Smith explains this dramatic difference isn’t down to a past eating disorder. There’s a much simpler explanation: just growing up! Smith says of her 19-year-old self, “I had an incredibly fast metabolism. I was still in my 'childlike body' and I was a late bloomer. It wasn't until 19 when I got hips, boobs and a bum and started to have to actually think about what I was eating and how I was exercising. In the left photo I was eating crap everyday, and lots of it. I was a sporty kid, but didn't do much physical activity at 18, so that was my body naturally.”
The Adidas ambassador said that despite her lean figure both then and now, she wasn’t happy with her body at 19. “Believe it or not, I thought I had chubby thighs,” she says. “It was scary for me (as it is to a lot of girls and guys) when true puberty hit and I suppose I was growing into my 'more womanly figure' and I was putting on weight.”
Now, Smith’s got a healthier attitude about her body. “I work hard now for the body that I have. I may be 10kgs heavier than I was but that's life... our bodies change overtime and we have to accept that and love and work with the body you've got! That's not to say I don't have off days where I question the way I look... we all do. Everybody has insecurities! And I mean everybody!” she explains. These days, Smith loves to smash out a boxing workout to put her fit body through its paces.
Her secret to body confidence? “You have to focus on what you LOVE about yourself and your body, and try your best to ignore the 'bad' stuff. We all have transformations, whether they are through training, or eating or just getting older... you're going to change. My message to the younger girls who follow me is to just go with it! Don't be too shattered when you start seeing lumps and bumps appear, and don’t weight yourself in the process, or ever really.”
Sounds like great advice to us.
