Living with an eating disorder can be a life-changing experience. But, fortunately, making a full recovery is possible, with thousands of people doing it every year.
Recovering from an eating disorder doesn’t usually happen overnight. Instead, most patients go through several stages before returning to their previous, regular eating pattern.
The stages you experience depend on your unique circumstances. Even so, this guide outlines what to expect and how your trajectory may proceed. The following are the various stages most people go through on their way back to health.
Awareness And Acknowledgment
The first stage in recovery from eating disorders is acknowledging your situation and becoming aware of the condition. While only eating a little may seem harmless at first, it can mask serious underlying mental illness and lead to devastating physical illness.
Becoming aware of disordered eating usually begins when other people comment on your appearance. Parents, caregivers, and colleagues may tell you that you look “too thin,” “gaunt” or as if you “need a good meal.” You may also notice changes in yourself when you look in the mirror.
During this phase, acknowledging that you have an eating disorder can be helpful. For example, you may recognize that eating a slice of toast for lunch isn’t enough nutrition for an entire day. You might also observe changes in your appearance and see why others might be concerned about you.
Over time, the consequences of eating disorders tend to magnify. Initially, you may simply become leaner. But as the weeks go by, you will notice other issues, such as exhaustion, low libido, changes to your emotional state, and difficulty lifting heavy objects. You may also notice the signs of malnutrition, including hair loss, bleeding gums, stomach complaints, and muscle spasms. Wanting to withdraw from friends and family, stop attending school, or skip shifts at work is common during this stage.
Seeking Help
The next step in eating disorder recovery is to seek help. Usually, this involves reaching out to a professional, although a family member may do this on your behalf.
Most people with disordered eating only reach out during a crisis, and some don’t do anything at all (with friends and family acting on their behalf). That’s because disordered eating can seem “normal” sometimes.
Once you see a professional, they will start the process of creating an eating disorder recovery meal plan for you. They will also facilitate additional treatments, connecting you with therapists, dietitians, and other medical practitioners who can assist with any underlying problems you might have (such as a mental health condition).
If you have had an eating disorder for a while, doctors will often carry out medical tests. Blood work shows if you have any nutrient deficiencies that require immediate interventions or medical conditions caused by low-calorie intake (such as compromised immunity).
The goal of this process is to deal with the immediate symptoms of your eating disorder and address the psychological factors contributing to it. Several specialists may work together to deal with the issues you face holistically, giving you the best chance of recovery.
Stabilization
Once you enter treatment, the “stabilization” phase begins. The idea here is to return your body to its baseline state of health, dealing with any health issues the period of disordered eating created.
For example, stabilization could include:
- Monitoring your vital signs, including your heart rate, and checking your electrolyte balance (which can deviate from the safe range with insufficient calorie intake or excessive exercise)
- Blood tests to identify additional nutrient deficiencies, including vitamin D, B12, and various minerals
- Managing your hydration to ensure adequate water-to-salt ratios as you refeed
- Performing a psychiatric evaluation to characterize any underlying mental health issues and how they may affect disordered eating recovery
- Providing various medications to assist with mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, schizoid personality, and psychosis
- Supervising dining spaces and ensuring you receive sufficient nutrition for your physical requirements
- Providing a safe space where you can rest, relax, and avoid situations that might trigger disordered eating patterns
- Educating you on your nutritional needs and the consequences of long-term malnutrition
The precise mix of interventions and treatments you receive will depend on your diagnosis and evaluation. For some patients, disordered eating is simply a bad habit while for others, it comes from an underlying mental health issue. The category you fall into will determine the course your recovery plan takes.
Addressing Underlying Psychological Factors
Most patients with eating disorders have an underlying mental health issue. As such, therapy is a significant component of most treatment plans.
Mental health professionals start with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This short-term treatment helps to deal with the immediate issues that may be driving your eating disorder, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or body dysmorphia. Treatment takes a few weeks and, once complete, you may experience rapid recovery.
Specifically, CBT focuses on understanding the emotional and mental factors behind your eating disorder. Therapists help you work through challenging thought patterns, allowing you to build resilience and develop new ways to cope.
Many conversations revolve around the emotions and rumination that often lead to disordered eating patterns. Therapists help you identify the specific issues preventing you from recovering, dealing with them holistically so you can return to a healthier relationship with food.
Changing Your Behavior
The fifth stage is to change your behavior and focus on healthier eating patterns. This phase is the most important because it helps you get better.
What you learn will depend on the therapist you see and your needs and can include:
- Restructuring distorted thoughts around food or body image. For example, you may learn how to appreciate your figure in a new light or deal with concerns about the ingredients in food. You may also get a grip on your negative self-talk (such as saying things like “I don’t deserve food”). CBT therapists teach you to look at meals in new ways, often as ways to nourish your body and improve how it functions.
- Learning to eat mindfully. Therapists teach you to focus on the sensory experience of eating and how to recognize hunger and fullness cues. Many also show you how to reduce your anxiety around meals and develop a more positive relationship with food.
- Coping with triggers and stress. Treatment also helps you identify situations that make it more likely you will experience an episode of disordered eating. For example, therapists may introduce you to progressive muscle relaxation techniques or visualizations you can use to resist the temptation to skip meals.
- Teaching problem-solving skills. Dealing with eating disorders also involves a practical element, including making food choices that serve you (instead of causing you to succumb to anxiety). For example, you may get special training on dining with family or eating in public.
- Learning about body image resilience. Therapy can help you accept your body by developing “body neutrality” or appreciating the body for what it can do instead of what it looks like.
- Using eating disorder recovery affirmations. Finally, therapists may train you to feel positive toward the recovery process itself and use techniques to avoid negative self-talk about how you might never get better.
Again, the specific form your skills development takes depends on your life and the situations you face. Therapists will attempt to find solutions to the issues that affect you the most, building your defenses and reducing the likelihood of relapse once your normal life resumes.
Rebuilding Positive Relationships With Food And Body Image
The sixth step is to rebuild body confidence and a positive relationship with food. Eating disorders often start small but grow in size over time, encompassing all your thoughts about meals and nutrition.
To deal with this, therapists focus on helping you enjoy a balanced diet without feeling guilty. Professionals work with you to foster more self-compassion, reminding you that you don’t need to be perfect or do everything in life in the best way.
Maintaining Recovery And Preventing Relapse
The final stage is to maintain progress and avoid relapse. This step involves using proven, tested strategies for your specific life situation.
For example, you might begin by working with a therapist who can support you during the first few weeks and months of recovery. If you feel old issues cropping up, you can go to them for advice, support, and strategies to stop relapse from occurring.
Ideally, you want to work with your medical team to put support systems in place that allow you to continue normal eating patterns. As you continue to eat, you may notice your mood improves and you develop a taste for regular meals again. Over time, eating three meals daily becomes a habit and something you want to do.
Even so, regular check-ins with specialists can be useful. These identify ongoing issues and allow you to resolve them quickly before they put your recovery plan in jeopardy. Often, a little support goes a long way.
So, what are you waiting for?
Want insight from someone who’s actually been through one of our programs? ViaMar offers the opportunity to schedule a free 15-minute phone call with a former patient. It’s an easy, low-pressure way to hear an authentic personal experience, ask your own questions, and get a clearer sense of what treatment and everyday life in a program are really like before moving forward. Let’s talk!
