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Eating disorders

Any happy success recovery stories?

12 replies

brainstormer123 · 08/05/2018 08:54

I've decided after years of restrictive eating from my Anorexia I am now ready to recover. I am trying to eat more and have a proper meal plan in place and whilst I feel strong enough to start my journey I am also racked with nerves and worries. If anyone could give me some success stories of them overcoming their eating disorder and give me some words of wisdom or tips I would be very grateful! My main goal at the moment is getting my periods back (absent for about 4 years 😬) thank you in advance xx

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TheIsland · 09/05/2018 16:40

19 years of bulimia and 3 patches of anorexia, each lasting about 3 years.

I never thought I’d recover but I have. I commited to psychotherapy and worked fucking hard at it. I’m now recovered, happy, and can notice the situations when I would previously have engaged with an ED behaviour and name how I feel (angry, upset, jealous etc).

It can get better but I wouldn’t have been able to do it alone or if I hadn’t wanted to.

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brainstormer123 · 13/05/2018 17:45

Thanks for your reply! Trying really hard to focus on the positives which is tricky sometimes but I feel I have had my light bulb moment if that makes sense! I thought I'd get more replies on this actually, anyone else like to add anything??

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lljkk · 13/05/2018 17:51

it's too long ago for me to comment about me.
There's an anorexic lady up at swimming pool. Only she seems to be in long-term recovery. She seems so much happier in herself, her colour & muscle tone is good, & I think her spine has improved hugely. Such a relief compared to how she looked about 10 years ago.

Kid on the train, too, looked skeletal for a while. I think she got a better boyfriend & hasn't had the terrified rabbit look in her eyes for a few years, now (plus gained about 10 kg, so now is merely petite).

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IamtheOrpheliac · 14/05/2018 20:58

5.5 years of anorexia/restrictive EDNOS, 2-ish years of recovery. A couple of weeks ago I started a new exercise routine and realised I was doing it because I enjoyed it, not because of a compulsive need to burn calories. It was an amazing feeling!

I did psychotherapy (Acceptance and commitment), which helped a lot. I re-evaluated what I wanted to do with my life and that helped massively. I make time to sit down with myself and go through a DBT workbook and that's really helping with recognising my emotions, which is helping me to avoid using food to cope.

Situations do still come up that trigger me, but I find it much easier to move on now. My thinking is far less black and white. I can have a bad day (or two, or three), without it turning into a total spiral. There have been a few times lately where I have caught sight of my body in the mirror and thought 'hey, I look alright'. Am still aware of what I eat, but now that's more to do with making sure I'm eating enough than trying to restrict. I think the thing that helped me the most, especially in the beginning was telling myself that I was just choosing recovery today. That I knew I could restrict and lose weight if I wanted to, but for today, I was going to try recovery. Thinking in absolutes like 'this is it, I am now in recovery, I won't be like this again' used to do my head in. It made me feel like if I had a bad day I had screwed up.

It has been a slow process, it's only been in the last few months that I've really noticed how far I have come. Sometimes I still need a hand hold.

Sorry that was long! Anyway, wishing you the best of luck! Recovery is achievable.

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Caribbeanyesplease · 19/06/2018 21:25

How are you doing OP?

Was your lightbulb moment a genuine one?

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LittleMissedTheSunshine · 16/07/2018 19:04

I had BED/Bulimia for years, and have recently managed to break out of the trap by just eating really healthily and not focusing on losing weight. I made a promise not to eat sugary or processed food for a year, but not to restrict myself with the healthier foods. I do make exceptions eg if I'm eating out, but don't bring those foods into the house.

Realised that dieting was not my friend, but the enemy. And the more I tried to 'diet' (restrict) the more I ended up putting weight on but when I focused on eating healthily and nutritiously it came off all by itself.

I had severe BED for years, with periods of restricting, to the point where I opened my friends cupboard to see half a packet of biscuits and couldn't imagine what it was like to be able to eat only a few biscuits out of a packet and leave the rest. I could imagine eating none - or all - but half the packet?

Feel like I've turned a corner now.

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HueyLewisandtheSpews · 02/12/2018 14:53

Hi!
I am in my 50s now. I post usually under another name.
I had anorexia / bulimia in my late teens , early 20s.
My lightbulb moment came one day when an aunt I had not seen for a while said I was " putting on the beef". I was eating very little and exercising like crazy. It made me come to my senses then.

I have had a couple of relapses ..early 30s , late 30s.
My relapses were brought on by stress , bullying at work , and lack of control in my life , and being told I looked like a bit of pork trussed up in a butcher's window! My parents thought I had cancer I had lost so much weight. ( I am married )

I am normal healthy weight now . I do watch what I eat .
I am healthy.

I still get the urge to put my fingers down my throat when I am stressed...the last impulse was 2 weeks ago but I resisted. Another trigger for me is lack of control .
I reduce my food intake too at these times.

It is a life long battle. The impulse does not go away.
I have been reasonably lucky in managing to not succumb to the urges.

I think I am a success because I know others who have not managed to eat normally and maintain healthy weights.
However , I know I may have another episode.

Good luck to everyone .

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brainstormer123 · 02/12/2018 16:16

Huey- thank you for sharing. I'm still on my road to recovery but find it so hard and I don't know why. I feel like why can others seem to do this but not me? I will keep fighting because I know I deserve a life free of an ED, everyone does