Who is sarah stevenson

Clancy wasn't happy mentally or physically. So she tried looking for sources of motivation and came across a fitness influencer called Sarah Stevenson, known online as Sarah's Day.

Sarah's Day has almost three million followers across Instagram and YouTube and describes herself as a "holistic health princess". She sells skincare products, activewear, exercise programs, cookie dough-flavoured protein powder and a food app.

Clancy tried to eat and exercise like Sarah suggested, and even bought some of the products she was advertising on her Instagram. Clancy has lived with body image issues for most of her life and was diagnosed with a non-specific eating disorder from the ages of But Clancy, who spent years working with a psychologist and studies occupational therapy at university was able to identify the dangerous patterns.

She's at a good place with accepting her body now, but worries about what would have happened if she didn't already have that knowledge. Sarah's Day isn't the only influencer out there spruiking fitness regimes, diet culture and beauty products to millions of impressionable followers.

But she did come up a bunch of times in Hack's body image crowdsource investigation as someone who a number of young Aussies have serious concerns about.

Research has shown that looking at fitspiration content on social media increases body dissatisfaction and puts people in a negative mood says Dr Jasmine Fardouly, a research fellow with a focus on social media and body image at Macquarie University's Centre for Emotional Health.

Dr Fardouly says content that motivates people to eat healthily and exercise isn't inherently bad, the issue is that a lot of it isn't really focussed on health. Dr Fardouly says young people often trust social media personalities because they have huge followings and not necessarily because they're qualified to give health and food advice.

A study shows women who post fitspiration content are more likely to engage in compulsive exercise and disordered eating, and at a higher risk of an eating disorder. Dr Fardouly says it's important to remember that often social media isn't a reflection of reality. Ellie's story is similar in many ways to Clancy, but it took her a decade before she was able to recognise the damage and the harm caused to her by the weight-loss industry.

She was just 13 years old when she bought her first diet pills after seeing them advertised on daytime TV. Over the next decade, Ellie reckons she could have bought her first car with the amount of money she spent on all kinds of weight loss products. Every time she tried a new product, Ellie says she invested emotionally and was let down when the results never materialised. They all work for a month or so. But if you follow the instructions of what it says on the bottle, it's always 'supplementary to diet and exercise', which is where the actual weight loss comes from," Ellie tells Hack.

It's always a blow to your self esteem. And it's never the fault of the product. Sarah says any time she was a bit grumpy , her mom would send her outside. A change of scenery, fresh air and sunshine often turned things around. Part of feeling good and looking good has quite a lot to do with how good your heart feels, right?

Being yourself is the healthiest thing you can be. When Sarah looks back to her school days, she remembers comparison taking up a whole lot of space in her mind.

While her friends seemed to develop quickly, Sarah was still waiting for puberty to kick in. The result of all of this? More time spent hiding herself than having fun.

Now, Sarah knows what matters: a healthy, drama-free lifestyle so she can feel her best and be her most productive, happy self.

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