Fit Villains: Selfish, Shameless, Sassy, Fitness.

Hey there,

First, congratulations. It’s so, so hard to come through to the other side in one piece. Eating disorders often start young and it’s a constant struggle, even for those in recovery. You’re healthy and you made it: BIG win. I hope you’re proud of yourself: it took a lot of strength to get through it.

While I don’t share your experience, I do know what it’s like to be scared of becoming obsessed again: I’m not a calorie counter and don’t own a scale for those reasons. I remember what it was like counting every calorie and weighing myself daily: it controlled me. I broke out of it, I focused purely on fitness & health, and I’ve never loved my body more. I worked hard for it & I refuse to go back to a place where a number got to decide how awesome I felt.

That said, there are two issues you need to pay attention to.

1. As a person in recovery, you’re always going to feel a little nervous around food. Remind yourself that you’re in charge and pay attention to behaviors that might signal that ‘bad’ place. You have a significant advantage being on this side of things & have more control than you did before. You’ve already been through it and you can monitor your behavior/emotions from a different perspective.

2. Diets suck. They are NOT something I’d recommend to you, and I’d like you to start thinking about healthy eating differently.

The word ‘diet’ has all kinds of connotations with it. I don’t diet, and I don’t recommend ‘dieting’ to anyone. When it comes to healthy eating, however, that’s more about lifestyle and the quality of the food you put into your body: it’s not about calorie counting, rules or eating only specific foods. Healthy eating simply means including MORE healthy choices, and limiting the bad/chemical stuff.

Instead of thinking about taking things OUT of your diet, focus instead on putting things IN. Try to eat more veggies than you currently do. Think about pasta as more of a side dish. Make your portions smaller, but eat more often. Experiment (and get excited!) about trying new recipes. Limit the processed junk (a good rule of thumb: if you can’t pronounce the ingredients, and there’s more than 10? Chances are it’s NOT the best choice). Drink more water, etc.

Just make HEALTHIER choices: don’t think of it as a diet. A good way to start is to try to make breakfast as healthy as possible, and have a massive salad at least once a day. When you start out on the right foot, it’s more motivating to stay there. Plus, you get to press ‘reset’ each morning, so it’s one day at a time. Having one big salad a day also helps boost your veggie intake - just be lean/light when it comes to dressings & certain toppings (my tip is to include all the veggies you want plus one lean protein, then go light on everything else: nuts, seeds, cheeses etc.) I love crumbling feta cheese on my salads: a little goes a long way if you spread it out in crumbles.

That ‘fear’ you mentioned is all in your head: you’ve been down this road already and you’re not going back (you’ve decided not to). Try not to think about the weight, and focus on eating healthier & moving more. As you go, you can make tweaks & changes, but even the smallest modifications to what you put in your body can make a HUGE difference.

It’s also important that you work on creating a healthy body image for yourself & focus on loving the body you’re in. You need to decide to be ‘okay’ at any size & love your body no matter what it looks like. Many people confuse having a better self-image with having the body they want: it doesn’t work that way. Many, MANY people attain their goal weights and continue to hate and berate their bodies anyways. Healthy behavior is always in style, and your body will respond to eating cleanly & getting some exercise. But body love? That starts in your head.

If you feel triggered at any point, breathe and relax. If you need to, there are tons of recovery resources for people in your exact position who can help guide you through it. In order to take care of your body, you always need to start with your head.

Hope this helps! Congrats on your recovery & wishing you continued success!

xo