Tess Holliday has "regressed" in her anorexia recovery

Tess said in an essay for Today.com: "I have always been as transparent and honest as I'm able to in hopes that it will help someone else feel less alone. My manager said, 'Why didn't you tell me first?' I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. But I had no idea how broken the eating disorder community is. I had no idea how few resources there are for people like me.

"People said I was lying. There are people who believe I was saying this to get attention. I've had some people say, 'You're doing this to stay relevant.' I laugh because I know it's untrue, but it's so indicative of what a large problem this is. I feel grateful that I'm tough enough to talk about this, but I've since taken a lot of steps backwards in my recovery. I've regressed.

"I haven't eaten today. It's 11 o'clock and I've had two sips of coffee, and I feel sick. This has been extremely hard on my mental and physical health."

Tess also confessed to feeling "lonely" amid her recovery.

The plus-size model - who has attended therapy sessions - said:

"Recovery for me is messy. It's lonely. It's hard to deal with something for which there isn't enough support. Having a diagnosis has been liberating and it has made me feel less alone, but the confused look on people's faces when I say anorexia or the stares I get if it comes up in conversation - that's hard."

Tess first revealed her anorexia diagnosis via social media in May.

She wrote on Twitter at the time: "I'm anorexic & in recovery. I'm not ashamed to say it out loud anymore. I'm the result of a culture that celebrates thinness & equates that to worth, but I get to write my own narrative now. I'm finally able to care for a body that I've punished my entire life & I am finally free (sic)"