Stephanie Rice revealed last week how she overcame her body struggles by adopting a different attitude to dieting and exercise.
And now the former Olympian has recalled the impact her changing body had on how she felt about herself after quitting elite swimming in 2014.
The 29-year-old told The Morning Show on Wednesday she had been at her ‘lowest point’ before coming to turns with how she looked.
‘You’re not exercising seven hours a day’: Former Olympian Stephanie Rice reveals struggle to come to terms with her changing body after quitting swimming in 2014 at her ‘lowest point’
Stephanie explained she decided to share a before and after image of her body on Instagram last Friday to reveal how her mindset, not just her body had changed.
‘A lot of people did comment saying there was nothing wrong with the before photo, and that wasn’t really what I was trying to showcase,’ she said.
‘It was more the feeling I had internally and how much that’s transformed.’
Part of coming to terms with herself as she got older was accepting that her body was no longer the same as her swimming days.
Struggled after the Olympics: The 29-year-old told The Morning Show on Wednesday she had been at her ‘lowest point’ before coming to turns with how she looked
Healthy habits: Besides a different mindset, Stephanie also switching over to a vegan diet three years ago with her newfound confidence
‘I was comparing myself to the elite days of performance and obviously your body changes, you’re not exercising seven hours a day and there is a mental shift that does along with that,’ Stephanie said.
Besides a different mindset, Stephanie also switching over to a vegan diet three years ago with her newfound confidence.
On Friday, Stephanie shared a post on Instagram, detailing how it had taken years of learning to love herself to finally overcome her body image issues.
‘I was continually beating myself up for not being good enough’: On Friday, Stephanie shared a post on Instagram , detailing how it had taken years of learning to love herself to finally overcome her body image issues
Confessing that posting before and after photos ‘takes a lot of courage’, Stephanie said she hopes to ‘help lift others out of mentally tough times’ by sharing her own journey.
In the Instagram post, Stephanie shared a photo of herself taken in 2014 when she was living in America and ‘exercising daily, following programs & eating healthy vegan foods’.
‘I felt like I was doing everything right … so why was my body not responding?? I was continually beating myself up for not being good enough, comparing myself to everyone else and my swimming days of being super fit & believing that I wouldn’t be happy until I lost weight,’ Stephanie recalled.
‘I remember leaving the gym one morning feeling so frustrated that I was putting in all this effort, doing everything right and not seeing results’: Stephanie confessed to struggling with her weight previously. Pictured left in 2009, right in 2012
‘I remember leaving the gym one morning feeling so frustrated that I was putting in all this effort, doing everything right and not seeing results…what was wrong with me?? Why wasn’t I noticing the transformations that other people were??’
Referencing the second photo of herself taken recently, Stephanie revealed that ‘obviously my body has changed … but more importantly my mind has’.
She had eventually overcome her body battle by changing the way she thought about diet and exercise.
‘This feeling of inner peace is what transformed my body’: Stephanie said she had overcome her body battle by changing the way she thought about diet and exercise
Instead of focusing on what she shouldn’t do, the swimmer ‘stopped putting rules on everything’.
‘Funny things is, as soon as I allowed myself the mental freedom to not HAVE to workout, I became far more motivated to do so & when I stopped depriving myself of sweets & desert, I found I lost almost all of my cravings for them,’ she wrote.
‘This feeling of inner peace is what transformed my body.’
Wants to help others: Stephanie ended her post by explaining how she had created her Magical Mentoring Program to try and help others overcome the ‘guilt, unworthiness and frustration’
Sporting star: Stephanie is a winner of three Olympic gold medals and competing at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics
Stephanie ended her post by explaining how she had created her Magical Mentoring Program to try and help others overcome the ‘guilt, unworthiness and frustration’ she had felt for four years.
A winner of three Olympic gold medals and competing at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, Stephanie retired from swimming in 2014.
In 2013, Stephanie won Celebrity Apprentice despite clashing on multiple occasions with Sydney publicist Roxy Jacenko.
Early retirement: Stephanie left professional swimming in 2014