The social media influencer has been open about her struggles with binge eating disorder online
Credit: Remi Bader/Instagram (2)
NEED TO KNOW
- Remi Bader is reflecting on two-and-a-half years of working through her struggles with her body image
- In a June 22 Instagram post, the influencer shared a series of before-and-after photos, captioning the snaps with a reflection on her mental health
- “For years, I avoided looking at old photos because they brought me back to a time when I felt really low mentally and physically,” the influencer wrote in the caption of her post
Remi Bader is sharing some vulnerable thoughts about her health journey from the last two and a half years.
In a post to her Instagram on June 22, the New York City-based social media influencer shared a series of before-and-after photos of her weight loss as she reflected on the last two-and-a-half years of change she has undergone with her mental and physical health.
"Never have I ever posted a transition photo of myself, [but] I recently came back to the exact spot where I took these photos 2.5 years ago @equinox," she began the caption of the Instagram slide.
View this post on Instagram
"For years, I avoided looking at old photos because they brought me back to a time when I felt really low mentally and physically," she continued. Bader opened up about the work she had done on herself "internally" and how it had led her to the decision to revisit the moment she had taken the series of before photos.
"I wanted to revisit that moment. Not to compare. Not to criticize. But to acknowledge how far I've come, what has changed, and also what has not changed at all, that I still want to work on," she wrote.
"I've realized I spend way more time focusing on what's gone wrong than what has gone right, especially since Jan 2024. Standing in the same place reminded me that there have been a lot of wins too."
She ended the post by sharing a message about growth, saying that it "isn't always obvious when you're living it, but sometimes looking back helps you finally see it 🤍."
Credit: Stephanie Augello/Variety via Getty
Comparing her present mindset to past attitudes, Bader told PEOPLE she was feeling amazing as she made her debut as a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Rookie in the 2026 issue.
And, at the 2026 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue launch party on Thursday, May 14, the Fangirl founder spoke to PEOPLE about her self-confidence and how it has evolved with her feature in the magazine, something she says she has wanted "for a while."
"I think for the past five years, since I've been online, people have identified me through my body, which I never came online being like, 'This is what I look like, this is who I am,'" Bader says. "I think people put you in a box when you're online, and I've been okay with that. But now that it's been a few years and I'm still going through that journey with my body, I'm just like, 'I don't think I have it figured out and I still don't.'"
Currently, she feels like she is in "the best place" she's ever been in with her body, both physically and mentally. "Which I think is really hard, especially when you've gone through an eating disorder," she added.
The influencer has also been open about her experience with alternative weight loss methods, including undergoing gastric bypass surgery, after experiencing a cycle of eating-related struggles like binge eating, weight-loss drugs and other habits that led to debilitating gastrointestinal issues.
Online, the influencer had come to be known as a figure in the body positivity community, having embraced her platform as a plus-size influencer on the internet.
"I loved being curvy my whole life; I just did. It was who I was… I will always believe that you could be a bigger size and be healthy and happy," she told Self in March 2025 as she opened up about her surgery. "I was for a while, that wasn’t a lie. But there was a point when it shifted, and I became really unhappy."
Following the surgery, Bader was surprised by how quickly her weight loss occurred. Embracing her new body is something she's still learning how to do, admitting that she's "healing and figuring it out."
She explained, "I was lost with my identity before… I wasn’t big enough at first and plus-size enough at first for the plus-size community. Then I became too big… for some brands even to work with. Now I’m too small? I actually don’t know where I’m supposed to be." However, she concluded by saying that she was committed to being transparent with her followers on social media, in an effort to spread more awareness and remove the stigma from talking about body and weight-related issues online.
Read the full article here
