Love Island's Gabby Allen has opened up about her yo-yo dieting past as she launches a new book.
The 28-year-old reveals she 'took dieting too far' when comparing herself to others and spoke about her journey to body confidence.
In her book, Shape Up with Gabby Allen, she said: "I was so hung up on what the scales said.
"I remember one Christmas, right after a painful breakup, I was training too much and not eating anywhere near enough.
"I had no body fat. My boobs had gone. I came back home and my mum and brother looked at me in utter horror.
"They said I'd lost too much weight and didn't look well."
The Liverpool reality star said she always thought being healthy meant being skinny and "was permanently on a diet".
But the way she thought changed after losing her father to brain cancer.
She said: "When he died, me, my mum and brother Ethan were knocked sideways by grief.
"I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, couldn't find the joy in anything. I felt completely lost. So it was weird when I went back to drama school and people said 'Wow, you've lost weight, you look great'.
"In fact, it was plain wrong. I felt absolutely miserable."
Gabby said it took her years to figure out the pattern that when she is at her thinnest, she is unhappy.
She qualified to be a personal trainer and said exercise helped her feel confident about her body.
The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant said: "The most body confident I've ever been was right before I went into Love Island.
"I was in the absolute prime of training. I had abs for days! I was training five days a week and I felt fab in and out of my clothes."
*Shape Up with Gabby Allen is out now, RRP £15.99
