This is a question I get almost every single day: How did you learn to accept your body after gaining all this weight in your recovery? It was not easy seeing my body change so drastically. During the first 2 months of my recovery, I put on about a third of my body weight. I talk all about the physical side effects of this weight gain in this article, especially when it came to my digestion. However, when it comes to the mental side effects of that weight gain, it is a whole other sto[...]
Every January, gym memberships go through the roof and the diet industry experiences a big boost in sales. It is the marketing month of the year for the weight loss industry and unfortunately, most people still fall for the body shaming messages. We are taught to feel bad for eating delicious food during the holidays and spending our time with our loved ones, resting and recharging. We are told that we should "get back on track" in January to "make up for the holidays indulgences". It is[...]
My eating disorder and exercise addiction gave me a FALSE sense of control, even though it was the other way around. I was letting it control me.
Once I tasted ice cream for the first time in years, all flood gates opened and I couldn’t stop eating. After quitting my extreme fitness lifestyle, I went through about a year of eating upwards of tens of thousands of calories every single day.
This episode is part of a Q and A series that I have started through my Instagram account @ownitbabe and I have picked out 5 questions to answer today: 1. How do you get rid of the black-and-white mindset around food? 2. How long did it take for your weight to stabilize and what were some helpful steps you took to accept your weight gain and natural body shape? 3. How do you overcome the mentality of having to exercise every day? 4. Do you ever catch yourself thinking “Life wi[...]
Spoiler alert: This is not one of those articles that tell you how to avoid eating the food you crave. In fact, it is the exact opposite. But I am getting ahead of myself, so read on to understand what I mean. I was craving chocolate yesterday, so I ate a few squares and was completely satisfied. Then I remembered how I used to react when a chocolate craving hit back when I was severely restricting food and calories: 1. Panic mode: WHY AM I CRAVING CHOCOLATE OMG I MUST BE DEFICIENT[...]
Have you ever had one of those days... ...where you run around like a mad woman, but you feel like you get absolutely nothing done? I sometimes have days where I feel like a complete mess and I know exactly what my problem is: My perfectionism. I sometimes throw around the sentence “I am a perfectionist!” like it’s no big deal and just some quirky character trait of mine. However, if I’m truly honest, it's the most painful, frustrating and alienating part of being me. What it means[...]
“Deprivation (noun): the lack or denial of something considered to be a necessity.” Deprivation gets glorified, especially for us women.Whether that is depriving ourselves of food, depriving ourselves of other basic self-care needs or even depriving ourselves of our wildest dreams in life, so that we can take care of everybody else’s needs first. Have you ever thought about that? In this article, I want to dive a little bit deeper and explain: - How food deprivation harms our bo[...]
The episode everyone keeps asking me about is finally out!I am interviewing my husband Shaun and we are having a very juicy and honest conversation about body image, diet culture for men, supporting a loved one through an eating disorder, mental health, sex and much more! Some of my favorite topics we covered - The “movie-version” story of how we met and why we didn’t start dating until 18 months later - My rock-bottom moment and eating disorder from his point of view - Men and diet[...]
Here is a big myth about being recovered from an eating disorder that I always thought was true: ”Your life is full of rainbows and unicorns and you will be forever free!" (and here are some more myths in case you are curious) I always thought that once I am recovered and free of my food- and body obsession I will be happy. Why? Well, because for so many years the only thing weighing me down was my issue with food and my body. Once that was gone, everything was going[...]