Meet Sarah (not her real name), a remarkable woman who, like many of us, was living with a restrictive eating disorder. For years. And throughout those years, Sarah...
🫠 felt trapped by rigid rules, constantly trying to "get things right" with food.🍪 noticed her days were shaped entirely by calorie tracking, food planning, and the narrow world her ED had created.👙 lost trust in her body, and felt disconnected from her own hunger and needs😔 felt frustrated and left out when she missed out on memories with the people she loved.
And while she knew she wanted change, she wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted, how to approach it, and whether it was even possible.
She felt really really stuck 😵💫
And getting unstuck when you have no idea how you got there in the first place... it's hard!
Thankfully, she did not have to do it alone.
Together, we worked on...
✅ Reclaiming her food freedom: By deep-diving into her ingrained belief systems and challenging her cognitive distortions and fears, Sarah learned to better understand her own mind.
She learned to distinguish between the eating disorder voice and her true self, allowing her to make her own recovery-aligned decisions.
She now experiences much greater freedom, eating outside of her previous rigid timeline and finding peace with her favorite foods, which she'd avoided for half a decade.
✅ Removing the shame: Sarah learned to release herself from the burden of guilt and shame. She recognized that these emotions were not serving her, and she worked to cultivate greater self-forgiveness and acceptance.
By internalizing the new belief that her body was worthy and deserving of nourishment, she no longer felt as overwhelmed by eating until fulness and fuelling her body. She no longer beat herself up over taking rest and deviating from a plan.
Overall, she became more inquisitive about her automatic reactions and learned to tune into her true internal cues.
✅ Getting her period back: One of the most outwardly-obvious victories in Sarah’s journey was the restoration of her period, three months into working together.
Her period had been absent for years due to her eating disorder. With more consistent and sufficient meals, Sarah’s body began to heal. The return of her periods signalled a significant milestone in that journey.
✅ Rediscovering joy in movement: For years, Sarah had been a slave to her exercise compulsion. By identifying and rewiring the underlying beliefs, breaking through associated behavior patterns and compulsions, and learning to sit with uncomfortable feelings, we laid the basis for new, healthier self-care routines.
Sarah rediscovered a love for more intuitive movement practices, finding joy in activities like yoga. She can now also take days off (yes, completely!), and she can go on holidays and rest just for the sake of resting. No guilt to be seen!
✅ Embracing self-compassion: One of the biggest differences I noticed in Sarah over the course of our work together was the words with which she spoke to herself.
Where before she would get frustrated, upset, or disappointed, Sarah learned to treat herself with much greater compassion and understanding, especially during the more challenging moments in her recovery.
Sarah's life today...
It has been over a year since I worked one-on-one with Sarah, and I’m excited to say she is still
💪 smashing her recovery🩸 getting her period every month🏃♀️ moving when she feels called to🍸 joining her colleagues for drinks and her family for dinner…🥳 guilt- and shame-free!
She even told me she’s experiencing a tremendous shift right now: after many months of acknowledging both voices inside her head (her true self and her eating disorder self), she no longer feels the need to differentiate between them anymore... because the eating disorder voice is fading!
Sarah’s story is a testament to the power of resilience, courage, and self-compassion in reclaiming one’s life, and I hope that it can serve as a source of inspiration and motivation, reminding you that full recovery is possible.
If Sarah got there, so can you...
If Sarah’s journey sparks even a flicker of hope inside of you, imagine what you can achieve with the right guidance and support too.
Whether you’re just stepping into the world of recovery or whether you’re ready to scale to new heights, I’m here to help you navigate the highs and lows.
Maybe you’ll be that next success story, motivating so many others to take steps in their own journeys. Are you ready to take that leap? Let’s chat.
Let's see if working together feels like the right fit, let’s get you unstuck, and let’s make your dreams come true!
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