Eating Disorder Recovery Questions and Answers

1. What do you think have been some

of the most helpful things you have

done?

I had to ACT AS IF I was recovered from an eating disorder. SO that meant I would go out and eat with friends, choose things that I liked and be around people as much as possible.

I would act as if I wasn't obsessed, so that meant no more reading online weight loss sites, unhealthy eating disorder sites or bringing binge food into my house.

I had to let go of all of the eating disorder behavior - the dieting, calorie counting, researching methods to lose weight on the internet, laxatives, talking to others who were in the disorder, everything!

You know your own little tricks and things that you do. I had to stop all of that, and begin to eat normally. Normally means eating foods that I liked-not foods that were "healthy" or "safe"... genuinely things that I liked.

Eating when I felt hungry (I learned slowly to recognize this) and stopping when I was fuII.

Other tips that helped me beat this disorder:

• It was very important for me to use the visualizations that I described.

• I had to stay away from other disordered eaters.

• I eliminated binge food from the house

• I stopped weighing myself

• I stopped reading online diet and pro Ana sites

• I stopped talking about my eating disorder

• I kept repeating to myself that I was recovered

• I had to cut back on exercise for a while 3

• I kept busy focused on other things like my work and writing

• I spent a lot of time eating WITH people

• Let go of any old ideas about diets, good/bad foods, trying to lose weight, obsession with my body.

• Avoid talking to people who are constantly dieting and trying to lose weight stop looking for the latest ways to lose weight or eating disorder tricks

What this means is a commitment to getting well, not a commitment to losing weight or trying to stay at a certain weight.

The important thing however is not to focus on dieting - DIETS ALWAYS

FAIL. You will never get anywhere and you will either be starving and miserable or overeating because you are so deprived.

2. What made me say ENOUGH

I guess it was just being sick and tired of it. I had tried so many diets, programs etc and eventually I gave up. I also met a girl who was a normal eater and she inspired me. I saw her eating normal things like French toast and pasta, and she didn't gain weight!

I knew that diets were the problem and so I decided to give normal eating or intuitive eating a try.

Finally, I just gave up. I gave up on the diets, the food plans and anything that was designed to focus, control and restrict my eating.

I made a single minded and determined effort to shift my attention off food, weight and dieting. I knew that "what we focus on we become" and I used this principle to guide my focus OFF food and weight.

I stopped weighing myself, stopped eating diet foods, and stopped creating meal plans and researching anything food related online. I wanted to live, not be a slave to food and the scales.

This of course was not an overnight process, but I can tell you that once the mental shift was created, the results were faster than expected.

The more I ate food that I actually liked, the more the obsession lessened.

The more time I spent with friends talking about things not food related, the less I had the desire to binge.

It has now been over four years and I have not had the need to binge, diet, starve or purge in that time. No desire at all. There have been thoughts at various times of wanting to "lose a few pounds", start a

"cleanse" or go on a "quick diet", but I have NEVER acted on these thoughts, because I know what they lead to.

3. How did you use visualizations in your recovery?

I also can't stress enough how

important visualization is. I would do

this every day - SEE myself as

someone who was recovered, very

clearly in a lot of detail. I would imagine things like:

• what would I be telling people

about how I recovered

• what would I be doing instead of

binge eating

• writing my story about how I

recovered

• what would I be eating

• who would I be spending time with

• Anything else that works for YOU

But I visualized myself FULLY RECOVERED - as if it were ALREADY

TRUE.

Keep that thought at the forefront of your mind and then get busy with other things. Think of what you would be doing if you were not obsessed with food and weight and then do them!

I visualized the EXACT recovery that I wanted and I practiced these visualizations daily.

ALWAYS keep repeating to yourself:

I AM A NORMAL EATER and I HAVE COMPLETELY RECOVERED from all eating disorders.

And it has all come true!!

For the Complete strategy of my full recovery, Download Recover From

Eating Disorders

4. What did you do in the beginning

to fight off the obsession?

I found it really helpful at the start

to stay busy doing things I really

enjoyed (I worked a lot making

websites and

writing),

staying

around people who were NOT

disordered

eaters

(very

triggering), getting RID of scales,

being around people as much as

possible (especially when I didn't

want to), eating with people (and

choosing food that I actually liked).

It was really important for me to let

go of all obsessive thinking and

planning around food.

How do we do this? By doing the opposite.

• Instead of researching a diet online, I would research something for my writing.

• Instead of talking about how bad I felt about food I would call a friend and ask how they were.

• When I wanted to stay home and binge, I would go out and eat with people.

I had to eliminate all of the obsessions from my life and anything that would trigger the obsession.

It is a fight and you will win. just never ever give up!

5. I can't stop dieting and restricting

The major thing that prevents

recovery is the binge/starve

roller

coaster. From my

experience, starving or restricting

always leads to a binge that can do enormous damage.

I had to really let go of all forms

of dieting behavior, restriction,

excessive food planning and

"weight loss" techniques. These are the basic changes that are

ESSENTIAL.

Once you get your thinking right, the changes in your body will take care of themselves.

I also had to start eating food that I actually liked! No more carb free meals and plain salad. It had to be what I was genuinely hungry for.

Remember that this is a process and you are absolutely on the right track.

Small changes all add up.

To begin with I would strongly recommend that you stay away from weight loss sites, restriction, starvation plans and any other behavior which triggers the obsession. This was a key component of how I finally

recovered.

6. Is it really possible to recover?

You really can ABSOLUTELY beat this thing completely. If you could have seen how bad I was you would understand that it is possible for anyone.

The main thing that I had to do was let go of all the Eating Disorder behavior - the dieting, calorie counting, weighing, restricting, obsessive exercise, etc.

I wanted to be a NORMAL eater and that was my goal.

I had been in so many programs that focused on food plans, control, etc and that just never worked for me. I believe that it fuelled my disorder by keeping the focus on the control.

The main thing I had to do was trust myself and keep asking myself what I wanted to eat, -ANYTHING - but it actually had to be what I wanted, not what was ••right" or ••healthy".

Eventually after trusting this path the obsession was completely alleviated.

So really it came down to reprogramming everything back to its natural state - and letting my body readjust and eat intuitively. I still do that today- I eat everything - ice cream, chocolate, salad, bread, whatever!

COMPLETE recovery IS Possible!!

Find out EXACTLY HOW by Downloading Recover From Eating Disorders

7. I just can't allow myself to eat

what I want - it scares me

It terrified me too at first. I had

cut out so many different food

groups that it seemed impossible

to get my head around eating

them again.

But I got to a point where I KNEW

that it was the only way OUT of

the obsession and the eating

disorder.

4 years on, I eat exactly what I

want and have not gained ANY

weight.

I actually LOST 40

Pounds in the process of allowing myself to eat what I want.

The only way to beat fear is to do the thing that scares you the most.

8. If you have any tips on how to be a normal eater, please tell me!

The trick is to eat, act and behave like a normal person around food. I know it seems

too simplistic, and that's the point. It is really very simple.

There is no such thing as the perfect meal plan, and it really doesn't matter how many grams of carbs, fat or calories you have in a day. It is the mental obsession with food and weight that keeps us in the disorder and leads to binges, overeating and weight gain. Food in itself does not make you fat. The obsession and mental preoccupation does

The best way to do this is just practice. Start with small goals and incorporate things into your daily eating that you actually like.

Over time you will get more confident and you will see that no food that you like will make you put on weight - it will actually make you more satisfied and probably eat less.

Start small, keep being consistent and always remember your goal - to be a normal eater.

Keep remembering that it really makes NO difference what food you eat.

What matters is that you are satisfied and that the obsession is lifted. The more you try to be "healthy" the more you will end up eating because your body is unsatisfied and you are constantly obsessing about it and are always returning to the fridge or store to get more food.

The food does not make us fat, it's the obsessive thinking about it that makes us eat MORE and still feel unsatisfied.

Learning how to eat intuitively is what ultimately cures negative beliefs about food. Food obsession is overwhelming, and can take over your life.

Remove this obstacle from your life, and you will experience amazing peace and freedom in your life. You will be free to direct your thoughts and energy to your true goals and dreams.

9. Did you ever feel like giving up?

Before I completely believed that

could have a FULL recovery, there

were times when I played around

with "normal" eating or intuitive eating and would give up after a few

days because I was always driven by the fear of gaining weight.

But by the time I really made a decision to recover and let go of all

of my old ideas about dieting,

restriction and weight loss, there

was NO going back. Giving up was

NOT an option because I knew what

the result would be - starvation for

a few days, huge amount of obsession followed by disastrous binges that would lead to even more weight gain.

I had already gained 40 pounds by that time and was SO uncomfortable in my own body. I wanted to change so desperately and I BELIEVED that I could be a normal eater.

"Tension and discomfort are necessary feelings in the process of achieving your goal. In fact, if you do not experience them then the goal is not important or not what you really want." Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Avy joseph (p 114)

10. How long did it take you to feel

completely free of the disorder?

You will be surprised at this - it was VERY quick. I would say that the initial transition took about 3-4 weeks. That

was mainly just me learning to eat normal food - food that I liked, at times that I wanted, without feeling guilty.

It was very strange and at times I felt like I didn't know what I was doing, but I just kept a vision in my mind - of me eating normally and being completely

free of food and weight obsession.

Even at times when I thought that

messed up, I would keep this vision in my head. I continued trying to just eat

things that I enjoyed and I found that the more I did this, the less hungry and compulsive I felt.

Also, my body and weight regulated within a few moths. I actually lost weight and all of the bloating went away.

I would say that after about 3 months I almost felt completely recovered.

The obsessive thoughts were way in the background of my mind. They would come up occasionally - usually if I was really hungry around my 11

period or something like that. But mainly I started to notice that they would come up if I tried to exercise too much or eat things that I thought were "light" or low calorie.

That is a danger zone for me. I know that now. I don't have the luxury of dieting.

But the good thing is that I really don't need to diet. My weight is stable and at a really normal level - perfect for my body.