(Or Anorexia, Binge Eating, EDNOS, etc.)
Bulimia Recovery. What is it? How can you recover from bulimia?
I spent a lot of time thinking about these questions.
When I first got into recovery my answer was: “I’ll be recovered when the eating disorder behaviors stop.”
However, early on in my recovery I had periods of abstinence from the behaviors – long periods of time – but I was STILL plagued by the eating disorder voice.
It still told me that I was fat, that I was ugly, and that I should engage in the eating disorder behaviors. I didn’t deserve to be happy and that I wasn’t worthy of anything good or wonderful in this life.
Even though I had gotten help for bulimia and had been in recovery for bulimia for some time, that negative voice was still present and I still had the urges although I didn’t always act on them.
Being truly recovered from an eating disorder means that you don’t engage in the eating disorder behaviors AND you don’t have the negative eating disorder thoughts either. You don’t have the urge to binge or purge or restrict your food and the eating disorder voice isn’t there dictating your life and you aren’t controlled by food.
I’ll tell you it took me a while to actually understand it but when I did everything got so much better so fast. So how can you get there?
Here are some of the basics of how to recover from bulimia:
Admit you have a problem.
The first step in recovering from bulimia or any eating disorder is that you must admit you have a problem. This does not mean that you are weak! I definitely felt that if I admitting there was something wrong that it would give the problem more power, when in reality it gives us great power in being able to initiate change in our lives.
I am realizing that I am powerless over my eating disorder and my life has become unmanageable. Where does that leave me? It means I cannot stop on my own, that I need help. It also means that I am admitting my own weakness, something that needs to be done before I can change. How do I change though? It is much more difficult than I ever thought. I am powerless when my eating disorder takes over my thoughts, cravings, and actions. But that does not mean I have to give in.
Decide what type of treatment for bulimia is right for you.
There are so many different options when it comes to treatment for bulimia or other eating disorder treatment. There are inpatient hospitalization programs, which are the most intense treatment available, and there are a variety of programs designed for all different types of people. These you check yourself in and stay in their facility, participating in daily treatment: therapy, groups, exercise, meals, etc. They typically have all of the staff you need: doctors, psychiatrists, therapists, nutritionists, etc. These may even be covered by your health insurance, but make sure to do your homework first.
There are intensive outpatient programs, which are similar to inpatient treatment, where you will typically spend the better portion of the day participating in their daily treatment program, but then you spend the evening and night at home.
Another option is to design your own eating disorder treatment plan with a variety of treatments for bulimia. A medical doctor – whether traditional or holistic – is important to monitor your physical eating disorder symptoms, a psychiatrist may be able to diagnose or treat any underlying mental disorders, and you’ll also want to meet with a dietitian or nutritionist so they can make sure you are getting the nutrition you need and help you become acquainted with a recovery meal plan.
A eating disorder coach can also be a crucial part of recovery in order to help you move forward, set goals for your recovery and help celebrate your small successes with you while helping you to gain abstinence from the eating disorder.
Other treatments for bulimia include individual therapy or counseling, group therapy, or meetings (such as EDA or OA). There are other “alternative” methods that can prove to be a super effective treatment for bulimia such as yoga, art therapy, hypnotherapy and acupuncture.
Ideally you will choose an eating disorder treatment plan that is best for your lifestyle and situation. You may want to go inpatient but don’t have the time, money, or health insurance to be able to do so. Alternatively, you may just want to see a therapist because the eating disorder voice tells you that you’re not “bad enough” to have more intensive treatment for bulimia. Eating disorders help is important no matter how “bad” you think you are, and you are worth it!!
Bottom line here, no matter what type of treatment you choose, only YOU can decide if you want to recover from bulimia.
YOU still have to do the work, no treatment center can magically make you better, and all the therapy in the world can’t make you change if you don’t want help for bulimia. It’s up to YOU to decide you want recovery for bulimia. And YOU are worth recovering from bulimia!!! You can recover and have an amazing life!! 🙂
Please note, if you are underweight, are severely malnourished (yes, you can be at a normal weight or even overweight and still have an eating disorder and be malnourished, especially if you are binging and purging), or if you are suicidal or mentally unstable – please, check yourself into an inpatient hospital/program where your vitals can be closely monitored.
Be open, honest, and willing to change.
You will not get very far in your bulimia recovery if you are not honest with yourself and with others. You have to be open to taking a look at your life, seeing what is broken and what needs fixed. Be open to change and willing to surrender what you are for what you can become. It takes sustained effort to be in recovery for bulimia and you must have the willingness to do whatever it takes in order to completely recover from bulimia.
Follow a recovery meal plan.
This is the beginning basic building block of recovery from an eating disorder. You must have structured, balanced meal plans for eating disorders. This will be a struggle in the beginning because you have learned through the eating disorder dysfunctional ways of using food. Learning to eat normally is the first step in being able to stop the eating disorder behaviors. Yes, it will probably be scary. Yes, you will probably feel much anxiety. Please obtain assistance from your treatment team with this step; do not go at this alone. You will need support with your recovery meal plan. This is okay.
Understand that you did not develop your eating disorder overnight and so your behaviors and feelings about food will not disappear overnight either.
Work with your therapist and treatment team on understanding some of these feelings and perceptions that come up for you. You must learn how to nourish yourself with food instead of abusing your body with the food. We must eat healthy, balanced meals and learn to tune into our bodies internal hunger cues again. Go here for sample meal plans for eating disorders.
Learn new (healthy) ways of coping with feelings, emotions, stress and anxiety.
This one is huge! You must learn alternate ways of dealing with your stress, anxiety, and the variety of emotions that will come up for you in your bulimia recovery, especially learning of ways to cope with the urges when they come up. When we abstain from the dysfunctional eating disorder behaviors there is a HUGE amount of stress that comes up and it feels very uncomfortable at first. This is normal and you must learn what other behaviors you can use to cope. For me I would go on a walk after meals when the anxiety was the greatest. Other ways of dealing with it include journaling, listening to music, talking about it with a support person, doing something fun, art, prayer, etc, etc.
Build a support network.
You cannot do this alone! Your treatment team might include a medical doctor, holistic doctor, psychiatrist, therapist, coach and dietitian or nutritionist. Don’t stop there! Reach out and build a support network you can count on. Go to groups or meetings, join pro-recovery online communities, talk to family members, friends and/or your spouse. You might even want to consider getting a mentor or an eating disorder coach to really boost your commitment and keep you accountable in your recovery for bulimia.
Learn to accept your body as it is.
Many times we have distorted beliefs as to what our body really looks like. I know when I was anorexic and very underweight I still would say, “I feel fat!” It is crazy!!!! One of the biggest breakthroughs in my bulimia recovery is learning to accept my body, even if I thought it wasn’t perfect. This one is a little more difficult to define, but just learning to love and accept your body, as perfect and complete as it is, will help you be able to move forward quickly in your bulimia recovery. I had to let go of what I wanted my body to look like and let my body adjust to its normal set weight, which will happen for you as you eat a structured and balanced recovery meal plan like the one shown here.
Sit with your feelings.
We must learn how to feel our feelings. Feelings are just feelings, they won’t kill us even though they feel very overwhelming at times!! Most of the women I have met who have eating disorders are very sensitive and the eating disorder was sometimes developed as a way to regulate and control feelings that felt very strong and overwhelming. I used to binge to stuff the feelings down, restrict my food as a way to limit the feelings, and purge to release them. So then what happens when you stop using the eating disorder as a way to regulate emotions? The feelings come up!! My favorite quote in early recovery was, “This too shall pass.” Trust me, the feelings do pass. Part of recovery for bulimia is learning how to feel the fear, feel the emotions, process and accept them and release them.
Learn how to love yourself.
Repeat after me, “I love myself.” Is it true? For most of us, the answer is no. I didn’t love myself because if I truly did, I wouldn’t have treated myself so badly. Learning to love yourself and the art of self-care is something that we need to learn in order to move forward in our life. Bulimia recovery is about learning more about who you truly are and learning to love that person, while letting go of the eating disorder and the role it played in your life. You are a magnificent being separate and apart from the eating disorder. You deserve your own love and are worthy of loving yourself!
Work with a professional to process some of your deeper, more complicated or traumatic issues.
Many women with eating disorders have experienced some type of abuse in their life, physical or sexual abuse. You will need to heal these deeper issues and it is important for you to work on these issues with a professional who is able to help you process these traumatic memories. Some of these traumatic memories have been stored away in our subconscious mind and in order to heal fully we must bring them up and process them. If this is the case for you, please see a licensed professional to fully understand the experiences and help you deal with them in an effective manner.
Now You Know the Basics on How To Recover From Bulimia or Anorexia or EDNOS or any other Eating Disorder…
Of course I could probably write a book on each of these topics on itself! I will go more in depth of each of these basics in subsequent articles. These are only the basics. Recovering from bulimia is a complicated issue and your process will most definitely be different from mine. There are MANY other facets to bulimia recovery but I wanted to give you a basic understanding to begin with. I’m glad you got to read the basics of recovery for bulimia…make sure to subscribe to get updates on future articles on these topics!!
Hope that helps! If you have any questions, please leave in the comments below!!!
Peace, Love + Freedom,
