r/AnorexiaRecovery

I wanted to tell you all about my oats for breakfast!

I started anorexia recovery and wanted to eat oats for so long. I always loved them but have been too scared to put anything on them or make them enjoyable in any way. I thought I didn't deserve to have nice warm breakfasts. And thought you could only eat nice things on special occasions. Anyway, today I had some oats I made on a normal Thursday morning with some peanut butter, and banana and maple syrup and had them with my coffee.

I know it's not a lot, but just wanted to share. They were so warm and nice.

THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL, GUYS!!!! I GOT MY PERIOD BACK!!!! <3

16F, 162cm, now at my end weight for my recovery from being underweight, and now that I’ve started eating normally (tracking still) I seemed to have gained so much weight in such a short time?

Will I just keep gaining weight forever? Do I have to restrict again?

In August 2025 I was 41kg, then January 2026 (47kg?) was when I properly started recovery and eating a normal amount of calories. So fast forward to now, may 2026, I am now 54/55kg, and in 8 months I have managed to gain nearly 15kg… from eating a normal amount of calories.

I started going to the gym in February this year and it had been the best thing ever. It has helped my mental health so much. It was probably what helped me choose recovery as I started to view food as necessary fuel. I try to emphasise getting stronger and feeling better (but of course the muscle is a plus). I am focusing on strength and muscle rather than thinness.

But I’m scared that I am just going to keep gaining weight. I was eating up to 2500 calories as a pretty active teenage girl from march to April but in fear I have reduced it down to 1700-1900. My weight seems to have stabilised a bit, maybe even a loss. But I am still opting to omit normal higher calorie options at meals because if I eat it I will just gain more and more weight (e.g. if rice is on the meal alongside a chicken curry, I won’t have the rice… or if it’s a burger and healthy fries I won’t have the burger bun- but it’s not a fear of carbs because I will have other options of carbs).

I have found that I’ve definitely gained muscle mass and strength and that motivates me a lot. But I’m scared that I will just keep on gaining weight (fat) and not stabilise.

I train 4 times for an hour in the gym, and 90 minutes of volleyball on a weekly basis, and usually get 8000-12000 steps depending on the day.

I am trying not to control my food as to improve my ideas surrounding it, but it just feels inevitable.

i (18) feel like, without meaning to, I've lost my life to anorexia.

It was hard for me to get through a school day without eating and it caused me so much distress i stopped going. The same thing with my job. the same thing with friends. i did it. I'm skinny now. now, what else?

I know this needs to change, but obviously I still struggle with the mindset that got me here in the first place. I feel like I cannot eat more, I can't get stronger, I can't have more energy.

has anyone else ever experienced the same thing? Honestly I feel very afraid and alone. I have no idea how to help myself.

How do you deal with the excess weight after recovery? Does it really ever get better?

I started my recovery about 2 years ago and I did it on my own. At first, I was really scared, but I went all in eventually. I was at a healthy weight last summer and even though I felt it was too much and didn't feel too confident in my body, I thought it would get better or at least that I would learn to maintain it and accept myself that way. Fast forward one year and I'm trying on my last year summer clothes that I intentionally bought as a bit too big in hopes of hiding my massive weight gain and they don't fit anymore. I didn't even notice I was still gaining weight during the past year and I feel too ashamed to even go out. I'm terrified of bumping into people I know who saw me during my skinny or "normal" phase including my friends and family and them seeing me now that I'm overweight once again. Extreme hunger is not a thing anymore but I guess I got too used to letting myself eat whatever whenever due to recovery that I still do it to some exent. I'm not binging and stuffing myself with huge amounts of food anymore, but I still don't have the discipline to stop myself from snacking and eating sweets and whatnot. I'm not too proud to admit it, but I tried relapsing too many times and I never succeeded. I tried eating less and losing in a healthier way but every single day I mess it up. I wanted to start exercising again, but I'm too ashamed to go out. Pretty much everything I tried just backfired on me and it's getting worse. I'm at a point where I'm undermining my social life on purpose out of shame and mentally at rock bottom.

Did someone here have a similar experience? Were you able to go back from this point? Most posts I see are people that have been in recovery for a few months hoping to lose the overshoot weight within a year or two. What happens when it's been more that two years and getting worse?

Hello, I’m recovering from a restrictive ed and now that I’m allowing myself to eat, I’m having trouble with the constant thought of food and urge to always be eating. Like I keep finding myself in the pantry munching on things like nuts and cereal throughout the day. The best thing I can do so far is stay out of the house but I want to be able to be at home without constantly having food on my mind. Gum doesn’t help and diet soda helps a bit but not long term. It’s really not got for me as I’m also t1d and it leads to BG spikes because forget to take insulin for ehat I do eat because it’s mindless snacking and not something planned and measured for insulin dosage. It’s worse around meals. Like I’m not satisfied after eating a whole meal. I also will do it when I’m full which I’m sure my hunger and fullness cues are messed up but every time I eat im uncomfortable. Idk if it’s physical, mental, or both, but that feeling also seems to trigger it. any advice?

I'm 3 years into recovery this month. I'm so glad I recovered and stayed recovered! This is the longest I've ever been recovered for. I am weight restored and then some. I've also been able to manage my AN-related chronic illness well! And I will probably go on testosterone soon, hopefully this will make me feel better about gaining weight (a big reason why I restricted was to avoid looking like a woman). I'm really proud and excited of what is to come.

TW a lot of ED (Ana and Mia)details

I’m 21 (afab they/them) I’ve struggled with eating disorders my whole life really. My mom was an obese woman with a restrict, binge, purge, restrict, repeat disorder who was plagued by 90s diet culture and in turn was extremely abusive to me, her only daughter about everything to do with food and my weight.

I in turn ended up with pretty much the same disorder when I was 12 or 13. I was always chubby growing up and I was also always very tall. I’m 6’ now. I ended up going full Ana when I was 17 and it got really really bad. No details necessary. I got out of that and recovered pretty well but I gained weight. I also hate what losing the weight I lost when I was really bad did to my body. The lose skin. The sagging. I hate it. I’ve started to relapse. So I’ve made a decision to start going to the gym and taking some control and trying so so hard to do this the healthy way. People tell me I look healthy but I fully don’t believe any of them. My body dysmorphia is bad it’s like I’m on shrooms or something when I’m looking at my body in a mirror. It warps,shifts, and changes. I have no idea what I look like and it’s terrifying. Calorie counting is something I had a problem with as well as neurotically weighing myself (200+ times a day) so I can’t weigh myself because that’s a slippery slope. And I have no way to track my progress. I’m so scared of gaining all the weight back. It’s debilitating. I can’t afford any kind of professional treatment.

All this to say TLDR: trying to healthily deal with gaining weight in recovery by longing to the gym and logging calories without relapsing.

So this past week I’ve gone through my worst relapse by far. Last night I had the biggest mental breakdown to my boyfriend. Yes I admit I’ve been the biggest bitch and am constantly mad and agitated and never happy anymore. And my relationship has severely been impacted. Especially this week bc of my relapse. This morning I woke up to see my scale and food scale was gone. I asked him and he said I need to get better and this is the first step. I’m really pissed off I don’t understand how hiding it will make it better if anything I feel like it’s going to make me worse and spiral even more.

My hair thinned out pretty badly when i was deep into my ED, i'm currently in recovery and am still losing hair badly. Is this normal? what can i do to stop it?

I have lost a lot of weight. When my BMI got low, my periods became very light and irregular, and then stopped altogether. Now i have been able to regained weight since 5 months. But my periods haven't Come back.

For those who went through something similar, when did your menstruations come back?After how much time?

i’ve been trying to honour my extreme hunger and omfg there’s not a single moment where i’m not thinking about food and it’s so fucking annoying

i can’t even study for 5 mins without eating

like just now i sat down and told myself id study but then 2 secs later i was eating a bag of chips and after that i ate cookies then after that i ate chocolate and ive done no work whatsoever

even tho im so full rn i still just wanna eat everything i see omg

i’ve spent so much money on food this week and now ive eaten everything i have again and ill have to buy more 💀🙏😭

does this shit ever stop i really cannot take this anymore im so tired of this constant food noise and brain fog

I’ve been leaning on this community through my first year of recovery, mainly in hard times. I wanted to come here to celebrate a major breakthrough I’ve been having this week with self love towards myself and my body 🥲

It’s easier to challenge the voice that says my body isn’t thin enough to wear my fitted workout clothes around the neighborhood for a walk or to class. I’ve definitely been covering up in the winter but now it’s too hot to hide and I’m just….doing it.

I’m back in work out classes in front of mirrors and this time…I’m like oo! Look at that little muscle peaking through my recovery retention. I feel so strong and that always makes me feel sexy!

I’m definitely noticing my body is switching and changing and rearranging the retention HOWEVER a few months ago I came here and was like PLEASE when is it going to change and now I’m like oh it’s changing? Ok. It’s very background now so I feel I achieved radical acceptance (hallelujah).

I’m a couple weeks away from the anniversary of my first appointment with my ED nutritionist and I’m just so so happy that I stuck it through and got to this point where *most days* my body and the way it looks is background noise, my ability to move and be strong is something that strengthens my confidence. Hopefully, no more hiding from here on out but I’m just grateful for the breakthroughs and wanted to share :)

I had Ana for about a year now and my weight was in “severely underweight “ category. I chose to recover but the past week of recovery I’ve been feeling extreme hunger I crave multiple yogurt tubs and cereal and oatmeal and there’s nights where I have 3-4 extra bowls .

I don’t know how that’s gonna affect me overall but I hate the feeling of it as at the end of the night no matter how much I eat I’m still hungry like there’s no end. My body gets cold from eating more and more

Is this normal or no.

The title basically says it. My mom says if I don’t gain a certain amount by next month, she’s getting me admitted.

She doesn’t believe in therapy and I don’t want a therapist either, and I really really really don’t want to be in-patient, but I’m so scared. I tried to do some small stuff today and I feel so sick.

i’ve been trying to satisfy my mental hunger these few days and have also been eating meals but rn i don’t crave anything but sweets, chips and just everything i never let myself eat before

like i don’t even wanna eat a “normal” lunch i just wanna eat snacks all day and not “healthy” foods like idk chicken and rice and veggies 💀

is this normal or should i kinda be concerned cuz i don’t wanna have a lack of protein or something 😭😭

still learning a lot & growing in recovery.

just started my meal plan & beyond grateful for my dietician. she is teaching me SO much & helping me to feel more comfortable.

im having a hard time knowing its ok to eat more than my meal plan (my dietician told me its GOOD to eat more & recommended). i do love the plan for structure though.

im still struggling tremendously with the idea that it is okay to eat until i feel full & satisfied. at this point, it takes a LOT!

im also still craving mostly sweets. i know that makes sense for energy and healing.

my edema and swelling are the worst. i am so sore all the time! i also have no energy ever. that is to be expected right? i realty would like it to get better.

most days all I can think about is food and sleeping hahah! hopefully that doesn’t sound strange.

i also still struggle very much because i am attempting to recover in a body that doesn’t “look” on the outside as though I am struggling. that’s hard!

have a wonderful weekend!!!!

Hi everyone,

About two weeks ago i reached a very low point in my mental health/ anorexia becoming a very low weight and very depressed, i had had some therapies in the past but had run out of nhs funded sessions and was left to my own devices and now am trying to get better on my own for the 1000th time.

This is the most iv ever stuck to not over exercising, counting exact calories and letting myself eat freely in years and it’s making me half excited to get better but also half terrified because it seems everyday im eating more and more to feel satisfied.

in the first week i was eating between 1800-2300 calories a day (not exact as im not weighing food etc) but at the end of this second week the number is creeping up into the 3000-4000 range and im worried ill never ever stop increasing and achieve a healthy level of eating and go right back into binging and be obese again and be stuck in this cycle.

Does anyone have any experience of being a much bigger person, becoming very unhealthily thin and then actually getting to a healthy weight and having a good relationship with food, bonus points if you have any illness that effects food (im type one diabetic) i just need son reassurance that this is ok and the right thing to do…

still learning a lot & growing in recovery.

just started my meal plan & beyond grateful for my dietician. she is teaching me SO much & helping me to feel more comfortable.

im having a hard time knowing its ok to eat more than my meal plan (my dietician told me its GOOD to eat more & recommended). i do love the plan for structure though.

im still struggling tremendously with the idea that it is okay to eat until i feel full & satisfied. at this point, it takes a LOT!

im also still craving mostly sweets. i know that makes sense for energy and healing.

my edema and swelling are the worst. i am so sore all the time! i also have no energy ever. that is to be expected right? i realty would like it to get better.

most days all I can think about is food and sleeping hahah! hopefully that doesn’t sound strange.

i also still struggle very much because i am attempting to recover in a body that doesn’t “look” on the outside as though I am struggling. that’s hard!

have a wonderful weekend!!!!

Everyone says you should your extreme hunger, but I’m so scared to. I don’t feel like I deserve it.

How long does extreme hunger typically last ?