How To Accept Your Body Through Weight Regain
For most people, one of the hardest parts of anorexia recovery is knowing that in order to truly heal and find food freedom, weight gain is essential. This aspect of recovery can feel incredibly overwhelming and confronting.
If you are reading this article, you deep down know this reality. Part of you may really want to recover, whilst another part of you is incredibly scared of your changing body.
What if I keep going gaining weight
What if I can’t stop eating
What will people think?
If I hate my body now, how much more will I hate it when….
I hear you my friend. You are not alone.
These are the very fears that I had when I was on my own journey of weight regain.
Fear is what holds us back from finding freedom with food.
Fear comes from a lack of trust. Trust that you won’t be able to handle the outcome.
Trust is knowledge, so a lack of trust is a lack of knowledge. The only way to gain knowledge, and therefore trust is to do the very thing that scares you, which in this case is to restore your weight.
This will involve doing the opposite of what you have been doing for a long time.
Whenever we do ANYTHING new or different, our bodies threat system (fight or flight) is activated. This doesn’t mean it is “wrong”, even though it FEELS IT. It simply means that the discomfort you are experiencing is because it is new experience.
AND it won’t last forever.
There is no quick or easy way to accept your changing body, BUT there are some useful tools to help you cope during the re-nourishment process.
01. Practice body acceptance
You don’t have to love your changing body BUT you can begin to work towards feeling OK or NEUTRAL in your body. For some people saying affirmations or focusing on what their body does for them can be helpful in moving towards acceptance. (remember acceptance doesn’t mean you like it)
You might use affirmations like:
“It is ok for my body to change”
“My body was not designed to be as small as possible”
“My body allows me to…… experience life…”
02. Remind yourself that you are SO much more than your body or what you look like.
Grab a pen and paper and take some time to consider the following questions;
Who are you, aside from what you look like?
What do you care about?
What are your strengths?
What characteristics do you admire in other people? (I am guessing its not their self control or their body size)
What legacy do you want to leave?
What do you want to be remembered for?
03. Honour your body
Wear clothes that FIT your changing body.
Keeping clothes that no longer fit you, serves as a constant reminder and makes the process a lot harder. Replace your old clothes with clothes that comfortably fit and honour your new body.
Stretchy pants, leggings and jumper dresses were my best friends.
Catch yourself when you scrutinize parts of our body that you dislike.
The more you focus on something, the more you will notice it. In the initial stages it might be helpful to avoid looking in the mirror, and then you can move towards looking at more neutral parts of your body like your hands, feet, hair etc
Write down what trying to make your body as small as possible has cost you.
Does it move you towards or away from the life you want to live?
04. Write yourself a letter
When you are in a particularly challenging moment, it can be difficult to remember why you want to recover OR why weight regain is essential.
Write down what your life will be like when you recover. What does your future look like? What is important to you? What will the ED take from you if you allow your fears to hold you back?
Use this as a reminder during difficult times.
05. Remind yourself that discomfort and struggle is not bad. It means that you are challenging the eating disorder and truly taking back control.
If you need to, write this down on your phone, a post it note or in your journal so you are constantly reminded that the discomfort you are feeling now is better than the discomfort of living with an eating disorder for the rest of your life.
Are you struggling with accepting your body during the weight restoration process?
If you are looking for more support during this process then follow these simple steps:
Meet with me weekly
Begin your journey to freedom