Holidays with an Eating Disorder
Hi all!
With (American) Thanksgiving in just a couple days, I know it's a pretty stressful time for a lot of you. Big holidays can be tough with an eating disorder, both from the food side and from the emotions in having family around more. And it's okay to feel overwhelmed and stressed, but I wanted to start a discussion on how you're feeling, how you manage those stressors through the holidays, and what you wish people would do to make things easier.
I'll start.
How I'm feeling: With Thanksgiving in a couple days, I'm excited to see my full family, but I always get a little stressed around huge meals like that.
What helps me: Having a strategy going in to try a little of everything, as well as a reminder to myself that no matter how much it feels like it, one meal will not dramatically change my body. I also keep favorite recovery quotes on my phone and if I need them, I read them and pretend I'm checking text messages.
What others could do to help: I would love to have a ban for the day on weight/diet/calories talk from the rest of the group. That's not what I need to hear!
What about you?
@Anomalia , What a great way to share each others journey. I hope anyone who is celebrating a festival/ any festival , would come on to this thread and share your journey like what @Anomalia has done. Let's be there for each other.
Happy Easter, to those celebrating! If you need some extra support today, don't hesitate to reach out here!
Stay strong, warriors!
@Anomalia I limited what I ate from Wed.-tues. didn't eat at all yesterday. And had to fite my parents for control and made sure I could restrict today.
The only reason my parents compromised on restricting is because they made me eat 2 cookies and wouldn't let me out of their sight all day long today.
Other than that all I ate was: an olive, a pickle, a mushroom, a piece of pumpkin bread, 5 bites of Turkey.
@alexaners7734 -Holidays can definitely be extra stressful, but I hope that you are still focused on recovery and on getting the support you need for that. Be well
Thanksgiving is coming up again for those in the USA, and winter holidays for many. If you're feeling some extra stress and need support or if you have tips for how to get through it, let us know here! :)
Thanksgiving was really hard, especially because my eating disorder started recently and has just been going downhill. No one knows about it and I hate even saying the words eating disorder because it seems so unlike me to everyone else, but no one knows what is actually going on.
I did eat, but someone was like "my plate is so much more full than yours!" And I thought literally, yes. Figuratively, probably not. I don't think you have an eating disorder or struggle with self harm or depression or anxiety.
I've never made myself throw up before, but I've been getting very strong urges to, and the bad thoughts about myself are getting so bad. Everything is getting worse. And suggestions?
love all of you❤️
@kgrace - It definitely sounds like an extra stressful day, and I completely get what you mean on the literally/figuratively thing about your plate being full! Not to mention, why do people feel the need to comment on what other people are or aren't eating? It's rude!
As for the part about wanting to throw up, first ofall, I'm really glad that you didn't - holding back was important. Second of all, I think you're doing the right thing already - reaching out for support when you can tell you need it! One of the things that helped me most in my recovery and especially in avoiding purging was simply a waiting trick - when I had the urge, I would tell myself I was allowed to, but I had to wait 20 minutes first and spend those 20 minutes doing something recovery oriented or distracting. Often by the end of the 20 minutes, the urge would have faded.
What are some alternatives that you could do when you have that urge? Are there people you could reach out to for support? Things you can do to distract yourself? Ways to remind yourself of the reasons you want recovery?
If you want to chat at all, you're always welcome to reach out to me or any other listener. Take care
Thanksgiving was really stressful. I feel like everyone stares at me when i ate dinner to see if I'm "fixed." I wasn't very stressed out but like watching my grandma and mom cook all day made me get nervous because omg so much food. Eating was really hard for me and everyone was eating so much it totally grossed me out. I don't wanna be like this anymore.
This is about Christmas coming up.
How I'm feeling: With an 18-day vacation coming up in a week and a half, where I will be visiting six different locations in three different states visiting as many as 12 or more different friends and family and newly this fall having gained weight for the first time in several years due to added life stress... I am feeling panicked, overwhelmed, defeated, resigned, and frustrated/angry.
What helps me: Remembering that, right now, it's about 10 pounds I've gained. It's several months I've been struggling with this weight gain. Some of the weight gain was there before, and it's actually only about another 5 extra pounds I've gained in the last several months. The previous 5 had already crept on there. I'm a medically healthy weight. I'm not my ideal weight, but I'm also not overweight or underweight. I am in fine physical health and I do exercise with moderate intensity at least 35 minutes most days. I am okay. I am not my ideal fitness, feeling, or appearance right now, and I am okay as I am right now. I am not comfortable or secure feeling in my eating habits, I have been continuing to eat in a way that is causing weight gain on my body, I feel scared to eat less, and I am okay as I am with that right now. I am okay. I am here. I am okay. I will still be safe if I eat less. I will be safe. And I will take care of me.
What others could do to help: Support me wherever I'm at at the time being. That day, that moment, that week. Even if it's a 180 from what I emailed them to be prepared for. Not be critical of me or criticize me or shame me. Just love on me. Maybe ask me where I'm at. Ask if there's anything they can do. And be prepared to love on me in plenty of other ways other than with [giving me/cooking me] food.
Festive seasons are really challenging, what more ,with all the ready made cookies and cakes displayed in every shop you see in the town.The urge to chomp down so much of the goodies can be really challenging to control. This time I came up with a new method. I would like to share my it. I ate my meals well. After every meal I consume hot drinks. I sip them slowly. I take small sips and stretch the drink for a longer time. This helped me to stop the urge to snack on cookies or titbits. Sometimes I do need to consume two glasses in a row. I make sure I drink something healthy like hot lemon tea, tea ...... .,
@faithlove1111 - Great tip, and I'm glad it was helpful for you and you got through! :)
