AN anorexic Gwent teenager says sinister websites are overshadowing her bid to recover from the life-threatening condition.

Kirsty Ball, 18, from Chepstow, (pictured) weighs just over five stones, but she is gripped by an overwhelming fear of food and gaining weight, which dominates her life.

Now she says so-called 'pro-ana' sites are celebrating anorexia as a "lifestyle, not a disease", and urging members to ditch recovery plans and deceive doctors.

Many contain explicit images of emaciated bodies and encourage members to lose even more weight.

One site, seen by the Argus proclaims: "This is a place for the elite who, through personal success in their ongoing quest for perfection, demonstrate daily the power and results of applying will, imagination, creativity and effort toward meeting their goals."

Miss Ball first started worrying about how she looked at the age of 11.

"I got teased about being fat and took that to heart and started reading diet books. I was surviving on just cup of tea, a biscuit a day, or hot chocolate," she said.

The obsession spiralled out of control and she became dangerously ill.

For almost seven years, she has struggled to cope with anorexia. She turned to the internet for support and information.

But like many others, she found pro-anorexia websites.

She said: "You can see a picture of someone else who's died from something that you are doing, and it's not enough to stop you."

Her parents, Joanne and Martin, are desperate to stop her using pro-ana chatrooms but they say they are powerless to do so.

l Miss Ball is among those appearing on Week In Week Out, tonight on BBC One Wales at 10.35pm.