Introduce yourself to the 7 Cups Eating Disorder Community!
Hi I'm Krissy. I'm 37 and have been living with an ED for as long as I can remember. I don't ever remember a time in my life when I didn't obsess about food. I went through a recovery process about 4 years ago, but things have gotten bad again recently. My anxiety level recently is at an all time high and I've had a harder time controlling my ED. I recently broke down and told my husband I was really struggling with it again, that I'd been binging and struggling to keep myself from purging. then going days and days living on pills and restricting. I gave him all my laxitives and diuretics, bc I don't want to be sick. He tries to help but his way of helping is policing everything I eat. 'Should you be eating that granola?' It helps to talk to people though that understand the struggle.
@sympatheticSkies934 Hi Krissy, I know that's hard. I have been thinking about that myself, lately. I have been struggling with my eating disorder again recently, and I know it feeds on shame so I want to reach out for help and support, but I don't know how to tell my friends to help me. I know having other people policing what I eat is a part of what drives me to the eating disorder in the first place. But that is what they tend to do when you ask them for support. I wish that just no one would pay attention to or care what / when / how I eat. I hope that you find a way for your husband to support you that feels effective. Please share ideas if you do! Keep in touch, too.
@sympatheticSkies934accepting the challenge is part of the recovery. Perhaps understanding that help may be needed at some point when we decide that we can't do it alone. Experts guidance is there to help us, take care, be well, we are here :)
Hello i'm ellis i'll be 17 in less then a month i struggle with eating right umm i don't know if i have a disorder but i don't want to eat anymore i keep skipping meals altought i know it's bad but it makes me feel so much better if i do my mom told me i'm to ugly to have friends and i'm trying to change that don't want to be lonly and fat anymore
@Snowglobe252 - Hi lovely, I'm glad you're here! First of all, I am really sorry that your mom has said those things to you - they are cruel and undeserved, and I am positive that they are untrue. Second, since I'm not a doctor, I can't formally diagnose you with an eating disorder or not, but it definitely sounds like you're on a dangerous path if you're regularly skipping meals, and that makes me pretty worried. If it would be helpful to talk through things, you're always welcome to message me. Take care!
@Anomalia thanks that would be great but i can't bother you whit my problems you probably have a pretty bussy life yourself and burhening you whit my stupid problems just doesn't seem fair
@Snowglobe252 - I wouldn't have offered if I were too busy. We can either set up a time to chat live, or we can message back and forth periodically - either one works for me, and I'm more than happy to help.
@Anomalia okay i would like that umm a live chat would be the easiest for me if you don't mind
@Snowglobe252
Ellie, I am sorry you feel this way. Hang in there! We are here for you! :)
Hi guys. I'm a 24 year old female in graduate school. I've always struggled with my weight since I was young. I've always been the overweight one out of all of my friends. I've struggled with weight my whole life. I got teased as a kid by my friends and family. Because of all the teasing I developed really bad self-esteem. My weight fluncuates a lot. There will be a period of time where I'll lose weight and feel good about myself but then gain it all back plus some more. In May I had it my highest weight. I deciddd to make a change and started dieting and exercising. Since then I've lost [edited by Anomalia to remove weight specifics / trigger] pounds but about a month into my diet I started becoming obsessed with labels. I wouldn't eat anything with over [edited] carbs or [edited]mg of sodium. I restricted calories to [edited] a day. I started purging my food and taking laxatives and now I'm addicted to doing that. That's all I think about when I eat and I can't turn to friends and family because I just don't think they would understand. I have resulted to purging whenever I eat something I shouldn't have. It's scary for me because I'm getting a degree in therapy but cannot take my own advice. I don't know what to do.
@Mocs123 also my hair is starting to fall out and I feel like my teeth are starting to mess up. I take vitamins every morning but that's not helping. I'm moody all the time, I can't sleep because I'm constantly thinking about what I'm going to eat the next day, how I'm going to starve myself so I don't have to purge or use laxatives.
@Mocs123
Hello there, I am sorry you feel this way. I read in your thoughts a big desire to get well and be happy. There is no shame in using the help of our family and expert advice, these resources are meant to support us and allow us to be happy. That is our right!:) perhaps if you consider these awesome resources you can get the support you need from either or both places. You deserve an amazing quality of life. Take care . :)
@Mocs123 - You've already taken two huge steps in the right direction. You've admitted to yourself that this is a problem, and you've reached out here - both of those took a lot of strength and courage, and tell me that you are ready to start moving towards healing. I know things feel really overwhelming and out of control sometimes, and grabbing that control by focusing on what you consume can feel great for temporary relief, but it sounds like you're at the point where it doesn't feel like control anymore and hte eating disorder is controlling you.
You mentioned that you don't feel like you can talk to family/friends about it because they wouldn't understand - I think you're right that many wouldn't, but they might still be able to be good supports for you despite that. And if you need to be able to talk to some people who get it (and I know that can be really helpful in recovery), you are always more than welcome to message me.
I know you are strong and I know you are capable of recovering, and I would love to support you through that.
@Anomalia thank you so much for your encouraging words. The problem with talking to my family is that they don't really consider things like this a big deal. They think it's in your head. I am not looking to talk to my family about this. I want to do this without them. I don't even know if I have a disorder or if it's more just bad habits.
I don't know what I need or where I need to start with any of this. All I know is that I don't want to gain weight and food is what does that.
I would do anything for a "normal" meal right now but I fear that the minute I put something like that in my mouth I will gain weight. Eating "bad foods" and then purging right after gave me satisfaction. I was able to enjoy food without gaining anything.
Its an addiction to me. I just don't know where to start.
I get a lot of axniety when it comes to wanting to be skinny. I've isolated myself from friends which has led to some situational depression. I spend 60% of my day worrying about what I'm going to eat.
@Mocs123 Hi sweety I just want to send you hugs <3 I know what you're going through at least to some extent and I hope we can figure it out. I'm here to support you.
@Mocs123 - I can relate a lot to those feelings. If you don't feel like you can talk to your family about it right now, that's okay. But I think it's really important to have support and people you can talk to in general, no matter who it is. You're always welcome to PM me. Take care
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hi, i'm nancy and i'm fourteen years old. i'm not sure if what i have is an eating disorder but i purge meals once or twice a day every day, sometimes after a binge. although i sometimes find myself skipping and restricting meals because i know it makes me less guilty i always end up confort eating then coughing it back up. it has been going on infrequently for about a year now but in the past month it's become a daily ritual and it's starting to affect my life badly.
@overthinker02 - Welcome, Nancy - I'm really glad you're reaching out. While I'm not a doctor and thus can't officially diagnose anything, it definitely sounds like you meet the criteria for an eating disorder. Purging daily is pretty serious and you said that it's starting to affect your life badly, which means it's definitely time to get some help! And luckily, there is a great community here who can relate and support you, as well as help you find resources to help with recovery outside of the site, too.
If you ever want to talk about what's been going on or get some extra support, you can message me anytime. I believe that you've taken the first big step in the right direction by recognizing it's become an issue and posting here, and I would love to help you take the next ones.
Be well, lovely
Hi my name is Anna and I've been struggling with atypical anorexia since about a year now. I've already been inpatient for 10 weeks, but after I got discharged things got bad again. Right now I'm really struggling with binging and a bad body image and I just want to live a normal, healthy and happy life again.
@healinganna - Hi lovely, I'm really glad you're here. I know that going from an environment that's all recovery, all the time to somewhere that has less focus can be really challenging and it's easy to fall back into old habits. One thing that might be helpful is to think about what things in your treatment center were most helpful and how you can reincorporate some of them into your life. For instance, if it was having people around who understood that you could talk to, maybe finding some listeners here who have been through EDs can help. If it was having support during meals, perhaps asking someone to be with you during meals at home could be helpful. Maybe it was something else entirely, but I think a great first step is figuring out what's missing that you had there.
If you ever need to talk or need some extra support, you are always welcome to message me. Take care!
Hello to everyone, my name is Magi, I'm from Mexico and I'm 20, I've stru with anorexia and bulimia for 6 years now, and I feel like it's not something that affects my life, but I'm interested in getting to know more people who have lived the same things that I have, and perhaps find some motivation to stop.
@CuteChoco - Hi there, and welcome! I'm glad you're reaching out. I know it's hard to build to the motivation to recover, but I am also a big believer in the fact that recovery is not only possible, but is the best way to get truly happy. As a starting point, what do you think might be different in your life if you weren't fighting this disorder?
Hi. I'm 18 and I've been struggling with body dysphoria, depression, exercise addiction, and bulimia since I was 13. I've never been clinically diagnosed with any of this but I don't need anymore to tell me this is my struggle.
I don't know how it started. I just remember thinking that thin girls got everything and that I wasn't good enough. I thought this thing would take all my imperfections away. It started off just being that then I started abusing my Seventeen magazine exercise rip outs. I thought it would make what I was doing healthy. It wasn't healthy.
Then I actually started ignoring my ED when I was 15. I thought I could get rid of it without anyone's interference or ever telling anyone. This was when my depression started and I started to feel like I was walking in someone else's body. I wasn't myself yet I tried to present myself in a way that wouldn't raise suspicion. I had what I'd tell myself was "relapses" every few months, sometimes weeks. I did gain back my weight that I lost previously and I felt stronger yet weaker at the same time. It was terrible.
Now however, it's back and it's stronger and more controlling. I started having small panic attacks a few weeks ago and now, I know I need help before I allow it to get worse but I'm scared and this is my only way to talk about it until I can tell my family.
Please bear with me. I'm sorry if I use triggering language, I will definitely try not to in the future. Thanks for reading.
@breegreen14 - I'm so glad that you're here, lovely. I can relate a lot to what you're saying, and especially to that sense that it's worse this time and you need the help, but are having a hard time asking for it. I think you're right that the sooner you do reach out for that help the easier and better it will be, but I know that doesn't make it any easier to do.
If you need someone to talk to about all of this or help working up the courage to talk to your family about it, you're always welcome to message me. <3
Hello, I'm 30-years-old, and from the United States.
I've been struggling with eating disorder behaviours from the age of 16. It serves as a way to control things around me, and a way to cope with stressful situations, rather than a weight issue for me.
@wittyCat4195 - I can definitely relate to the idea of it being a coping mechanism for stress more than anything else - that's very much what mine was for me, too. But learning new coping mechanisms and alternate ways to handle stress can be a really powerful tool in recovery.
Hi.... I'm pretty new to all this even though I've suffered with body image issues since I was a child. I've come to realise I have a binge eating disorder and have been struggling with it for over 10 years .... No one in my life knows.... Hope I am in the right place.
Thank you
@ed11
Hi @ed11!
I'm sorry to hear about your struggles. You are definitely in the right place and us listeners at 7 cups of tea will do everything we can to support you! Stay strong and healthy, and message me anytime!.
-Sierra