The Truth About Extreme Hunger in ED Recovery

This post about extreme hunger in eating disorder recovery is one of MANY on this blog. Read all of my posts about extreme (mental) hunger here or feel free to pick your favorites from the list below!

The Science Behind Extreme Hunger

Extreme Hunger vs Binge Eating Disorder

Mental Hunger – Valid or No?

Extreme Hunger While Being Weight Restored

Overshooting Your Weight in ED Recovery

Does Extreme Hunger Cause Diabetes?

But I Didn't Restrict For That Long!

Now, onto today's post!

We need to talk about a completely normal yet incredibly misunderstood part of eating disorder recovery: extreme hunger.

Throughout my years of disordered eating, I felt like some sort of superior angel 😇 because I could easily withstand the foods that everyone else was too tempted by.

My entire life’s purpose was dedicated to being this perfect healthy eater, so much so that I didn’t know who I was without that identity.

Part of this identity was reckoned with as I started gaining weight...

But that was to be expected, right?

I knew I would gain weight in eating disorder recovery.

I knew it would be hard.

I knew it was necessary.

What I did not know was that behind the corner of being "weight restored," the extreme hunger beast was lurking.

When I reached a "healthy weight" in ED recovery, I thought the weight gain process was over.

I was done!

I was healed!

I was fixed!

But my body didn't seem to agree...

One day, when I came home from school with a tad more hunger than I would have liked, I binged for the first time in my life.

I was fraught with shame and discomfort, yet at the same time, I kept reminding myself recovery isn't linear.

I would simply "get back on track" with my regular eating schedule the next day, and all would be fine and dandy 🌼

I couldn't have been more wrong.

After that initial binge episode after school, it was as if the floodgates to hungerland had opened 🌊

I ate and ate and ate until I felt so full and nausesous, yet I still wanted more food.

Every "junk food" item imaginable swirled around in my mind until I surrendered to the mental hunger.

For months on end, I was floating around in a tornado of constant eating.

I wanted it to stop, but was completely powerless against whatever hunger force had possessed my being.

The binges were so extreme that I thought I was developing binge eating disorder.

No matter what I did to drown out the hunger – drinking more water, taking smaller bites, keeping sweets out of the house – that hunger tornado wasn't putting me down anytime soon.

So what happened between then and now?

How did I heal my body, settle within my natural healthy weight range, and find food freedom without losing control?

You can read about it all in my book How to Beat Extreme Hunger. Whether you grab a copy for yourself or someone you care for, it's about time we normalize eating a lot of food in eating disorder recovery.P.S. If you resonate with all of the above, you're definitely going to want to snag your seat in my course, Extremely Hungry to Completely Satisfied. In the course, you'll learn how to stop obsessing over food so you can create a life in which you are satisfied and free. Enroll here!