Pathway to Normal Eating: Do Whatever It Takes to Recover
24 July 2007 by livingrainbowcolor
Whatever it takes? How can you define that?
For me, whatever it takes is whatever it takes, short of violating my primary values. For example, I won’t kill to be thin and free of the ED.
Doing whatever it takes means the following:
- Doing what you think you need to be doing
- Assess the efficacy of your choices and actions
- Repeat until you get the results you want
This is hard, no doubt about it. At its worst, you will experience frustration, feelings of ineffectiveness, and want to give up. At best, you’ll discover strengths you never knew you had, the joy of success, and strong motivation.
My biggest personal frustration has been around actually losing weight after recovering. I am thrilled with my progress in stopping binging and self-talk, even in exercise. But finding the right amount and type of eating that meets all 3 needs (emotional, physical and rational) is difficult. Now I am beginning to perceive myself as an ED-recovered person in a body still carrying the burden of the ED. I feel like I’m truly me now, and just have some excess energy (OK, a LOT of excess energy) to burn off to let my body catch up with the rest of me.
So I’m using the phrase “whatever it takes” as my mantra this week. I repeat this phrase a hundred times or more a day, each time I encounter a choice. “I want to do whatever it takes,” I whisper to myself, “What will it take right now, this very minute?”
