Weight loss after an eating disorder?

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  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
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    many support groups are free
    there is a BED group and an Overeaters Anon group (which accepts anyone with food issues) and are not therapy. just like minded people striving to be their best selves.
    colleges have great resources. community centers do as well.
    contact your old team.
  • staringatthesun
    staringatthesun Posts: 38 Member
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    hi everybody! i love this thread.

    i had bulimia, followed by anorexia (binge-purge subtype), followed by bulimia, followed by anorexia (restricting subtype), from ages 17-24. after a few rounds of treatment, i've been in recovery for the last five years!

    however, this past summer i was in treatment addressing a bunch of the underlying mental health issues that led to the ED, and ended up gaining 20 pounds... meds, sitting around all day in one big room, eating too much, etc. -- it got to me! once i finally realized and accepted just how much weight i had actually gained, i came back on MFP to lose the weight healthily. it's pretty hard though to find that balance.

    there are quite a few of us on here though in recovery from various EDs. and i would love more friends here too, to support and be supported by! it's a tricky business, trying to lose weight but somehow not use behaviors or get insanely triggered.
  • toe1226
    toe1226 Posts: 249 Member
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    Pema Chodron is a popular western interpreter of Buddhist literature, her book "no time to lose" awakened me to realize that my self restriction and cyclical dieting was a form of selfishness, and "samsara" - or continuously doing the same things despite no change or end goal, and in focusing only on that samsara, losing my compassion for others. The book is not about food, its just about changing our "neurotic habits" to become more compassionate individuals.

    Realizing that over restriction and obsession was not just damaging, but it was selfish, has been a really helpful way for me to rethink weight.
  • eviegreen
    eviegreen Posts: 123 Member
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    I think you'll have to be careful even with fitness goals. For those with a past of ED, it becomes all to easy to veer into orthorexia and exercise bulimia. It's a very insidious side of the ED monster, because it masquerades as being health conscious, but takes on the same obsessive aspect. This is why therapy is such an important part of recovery, particularly if you're looking to lose; it's so easy to fall back into obsessive patterns.

    If you live near a university, grad students in psych are often looking to make up counseling hours either for free or low cost. You might also see if there are community support centers or groups in your area where you can meet with others in recovery. Dial 2-1-1 (if you're in the US) and ask, or visit this website: http://www.211.org/
  • bezlooney
    bezlooney Posts: 81 Member
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    LadyAbsynthe wrote: »
    To start with, please don't tell me to talk to a therapist/nutritionist/etc. because that's not really an option for financial reasons if nothing else. I also know that there probably aren't a lot of people here with eating disorders, but I'm going to bet that there are quite a few who have gone through stages of disordered eating or at least unhealthy relationships with food.
    So, basically I was EDNOS for a year, bulimic for a couple of years, and anorexic for a year or so after that. I've been in recovery for a year and a half and gained about 50 pounds from my lowest weight. My relationship with food is pretty healthy right now, but I still sometimes eat too much when I'm not hungry or don't want it. Consequently, my weight is higher than I'd like it to be and some of my clothing doesn't fit properly. I'm not quite overweight, but my BMI is above average (which I know is *kitten*, but mine was always pretty low before my ED).

    So, I'm trying to lose weight and get fitter now. But I have no experience of doing it the "healthy way", and it's... really hard. It's very hard to do it without obsessing and returning to my old patterns. It's almost impossible to find anything between restriction-purging-obsession and not-caring-at-all-and-totally-ignoring-it. Does anyone have any experience or advice?

    My story is very similar to yours. I suffer from ednos and have for 15 years. I was very underweight for 10 years, finally gained weight but then wanted to loose a little to get to my ideal healthy weight. This was very hard to do without falling into old habits so my advice is to first make sure your mentally strong and prepared. Second i would try iifym. I found this helped alot. I found my macros needed to be at my desired weight and made sure to hit them everyday. By hit them i stress getting to the minimum or more, not going under.
    My second peoce of advice is to focus more on how you feel and look than the number on the scale. I hardly ever step on the scale anymore. Its about how i feel in my cloths. Hope any of this helps

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