you want to hear a story of love, resilience,

and the importance of choice, this episode is for you. The life of Briny, available now. If you're enjoying the podcast, hit follow now to stay connected and never miss an episode. I can guarantee you it'll be the best decision you've made all day. So sometimes I feel like I'm only ever a phone scroll away from those ridiculous expectations society places on us,

especially as women, to look a certain way, a way that is absolutely actually unachievable. The pressures shape our confidence, drain our self-esteem and in many cases hold us back from living a full life. Laura Adlington's journey is proof that embracing who we are as we are is not just freeing but absolutely necessary. She's an inspiration to anyone who's ever felt not enough or perhaps too much. Enjoy my chat with Laura. We're talking about our celebrity past that our other halves would give us. I've just gone for

Aiden Turner. Laura, you have gone for... Harry Styles. Harry Styles. There's no one else. No one else would rather bang. Sorry, Matt, my husband. Love you. No, there's just something about him. What is it? I don't know. I feel like, my husband. Love you. No, there's just something about him. What is it? I don't know. I feel like we're like first and foremost, you actually you've come. I haven't. I know this is a podcast, but if you're listening, Laura has she suddenly got this glorious. She has a glorious glow about her anyway, but it's like an extra. He's like sensual and sexual, but like in a feminine way which I quite like and he just seems like like a good egg like a nice person as well.

Harry if you're listening. If you're listening mate I'm here. And I'm here too actually Harry. I'm not sharing. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you so much for sharing about how much you want to bang Harry Styles. You're so welcome. Maybe we should make that the first question for each podcast interview I do from now on. Yeah, it is interesting. Jonathan, who's your

celebrity hall pass? Henry Cavill. Oh, that's so dull. Oh, dull and sexy. Henry or Harry or anyone who's listening, Johnson is very attractive. Very. Anyway, Laura, thank you so much. I love you. I love following you on Instagram. You give me so much joy. Listeners might know you as an alum.

Alum of Great British Bake Off. 2020? 2020, yeah, lockdown year. God. But you really, since then, kind of come into your own as do we use the phrase body positivity or do we err to something more like self-acceptance advocate, which doesn't sound quite... Yeah, not as sexy as it. Should we get really deep really quickly?

Yeah, let's do it. I'll try and make this a bit sexy if I can. But basically, the body positivity movement was kind of born in like the 1960s and it was a movement. It was created by and for marginalised women, so like black women, fat women, gay women, especially dark skinned black women who were very, very marginalised. And it was about equal rights. So it wasn't about kind of loving your skin or anything like that. It was just about equal rights for fat people and for fat women. And then it kind of got like really commercialised. And hijacked, I would almost say, by like white, blonde, typically beautiful people

like size 10, 12, who then like crabbed their tummy rolls and they're like, look at me. I can't even, I can't Laura, when I see that it makes me want to just, I get that people like have skewed views of themselves. So they may genuinely think that they're, but I do find it like really annoying when someone's like, look at my bloating. Yeah. It's where they're like sitting down, hunching over, grabbing their roles and they're like, look! And I'm like, yeah, okay, stand up. You're pretending you've got roles where there are none and actually you're in a very privileged body and you're not understanding or recognizing your privilege and that's what I don't like. The Body Positive Movement has marginalized and alienated the very, very people that it was created by and for. And I don't like that.

And it kind of feels a bit icky for me. So a lot of people now don't want to be associated with that term body positive because it's kind of, it has become a little bit toxic. So yeah, I prefer just like body acceptance. I like body neutrality. That's kind of the way I look at things in my body just to kind of help me get through every day. What I love about your account is how visible you are in terms of like fashion. And for me, what body positivity is about when we're talking about that kind of world, it's about being able to exist however I am, however I look or whatever weight I am. Yeah. And not having to apologize for it. And I think it's just about representing people that don't look like... Like the beauty standard. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that you do

that very well where your feed is just, I mean, you're very honest on it, but there's also lots of kind of, it's you doing the kind of influence of things that the more typical people that filter themselves. And you're like, here I'm going to be in a Simmon costume, I'm going to be on the beach. And fashion, and one of the things I love you do is the one dress, two sizes. Same dress, different bodies. Same dress, different bodies with Lottie Drynan. Yes, yeah. Who's a size 12.

Yes. And I just love that because it's, I was going to use the word egalitarian and then I just realised that makes me sound like such a fucking wanker. No we love this series and I think the whole point of that was to kind of show that style has no size. My favourite thing about that is like there's so many times where I automatically would think that everything looks better on Lottie and there's some things that they do they look better on me and I'm like oh okay and it just goes to show I think that you can look good and feel good and you deserve to wear nice clothes and express yourself and express your style and personality, whatever

your size. Like lots of people, I grew up in the era of Trini and Susannah, like very like toxic, like can't wear stripes, can't wear white, can't wear this, can't wear that. The word flattering. Flattering, like fuck off. Can we ban that word? Yes. It basically means like you're trying to look smaller and when people say it's flattering on you, it means you look smaller in that.

Yeah. You know, I find it really interesting as I am in a larger body, but my weight, like a lot of people's, it kind of like fluctuates. Right. And recently, because of shit stuff, I've lost a bit of weight and I've really noticed people are like, oh, you're looking really well. And I want to say actually, I've lost weight because I've just been really stressed and lots of stressful things have been going on. But it's so interesting how it's a compliment, you know? Like you've lost weight or whatever.

And then what I find so disturbing as someone who has done a lot of work on themselves to kind of recondition how I see myself and how my value is not attached to a number on the scale, right? Is that it still lights up that little bit of me, you know, because we are so programmed to see our value and our attractiveness to the opposite sex. Exactly that. So I think don't beat yourself up because I think we're all normal with like when it comes to that, like receiving compliments on weight loss because we've always been told that being skinny is like this kind of like holy grail

Isn't it and it's like this dangling carrot that's always just a bit out of reach So yeah, don't beat yourself up for that But I think we need to stop talking about people's bodies like full stop We need to stop commenting on weight loss. Like you just said you're really stressed some people, you know, they're going free breakups grief You know cancer treatment like miscar said, you're really stressed. Some people, you know, they're going through breakups, grief, you know, cancer treatment, like miscarriage. You know, we don't know what somebody is going through. And actually, when you're complimenting somebody's weight loss, you're actually kind of saying,

like, you're better now than you were then. And you're making it a big thing. And it goes back to what I was saying before about body neutrality and you touched on that is fundamentally the way you look is the least interesting thing about you. It is so fucking boring. I grew up with my mum and all the women in my life talking about other women in their life. Have you seen Shannon?

Oh, she's put on some weight. Oh, what about Jane down the road? Yeah, she looks great now. Oh, no wonder her husband left her. Have you seen the state of her? She's really let herself go. They're like, no, it's so dull. I feel like we need to kind of just really give the

middle finger up to that kind of horrible rhetoric of like women must look a certain way, we all must conform and actually just say like, it's not that important. Health is important. Absolutely. We'll come on to that I'm sure. But like I'm always getting like battered with stick of like stop promoting obesity. Oh my god. But I'm really not. I think health is really important. I also think health is very individual. I also think that it's not just on the measure of a scale. Can we talk about promoting obesity? Because I get that all the time. Yeah. So my question that is like, oh, how much is obesity paying you to promote it? Like it's

such a ridiculous notion. Has obesity got a big budget? Because I'm this is the thing. I think this is such an interesting thing Laura, and I wanted to get onto this with you because I did this thing earlier this year where I was doing this running challenge to raise money for mental health based. In your pants. Oh yeah, well that, you know, but it was to see, because all I ever see still really is very slim athletic people in billboards, you know, and I think it really puts people off getting into exercise, which was the most wonderful, life-affirming thing for your mental

health, you know, forget about your physical health. What was amazing was every time I wrote about it or every time I posted about it, someone inevitably would email me or send me some sort of message saying, oh, you know, running is a terrible way to lose weight. It just simply did not occur to these people that there might be a world whereby I ran for the way it made me feel as opposed to the way it made me look.

There's a lot of shaming, and I get a lot of people who email me and say, I'm really concerned about your joints. Your joints are gonna give out, you know, before you're 50 or whatever. And then you're gonna end up having to get like a hip operation, a knee operation on the NHS and you're gonna be a drain on society.

And I'm like, you do not give a shit about my knees or my joints. Or actually the resources of the NHS. You don't really give a shit about that either. All you give a shit about is having a group of people to be smug and look down on. And that's what I feel is obesity serves in modern society now. Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. And I think it's really been heightened with the introduction of the weight loss jobs and the kind of the media that we're seeing around it and the coverage, sorry, like the images used of like the they actually have a name like headless fatty where it's literally

headless fat. So it's literally a person's body. Normally they've got like two small clothes on. Yeah. Bonus points if they're eating something or carrying slouching, rolling down the high street kind of thing. And I think it is just literally just another stick just to beat fat people over the head with, just to be like, well, you've got this miracle cure now, just go and do that. Just go and take these injections. What do you, we've actually, these keep coming up. Like people are obsessed with reading about these jabs, with talking about them. The other thing is, if someone who is obese does use a Zempig or Wigovia or whatever we were supposed to call it and loses weight, they're

then shamed for not being able to do it through willpower alone and just like, why didn't you just eat less and exercise more? And I'm like, it just shows you the hatred and the kind of the prejudice there is out there to people in larger bodies. I think there's such a misunderstanding. I think people think that it's often a choice to be bigger where actually it isn't. And there's so many factors at play. But like you just said, I think a lot of the time I think like fat shaming is like the last acceptable form of prejudice because people look at being fat as a moral failing and they think that you're lazy and you're slovenly and you're stupid. And I think that's one of the things

I really try and challenge with like my platform and things that I do is just to say, actually, like we need to stop judging people by what they look like. Health is very nuanced and we deserve respect. Like whatever your size, whether you're skinny, whether you've got no tits, no ass, or you've got massive tits, big ass, you know, whether you're a size six or 26, we've all got body hangups and securities. Let's just leave people alone, like let people have some respect. But also let people exist as they are. Yeah, let people live. Yeah.

I also, I did this reel recently of running in my underwear. I say recently, it was a few months ago now, and every day the number of men and women actually who come into my comments underneath this reel to judge my body in some way and to shame me for sexualizing myself some of them and I'm like that's not what I'm doing here like you see athletes running in this sports bras and pants all the time or they say I'm showing off attention-seeking or there's a lot of women sort of saying to me you need a better sports bra love, because they haven't seen women with larger boobs or larger bodies moving their bodies

because we're usually strapped down or edited or covered up. Oh, not there at all. Like people explaining my own body to me and saying, you need a better fitting sports bra. And I'm like, this sports bra, like this is the best sports bra I'll get as a double J cup, right? And the other alternative is not offending you by wearing two or three to strap them down, which is really

fucking uncomfortable. So just let me be. Like trust that I know my body. But people can't do that. And it's the need to comment on women's bodies in particular because it isn't ever men. No, we get such a hard time of it don't we? It's not fair. So tell me, you spoke about then your childhood and hearing the women in your life, older women in your life, speaking disparagingly about other women's bodies, you know, which is a pretty normal experience if you grew up in the 80s or was born in the 80s as we were. Tell me how you felt and what is the inspiration for you being such a visible person on social media? Thank you. I mean, that's really uncomfortable. I don't like compliments. I'm just going to shake that off and just, thank you. No, I think I was really like...

Why? Oh, I don't know. I just give me the ick. No, but this is probably because of childhood stuff, right? Probably, yeah. I mean, I always say that growing up, I didn't just have a body. I just give me the itch. No, but this is probably because of like childhood stuff, right? Probably, yeah. I mean, I always say that like growing up, like I didn't just have a body, I was my body because I was fat from the age of eight. And I don't mean like chubby or whatever. Like I was a fat kid. I remember being taken to my first like Slimming World group at like 13. And it was really then I realized like, wow, okay, is this what life is supposed to be like? People moaning about avocados being bad and sinful and to

be honest I felt like an ogre, a monster because there were women there that were like much smaller than me saying, oh I've let myself go, I'm disgusting, my husband doesn't want to have sex with me, I've put on all this weight and I'm like, oh okay. Like for a teenager to hear that, someone that's much smaller than you moaning and saying look at me, I've let myself go, I'm awful, like it really does kind of have an effect on you and your self-esteem. I think growing up, I actually didn't mind being bigger. I feel like it was everyone else's problem. And it was also trying to find clothes, not having as much sex as like your friends because like men just don't want to be seen with you or if they do, it's like behind closed doors, you know, being

kept a secret. It sort of felt like other people's. Like a fetish. Yeah, that's quite a thing dating an eye opener. Really? Yeah. I think some men feel like entitled to your body because of the size of it. Yeah. And then also, yeah, the fetishization comes into play sometimes as well with like, oh, I love my BBWs and that. Yeah, so it's hard. Like it was really hard growing up in a bigger

body, I'll be honest with you. It was tough, lots of struggles, so many things, opportunities I missed out on. And I think why it's so important to me what I do now is just to say to people, like, don't live a small life just because you're bigger or because you're skinny or because you're whatever, you've got a big nose or bad skin. Like, just go out, live your life as full as you can, because I wasted so much time hating myself and it literally got me nowhere. And it's just utterly pointless, isn't it? So I'm just not going to do that anymore. What kind of opportunities did you miss?

Like holidays. Even when it comes to intimacy and relationships, I was so worried about what I looked like. It was all about them. It was all about what they wanted in the bedroom. And I was terrified of holding my stomach in and turn the light off. Going out, like clubbing, like going out with friends. I feel like I lived almost half a life. Everything I had to consider, am I going to fit in that seat? Is that seat going to break? If I go on holiday, will I fit in the plain seat? Am I going to want to be on the beach in a swimming costume?

Is that, how's that going to be? Like it's something that just, you just factor in like the whole time. And I just look back and I just feel so sad. I think I spent a lot of my life in black as well, just hiding in black baggy clothes, which is what I love now. Like I'm in my cat slater era now and I bloody love it. My god, I love your cat slater era and my cat slater era. Laura is wearing a fabulous leopard print dress and red trainers and I'm wearing a red

shirt with my jeans but I have a fabulous I think leopard print. It's gorgeous. I'm going to steal that on my way out. More and more Canadians are listening to podcasts and music streaming. We'd like to know more about you, what you like to listen to, and why, so we can help make your listening experience better. Just fill out our brief survey and, as a thank you, we'll enter you to win one of three $100 prepaid purchase e-cards from Amazon. To have your say, just go to audiosurvey.ca.

Once again, that's audiosurvey.ca. If you liked this episode, we think you'll love this. audiosurvey.ca. If you liked this episode, we think you'll love this. This week on The Life of Briny, I'm joined by Lottie Clark. She shares the story of her husband James' motor neuron disease diagnosis, his decision to go to Dignitas, and their campaign for the right to die with dignity. If you want to hear a story of love, resilience and the importance of choice, this episode is for you. The life of Briny, available now. Tell me, what was the point where you thought, I'm not going to live a half life anymore? Was

there a moment where you were like, this needs to change? Or was it a more gradual thing? A bit of both. I think a turning point for me was just before I went on the bake off, I was going to have bariatric surgery. And I had actually been waiting a year, maybe year and a half on the waiting list to have something called a gastric sleeve or a gastric bypass. I wasn't really sure which one at the time. Major surgery, they basically shrink your stomach to the size of an egg and then they like reorganise your intestines that you don't absorb the calories and you lose a dramatic amount of weight on them. So I'd been gearing up for a long time because I really wanted to have

a baby and I thought that was the only way I was going to get my weight down, get IVF and get the baby. And it got to three days before the surgery. I'd been on a 500 calorie a day diet for two weeks. Three days before the surgery I went to the garage and I just binged. I literally just bought everything in sight and I just sat like made myself like feel so so ill and I'm well and I realized that the surgery might sort of fix my stomach, but it wasn't gonna fix my head. So I realized I had disordered eating. I had like emotional issues with eating and that actually I didn't want to give up food. I didn't want to eat an egg a day. And actually I thought, you know, would it be so bad if I did just exist in a bigger body and I didn't just hate myself and go on every fad diet? And so that's what I did. And I just literally swore after that point, bake off completely changed my life.

I was so lucky with that. And I just started speaking to other women that had been in similar position to me. And I thought, I'm not doing that anymore. I'm not doing on the fad diets. I'm going to try and focus on my health as much as I can. But actually, yeah, that life isn't for me anymore. I'm not doing that. How relieved are you that you didn't go through with that? Like, as you say, really, really big surgery.

Massive. And again, people will say that, oh, that's the easy way out. Just like they say that with the weight loss jabs. I think it's really hard because I feel like there's, you know, emotional, psychological, socio-economical, hormonal reasons why people are bigger while they eat more. Some people do just need a bit of help. I don't think there's such a thing as an easy way out. It's major surgery, major surgery. But for me, that also can be quite dangerous. Oh, you can literally die from it and from the complications.

There are, you know, we're recording this in November and in the last week, inquests have been opened, I think, into two separate women who flew to Turkey for cheaper gastric sleeve surgery and ended up dying. And that is the value that we place on our appearance over our health. Yeah. I mean, that's the truth, isn't it? Yeah. That's when you look at like Brazilian butt lifts and things like that. You are literally risking your life to have a big bum that you can't even fucking see, by the way. Who's it for? Yeah. That I have to say that for me, this might be controversial, but I think that comes down to vanity and I fucking hate vanity.

I just think like, it's a hard one, right? Because some people do have like body dysmorphia and I'm all for like, you know, if it makes you feel better to do it. I think it's for me, it's like on an individual level, you do whatever you want to do to make you happy. But I feel like on a societal level, our obsession with surgery, tweakments, all of this like is fucked. Yeah, it totally is.

That's what I don't like. You do what you want with your body. I'm just talking more of like a general thing. There's a Margaret Atwood novel. So everyone talks about The Handmaid's Tale, which is obviously a frightening dystopian, well, turning into reality. But actually, there's another book she wrote in the early noughties called Oryx and Crake, which I think is actually even more prescient than The Handmaid's Tale. So it's about this world in the near future. There's a plague that's basically introduced into the system by a drug they all take to like get rid of their imperfections. Oh okay. And all the women are basically just sexually objectified and it's

all about plastic surgery and looking you know and looking perfect and I was like, fuck, that is the world we live in where we're trying to fix our insides by changing our outsides. And we're comparing our insides to other people's manipulated outsides. Yeah, that's the thing I would say, like, you're not, it's not unrealistic beauty standards anymore, it's impossible ones because they are literally... You're trying to look like AI versions of yourself. Yeah, that's why I hate all that as well. Like filters, I never use filters.

Me neither. Don't tweak anything. I might brighten a picture. It's probably about as good as it gets really. But also it seems ridiculous to me now that it's more unusual to not use filters. Yeah. It's so unusual to not use filters that, you know, people are like, hashtag no filter. Yeah, I know.

I don't even know people do that anymore. Or even is it possible to post a picture on social media without there being some degree of editing that takes place because it automatically brightens, it automatically... It's very true. And so you have vast swathes of people who are just going to be disappointed every time they look in the mirror because guess what? Unless some bright spark comes up with this, and I'm sure they will, the mirror that reflects back a filtered version of yourself, no one looks like they make themselves look.

It's like what happened to just sort of grinning for a picture and then, you know, laughing at the angles? I think that's why people don't like social media is because of the like the fakeness of it. And I think that's why I kind of like wanted, I didn't want to get into this space. I genuinely fell into it by accident because after Bake Off it just kind of blew up. But there's so much fakery and there's so many, like a lot of implements are absolute wankers. Like they'll just take on any ads, don't even like the product, flog it. They use all the filters, all this body checking and here's what, eating a day and like it's so superficial. And I think actually I'm seeing people are thankfully

steering away from that. I personally find that really boring anyway. Yeah, no, I wouldn't follow it myself. No, there is definitely still a market for it, a demand for it. So can I go back to you talking about the moment you realised you had disordered eating because it's a subject that's kind of close to my heart as well, which is, would you say that you had like a binge eating disorder or? I don't know because I've never been formally diagnosed. I think that's the other thing I always say and I never mean to be disrespectful to anyone that's had anorexia or bulimia, but I feel like there

is support there and there's, you know, counsellor specific training for that. Whereas I feel like with binge eating disorder, it's quite new. And I personally haven't found anyone that really understands me and it. I think I probably do, if I'm honest. I read your book actually, and I was like, yep, tick, tick. So we're actually Laura gonna do an episode specifically on this subject because it's so common, but there's just no understanding of it. No, I've always felt like there's not enough support

for people who do struggle with, for me it's like emotional eating, secret eating, binge eating. I've always had just a really big appetite, like compared to other people, you know, it takes me a long time to feel full and satisfied. And then I get to the end of the day and I've eaten like so much and then I'm like, I hate myself, feel bloated, feel awful. And that was just continuous cycle and it's taken to honest, I'm still not over it.

You've been honest about like you will post when your body image isn't feeling that great, you know, like you will do post. I really respect that because I think what happens is that when someone plus size or whatever the fucking phrase is, like when I admitted that I'd had this binge eating disorder, people were like, Oh, look, you see, you're not happy being fat or you're not happy being overweight. It was fraudulent. And I was like, I never said being this weight is the best way to be everyone be like me. Yeah, all I've ever done with my posts is hi, I'm a human being who experiences an array of emotions from happiness through to sadness on any given day and I'm larger than all the other

people I see all the time on the television and I have cellulite and I have roles and I'm a bit sick of not seeing people like me who I think think are pretty normal, represented on social media. That, to me, is what my job is. And I'm not even allowed to just exist, do you know what I mean? Exist with the range of experiences that I have. And it doesn't, that people can't understand. Like, there was something you said earlier, which really resonated with me, was like,

you're not bothered about your weight. And it was other people when you were a kid. I feel so fucking similar. I genuinely could not give a flying fuck that I have rolls on my stomach or I have, you know, that I weigh like 16 stone or whatever. Like, you know, like it just doesn't bother me. I can be active, I run, it doesn't impinge on my head and it would have done, like I'm not gonna lie, like 20 years ago I was obsessed with my weight, I was bulimic, I was all of this stuff, but luckily I've got to a place where it's not about that. I don't think it's age or maturity or just like so much baggage, emotional baggage of

worrying about your weight, what you're eating, what you look like, what jeans you're in. Like you just get to the point where you're just like, oh, I can't do it anymore. Life's too short. Exactly. Like it is too precious. Tomorrow's not promised. Do I want to die? Start being like starving myself, worrying about it. Like no, no one's going to stand up at your funeral, I always say, and we're saying, oh yeah, she will size 10 jeans. Yeah. They're not. No one cares. Do you remember when she wore that banging outfit? Yeah. No, no one is you remember when she wore that banging outfit? Yeah. No. No one is going to remember you for the way that you look.

No. They're going to remember you for like your habit of making terrible jokes or not. This isn't you specifically, Laura. Good. I'm glad you clarified. Thank you. This is the general you. I'm aware of the irony of us being like, we don't want to be defined by our body sizes

then having to just talk about body sizes the whole fucking time. What I wanted to say, you do a lot of posts about being confident, body confidence, and I get asked all the time, people are like, I wish I had your confidence, and I'm like, I don't have confidence. I just have a desire not to spend a moment more of my precious life hating on my body. That's all I have. However, what would be your kind of tips to people listening about how to start making those steps towards feeling better in their bodies?

It's a question I get asked all the time. I think first thing to understand is that you do need to be kind to yourself because like you said earlier, years and years of like growing up in the 90s and having all this awful messaging around like what women should look like and what they should do with their bodies. That is ingrained in a lot of us still. It takes a lot of unlearning. So it's no wonder you feel not great. Okay. First of all, I would say like, be kind to yourself. It's not a surprise really. It's no wonder you are where you are. And I think like it's not linear as well. Like I didn't wake up one morning and go like, oh, I'm suddenly body confident.

Amazing. No, I didn't. It takes time. It's not linear. I still have bad days. I have days where I look in the mirror and I go like, you look like Shrek. Like fuck me. Jesus.

Did you just say Shrek? Yeah. I mean, he's great. So maybe that's not the reason. I'm like, you don't look anything like Shrek. I'm not going to lie, Laura. You look nothing like Shrek. I'm not gonna lie Laura you look nothing like Shrek. So yeah it's linear you're gonna have good days and bad days. I also think like and it

sounds really superficial so I don't love talking about it in some respects but sort out your wardrobe and invest in yourself like because I think clothes are such an amazing presentation of who you are as a person. Clothes that fit you. Oh my god so many women I speak to they are so worried about buying new clothes because they're like well I don't like this of who you are as a person, clothes that fit you. Oh my god, so many women I speak to, they are so worried about buying new clothes because they're like, well, I don't like this size. I don't want to be a size 18. So I'm not going to invest in my wardrobe or myself. And I'm like, I'll wait until I'm a size 14. Yeah. But then you're not living and you could be an 18 for the next five years. And if so, like who gives a fuck? I think 18 is a really

like I fucking love to be an 18. Banging size to be. Yeah, so like don't, you know, don't wait, don't put your life on hold. Okay, so on that note, where are your like go-tos for inclusive plus size fashion? My favourite places, I would say, so like Simply B have always been like a staple, really, really good stuff, never fully dressed, really amazing stuff. And they go, go everything is for size 6 to 28 now Oh this sounds like an ad by the way, like it's not I promise you It's just very genuinely shot. It's really important because I get I don't know about you people always want to know like where do you get Your bras from where do you get this from? Alome bras. Alome sports bras

Yeah, and then Matilda like normal bras are the best bras ever and their strapless bras the only strapless bra I've found Oh my god no! Shut the fuck up. I'm wearing it nowpless bras. The only strapless bra I've found. Oh my god, no! I'm wearing it now. You're wearing a strapless bra! Mm-hmm. Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up. What cup size are you? 44G.

Hmm. You see, I'm a J. Curvy Kate? Have you tried Curvy Kate? Curvy Kate are good. Yeah. Curvy Kate are good for large bras. Also clothes-wise, a little bit more expensive, but they're really lovely if you want to like treat yourself to a lovely frock. Is Moulby the label?

Yes, I love Moulby. I've got a few pieces from there. They're special. They're a lovely, independent, Liverpool-based brand, iconic, really well made and small business. So yeah, I love them. Sustainable. Yeah, it's like a woman just makes them all herself. Yeah. Yeah, so they are beautiful. Phase eight now do really nice clothes. They're up to a size 26.

Do they? Monsoon are quite good, next are good. There's loads of places like ASOS, not so great now actually, but they used to be. It's a lot easier to buy clothes now online than it used to be. Sadly, it is online. I do think the high street really does need to catch up. Oh my god, the high street. Honestly, what a shit show.

Awful. Like they want to buy the high street, is you know, in trouble. If the average woman is a size 18 and yet the high street pretty much stops at 18 or 20 if you're lucky. So you've got half women that will be smaller than that and half women who will be above that and they're not catered for. Well how else would you suggest Laura being kind to yourself? You mentioned earlier about exercising for your mental health. I think that is such a key and I think so many of us, myself included, grew up thinking that exercise was a way to like earn food and burn calories and about aesthetic really. So I think so many of us, myself included, grew up thinking that exercise was a way to like

earn food and burn calories and about aesthetic really. So I think actually exercising for your mental health is so wonderful and it does make you feel good. It makes you appreciate your body for what it does for you as well, rather than what it looks like. Again, we're talking about body neutrality here. It's a focus on like, you know, what it does rather than like function over form basically. I love it from all the swimming, like makes you feel amazing. It's a really lovely inclusive community. I've never felt judged there even whether I'm in a wetsuit or a bikini or a swimsuit

or whatever. That has been a game changer for me. The other thing I will say is, you know, I think on social media, it's really important that you curate your newsfeed. Don't follow dickheads. No, I totally agree with you on that. My philosophy is like I look at people and I go, would I go to the pub and have a pint with you?

Yeah. And are you a nice person that I would want to go and have a pint with? If the answer is no, I'm not going to follow you. Yeah. And if you make me feel like shit about myself, I'm not going to follow you. And if I'm only following you because of how you look, I'm not following you. Yeah. So I think someone has to give me something extra.

I think it's really important to follow women that are bigger than you, smaller than you, but have the kind of same like morals and values and not doing this kind of what I eat someone has to give me something extra. I think it's really important to follow women that are bigger than you, smaller than you, but have the kind of same like morals and values and not doing this kind of what I eat in a day with the body checking and all of that. Like they're not gonna make you feel good. So curate your news feed, I think is so, so important. Because I have my feed is so curated

to just basically people like you said, like who are, you know, body neutral or. I am always quite shocked when I come across a piece of content that is someone being like, this is what I eat in a day and, you know, and get ripped out. So I'm like, what? This doesn't exist on the internet, does it? And it's like, no, it does, Bryony. You're just not putting it in your feed. Which is good. And I'm like quite naive about it. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is dreadful.

It's scary, some of the content. And I worry, I do worry about younger generations seeing that kind of content and seeing that as aspirational. Yeah, but I also think it's like there's a bit of bad and there's a bit of good in everything. And you've got to take some sort of ownership of it, haven't you? Massively, yeah.

I used to reply to comments quite a lot, people shaming me and now I'm just like they don't deserve my energy. This comment says so much more about them than it does about me and they're not getting my energy. It's a good way to look at it. It's hard sometimes. I think I've gotten better at it. I don't know about you, like you do develop a bit of a thick skin because you have to. Yeah. But I think for me that the good definitely always the bad. For me, I feel like I've found my community. I feel very, very lucky. I have so many lovely people that I talk to all the time. I feel like Instagram has made me feel validated in my lived experience as a fat person, as a fat woman. And I really genuinely love for that sometimes it can be very superficial

and you do get trolls. I do genuinely love what I do and I feel like social media isn't all bad. It's just like you say you have to take a bit of ownership and curate it and you know and put the blocks on. So what's next? Your book Diet Starts Monday is out in paperback soon I think. Yes, out in paperback soon which I'm really excited about. What's like what are your hopes and goals for next year? What are your hopes and dreams? What do I want to be when I grow up? Yeah what do I want to be when I grow up? So the St Jess different body series I do with my friend Lottie were actually just landed a gig, I still can't believe I'm gonna say this, at the London Palladium in March.

Oh wow! It's mental. So really excited about taking that on the road and hopefully doing a few more shows with that and then I genuinely just really am enjoying what I'm doing. So yeah, carrying on with that. Laura Adlington, thank you so much for coming on The Life of Riley. Thanks for having me. And sharing your celebrity crush. My other celebrity crush is actually you. Oh my god.

I really did love your book. Oh my god, I could have talked to Laura all day. Go and follow her on Instagram if you don't already. And I hope this conversation reminds you to be kinder to yourself and perhaps even treat yourself to something nice. I don't know what that might be, an outfit, a bit of self-care. Just go and be nice to yourself. And don't forget to hit follow on the life of Bryony so you never miss an episode. If this conversation spoke to you, please share it with

someone who might need a little boost too. Myself and Laura are back on Friday to answer your questions. See you then. If you liked this episode, we think you'll love this. This week on the life of Briny, I'm joined by Lottie Clark. She shares the story of her husband James' motor neurone disease diagnosis, his decision to go to Dignitas and their campaign for the right to die with dignity. If you want to hear a story of love, resilience, and the importance of choice, this episode is for you. The Life of Briney, available now.