Knowledge drop day 3 for National Eating Disorder Awareness week! As someone who struggled with anorexia for years, and who is currently happily in recovery (shout out to my therapist), the discussion around eating disorders and our compassion for those fighting them is something that is near and dear to my heart.
Juicy Topic 3: What does recovery even look like?
When I started recovery in Feb 2020, I was pretty in denial that I even had anorexia, but thats a different story for another day. I remember talking to Adam and just being so exasperated about not know what “recovered” even is?! So, I did some research and chatted with my Doc to find the benchmarks I should be aiming for. Little did I know, clinical recovery is the tip of the ice-burg and the emotional recovery is a whole other beast.
1. No Disordered Eating Behaviours in 2-3 months
– no binge eating episodes
– no self-induced vomiting, laxatives, diuretics
– no compulsive exercise
– no missed meals, fasting, or restriction of any kind
2. Thoughts and Feelings About Weight/Shape are:
– sometimes neutral
– sometimes positive
– generally not over distressing
– consume a small portion of mental space
3. Eating Patterns are Flexible, Not Rigid:
– meals no longer need to be planned
– calories/macros are not being tracked
– meals vary from the “safe foods” that were consumed during your eating disorder
– rigid food rules are non-existent
– How/When/Where you consume food causes minimal distress (ie. I had one very specific tiny blue bowl that was my “chips” bowl and I would be stressed if I had chips in any other container because I didn’t know the portion… shit gets weird in ED. Also, I’m going to smash that bowl now that I think of it)
4. Beliefs About the Self, Others, and the World No Longer Centre Around Food & Body:
– finding and truly believing in at least 5 other things more important than weight & shape
– your behaviour aligns with your core values
– thoughts feelings and behaviours towards food, eating, and body image no longer control the decisions you make in your life.
** this one was such a challenging one in my experience. Being able to attend my best friend’s wedding in Mexico while not absolutely hating or trash talking myself was my goal. It took a lot of journaling and talking and getting support from my girls and Adam. The only “progress pic” that matters is right here and I am so happy I was able to love on @serenapalmer all week. The most elegant bride!
@break.binge.eating (AUS based researcher specialized in eating disorder prevention/recovery)
@wakeupandsmelltherosay (HAES informed therapist)
@millennial.therapist
@i_weigh
@evelyntribole (Author of Intuitive Eating)