I'm part of an online facetime group for anorexia & all the sufferers were going on about their love of food & I felt really awkward bc I hate it. I rely heavily on Ensure style drinks & like the title says, if a pill existed that saved me having to prepare, cook & eat food I'd take it ASAP.

Apparently "all anorexics love food" but we're punishing ourselves according to the therapist. I felt like an anomaly after the session & googled it but only helplines showed up. Am I alone in disliking food & cooking?

Does anyone have any recommendations or good experiences with dieticians in Illinois? Newly diagnosed with atypical anorexia, trying to find someone. I have a lot of recommendations but I’m overwhelmed.

Also if anyone is in the mood to give me a little encouragement to schedule, it’d be really appreciated because every ounce of me absolutely does not want to but I know I have to.

Thanks ❤️

I’m trying to help out my friend with anorexia. I’m not sure how to. I don’t want her to feel worse abt her anorexia.

Is it appropriate to let her know I’ve noticed certain unhealthy eating behaviors? Will it cause more harm than good to let my friend know that I’m aware? How harmful?

Like can I ask stuff like ‘have you eaten?’ or slightly hint at it and say ‘is this your first meal?’ ‘would you like to eat more?’

Ive returned to eating normally after a while of a calorie deficit, I've gotten fairly slim but I'm eating way above the recommended amount of calories now as well as taking supplements, but I'm still losing weight, is there anything I can do to gain weight?? I've been trying recovery, but it doesn't feel like it's happening.

Hi evryone ive noticed ive been eating a lot more this past year for private reasons and noticed when i eat i go more into autopilot mode where i scroll my phone and eat nonstop Untill i get bored or eat evrything to max fullness is it normal or do i have a problem? And if so how do i fix it?

I’ve struggled with binge eating and emotional eating for years. I’m overweight, and I’m finally ready to work on my health—not because of what other people think, but because I want a healthier relationship with food and with myself. If you’ve recovered or made progress, what helped you break the cycle? Any advice would mean a lot.

hey fabulous people, I had bad patterns with eating, exercising and the rest of that and finally hit my breaking point after about a year. I started to recover but in a weird way over 7 months. this has caused me to become uncomfortable in my own body again. I’m trying to build up a good relationship with food and excersize again. with the aim to become stronger, more confident in my own body and my choices around food and exercise but it’s leading me back to old habits. I want to keep going and learn proper habits let me live like a regular person. do people have any advice on how they recovered and built up a good relationship with food and exercise while finding a body they are comfortable in?

thanks :)

Hi all. I (25f) have struggled with my fair share of disordered eating. First in college, I had a binge problem, then lost the weight and more very, very unhealthily. No one said anything because I was morbidly obese and was being congratulated left and right. Then I developed a sort of clean eating, super active lifestyle, and even though I was maintaining a healthy weight, my mind was still very, very obsessive with calories of foods, calories burned in exercise, and what was on my plate. After a few months, this past fall, I slipped into full blown restriction, losing an immense amount of weight in 3 months, which then eventually developed into bulimia when my body gave in and I felt overwhelmed with my extreme hunger.

I am 7 months into "recovery", officially dx'd with BN, and have gained some weight back. It is putting me in a spiral and though I am eating more regularly and my purging (via vomiting) has decreased, my exercise addiction and other forms of purging, including the shame that comes with it, has remained.

A point of entry to reality that my dietician is trying to use is how much I love being strong through physical activity, and I cannot have that without fueling properly. I bought a Garmin a few months ago (the cheapest one lol) because I was recommended to give it a shot so I can know how much I burn and how I can eat to support my love for it. But, all it has brought me is more obsession.

Now that I know my TDEE (which is about what I expected but higher than I'd like to accept), I am meticulous about not eating above that, and even planning way lower. I can't stop counting the calories so that I could lose some of the weight again but ✨healthily✨ and looking at my Garmin at the estimated calories burned.

I track everything, and I can't stop. I am freaking out when I eat more than what I planned especially if it's above my calories burned for the day and am no longer enjoying activity. And the thing is: I love working out and exercise. I hike and trail run and cycle and do yoga and work an active job that has resulted in visible muscle. I truly feel grounded when I exercise, or used to.

I still want to keep the movement going but I think especially in this "optimization market" where everyone is training for marathon and has their fitness watch or meticulous gym plan it's hard to let it go. And of course eating and wellness and nutrition go hand in hand. But I haven't felt genuine inner peace with how I move or what I eat for literal years. It's so foreign to me, and the exercise addiction + the tracking calories is all I know. I don't rest, and when I am forced to (whether it is weather or sickness or depression) I feel so lazy and like I can feel the weight adding on.

Seriously, I'm at a loss. I miss when activity was fun and making my body feel better holistically was actually impactful. How can I stop all this?

So i was originally referred to acute but they wouldn’t accept me because of my insurance despite my insurance being completely willing to pay for it.

So now im hunting for other places. Are there any inpatients that do not take your phone, you aren’t sharing a room with someone else, and aren’t isolated.

For me, i need medical stabilization. I need likely injections, an iron infusion, and all kinds of monitoring so i cant imagine many are going to be helpful

Idk if this requires a TW or not but I put one anyways just to be safe.

A while back, I didn’t want to recover at all, I was too scared of gaining weight, but I was starting to realize how much my ed conflicted with my own morals about non-conformity. Then a small part of me wanted to recover, but it wasn’t enough to overpower the disordered thinking, so I’d post about my ed in the appropriate subreddits (on an old account I ended up deleting) secretly kinda hoping that someone would say something to kinda snap me out of it. That did not happen. I started going into a cycle of starving and then eating normally or binging and then starving again because I became as much as I still wanted to stick with my routine and lose as much weight as possible I became painfully aware of how much I really should recover, so I was very back and forth on whether I wanted to recover or not. Eventually though I found a physical hobby that I actually enjoyed (not saying what it is so y’all don’t make fun of me) and wanted to become good at that required muscular strength, which pushed me to actually commit to recovery.

It was going okay for a bit. Then it all started to fall apart and feel hopeless. I was having so much trouble eating enough protein though, and I know I have to eat protein to gain muscle, and also it wasn’t long until I stopped hyperfixating on the hobby, and while I still do really want to become good at it it feels like I never will because I can’t get myself to practice enough and when I do practice I get worn out so quickly that I can barely enjoy it and I keep getting hurt despite doing the proper stretches and I don’t know how to distinguish a healthy amount of pain from like a warning from my body that I need to rest, plus I’m still so bad at it and I can help but feel like I’ll never get good.

I do want to recover for other reasons, but I don’t know if I can do it. I keep getting back on the scale and obsessing over how much I weigh, my mom’s been on a health kick and I physically cannot get myself to eat a lot of the food she’s been buying because it’s so nasty, and I don’t make much money so spending my own money on food feels like a huge waste since it’s not technically necessary since I have food at home (even though I can’t eat a lot of this crap if I try), and I unintentionally lost a lot of weight from that parasite that’s been going around and I think the parasite has passed but the weight loss made my obsession with my weight a lot worse and I’m terrified of my weight going back to what it was before the parasite. Also I keep seeing videos of guys online talking about women’s body types that make them undesirable and I don’t know why that even matters to me since I’m not attracted to men but it just keeps making me think how much I hate my body. Not to mention the fact that it’s summertime and I carry most of my weight in my stomach so I feel disgusted with myself whenever I wear a bathing suit (I don’t wear bikinis but the water makes them tight against my skin).

I do want to recover so I can stop missing out on food related events, stop damaging the body God gave me, not have brain fog that makes college even more difficult, etc., but it’s just so much easier to lose weight from not eating, and my stupid adhd brain is way too obsessed with taking the easy way out of everything even when I know it has serious disadvantages. I’m scared I’ll never recover. I hate that I’m letting the beauty standards that I hate and disagree with so much dictate how I live my life. I‘ve had a disordered mindset in terms of eating & losing weight since I was 10 (even though I was skinny back then and was stupid to have even been thinking about losing weight) and even when I haven’t actively been starving myself I still can get rid of the mindset and I don’t know if it’ll ever go away. I want so badly to be skinny but I cannot diet and exercise healthily when I try, probably cause of my adhd (dopamine seeking through food + executive dysfunction making it feel impossible to exercise consistently). I have a therapist but I feel like there’s more important stuff to address with him and I don’t feel comfortable telling him about my ed, especially since he’s asked before if I’m eating well and I lied to him and said yes and I’m ashamed to admit to him that I was lying. This shit sucks

I’ve struggled with binge eating/overeating for as long as I can remember. I am overweight. I’ve heard the jokes, the comments, and the “you have such a pretty face” remarks more times than I can count. I’m tired of it.
Food has always been my way of coping with emotions. I’ll eat when I’m stressed, sad, or bored, and afterward I just feel guilty and disappointed in myself. I’ve tried dieting so many times, but I always end up telling myself, “I’ll start tomorrow,” and tomorrow never comes.
Recently, during a sports physical, they found protein in my urine. I know that doesn’t automatically mean it’s because of my weight, but it was a wake-up call for me to start taking my health seriously.
This time, I don’t want to lose weight because of what other people think or because I want someone to like me. I want to do it because I want to be healthy. I don’t want to spend my teenage years constantly comparing myself to other girls or feeling trapped by my eating habits. I want to build a healthier relationship with food and with myself.
For anyone who has recovered from binge eating or emotional eating, what helped you? How did you stop the cycle of saying “I’ll start tomorrow”? What habits made the biggest difference?
I’d really appreciate any advice or encouragement. Thank you for reading.

I'm in inpatient care and my meal plan seems like a lot of food right now

I’ve struggled with binge eating/overeating for as long as I can remember. I’m a teenager, and I’m overweight. I’ve heard the jokes, the comments, and the “you have such a pretty face” remarks more times than I can count. I’m tired of it.
Food has always been my way of coping with emotions. I’ll eat when I’m stressed, sad, or bored, and afterward I just feel guilty and disappointed in myself. I’ve tried dieting so many times, but I always end up telling myself, “I’ll start tomorrow,” and tomorrow never comes.
Recently, during a sports physical, they found protein in my urine. I know that doesn’t automatically mean it’s because of my weight, but it was a wake-up call for me to start taking my health seriously.
This time, I don’t want to lose weight because of what other people think or because I want someone to like me. I want to do it because I want to be healthy. I don’t want to spend my teenage years constantly comparing myself to other girls or feeling trapped by my eating habits. I want to build a healthier relationship with food and with myself.
For anyone who has recovered from binge eating or emotional eating, what helped you? How did you stop the cycle of saying “I’ll start tomorrow”? What habits made the biggest difference?
I’d really appreciate any advice or encouragement. Thank you for reading.

I’ve struggled with binge eating/overeating for as long as I can remember. I’m a teenager, and I’m overweight. I’ve heard the jokes, the comments, and the “you have such a pretty face” remarks more times than I can count. I’m tired of it.
Food has always been my way of coping with emotions. I’ll eat when I’m stressed, sad, or bored, and afterward I just feel guilty and disappointed in myself. I’ve tried dieting so many times, but I always end up telling myself, “I’ll start tomorrow,” and tomorrow never comes.
Recently, during a sports physical, they found protein in my urine. I know that doesn’t automatically mean it’s because of my weight, but it was a wake-up call for me to start taking my health seriously.
This time, I don’t want to lose weight because of what other people think or because I want someone to like me. I want to do it because I want to be healthy. I don’t want to spend my teenage years constantly comparing myself to other girls or feeling trapped by my eating habits. I want to build a healthier relationship with food and with myself.
For anyone who has recovered from binge eating or emotional eating, what helped you? How did you stop the cycle of saying “I’ll start tomorrow”? What habits made the biggest difference?
I’d really appreciate any advice or encouragement. Thank you for reading.

I have struggled with binging or overeating (whatever you wanna call it,). most of my life. Im a teenager now and I’m overweight. People always make fun of me for it and Im over it. Im over with people always telling me I have so much potential or that I have a pretty face but a fat body. When it comes to eating, I just can’t control myself. I eat my feelings away and then feel gross after. Whenever I put myself on a diet, I always fail it with the excuse that I will just start tomorrow, but that day never comes, until now. I wasent taking loosing weight seriously, but when I went to take my physical test and they found protein in my urine That’s when I knew. Im going to change for the better. Not because I want to be more attractive or so guys can like me, but for health. I don’t want to die over food. I don’t want to waste my teenage years wanting to be other girls because Theyre skinny, I want to be happy with myself. I want to be healthy. Please give me tips on how to recover and to not let binging get to me. Motivate me, harshly. Share your stories.

My eating disorder has ruined my life and im ready to make a change. I have struggled with binging since I was a kid and now I’m a teenager. I am overweight and people make fun of me for it. Im tired of people saying I have so much potential or that I have a pretty face but a fat body. I hate that I can’t control myself when it comes to food and eat my feelings away. Whenever I put myself on a diet, I always end up binging with the excuse that I will just start another day. But that day never comes. Im done comparing myself to skinner girls instead of making a real change. At first, I wasn’t taking loosing weight a big serious deal, but when I went to take a physical test and they found protein in my urine THATS when I knew. Thats when I knew that I had to change. Not because I want boys to like me or to look better, but because it’s for my health. I don’t want food to end my life. I don’t want to waste my teenage years. Please help me. Please give me advice on how to stop binging or motivate me.

I just…I don’t know anymore.

I feel surrounded by coke thin bodies. My entire feed is fully of gorgeous thin women. My legs and waist are the more dead give away that I’m not thin and it hurts so much.

I feel like I’m never going to stop worrying about losing weight. It sucks. I just want to be beautiful and thin. I wish I could model.

I’m hungry but not hungry. I eat but not really. I puke up the heavy stuff. And often forget to finish eating the light stuff. I’m not getting smaller, the scale isn’t budging and my waist isn’t shrinking. I’m so tired every day. But I never feel like I’m good enough.

Hello! I MENTION BMI HERE BUT NO ACTUAL NUMBERS!! Long story short, my doctor made a comment about my past weight (that I recorded in the past) being “a bit heavy” for my height, despite it falling well within the normal BMI range. I am trying to restore weight after a period of quick and alarming weight loss. When discussing goal weights, she said this about something I weighed in the past. When I asked her if that would have caused any health problems, she said “well no, it just doesn’t align with your growth chart.” I was confused, so I tried to clarify what was wrong with the higher weight exactly if it wouldn’t cause me any harm, and she said “well, nothing” and said some stuff about my frame size being “small”, but agreed that the weight would not be detrimental to me. She then changed my target weight to the heavier weight I mentioned that was still a normal bmi but she said was also too heavy? The whole experience made me spiral and now I am afraid that if I try to get back to a healthier point I will be criticized for it. I’m not sure why she would say that to me, as she suspects I may have an ED and then says these things. Any advice on what to do/ what she may have been talking about?

Okay so the thing is, I've lost around a significant amount of weight in the past three months because of different unrelated reasons (depression, a change of psychiatric meds and a bunch of other things). I've struggled with weight and body through childhood, but felt like i'd healed for the last couple of years after therapy, etc. and stopped going on extreme diets and started focusing on wellness. It was working out quite well then, and I became quite accepting of my appearance. I used to be overweight, and now I'm kinda in the normal range for someone my height. I'm not able to eat because of unrelated reasons (almost zero appetite even after taking medication to make me hungry, and this whole contamination thing, that makes me want to incinerate my insides, not letting me physically eat most food). I hate to admit that my self image has improved quite a bit because of the weight loss, but rn the idea of gaining it back is kinda eating me alive and now that's also kinda contributing to the terrible appetite. I am getting professional help, but lately i've been feeling like I don't want to get better because this whole thing is too heavy to deal with above everything else I've been dealing with. A part of me finds this extremely heartbreaking, but another part feels like this is one of the only good things in my life and something not worth losing. Has anyone else gone through this? What does the healing process look like?

My daughter (13) was just diagnosed with anorexia (binge/purge subtype). We are working on building a support system for her and just got into an out-patient program. I am reading and learning and trying to get up to speed as quick as I can to help her. Just basically reaching out here with solidarity to everyone here and looking for any tips or advice — either things that helped or things to avoid.

We are just beginning a mechanical eating routine. The doctor has said it is ok to continue physical activity for now, but we are all aware that exercise is also a part of the purge dynamic for her.

I suppose the most difficult thing for me so far (well, it has all been difficult) has been that she tells us she doesn’t want to get better. It is hard to hear and hard to see her feeling that way.

This sub has already been really helpful just reading about people’s experiences!

Backstory, early July was the anniversary of a traumatic loss. I became overwhelmed by feelings of dread and panic. I barely left my bed, I was so anxious i felt physically ill. So I barely ate making my ED worse than it’s been in a while. . I was stuck in the worst of it for 5 days, and while the feelings are not as intense anymore, my eating disorder behaviors have “stuck”. I’ll be honest, the behaviors definitely help me feel safer, but it’s slowly costing my life. I don’t recognize myself anymore, I feel exactly what they mean when they say a “shell of a person”.

Some positives: I have started seeing a ED therapist & therapist, and while I was feeling hopeful I’m worried that the bulk of support I need is having actual meal support. I’m working on incorporating more meal support into my week!

What has helped you when you feel stuck in recovery? How have you kept yourself motivated, even when things seem impossible?

Title says it…. Anyone been to a residential center that has a great program for conquering super compulsive exercise? Even working w athletes or at least has a movement specialist? Other program I went to really didn’t have any specialized help in this area… they just allowed no movement

I am tired of battling with bulimia. Is there anyone here who has dealt with bulimia for several years that has advice to stop? I can not eat anything or I make myself vomit it up. I’m so sick of this cycle. I am tired. I have been dealing with bulimia for 9 years. People don’t take me seriously since I am considered over. But it haunts me everyday. I can’t eat like a normal person. I hate that I eat snacks and food, knowing I will do it. I hate eating because I’ll just end up puking it up again. Please if there is anyone here with advice. I am diagnosed bulimia as well, but obviously doctors didnt take me seriously enough to hospitalise me, but it is really bad. really really bad. thanks.

i puke about 10+ times a day. 💔

Hello all! as you could probably guess from the title, I'm looking for some advice on my long time bestie who's struggling with some eating disorders. For some context, she is a young trans woman who is unable to receive therapy of any kind as her dad is extremely controlling/abusive. This also means she's not able to access gender affirming care, even in the form of clothing, as her room is often raided and anything too feminine is broke/trashed/confiscated. Anyways, I try to help her through her dysphoria as a fellow trans girly myself, but one of her few sources of genuine relief is the feeling of being very skinny/dainty, and became very insecure about her weight. She also struggles with very bad ADHD and has medication for it which kills her appetite, but even when she doesn't take her meds, she only has a fairly small list of safe foods that she can tolerate eating without much struggle (being mostly salads w/ bacon bits, or chocolate chips). She will snack throughout the day, but has recently confessed to me that she hasn't eaten anything but raw pasta for about 3 days, save for some dinner which she threw up soon after.

In the past, she has had times where she eats much less, and times when she will eat good portions of food, but what concerned me the most was mentions of vomiting up her meals. She always got sick easy (once she vomited just at the smell of fresh buttermilk from the carton), but she would never (or at least never told me about) vomiting to purge food before.

She's currently in another state and so i can't be with her to give her snacks that she'll eat, help her find food she can tolerate etc, so I'm wondering how best i can support her? I've never been good at offering comfort and advice, especially when it comes to this subject matter, so I'm really in need of some assistance.

Also as a last mention, she's very open about her struggles with me and does want to seek professional help, but after trying for months, the one appointment she was able to get with a therapist was promptly cancelled by her father.

So yeah, any advice or stories of maybe what actions have worked in your experiences would be very, very appreciated!

How do you gauge someone’s feelings on eating disorders prior to telling them you’re struggling? I don’t want to accidentally tell someone judgmental so I always try to get their opinion without actually outting myself? How would you do that with an eating disorder topic?