Full Eating Disorder Recovery.
In a nutshell..
My name is Jennifer. I am fully recovered from all eating disorders. Havn't used CC for quite a long time as it was too much of a trigger during my early recovery. Now recovered, I see so many posts with people struggling and feeling hopeless. I aim to help as many people as possible start their journey to full eating disorder recovery or those in continued suffering. Please post any comments or questions. Thankyou.
I am living proof that 100% eating disorder recovery IS possible!
jenn_x,
Any advice for getting past the hump of not fully committing to recovery? I have been in recovery for 6 weeks and seem to lack the courage to go all out and really follow my caloric intake on my meal plan and I can't fully commit to giving up the exercise. How did you get past all of this?? I could really use some motivation right now!
It is awesome that you have recovered! Way to go! It's so inspiring to see so many people really do it and know that it is truly possible! Thank you for being so willing to support!
Ashley
So glad to hear of your success and how happy you sound- it really is a source of hope hearing that kind of message :) x
I could really use some advice too. I'm kinda lost with this recovery thing, I'm trying for about a month now but it's only getting harder. I'm eating more now, but I'm still having those bad feelings every time I eat, I'm still obsessed with counting calories and weighing myself every morning, and every time I see the number on the scale changing I go insane. How was recovery for you??
How did you get past the guilt of increasing calories? What were your favorite recovery meals?
Thankyou deli030. It IS possible to recover completely! If I can do it, so can you.
x
Original Post by deli030:
I love to see posts like this! It is so reassuring that it IS possible and IT CAN to beaten!! Will power, strength and determination goes a very long way! Congratulations! Xxx
Thankyou deli030. It IS possible to recover completely! If I can do it, so can you.
x
Original Post by alp425:
jenn_x,
Any advice for getting past the hump of not fully committing to recovery? I have been in recovery for 6 weeks and seem to lack the courage to go all out and really follow my caloric intake on my meal plan and I can't fully commit to giving up the exercise. How did you get past all of this?? I could really use some motivation right now!
It is awesome that you have recovered! Way to go! It's so inspiring to see so many people really do it and know that it is truly possible! Thank you for being so willing to support!
Ashley
Hi Ashley.
Thankyou so much.
I never followed a meal plan in my recovery. I don't believe in any kind of meal plan, calorie counting, diets or anything that keeps the focus on the food and weight. What we focus on we become and taking the focus off of these things was absolutely essential. I had counted calories and stuck to a diet for so long, so I thought hey, how about trying something crazy and not diet, nothing else is working so why not? it was only when I stopped meal plans and diets, and started eating exactly what I wanted, with no rules, the obsession with food lifted. I focused on being a normal eater. Someone who eats when they are hungry, eats exactly what they want, stops eating when they feel full and does not think about the meal again. This is how I wanted to be, and this is what I focused on. This is how I live today, with complete freedom.
x
Original Post by NeverEatShreddedWheat:
When you say fully recovered, why does tht mean? I know that's a stupid question, but do you mean than food just doesn't bother you anymore? Or that you're at a healthy weight and eat properly? So not sure what were all even aiming for really- obviously its health etc but I always assumed that mentally this was always kind of.. 'it' for us, we'll be fighting this forever in the corner of our brains :/
So glad to hear of your success and how happy you sound- it really is a source of hope hearing that kind of message :) x
I can understand how this may be confusing to some, as the very concept of being fully recovered confused me for so long, it was something I never thought I could achieve. I believed with all my heart I would have an eating disorder forever and that was it for me.
Full recovery to me means.
I only think about food when I am hungry. I eat when I am hungry. I eat exactly what I want. I stop eating when I feel full. I do not think about that meal again and get on with the rest of my day. I am a normal eater and a normal healthy weight. I love my body and love having a happy normal life.
This is how I live today. & so can you
Love & Support
x
Original Post by lollasays:
I could really use some advice too. I'm kinda lost with this recovery thing, I'm trying for about a month now but it's only getting harder. I'm eating more now, but I'm still having those bad feelings every time I eat, I'm still obsessed with counting calories and weighing myself every morning, and every time I see the number on the scale changing I go insane. How was recovery for you??
I completely relate to how you feel. This is the way I lived for so long. I must stress that letting go of counting calories and weighing yourself is CRUCIAL for full recovery. It keeps the focus and obsession on the food and on the weightloss/weightgain. What we focus on we become and taking the focus off these things completely takes the control away from the eating disorder. It it the constant counting and weighing that keeps us from recovering. This is very difficult as first, I was terrified at the thought of gaining weight, I was absolutely petrified but when I started to eat normally and take the focus off the calories, threw away my scales, I realised I felt better, I knew I hadn't gained weight because of the way my body looked and how my clothes fit. I became more and more relaxed around food. It is the obsession which keeps us stuck.
I hope this has helped.
x
Original Post by miranda013:
How did you get past the guilt of increasing calories? What were your favorite recovery meals?
This at first was extremely difficult, I was terrified of gaining weight. When I stopped counting calories was when I truly started to believe I could recover because it took the focus away from the food. I never followed a recovery meal plan. I eat when Im hungry, eat exactly what I want, and stop when Im full. Practising this at every meal is how I recovered.
x
Hi Jenn
Congratulations on your recovery and thank you so much for coming back and offering your support and wisdom
I have a couple of questions
1) When you first started gaining, how quickly did the weight go on?
2) What did you do when you initially started and never felt hungry? I never seem to feel properly hungry - so sometimes i have to rely on the clock to know when to eat
3) Did you get any support (therapy, nutritionist etc) when recovering?
4) How long did recovery take you?
Thank you so much in advance
xx
My problem is, I'm eating and not counting but I can only eat super healthy things. I'm finding that as my anorexia gets better my bulimia gets worse. I was only purging every few days before and now it's every day sometimes multiple times. I don't want this to rule my life but it seems like I HAVE to have some sort of disorder or I'm completely lost. I have the voices in my head every time I look in the mirror or at food or when I even think about it. The voices are unbearable AND I'm super bloated all the time now. Getting better is really hard and I don't know how to go about it? I don't really know what I'm looking for here haha I guess I'm just rambling now..
By the way I threw out my scale and that helps a bunch! I was 88 pounds when I started getting better.. My bmi was 15.8. Even now I wish it was smaller :/ I have no clue what I weigh and I'm terrified. Is it really possible for me to be normal?
hi jen! :D i'm alilivia and i just started recovery for my anorexia this january, but i've only gained 4 pounds since then.. and my doctors are NOT happy ! :( i'm 13 years old 5'3 and 78 lbs. right now, but i used to be 74 lbs. i've never been hospitalized before so i'd like to keep it that way haha! :s i was wondering how long did it take you to get from your lowest weight to your current weight now? i'm trying to get an idea of how long it might take me to gain weight.. at the most i'd like to gain 10 lbs. so i can be 88 lbs., anymore and i think i'd die of embarrassment D: do you think this is reasonable?? my nutritionist refuses to answer my questions and i only get to see her every 2 weeks.. i'm scared that if i gain too much weight nobody will like me anymore. even my own little sister is looking at me differently now that i've gained weight!
thank you SOO much! and congratulations on recovering :D ali x (p.s. your really inspirational to me; you seem so care-free! i hope that i can be like that one day too!)
@Blondiebombshell. Thankyou so much and congratulations to you for showing up for your own recovery. This is amazing.
Im very happy to answer your questions.
When I first started recovering my weight was up and down but the amazing thing about it was, my attention fell past wanting to know how much I weighed because I became a normal eater and became happy with the way I looked. My metabolism returned to normal and my weight became normal and healthy. I knew this because of how my clothes fit and when I look at myself in the mirror. Still to this day I do not know my weight. I do not weigh myself. This is what real freedom is. Not needing to know the number on the scale. What is important is how you feel within yourself and when your eating habits return to normal your weight will also in its own time. This may be slower for you than it was for me.
When I first started to recover it was extremely hard to determine wether I was actually hungry or not. I had to kind of guess for a while. This happens over time. Really listen to your body, respond to your true hunger, honour it and hunger will become your friend. It will let you know you are taking care of yourself.
I did use a support group online but I never went to a therapist. I did daily meditation to calm my mind and this you could say is therapy. When i meditated I would vizualize how I would look fully recovered, how I would feel and how much I truly wanted to recover. I focused on being a normal eater. This vizualization helped me relax and really focus on what I truly wanted.
I would say the obsession with food lifted after only a couple of months. But when I truly started to really recover was when I stopped counting calories, stopped diets, stopped all eating disorder behaviours. I threw away the scale and took all focus off food and off the weight. My full recovery took only 5 months.
If you have any more questions, I'm truly glad to help.
Love & support,
Jennifer.
Original Post by ournette:
I'm having trouble too... I was anorexic and now I'm bulimic. How'd you do it? I get on a really good path but then I fall off and go back to my old ways. I'm so sick of it ruling my life and i just want to be normal again! I'm now trying the dukan diet but I think it's setting me back because I'm not eating nearly enough and it doesn't seem like a good long term weightloss tool for me. Did you use a meal plan? What was an example of it? How many calories did you eat? Did you gain or lose weight? sorry so many questions... I'm just completely lost and wanting to get better especially for college next year!! Please help!!
I'm going to be very blunt and I apologise if this sounds bad but I can so relate to you. DIETS DONT WORK. Any kind of diet or meal plan is self destruction for someone with an eating disorder. Remember it is the diet that gets us counting, gets us obsessed with food in the first place. I never used a meal plan, 99% of diets fail which is why 10 million people today are suffering with some form of an eating disorder. I cannot stress this enough. For true and complete recovery from all eating disorders it is absolutely crucial that diets, weighing yourself, weighing/measuring food and calorie counting stops. These behaviours keep us stuck in the eating disorder.
Intuitive eating, being intuned to your own body. Eating when you are hungry, eating exactly what you want, and stopping when you are full. Practising this at every meal is how I recovered, and how you can too. The weight stabilises to normal once this happens and recovery is quicker than you can imagine, but any diet you are on will end badly, I can guarentee it.
All my support.
Jennifer.
