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Beating Bulimia - Help.

I have been struggling for almost 3 years now and its getting too much. Anyone have any advice they could give to help recovery? I could do with someone to talk to who is or has been in the same position.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 1
Original post by AntgoneRJ
I have been struggling for almost 3 years now and its getting too much. Anyone have any advice they could give to help recovery? I could do with someone to talk to who is or has been in the same position.


I've moved this to our Mental Health forum for you :smile: Hopefully there'll be someone in here who can help
Hey! I'm in the same position here and I totally know how it feels. It's always enough and I'm tired of it but I keep doing it~~

What really helped was:
1. Making an account on IG dedicated to ED recovery and only follow people who are recovery focused too. You can add me I'm warrior_tiffany
2. Check out Kati Morton. She's a youtube vlogger and ED Specialized therapy, she makes great videos and answers Q&A. Her website katimorton.com is also a good resource with an awesome forum to post questions.
3. Make a recovery playlist. For me, it consists of mainly songs by Demi Lovato because I love her so much and she also suffered from ED, SH and Bipolar, so I can relate to a lot. Here are some great songs: Believe In Me, Warrior, Skyscraper, Catch Me, and In Case.

I hope it helps, and you can always private message me. :smile: We're in the same situation and we can help each other. Stay strong girl!
Hey! I'm in the same position here and I totally know how it feels. It's always enough and I'm tired of it but I keep doing it~~What really helped was:1. Making an account on IG dedicated to ED recovery and only follow people who are recovery focused too. You can add me I'm warrior_tiffany2. Check out Kati Morton. She's a youtube vlogger and ED Specialized therapy, she makes great videos and answers Q&A. Her website katimorton.com is also a good resource with an awesome forum to post questions.3. Make a recovery playlist. For me, it consists of mainly songs by Demi Lovato because I love her so much and she also suffered from ED, SH and Bipolar, so I can relate to a lot. Here are some great songs: Believe In Me, Warrior, Skyscraper, Catch Me, and In Case.I hope it helps, and you can always private message me. :smile: We're in the same situation and we can help each other. Stay strong girl!
(I'm assuming that your bulimia originally started, as most people's seems to do, because of a diet or some sort of food restriction.)

Have you read/heard of the book 'Brain Over Binge'? The author has a very different approach to 'bulimia recovery' and I think it might be worth giving a read if 'traditional methods' haven't really been working for you (assuming you've tried to attempt to recover via them already). The book is more of a biography-type thing but there's also a workbook (separate to the book) which may be helpful.

I actually disagree with the above poster's point 1. Dedicating your life to ED recovery isn't really the point of ED recovery and I think it makes it harder to really 'recover'. The people that I know who I consider to have truly 'recovered' from their ED just don't care about all the stuff typically associated with 'ED recovery' - eating fear/trigger foods, body positivity, following instagram recovery blogs, etc. They just live their lives like everyone else who has never had an ED which I think is the most helpful thing you can try to do.
Eat as though you didn't have an eating disorder - eat as though you're feeding a friend or family member rather than yourself. Read up about intuitive eating (if you haven't already but you probably have) and get a regular eating pattern in place, at least until you think you have a decent grip on your body's hunger signals. That should sort out any binges that happen because you're not nourishing yourself properly.
When you feel the urge to binge for non-hunger reasons, try to distract yourself with something, anything, else. Again, it might help to imagine if you're someone in your family or one of your friends. Or, if you can, imagine yourself before or after your ED and just do things that the before or after you would want to do instead of a binge. Any hobbies? Books/movies/TV programmes on your to read/watch list? Languages you think might be cool or useful to start learning? Sports/exercise (preferably ones where you can't work out or see the calories you're supposedly burning)? Is your room in need of a bit of sorting out/tidying?
It might take some practice and effort and you might slip up once in a while but the important thing is to try and move on and hopefully the binge urges will go away eventually. And with no binges, I don't think you'll feel the need to purge...?
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 5
Thank you very much for your advice and reading that really seemed to ground me. I've never been a binger though, I eat as normal. I just never kept the food down, something along the lines of feeling more comfortable with an empty stomach.

I'm reading a few books now, those referred to as unconventional. All the same, thank you again. I will keep it all in mind!

Original post by DistantTraces
(I'm assuming that your bulimia originally started, as most people's seems to do, because of a diet or some sort of food restriction.)

Have you read/heard of the book 'Brain Over Binge'? The author has a very different approach to 'bulimia recovery' and I think it might be worth giving a read if 'traditional methods' haven't really been working for you (assuming you've tried to attempt to recover via them already). The book is more of a biography-type thing but there's also a workbook (separate to the book) which may be helpful.

I actually disagree with the above poster's point 1. Dedicating your life to ED recovery isn't really the point of ED recovery and I think it makes it harder to really 'recover'. The people that I know who I consider to have truly 'recovered' from their ED just don't care about all the stuff typically associated with 'ED recovery' - eating fear/trigger foods, body positivity, following instagram recovery blogs, etc. They just live their lives like everyone else who has never had an ED which I think is the most helpful thing you can try to do.
Eat as though you didn't have an eating disorder - eat as though you're feeding a friend or family member rather than yourself. Read up about intuitive eating (if you haven't already but you probably have) and get a regular eating pattern in place, at least until you think you have a decent grip on your body's hunger signals. That should sort out any binges that happen because you're not nourishing yourself properly.
When you feel the urge to binge for non-hunger reasons, try to distract yourself with something, anything, else. Again, it might help to imagine if you're someone in your family or one of your friends. Or, if you can, imagine yourself before or after your ED and just do things that the before or after you would want to do instead of a binge. Any hobbies? Books/movies/TV programmes on your to read/watch list? Languages you think might be cool or useful to start learning? Sports/exercise (preferably ones where you can't work out or see the calories you're supposedly burning)? Is your room in need of a bit of sorting out/tidying?
It might take some practice and effort and you might slip up once in a while but the important thing is to try and move on and hopefully the binge urges will go away eventually. And with no binges, I don't think you'll feel the need to purge...?
Reply 6
Thank you for your advice, I'll message you privately :smile:

Original post by pinkmemetchi
Hey! I'm in the same position here and I totally know how it feels. It's always enough and I'm tired of it but I keep doing it~~What really helped was:1. Making an account on IG dedicated to ED recovery and only follow people who are recovery focused too. You can add me I'm warrior_tiffany2. Check out Kati Morton. She's a youtube vlogger and ED Specialized therapy, she makes great videos and answers Q&A. Her website katimorton.com is also a good resource with an awesome forum to post questions.3. Make a recovery playlist. For me, it consists of mainly songs by Demi Lovato because I love her so much and she also suffered from ED, SH and Bipolar, so I can relate to a lot. Here are some great songs: Believe In Me, Warrior, Skyscraper, Catch Me, and In Case.I hope it helps, and you can always private message me. :smile: We're in the same situation and we can help each other. Stay strong girl!

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