Recovery Stories
For hope and encouragement, read about those who are now free of their eating disorders. May reading these recovery stories assure you that recovery from an eating disorder is possible.
If you’ve recovered from your eating disorder and would like to have your story included here, I’d love to hear from you. Find the submission guidelines on the bottom of this page.
My Story
By Laurie
I was anorexic for 6 years as an adult. It started following a series of losses, difficult circumstances, and years of dealing with undiagnosed health problems. In addition, I’d been giving and giving to others. Over time, I felt worn on all levels. I tried to tell others this was a difficult time for me, but they didn’t have anything to say. I tried talking to a couple of different counselors and each of them just made things worse. Feeling everything inside and around me was out of control, I sought control by limiting my food intake. I’d studied eating disorders so I knew what I was doing, but I felt powerless to stop it. I didn’t take it seriously at first and reasoned I would just do it temporarily to get through a difficult time. I was already depressed and suicidal, and for a time I saw the eating disorder as a slow way to take my life.
I’d been afraid to release my inner pain, but those unexpressed feelings only kept me bound to anorexia. I had to take the risk and start letting out my feelings. I spent countless hours in tears and there were times I didn’t even know where the tears came from, but I knew I had to release them. I also spent countless hours writing in my journal. This was vital for me because as I wrote down my thoughts and feelings, I gained new insights and discovered thoughts and feelings I didn’t even realize I had. Eventually I found healing through those tear-stained pages. As I experienced more peace in my heart, I was less drawn to restricting as well as less concerned about my weight and body image.
I wrote verses, quotes and other truthful statements on note cards in order to combat the lies and negative thoughts that were feeding the eating disorder. This was an effective way to change my thinking which led to changing my behavior.
I didn’t know how much to eat anymore. Therefore, I obtained a meal plan from a dietitian and learned to eat a healthy, balanced diet. I relied on the Lord to strengthen me.
Once I finally decided I truly wanted to break free of the eating disorder, I let Him lead my journey. Without Him, I wouldn’t have found the freedom I now embrace.
Encouragement For Others
Set small, manageable goals in order to reach your long-term recovery goals. The very common all or nothing mindset doesn’t usually work well in eating disorder recovery. This journey is completed one step at a time.
Arm yourself with truth and positive thoughts in order to combat the lies and negative thoughts that feed the eating disorder.
Be gentle with yourself. Learn from your slips and celebrate your victories.
My Story
By LeAnne
Individuals with eating disorders understand each other when no one else does. I discovered that statement just a few years ago, when I finally accepted mine.
I was 32 when I realized something was not 100% with me. All throughout my life I tried so hard to be the perfect child, woman, wife, mother. Perfect, proper, and pleasing. Everyone else mattered but me. I experienced losses, too painful to deal with. Never share with anyone, that meant you were weak, just stuff them away, LeAnne, it will all go away in time. Sorry, life doesn’t work that way.
I slowly began to lose reality, my mind, my body, my family, friends, my husband and then 5 year old son. Anorexia nervosa had control, 100%. I lost my being; I was no longer LeAnne. I was this unknown, a misfit, a failure. I was an eating disorder. It was what I had grown up to be. With the support of my husband and family, I found therapy, treatment, and finally hospitalization. The structure, therapy, persistence, setbacks and being able to look forward to the future rather than back at the past enabled me to take one day at a time and accept me for me. It was really hard. I had this wonderful husband and healthy son. I had many things to live for. My empty heart needed fulfillment. I needed them and more.
I found a rewarding job in my school district working with children in the library. This gave me great pleasure and meaningfulness. My final stage into recovery was writing my story, my book, Inside Amy, Adults and Eating Disorders. Writing it all down helped me to understand my anorexia. I realized I did matter, I do have a place on this earth.
I began to speak about eating disorders in my area of northeast PA. I share my experience to educate others. I have come a long way, and you can, too.
Encouragement For Others
Ask for help, you deserve it. Talk to a trusted friend or family member who is a good listener. Better to have things out in the open rather than inside holding the real you back. You are a beautiful person. Show others inside you, a step at a time. It’s OK to enjoy living. I’ll say a little prayer for all of you, too. Promise.
My Story
By Susan
My eating disorder held me captive for 20 years. It began when I was 16 years old. Through my recovery, I discovered that as a little girl I never felt loved in my home. As I grew up I always felt like I didn’t fit in with the rest of the family; I felt invisible. I discovered that good grades or athletic achievements didn’t hold much value in our household, but size did. I worked very hard for many years to be “the thin one” so I would be accepted by my family.
It was late in January of 2004 when I realized I wanted help. I wanted to be healthy for my daughters. I wanted to be a grandmother and live a long life. I wanted to live.
Through my recovery, I learned that my eating disorder was my way of coping with an uncontrollable world. It was the only way I knew how to handle my emotional distress of feeling unloved and unworthy. Once I was able to loosen the grips of the eating disorder, I was able to see a whole new person underneath. The key for me was separating myself from the disorder. I refused to be defined by the disorder any longer; I had the power and the choice to let it go and begin a new life without it. To do this I needed support. That was crucial for me to realize because doing it alone was impossible. I reached out to the strongest hands I knew. The first hand was the Lord’s. I had to rely heavily on my faith and use His strength in my many hours of weakness. The second hand I reached for was my husband’s. He unselfishly devoted himself to me and to my recovery.
Another thing I needed was healthier coping skills. I needed life skills. Through my recovery program I was taught about boundaries, goal setting, stress management, identity, etc. However, my biggest lesson and a crucial turning point in my recovery was from a discussion with my Mom. While listening to her I opened my heart and saw her as a little girl growing up in an unhappy home. I saw her as a teenager being forced to marry the alcoholic father of her unborn child. It was then that I was able to understand that she had issues, insecurities and limitations of her own. That as my mother she loved me the best way that she knew how. That it wasn’t about me at all; it was about her. At that moment, I was free. Completely. That little girl inside me finally understood her childhood and she finally was at peace. She felt loved.
My greatest gift in all this has been finding Susan. I have discovered what makes me so special. I have embraced who I am and am proud of who I am. I have defined the person that I want to be in this world and I challenge myself every day to be that person.
Encouragement For Others
The hardest step is the first step. That’s the step where you chose recovery. It is a life decision. Understand that after that one step you will have many more to travel. Keep your steps tiny; go one day at a time; one hour at a time. Be patient with yourself and believe in yourself. There is life after an eating disorder. You need to believe that recovery is possible and that you absolutely deserve it!
My Story
By Mary Pat
A transformational journey and process through a 24-year eating disorder.
At the age of 36 -I am learning that my life is indeed about me -just like your life is about you and it is not until I learn to acknowledge and love all parts of myself will I be able to live a healthy life.
I say healthy -not thin. Health has nothing to do with numbers. I no longer feel the need to wear the perfect size or be the perfect weight. There are so many ways to decide whether or not someone is healthy. When I walk into the doctor and they ask me to step on the scale I simply say, “I don’t do that -thank you anyway.”
I want the world to know my story and that Eating disorders are NOT pretty and there are so many who are suffering because they don’t fit the DSM IV criteria -I was told for a long time that I didn’t look like I had an eating disorder - I was told to simply eat from all the food groups. The individuals that made those suggestions to me were not in my chaotic mind with all the negativity swarming around -telling me that the world would be better off if I were dead.
That is just a glimpse of what I have to say in regards to eating disorders - I am very passionate about this topic because I have lived it and spent years having others tell me there was nothing they could do - or that I didn’t look like I had an eating disorder and in essence they were telling me to get over it.
What is the answer to eating disorders? LOVE for myself as a human being -because somewhere I got the idea that I wasn’t enough.
Encouragement For Others
Eating disorders are not about the food - as many have stated so many times before - they are about how we feel about ourselves as human beings, living on this planet.
Somewhere along the line being selfish and having self-care became construed and children were taught not to think about themselves.
Empowerment is the answer -taking an active role in our own lives and learning how to really listen to one another and to give one another the dignity of our own life journey and simply being with us.
Eating disorders are not something to get over -they are something to be embraced with love. When we love the parts inside us that hurt -the healing process can begin.
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