Is anyone else finding it hard to eat over Christmas? So much pressure to eat over Christmas finding it overwhelming.

[Citylife]

I'm slowly recovering from anorexia and had been making good progress but since Christmas day have found myself resorting back to my old AN eating patterns. My family know about my AN and were supportive over Christmas but I feel so greedy about what I ate and feel that I need to cut back and cleanse my body again. I know this is wrong and CBT has taught me to challenge this but I'm finding it so hard to do. Can anyone tell me if my stomach will always look bloated if I eat more than I'm used to? I'm finding it really hard to accept my new body shape.

[Pointeless]

Im so sorry that nobody has answered this post yet.I tend to only occasionally lurk in this forum but upon reading your post I felt I really wanted to offer you some support.

I can relate to that panicing feeling of bloating.

In simple terms of will you always FEEL bloated when you eat more than 'what you USED to' the answer is yes because the stomach is adjusting - it isn't used to coping with a ''normal'' amount of food and has to work harder to digest it. Chances are you don't LOOK bloated but bloating makes you FEEL as if you look bigger than you are.

It's great to hear you are trying hard to challenge these thoughts.

Perhaps if you analyse it you might find you feel more bloated and bigger because of your internal thought processes about the amount you've eaten- you panic thinking it's alot because it's more than the day to day- that panic then leads to thoughts of- is it showing?am I getting bigger? - then as your body starts to digest the food and you feel a little bloated,that bloating can lead to thoughts of - of course it was too much- look i'm looking bigger-it's happening etc and the situation is magnified? Try reminding yourself of the temporary nature of your bodies physical changes- it's bloating to break down and use the food- to give you energy and vitality to do the things that life as a recovered person enables you to do.

I too struggle with my new recovered body shape-but I know this new shape is something I need to learn to accept unless I want to accept existance over life.

Stay strong and keep going,

S x

[Citylife in reply to Pointeless]

Thanks for your reply as I am really struggling at the minute. I am giving myself a hard time for eating so much over Christmas and as a result have begun restricting what I eat down to 400 calories a day and upping my exercise on a daily basis. I understand what you are saying but my head is all over the place at the minute. Hopefully once things settle down again I'll be able to try and take it on board. I hope that with the support of my counsellor I'll be able to stop again and begin the recovery process again.

[Citylife in reply to Pointeless]

Thanks for your reply as I am really struggling at the minute. I am giving myself a hard time for eating so much over Christmas and as a result have begun restricting what I eat down to 400 calories a day and upping my exercise on a daily basis. I understand what you are saying but my head is all over the place at the minute. Hopefully once things settle down again I'll be able to try and take it on board. I hope that with the support of my counsellor I'll be able to stop again and begin the recovery process again.

[Citylife in reply to Pointeless]

Thanks for your reply as I am really struggling at the minute. I am giving myself a hard time for eating so much over Christmas and as a result have begun restricting what I eat down to 400 calories a day and upping my exercise on a daily basis. I understand what you are saying but my head is all over the place at the minute. Hopefully once things settle down again I'll be able to try and take it on board. I hope that with the support of my counsellor I'll be able to stop again and begin the recovery process again.

[Citylife in reply to Pointeless]

Thanks for your reply as I am really struggling at the minute. I am giving myself a hard time for eating so much over Christmas and as a result have begun restricting what I eat down to 400 calories a day and upping my exercise on a daily basis. I understand what you are saying but my head is all over the place at the minute. Hopefully once things settle down again I'll be able to try and take it on board. I hope that with the support of my counsellor I'll be able to stop again and begin the recovery process again.