Navigating Eating Disorder & Compulsive Exercise Recovery

Recovering from an eating disorder or compulsive exercise can be, in itself, exhausting. When food and body control have been the driver in your life for so long, it is hard to allow recovery to take the wheel. Foundations of recovery are often dependent on releasing control and sitting with discomfort—something that might feel very foreign to someone pursuing recovery. This is something that I, as a therapist, would want any individual beginning recovery to prepare for. It seems scary, but the goal of this journey is to find some peace—both in body and in mind (and I promise, it is possible!).

Preparing for the journey to come might feel daunting and scary; here are a few tips on how to stay hopeful, dedicated, and calm during the process:

• Awareness & acknowledgment:
  Create a space for you to acknowledge your thoughts and beliefs about food, eating, and exercise. Ask yourself these questions:
  What are your rules around eating meals? Do you only eat at pre-planned times? Do you portion control, and if so, how strictly? Do you restrict your eating if you’re hungry, outside of pre-planned eating times? Do you binge after rigidly restricting for some time? Do you substitute meals with coffee, tea, chewing gum, smoking, or appetite suppressant diet pills/medications?
  Do you stick to eating only certain foods (allergy restrictions excluded)?  How do you feel if you eat something not included in your food plan?
  What is your exercise schedule? How do you react from missing a workout? Do you allow yourself rest days? What if you’re sick, injured, or sore? Do you feel like you have to exercise as a result of eating big meals?
  What influence does social media have on you? What kinds of accounts are you following, and how do they make you feel about yourself? Do you compare yourself to influencers and fitness models?

• Challenging thoughts & beliefs:
  Often our beliefs around exercise and food turn into rigid “rules”. These rules dictate our behaviours and thoughts about how/when we eat and move our bodies. For example, if you create a strict schedule for the length of time in which you will go to the gym every day—this is a rule. If you will not allow yourself to eat breakfast until 11 am everyday (even if you’re starving)—this is a rule. If you only allow yourself to eat one certain food as a meal every day—this is a rule.
  What now?
  Switch it up. This might be uncomfortable and stressful—encourage yourself to remember these feelings are only temporary. Try a different form of exercise, maybe even for a reduced amount of time than usual. Try eating a new food, maybe even when you actually feel hungry. The key here to challenging rigidity around food and exercise—focus on variety and flexibility (even *gasp* pleasure).

• Coping strategies:
  What emotion are you looking to feel when you exercise? How do you want to feel about food and eating? Likely your answers will be similar to desiring a sense of peace, safety, calm, control, and reduced anxiety. What other activities might promote these desires? Maybe meditation, journalling, or talking to a friend. Unfollow any accounts on social media that make you feel bad about your body—and even go a step further and find accounts which make you feel empowered and validated. Check in with your body—what is it asking for? We often use food control and exercise as a way to numb ourselves to our pain; which has been helpful, I’m sure, however isn’t a long-term solution. Therapy, when affordable, is also a great way to learn more about yourself, guidance in your journey, and how to apply these skills.

Compulsive exercise and food control is not sustainable. It often creates inescapable anxiety that works to control our every thought and movement, during every waking hour. Get off the hamster wheel.  Exercise and food can be pleasurable! This concept just needs to be re-programmed. Give your mind and body a rest—literally.