From blog to stage: The body-acceptance journey hoping to help others

For many years, Nuala Moore shared her personal weight and mental health journey online but now those experiences have hit the stage – and she hopes it could encourage anyone struggling to ask for help.

Through her blog "From Phat to Phabulous", Moore initially focused on weight loss following the death of a relative but that changed due to issues with her mental health.

Online followers encouraged Moore to tell her story and the stage play "My Phat Life" was born.

Reflecting on how her blog has transformed, Moore said it has grown to include "life, love, mental health and everything in between".

"My Phat Life" is a one-person play that follows the character Ciara who is played by the actress Caroline Curran.

Moore, who is from north Belfast, said that being able to reach a whole new audience with the play has been incredible.

"I would love people if they are struggling to reach out and ask for help – or on the other hand if someone sees someone struggling – offer help – because sometimes it's really difficult to ask," she said.

"There is a universal message that men or women can take home – and it's that it's okay to ask for help."

"My Phat Life" has been running as part of the west Belfast Féile an Phobail festival.

Looking back at dealing with the grief of losing her loved one, Moore said she was trying to deal with it through the gym but she "wasn't sticking at it".

And while she received so much support online through her blog, faceless trolls would sometimes leave their mark.

"Social media can be a blessing and a curse," Moore said.

"What's really good about it is, I've been really lucky in that it has brought strangers into my life who I now consider as friends, who have been so supportive from the beginning.

"But with social media because it's faceless essentially, people feel that they can sit behind a keyboard and throw words at you, they can walk away and it has no impact, but it does - words can be destructive.

"As powerful as words can be in building someone up, they can also tear someone down."

Curran said she was not aware of the blog before she auditioned for the part.

"I read it as a script with loads of heart, loads of humour – with a really good message at the end of it .

"With it being a one-woman show I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work: I play nine different people – men and women.

"I think the positive message from this play is that the character did get help and other people wanted her to get help."

Curran added that "body image touches all aspects – all different types of people".

"We have had a lot of men in [to watch the show] which is great, from all ages, and sometimes men find it hard to talk about mental health as well, as some women do, so I think it's great that we can all strike up a conversation."

If you have been affected by the issues in this story, support is available on the BBC Action Line.