u/Hour_Celery5975

has anyone ever been there for treatment for an eating disorder? thoughts and experiences? struggling with an ed and thinking about looking into it!

what are the benefits to only eating whole foods? how do you do it? what is and isn’t considered a “whole food” ?

I have atypical ana and i honestly really do feel like i get treated differently - one of my best friends actually has been diagnosed with “extreme anorexia” when during the height of our eds we had almost the exact same behaviors. I brought this up a bit to my therapist and she told me she’s not going to diagnose me with something I don’t have, which is fair of course but it all still feels invalidating. my whole story is really long, so ill save it, but long story short, ive been to treatment twice (iop for 4 weeks in august 2025 and php for 4 weeks in January 2026) and im just really starting to get irritated by outpatient treatment. i feel like they’re expecting me to change my behaviors super quickly when im really struggling to. Because i’m really short + have atypical + am weight restored, my meal plan is relatively low compared to most other people. ofc a lot more calories than what I used to eat, but i was also a maaajor volume eater during my ed so it honestly doesnt feel much different which is really confusing. (The choosing lower calorie but higher volume foods is my biggest struggle still and it’s what my team has been really harping on me - it’s just confusing bc when i choose the higher calorie lower volume foods it literally feels the same as when I was restricting volume wise, which is confusing) I have also gained a LOT of weight since starting recovery and i honestly find that embarrassing, especially since i have atypical ana and im really sick of having them weigh me every single week.

That all said, basically the title. has anyone ever withdrawn from outpatient treatment and sought out recovery on their own? if so, how did you know it was time for that?

I have atypical ana and i honestly really do feel like i get treated differently - one of my best friends actually has been diagnosed with “extreme anorexia” when during the height of our eds we had almost the exact same behaviors. I brought this up a bit to my therapist and she told me she’s not going to diagnose me with something I don’t have, which is fair of course but it all still feels invalidating. my whole story is really long, so ill save it, but long story short, ive been to treatment twice (iop for 4 weeks in august 2025 and php for 4 weeks in January 2026) and im just really starting to get irritated by outpatient treatment. i feel like they’re expecting me to change my behaviors super quickly when im really struggling to. Because i’m really short + have atypical + am weight restored, my meal plan is relatively low compared to most other people. ofc a lot more calories than what I used to eat, but i was also a maaajor volume eater during my ed so it honestly doesnt feel much different which is really confusing. (The choosing lower calorie but higher volume foods is my biggest struggle still and it’s what my team has been really harping on me - it’s just confusing bc when i choose the higher calorie lower volume foods it literally feels the same as when I was restricting volume wise, which is confusing) I have also gained a LOT of weight since starting recovery and i honestly find that embarrassing, especially since i have atypical ana and im really sick of having them weigh me every single week.

That all said, basically the title. has anyone ever withdrawn from outpatient treatment and sought out recovery on their own? if so, how did you know it was time for that?

i’ve been in true recovery from atypical ana since december/ early january, and right away eating felt fine (physically anyway lol) but the last couple weeks my stomach hurts after almost every single meal.

we have thought for awhile that i might have a dairy sensitivity, and one time I did a dna test for ancestor.com or whatever and it did say that i’m more likely to have a dairy sensitivity. we also think dairy/ lactose could be part of why i have such bad acne (i’ve been on accutane 3 times to no avail) that said, i know those sites arent always fully accurate. also, its with every meal, not just ones with dairy.

i feel like its also important to note that i have since fully weight restored plus some.

Has anyone else experienced this?

i’ve been in true recovery from atypical ana since december/ early january, and right away eating felt fine (physically anyway lol) but the last couple weeks my stomach hurts after almost every single meal.

we have thought for awhile that i might have a dairy sensitivity, and one time I did a dna test for ancestor.com or whatever and it did say that i’m more likely to have a dairy sensitivity. we also think dairy/ lactose could be part of why i have such bad acne (i’ve been on accutane 3 times to no avail) that said, i know those sites arent always fully accurate. also, its with every meal, not just ones with dairy.

i feel like its also important to note that i have since fully weight restored plus some.

Has anyone else experienced this?

*NOT on purpose*

So, this past Sunday I went to an event where I wore leggings. I have atypical ana, so even at my lowest weight I was never underweight. That said, at my lowest weight I was absolutely the most confident I have ever been and actually liked my body. Since the start of my recovery in December, I have gained quite a bit of weight. This has caused a lot of distress and sadness to me but I can’t go back to restricting even if I wanted to because my body doesn’t let me and I just end up binging. This last sunday, it all finally caught up to me and the amount of anxiety and sadness I was feeling caused me to vomit.

I’m so lost and I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore. It’s also unhelpful that my best friend has also struggled with an ed in the past and is just naturally really thin when i’m not at all. :(

*NOT on purpose*

So, this past Sunday I went to an event where I wore leggings. I have atypical ana, so even at my lowest weight I was never underweight. That said, at my lowest weight I was absolutely the most confident I have ever been and actually liked my body. Since the start of my recovery in December, I have gained quite a bit of weight. This has caused a lot of distress and sadness to me but I can’t go back to restricting even if I wanted to because my body doesn’t let me and I just end up binging. This last sunday, it all finally caught up to me and the amount of anxiety and sadness I was feeling caused me to vomit.

I’m so lost and I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore. It’s also unhelpful that my best friend has also struggled with an ed in the past and is just naturally really thin when i’m not at all. :(

*NOT on purpose*

So, this past Sunday I went to an event where I wore leggings. I have atypical ana, so even at my lowest weight I was never underweight. That said, at my lowest weight I was absolutely the most confident I have ever been and actually liked my body. Since the start of my recovery in December, I have gained quite a bit of weight. This has caused a lot of distress and sadness to me but I can’t go back to restricting even if I wanted to because my body doesn’t let me and I just end up binging. This last sunday, it all finally caught up to me and the amount of anxiety and sadness I was feeling caused me to vomit.

I’m so lost and I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore. It’s also unhelpful that my best friend has also struggled with an ed in the past and is just naturally really thin when i’m not at all. :(