A recovered anorexic who nearly died after her weight plummeted to less than five stone now shares pictures of her 'tummy rolls and cellulite' online to inspire other women to love their bodies.

Megan Jayne - who at her thinnest weighed just 4st 6lbs (28 kg) - has banished the scales and promotes body positivity and self-love on Instagram.

The 22-year-old carer, who lives with her long-term boyfriend Ben and their three dogs, first suffered from body image issues when she started school aged five.

By the age of 14 her 'all-consuming demons' meant Miss Jayne, from Colchester, Essex, had been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa.

She spent a summer in a youth psychiatric institution before being hospitalised - where doctors told her she had just weeks to live - and prescribed tube feeding and bed rest.

After another five years of crash dieting, she finally learned to love her own body - and began to post pictures of her 'thunder thighs' online, gaining almost 40,000 fans.

Now, she believes body positivity 'has the power to save lives' and has made it her mission to inspire confidence in other women.

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Megan Jayne, 22, nearly died aged 14 after battling anorexia for years (left). Now, she shares pictures of her belly rolls online to inspire other women to love their bodies (right)

She said: 'If my tummy rolls or cellulite being shamelessly embraced can show someone else that their body is worth loving too, then I will post the most tummy-tastic, lumpy bumpy, thunder thigh, pictures I can'

She added: 'I try to show people that the impossible beauty standards on our screens and in our magazines are not requirements for happiness'

Writing on her website about learning to accept her body, she said: 'When I look in the mirror I see belly rolls, I see cellulite, I see a million flaws that have previously sent me spiralling into self hatred.

'But this time, I also see happiness.

'I see beauty, beyond the one dimensional photoshopped form we’re taught to aspire to. I see worth, that extends far past the physical.

'My vision is no longer clouded by the "not good enough" mentality we’ve all been taught about ourselves.'

Miss Jayne had suffered from body image issues since the age of five, when she would be terrified that people could see the fold of her belly as she sat down, and constantly compared herself to other girls in her class.

By the time she was 14, she was diagnosed with an eating disorder for which she was institutionalized.

Miss Jayne said: 'At my lowest weight size four clothes were falling off me, my hair thinned and I was constantly freezing cold.

'If a picture of my tummy rolls or cellulite being shamelessly embraced can show someone else that their body is worth loving too, then I will post the most tummy-tastic, lumpy bumpy, thunder-thigh pictures that I can take Megan Jayne, 22, who recovered from anorexia

'Thin would never be thin enough. The eating disorder overcame me so much that I believed it was all that I was and all that I had.

'I became an empty shell of a girl, still obsessing over whether my stomach was visible through my hospital gown.'

After two years of slow recovery - aided by the unwavering support of her father - Miss Jayne had an epiphany aged 16.

She said: 'Anger overwhelmed me – pure, unadulterated anger that this vicious disease had stolen so much of my life from me.

'That's when my epiphany came - enough was enough, it was time to get my life back.'

She started eating like she had never eaten before and within a year had nearly tripled her body weight, but she had replaced starvation with binging and was still unhappy.

After another five years of crash diets and binge eating, last summer Miss Jayne was calorie counting and obsessively over-exercising when she came across an image that changed her life.

She had been using Instagram to source 'fitspiration' when instead she stumbled on a photograph of someone promoting the opposite - the philosophy of embracing your body and loving yourself exactly as you are.

Miss Jayne now has 39,000 followers on Instagram and has set up her own body positive website

Miss Jayne weighed just 4st 6lbs (28kg) at her thinnest and was hospitalised and fed through a tube (pictured left with anorexia). Her recovery was spared by anger she had lost years to the 'vicious' eating disorder

Miss Jayne no longer weighs herself but is a UK size 12/14 (US 10/12) and has 'fallen in love' with her body

Miss Jayne started her own body positive account on the social networking site as personal therapy, and posted her first shot of herself in a bikini in November last year.

Now she has gained nearly 39,000 online fans to her @bodyposipanda profile for her regular snaps of herself in her bikini or underwear where she bares her stomach rolls and cellulite with confidence and a smile.

This July Miss Jayne launched a website to help people with body image issues and hopes to one day give motivational speeches about her journey.

If I can fall in love with my body after all I've been through anyone can - they just have to believe that they deserve it Megan Jayne, 22

Miss Jayne, who no longer weighs herself but is a UK size 12/14 (US size 10/12), said: 'My first bikini picture terrified me.

'I spent hours scrutinizing every detail and imagining all the horrible things people might say, the same things I'd been saying to myself for years..

'But I was welcomed into an unbelievable online community of people who spend everyday uplifting and supporting one another, and my #pizzasisters4lyfe gave me the strength to tell my story.

'As I started posting more about my eating disorder my page grew and I received messages telling me I'd helped with people's recovery and even saved their lives.

'And although there are cruel comments from trolls here and there, nothing could diminish the feeling that you're helping people realise how wonderful they truly are.

After years of anorexia, crash dieting, and binge eating, Miss Jayne has finally embraced her body. 'Now I see a body that kept me alive, despite all of my efforts against it,' she said

Miss Jayne (pictured left battling anorexia, and right, recovered) says she refuses to see flaws when she now looks in a mirror and respects her body for housing a person who is more than a dress size

'I honestly believe that body positivity has the power to save lives, and that is my mission,' Miss Jayne said

'If a picture of my tummy rolls or cellulite being shamelessly embraced can show someone else that their body is worth loving too, then I will post the most tummy-tastic, lumpy bumpy, thunder-thigh pictures that I can take.'

Miss Jayne said when she looks in the mirror she refuses to see flaws and now respects her body for housing a person who is so much more than a dress size or calorie intake.

'Now I see a body that kept me alive, despite all of my efforts against it,' she said.

'I will be eternally thankful for my body, in all its imperfect beauty.

'I try to show people that the impossible beauty standards on our screens and in our magazines are not requirements for happiness.

'If I can fall in love with my body after all I've been through anyone can - they just have to believe that they deserve it.

'I honestly believe that body positivity has the power to save lives, and that is my mission.'

Miss Jayne's website can be found at: www.bodyposipanda.com