In order to recover from an eating disorder, you have to engage in behavior change. In fact, behavior change is THE way you heal. It’s common to want to change how you think or feel before you change how you behave, but the opposite is actually true. You change your behaviors and your thoughts, feelings and belief systems catch up.
When you think about behavior change in recovery, your mind probably first goes to overt ED behaviors – things like bingeing, restricting, and purging. Those are important behaviors to start setting goals and boundaries around.
But there are many more covert behaviors that continue to undermine your recovery if you don’t recognize them as such.
I posted about this on Instagram a few weeks ago, and it generated a lot of good discussion. I’ll make a list of all the covert ED behaviors you should be aware of!
- Compulsive exercise, or using exercise as a way to earn food or to compensate for food.
- Food rituals (ie eating only out of certain bowls, cutting food into very small pieces, spitting food out, taking a long time to eat a meal, needing to eat at the exact same time in the exact same place, etc).
- Delaying meals and snacks.
- Comparing yourself to others (comparing food intake, appearance or even the recovery process).
- Counting calories, grams or points; tracking, measuring or weighing your food.
- Weighing yourself or engaging in other body checking behaviors.
- Keeping clothes in your closet that don’t fit to use as “inspiration”.
- Fasting, clean eating, detoxes or other common diet culture recommendations.
- Trying to recover with limitations on the types of foods or types of macronutrients you can eat.
- Tricking hunger by using artificial sweeteners, chewing gum, air-filled foods (popcorn, puffed cereals, etc), coffee and tea.
- Seeking constant reassurance that you have an eating disorder and it’s okay to eat.
- Avoiding emotions; numbing or distracting yourself.
- Creating rules around how much weight you are allowed to gain.
- Not eating snacks.
When you struggle with an eating disorder, these types of behaviors often feel “helpful” to you. It’s important that you recognize them as ED behaviors that undermine your recovery. Notice and name them, and create goals around how to change the behavior.
What behavior is undermining your recovery? Are there any behaviors you would add to this list?
