Posted by cloudydaze on June 25, 2006, at 19:44:59
In reply to How do I get motivated to recover?, posted by need2change on April 22, 2006, at 16:30:34
What helped me to recover from anorexia was the fact that I wanted so much to be healthy - for myself, and the ones I love. I had to force myself to eat when i was pregnant with my daughter, because i loved her so much. I wanted a healthy child, and i got one VERY healthy 8 lb baby!
The first step for me is realizing I wasn't fat. A size 2 is far from fat...but i saw myself that way. It took lots of other people telling me I was NOT fat for me to believe I had a problem. I remember when I was in inpatient treatment, my doc told me to draw a picture of myself on the dry-erase board. I drew a plump girl. Then, the doc asked another person in the class to draw a pic of me. They drew a stick figure. It was a revelation for me, for some reason.
Eating disorders are often a lifelong struggle, but they can be beaten, with willpower, and a good support system.
I went to a support group for awhile, and it helped, because I saw other people twice my age there who were very obviously anorexic. I then made a decision that I didn't want to be like that,(sick) years later. That's really when my recovery started.
The best thing to do is to eat small meals, several times a day. If you've had an ED for a long time, it's gonna take awhile to work up to eating normally. If you try to eat 2000 calories a day right away, you could end up making yourself ill.
poster:cloudydaze
thread:635912
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/eating/20051009/msgs/661389.html