When I started my recovery from binge eating disorder, I wasn’t expecting it to be easy. Saying no to food is hard enough when you’re a binge eater who doesn’t know how to eat properly. Yet, there are other obstacles I faced I never saw coming that I think you should know. Here’s everything that happened during my binge eating recovery I didn’t expect.
No One Considers Binging a Disorder
Everyone overeats sometimes, right? So clearly, wanting to binge every day is a normal thing to do. Except, it totally isn’t. Binge eating creates a deep shame that makes you isolate yourself from the people you love. It causes pain, exhaustion, and ruins your quality of life.
Binge eating most certainly qualifies as an eating disorder. It’s as hard to recover from as other eating disorders and can disrupt your life just as much. Although it’s very unlikely someone will die from binge eating, many long-term illnesses can be worsened by binge eating and lead to early death.
Contrarily, there are some people I’ve told about binge eating disorder who immediately think they have it because they overeat. Overeating and binge eating are similar but not quite the same.
Saying No to Food Is Unheard Of
Saying no to food seems to be a taboo activity in our society. Yes, I know there are starving children in the world, but me eating past the point of fullness won’t fix that. Unfortunately, some people will still get irked if you say no to eating their food, even when you’ve already had your fill.
Luckily, most of the time, people will get over it if you stand your ground or explain that you’re not hungry. Especially if you’re at a get-together and there are many different foods to try. If you’re an intuitive eater, you’ll likely stop when you’re starting to feel fullness and refuse to eat any more.
Saying no to the food people are offering you can feel like you’re letting them down, but that’s not the worst part. The worst part is you actually do want to eat it but don’t want to eat past fullness. No wonder giving up binge eating is hard. Usually, you would eat everything in sight. That brings me to my next part.
The Hardest Part of Binge Eating Recovery
People think to recover from binge eating, you need to cut out all your binge foods and live that way forever. However, that’s not recovery, it’s putting yourself in a cage. Real binge eating recovery means being able to eat these foods without letting yourself binge. This is the one thing people talk to me about struggling with when it comes to weight loss, binge eating, and eating well.
Once you learn to enjoy foods in moderation, the world opens up to being healthy without restriction. Instead of caging yourself, you are free to enjoy food without eating too much. You feel empowered, in control, and don’t need to stress over what food will be around you when you go out somewhere. This is true food freedom.
I’m currently working on a course that teaches you how to eat in moderation so you can do it, too. Don’t forget to subscribe to my site on the form above, so you’ll be notified when it’s complete. I’m so excited to share what I’ve learned with you!
“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Click To Tweet
Weight Loss After Eating Disorder Recovery
When most people think of recovery from an eating disorder, they imagine the person gaining weight. Weight loss after eating disorder recovery is unheard of. But when I stopped binge eating and developed a healthy relationship with food, my weight started dropping. As I reached out for more support in the online eating disorder community, I realized how out of place I was.
Binge eating disorder recovery looks very different from the other disorders. I lost weight because of my recovery, and I’m proud of that. I’m not going to feel bad because my weight dropped after learning to eat well. However, many eating disorder recovery accounts will spit venom at anything discussing weight loss. It makes sense, as many eating disorders start with wanting to lose weight.
Also, the people around you may think your reason for weight loss is a bit strange. Most people lose weight for aesthetics, but if your goal is to stop binge eating, you may not care about looks. If losing weight is proof that your binge eating is under control, that’s something you should celebrate.
Are You Ready to Start Your Binge Eating Recovery?
If you need extra help with your binge eating recovery, here’s a great book to help you out! Overcoming Binge Eating by Dr. Christopher Fairburn explains why you binge and guides you through your recovery. It’s a simple and effective program to stop binge eating, taught by a compassionate and helpful author.
If you still haven’t read Overcoming Binge Eating, I recommend it! For more information on what the book teaches, I wrote a complete review of Overcoming Binge Eating here.
Click below for quick links to the book on Amazon!
Binge Eating Recovery: In Conclusion
It’s easy to feel isolated when recovering from binge eating. If you tell people your weight loss came after eating disorder recovery, they might think you’re crazy. You’ll feel left out, misunderstood, and to make things worse, you’ll want to binge to feel better. That’s why it’s so important to find other ways to cope with discomfort rather than binging.
Fortunately, if you’re comfortable doing so, people are often understanding if you explain to them what you’re going through. I’m not always keen on sharing, but I do in the hope I can help others around me who don’t know who to turn to. If you need someone to talk to about your own recovery, please feel free to reach out to me. I’m happy to help!
Are you going through binge eating recovery? What happened during recovery that you never expected? Share your story in the comments!
That’s it for now everyone. If you’ve found some value in this post, please share it to inspire others too! Thanks!
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