Savvy Miss: How did it all begin?
Lindsay Segal: I had just moved to California from Ohio. I was thirteen and starting eighth grade at a new school and there were a lot of personal issues going on with my family. I started internalizing my feelings about the move, being scared about starting a new school and changes going on with my body.

My father, brother and I were at a burger joint. I vividly remember picking up my burger and bringing it to my mouth, when I made the decision—right then and there—to go on a diet and lose weight for my new life: a “new me.” I was never overweight by any means [5’2” 108 pounds], but thought I could be thinner.

SM: How did you feel when you put down the burger?
Lindsay: I felt like I had conquered something. I remember putting it down, going “I found my one thing I can focus on and everything else will be so much better once I can control this.” It was kind of a way to grab an anchor when I felt like everything else was just blowing around me.

SM: Throughout your three-year battle, did you ever waver? Put the burger down, pick it back up?
Lindsay: I put it down and never picked it back up. I was very set in my ways.

As soon as I put it down I started developing a fear of food. When I was around [junk food] I was physically scared. My palms would start sweating, my heart would race. I felt as if someone was coming to kill me.

SM: So what would you eat during a typical day?
Lindsay: A bowl of cereal in the morning (the same cereal for nearly three years), maybe half of a protein bar and then broccoli with tomato sauce. That’s it. It was a battle for me to eat the little that I did.