The holidays can be a particularly difficult time for anyone who is suffering from an eating disorder and trying to recover. You see a lot of people whose go-to first thing to tell you is how much weight you've lost, and that can trigger thoughts of losing more weight. People might comment that you have gained weight, if you needed to do so for recovery, and that could trigger thoughts of restricting how much food you are eating. You might be facing fear foods with all of the holiday treats that are around. Here are some tips for getting through the holidays and maintaining your eating-disorder recovery.
1. Dealing with Comments
The first things that you will have to deal with are comments from well-meaning family members. Some of your family members might have figured out that people like to hear that they have lost weight and so tell people that regardless of truth as a general compliment when they first see someone they haven't seen in a long time. This might cause you to continue to want to lose more weight if it triggers your eating-disorder mentality. You can get people to stop talking about your weight by simply saying, "I'm trying to not talk about my body right now" and then changing the subject. After that, if you are still dealing with difficult thoughts, you can try to write down all of the reasons why going back to losing weight is going to be unhealthy for you.
You might have to deal with the opposite comment, which is that you have gained weight. For this, know that you are perfectly in the right to say, "I'm not going to talk about my body, especially in such a rude, unhelpful way" and then to leave the conversation immediately. Do this to stop talking to any toxic people to help ensure that you do not feel pressured to lose weight again, if you have gained it in order to help recover from your eating disorder.
2. Fight Fear Foods
Another thing that you will need to deal with are fear foods. There might be nothing for you to eat at the party that feels safe since a lot of food during the holidays is innately "unhealthy." You probably don't want to give into your eating disorder by bringing your own food. Plan out what you are going to eat ahead of time and then stick to it. If you can't handle eating a whole plate of food that your eating disorder considers unhealthy, then eat one food at a time and eat vegetables in between.
For more information, talk to a company that specializes in mental health and eating disorders. Talk to a company such as T M S Center of Nebraska LLC for more information.
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