Recovering from an eating disorder takes time and commitment to consistent healthy habits. Our nation is obsessed with dieting, and most of us don’t realize the toll that eating disorders take on at least 30 million affected Americans. The number one step toward recovery is to stop weight loss dieting and focus on maintaining a healthy weight.
It’s not only eating disorders that result from dieting to lose weight. Weight loss dieting also is responsible for binge eating, body dissatisfaction and low self-esteem.
Abandoning the diet is the first step toward recovery. The next step is to ditch the behaviors that make you overly anxious about your weight or appearance. These behaviors can include excessively monitoring weight and food intake, paying too-close attention to food ingredients and nutritional values, and avoiding eating in social situations.
Consider a 30-day ‘no weigh’ experiment. Give yourself permission to eat more. Start by replacing the diet for a month by focusing on having 3 healthy meals per day and plenty of water. Ensuring that you are eating throughout the day will help prevent binge eating after dieting and promote more energy and overall well being.
Take a chance on listening to your body. Trust yourself to take care of yourself. Replacing over-monitoring behaviors with a new approach to food is almost guaranteed to improve the way you view yourself.