Welcome to the blog space of the Looking Glass community, where we post our own and others’ reflections and perspectives on eating disorder issues, journeys of recovery, and other helpful tips and tools.
At the height of my eating disorder, what I saw in the mirror and what I actually looked like were two very different images. There are not many pictures of me that reflect how sick I was around this time. This is partly due to the fact that pictures back then were taken on film and had to be developed, so there were far fewer pictures taken in general. It is also partly due to the fact that I avoided the camera like the plague.
Q: I struggle with Binge Eating but everyone just keeps telling me it’s about willpower. Is Binge Eating really an Eating Disorder?
A: There are many tragic experiences that people who struggle with eating disorders experience and this is one of them. Often, when we see people bingeing, especially if they struggle with their weight as a result, it is assumed that their struggle is due to the individual lacking restraint and that the pain that’s caused is self-inflicted.
Strength can mean a number of different things to a number of different people. Some may define it as being physically strong and being able to lift heavy things, while others may feel it more encompasses a mental quality to be able to withstand any given scenario and emerge better from it. I think we can all agree that strength can encapsulate both physical and mental, and it isn't so black and white. Just like recovery. Recovery is an entirely different beast, with everyone having their own opinion on what it looks like.
The entirety of my life once revolved around my weight. Every thought, action, and breath I breathed was dedicated towards the pursuit of becoming thinner, smaller, invisible…
After my personality and vitality had starved to diminishment, my physical body began the final act of disappearance. It was during what I thought was the last act of my life that a plot twist in the form of major medical complication, a heart attack, stormed the stage. This twist brought trained professionals to co-star alongside my emaciated body. Their actions saved my life and stopped the tragedy I was acting out.
Motivation can be a hard thing to come by when we are battling with our recovery. Finding the drive, energy and even the interest to keep going when things get hard is often incredibly challenging and overwhelming. January is a great month for us to discuss motivation and persistence because it’s a time when we are often bombarded by people’s new years resolutions.
When the calendar year shifts, many aspire to set New Years resolutions, and one of the most prominent is weight loss.
I've been a personal trainer for 4 years and I battled orthorexia in my early days of personal training. Orthorexia is common amongst athletes, avid gym goers, personal trainers and health coaches. My own experience inspired me to become a life coach to help others overcome negative body image and make a positive difference in this industry.
I hope this message finds you healthy, happy, and warm on these chilly December days! It’s hard to believe that 2016 is almost over, but I find that there’s a certain magic in starting off a brand new year. It’s a wonderful time to reflect on the year that was, to connect with the here and now, and to project some light and warmth toward the months ahead.
When I first went into recovery, I knew that it was going to be a learning curve, but one of the hardest lessons I had to learn was to do with exercise. There had been so much focus on my weight and eating habits in the early stages of my recovery that exercise was anything but in the forefront. It wasn’t until about a year into my recovery that I was faced with a difficult truth: exercise isn’t always healthy.
I’m very open about my eating disorder history. Something that has resulted in people coming to me privately and saying, “So how did you finally recover?”. I’ll start off by saying that I personally don’t think that you simply recover. I feel like recovery is more of a constant continuum.
Looking Glass Foundation respectfully acknowledges that our work takes place on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
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