I couldn’t care less about the number on the scales.

The last time I weighed myself because my eating disorder decided I needed to do so was on the 31st of December last year. I can probably make an educated guess re how often an individual suffering with an eating disorder weighs themself, but how often does a normal person weigh themselves? Feel free to share.

Change.

Eating disorders hate change. As long as everything is the same, everything is okay. As long as I can control the amount of food that I eat and it’s the same, it’s okay. As long as I do as much exercise as I possibly can, everything is all good. Eating disorders are a routine, a habit. They’re a compulsion And often it’s difficult to see a way out of the routine when it’s all you know.

Eating Disorders Serve a Purpose.

I think we all know it by now; but eating disorders aren’t just about food or weight or body image. In fact, eating disorders are a pretty clever way for the body to react to a stressful situation. It is a coping mechanism –  something occurs that the mind and body both cannot cope with – and so it finds a way to. It finds a way to survive. And the eating disorder is how it does. The irony is that the eating disorder keeps the person alive and slowly kills them at the same time. That’s the sad reality.

Ignorant Doctors.

The title is a little harsh, admittedly – but dang, some doctors make me feel so angry. I know that they don’t all know about eating disorders – and a lot of them have a mere textbook understanding of what eating disorders really are – but they can say some really, really unhelpful things sometimes. Actually, it’s not just them. It’s a lot of people. And it’s mostly a reflection of the fact that there are so many misconceptions floating around about eating disorders. But one would think that doctors might have more of an understanding of EDs than just your everyday individual walking down the street.