When I am asked about recovery from an eating disorder, I admit that it is often hard to explain.  For everyone, I do think that it can be different. 

1.  Some people may quit their behaviors and never look back.

2.  Others quit their behaviors and live each day longing for them, and in their mind, they struggle with the thought of returning to the old behaviors.

3.  There are still those that take multiple attempts before achieving a life free of their eating disorder.


Recovery is hard work, no matter from which illness one is attempting recovery.

There are no hierarchies.  One cannot say that is it harder to recover from one eating disorder than another.  Certainly if someone has more stressors or has been engaged in disordered behavior longer, it makes it more difficult, but not impossible.

So the real truth about recovery is that is DOES HAPPEN.
You have to want it, and you have to work hard for it.

Go at it with reckless abandon, the same way a toddler attempts to walk.  It falls, cries, mother comforts it, then it gets up and tries again.  A toddler never is afraid to try to walk again.

Having lapses should not make you give up your recovery attempt, just get up again, dust yourself off immediately, give yourself a hug, and try again.  Imagine yourself walking toward a wonderful new life...

Take care,
Leslie

http://www.edrsweb.org