Great vid! What if you can't get yourself to hop. Im a huge victim of the tomorrow syndrome and can't actually get myself to do the DOING :(

SO helpful - especially affirmations that actually resonate! I have a really black and white thinking, but also can't get my head around jumping from restriction to all in. I don't understand how one can do that, even though I want nothing more. Small steps are also stupid and don't bring much... How did you go about this?

Such a great video, thank you so much! How did you know when you were out of energy deficit?

Yes to wanting nothing but also everything!! How do I listen to that if I can't eve figure out what I want?

Thank u for the video but I struggle a lot with comparison with others especially my mom concerning quantities and portions , I always need to make sure she eats more than me in order to honour my hunger

Please do a video on how your mom supported you with your extreme mental and physical hunger, and how you explained it all. I just can't get my parents to support me honoring all of my hunger and cravings and I live with them so I don't know what to do

Thanks so much Emily! I am wondering if you could answer my question. I got an autoimmune disease a few months ago and it caused some inflammation on my spine. It is advised to eat a sugar-free, unprocessed diet to reduce inflammation. This all happened right when I was finally deciding to fully commit to recovery and honouring my hunger. I feel so stuck because I know that I can't restrict if I want to fully recover from the ED but now people are saying I need to eat super healthy to heal my inflammation. I get so scared to eat sugary or processed foods now because I feel like I am damaging my body, my spine, and my heart. I want to be able to be practical about all of it and do what is best for my body. I obviously don’t want to have extreme inflammation but at the same time this extreme mental and physical hunger is driving me crazy and making me miserable. I can't sleep at night because I am just thinking about all of the sugary, processed foods. I know maybe not having sugar would be better for my spine but I can’t stop thinking about all my cravings which are mainly sweet foods right now. I've been eating a healthy diet but I just kind of feel sick because it’s not what I’m craving. Ugh and I’m just so embarrassed even talking about this like why can I only think about food. I feel like there’s something so wrong with me. I can’t focus on anything or think about anything else. My Dr never said to cut out sugar but she also doesn’t know I’m dealing with extreme hunger and the amount of sugar I want to eat is way more than what a normal person would.

Definitely need this Vid, to say this past week has been an overwhelming stressful emotional storm of ED freak outs, from free pouring milk now instead of measuring it, and eating the sweet treat fear foods daily, to say my Demon Blip of an ED is rather angry this week is understatement, a lot of mentally freaking out but just impulsively having the ED non approved foods daily as much as it likes to tell no, I want them so it can politely go away because I’m done with being hungry or avoiding the good stuff 🧁🍪🍩 It’s nice to be in a place where I feel I have the energy to exist, live and enjoy my self, and stop the ED from making me feel like I have to punish myself for something so stupid as eating like everyone else’s, Food is just fuel and it’s not going to kill me to eat the Cookies or whatever else I really want As much as I struggled lately with Ed stressing me out, and felt like just quitting and letting the Ed carry on ruling my life, I just over it and it’s stupid rules of when and what I eat

These are great, thank you.

I've been baking blondies today which will later be eaten with some hot chocolate 🥰 I tried to restock my tin of noms but my brother emptied it as he found it 😂😭 so gonna have to do it again😂😂

Thank you so much for the video, this has helped me so much today❤️😊

I know I should let myself eat when I feel extreme hunger but I’m also scared of eating and gaining weight

I am so so scared of becoming a lazy person and not be able to take up excercises again. I am scared I will be worn. That I am going to loose not only my progress but my personality,my drive,my determination. And if one day I want to have goals and change something about me, I won't be able to keep up. I am extremely scared to even allow some unplanned rest. it's so so difficult because I am also giving myself more permission with eating what I unconditionally and truly want. But I am not still eating as much ( a lot lot lot) as I want. All together, I can't do it

I'm so bored I'm eating for hours and don't know how to stop since I don't know how to make time pass otherwise. Any tips on what to do to stop this? It gives me so much stomach distress.

I am now in ed recovery and just sitting on the couch and eating allll day... The highest calorie foods you can find, one after the other. There is nothing else I'd like to do, either... Which makes me worried this has become my sole hobby. I haven't had any interests or hobbies for years, next to eating, exercising and watching videos about body, weight, food and recovery. Is that normal? I am worried I am just a person who doesn't have any interests. It has been so long. When I was a child, I loved to draw or read a book, and now activities like these just feel like things I need to ''perform'' in, instead of just enjoying it.

This video is perfect for me today on the heels of feeling quite sick from all the food yesterday I know I can’t give up or in to restriction today simply to offset the tummy upset… I must dig in and commit to eating a surplus once again today in order to nutritionally rehabilitate

Not gonna lie there hasn’t been one video i don’t find helpful coming from you☃️ Thank you Emily!!! for all you do🤲🏼ྀིྀི༘˚⋆𐙚｡⋆𖦹.✧˚

Thank you so much for this Emily. 🙏 Could I kindly ask, are you able to do a video on how to cope when others around you seem to have issues with food and how to stay in your lane with recovery? Thank you for all you do xx 💜

thanks for this exercise tip, works better than the counting one, yes focus and calm, also have to ask if u recall where u got the lovely dino t shirt x

Great t-shirt Emily, and great advice. When my ED wins it is via things let not allowing myself to have the appropriate recovery aids, ie food in the house. We keep so little food in on the premise there is a shop in the next street, but I never go to the shop when i have the need for something!

You made my day Emily. I am struggeling at the moment but every time I see your videos it gives me motivation to keep on going against the ed voice.❤️❤️

Thank you, Emily, for your post! What’s so amazing to me when I think about “What is an Eating Disorder really?”, is that while I still don’t buy into all the psycho-babble/evolutionary hypothesis crap definitions defined mostly by “professionals” who NEVER experienced an ED or recovered from one, the LIVED experience of all of us who relate as somehow being influenced by an”ED” is SO FREAKIN IDENTICAL! Like WTF! You explaining the whole crazy wanting to buy something, petting it, smelling it, energetically X-RAYING it (!), picking it up, putting it back, on and on, is my experience too. And this is only ONE of the MILLION examples of the SAME BEHAVIOR although completely different people who have never met, don’t even live on the same continent. So weird. Yet so true in lived experience! 😜🤯🤩😍😘

Hey Emily your videos have TRULY inspired me. I wanted to know if you could touch on the topic of excessive liquid consumption? I feel like this is a way that the ED tries to make me feel like calories are being flushed out and such and I’d love to hear your take on it as someone who is recovered. I can’t tell if I’m just drinking water because I’m thirsty sometimes or if I’m drinking it thinking that if I don’t something will go wrong.

Emily....thank you so much!!! Seriously you and Tabitha have helped me so much on my journey to full recovery. If I ever met you I would give you a huge hug xx

I really love the way you break these things down. You make it sound so simple yet so insightful and it's really helped me understand my own behaviours. I have anorexia but i'm not professionally diagnosed so these videos are really informative for me and they make me much less anxious about food

Happy Anniversary to you both.👏🍻🍷 I recognise so many of these signs Emily. Now to create reminders to steer the thinking...

haven’t watched the whole video yet, but i want to say that your cat is sooo cute😫🥺

I'm so so sorry. Happy anniversary!!!!! I can't believe it's a year!!!!!!🎉🎉🎉🎉

Ding ding ding! Gosh, this rung so true for me....having every tiny piece /scrap on the plate. I've just committed to physical rest which is a HUGE behavioural step change for me (LLM is a big problem for me). I've occasionally managed to reduce my activity in the past, BUT it has always led to me then reducing what I eat because my head says what those stupid government ads say "energy in=energy out' , and I believe that idea that if I'm doing less physically I don't need as much food. However I talked to my parents about this and acknowledged that as someone in energy deficit, if I reduce what I eat even more to 'make sitting down and resting acceptable ' then I'm depriving myself of nutrients to heal sufficiently. I won't be getting the nutrients/equipment my body needs to rebuild and restore. This video has also helped me see that I'm still hungry a lot of the time and even after a meal. Therefore it helps clarify that nomatter how much I do or don't do physically I need to eat as much as I can force myself to. There is no 'too much'?!? I get so scared that I I am having 'more than my body needs' and especially when I'm less active. But I'm going to try to see this as an experiment- what will happen if for 5 days I do very little and still eat what I was eating when very active? The worst that can happen if I feel extremely terrible agitation and panic. Can I do instead of rushing around, walking etc? .....reading, watching films on a free trial streaming service I have for 7 days, writing reviews, writing letters, journalling, art, etc. Having a list of things I want to do but haven't been able to because im to busy out and about, cleaning, hanging out in supermarkets trying to buy what I want but walking out with the usual apples and veg, etc. I'm scared though. Every part if me is itching to get up and do things. I feel so so lazy and gross. Does this ease? What if I become a really lazy person? Sorry I'm seeing it as an opportunity one minute and then freaking out the next! I guess it is accepting I will get these distressing feelings and thoughts I must reduce what I eat but see this as an exercise in enduring the emotions and beliefs and still not reacting in the way they make me feel compelled to. How can that be lazy? I am literally doing the hardest thing- learning tk tolerate distress and not respond to ED compulsions. Sorry. I'm goingnon. Just trying to get through this torture until it feelsok and I can actually focus on a book or film or creative project. Thanks Emily

A wonderful and beautifully reassuring insightful video Emily, thanks so much for recovering and putting into words what it takes to recover. This video literally made me get up and honor my hunger cue right now, despite the doubt and fear, thanks so much again Emily :)

Can I ask , did you experience these before any weight gain or after some or most of the weight gain? And how long into your recovery did you notice these signs? Also can these signs be present during extreme hunger and/or during times of less hunger/apathy around food? Thanks so much ! ♥️

Those flowers really are beautiful!! This is such a helpful video! Thank you ♥️

This is really insightful. I found even in hospital we were told to distract ourselves after meals and I always dreaded finishing meals. I now realise this was probably unsatiated hunger and being devastated then 'eating was over'. So important to highlight.

No wayyyy, I did all of those lmao. But it's so hard to honour it all.

I think I (and a lot of other people with an ED) can write a book about recovery eventhough we're not recovered yet. But I find myself in a difficult situation (aka the quasi state). I've been in "recovery" for a while now and things are better then before but there is still a long way to go. Most of the time I find myself not hungry or I feel physically full (it has been a lot of force feeding myself). Sometimes my mental hunger goes crazy and sometimes it's not even there. And with my physical hunger not helping me or being there, it is hard to eat enough for recovery. And then I get doubts of what to eat and how much of it. Also because ever since I gained some weight (Idk how much) my appetite slowly has been decreasing (which should be a good sign). Eventhough there are still rules in my head about "timing of eating", "amound of eating" and "how much I may rest" what should I do in my situation? I can't rely on my physical hunger but also a lot of times not on my mental hunger neither. (Because it's not there or super unclear or switches up 1000x in a day) Staying on a rule based schedule also doesn't get rid of my restriction based rules. Like a minimum suggested meal plan or how much to minimum rest a day or planned times to eat. I'm looking for something that gets rid of the rules in my head and also makes me finally spontanious again. Because right now it has always been restricted and planned and calculated (in amound of food, timing of eating, and timing of rest)

Very beautiful flowers!! Happy Anniversary to you and Andrew!! I love that you present challenges that empower me! Thank you for this! ED doesn't like doughnuts - all? bakery items, actually - and I'm not certain if I do. Pretty certain it's related to refined flour v. whole grains, plus sugary. I have learned that I absolutely DO enjoy a variety of cookies and that mayo is quite yummy. Condiments, in general, are something I'm exploring. I need to challenge pasta more - I like it/ED does not. I have a list to make😄..and then enjoy experimenting. Thank you for another inspiring video, Emily!!

I hit send before I was finished! I link into a support group for careers and always tell them to watch your videos. They are enormously helpful to me so I would like to thank you so much and to also let you know that there are others in my situation who seek help in how best to supporting

Searching for inspiration in my journey as SUPPORT person for my daughter who has long standing AN I found this excellent (as usual) video. The huge problem is that some days the ED is so strong (and so angry with me - she tells me this) that I can be totally shut out. The angry bit is the fear the AN has that I am 'winning' a little bit too much and this scares her, so they both lash out at me. I get this...and have learned how to deal with it from my point of view. I also watched your video on the foods ED told you you hated. That also resonated with me and I will encourage her to re-listen. Yesterday the ED told her it would be easier if she ignored the extreme hunger because the pain afterwards, physical and mental, was too impossible to deal with. Restriction is easier in her book. I noted all the lovely things to self talk and would love to take that role on but during these episodes she is completely un-receptive

Oh gosh, those sneaky doors! Have been having those challenges 😮

When I get real with myself, there is SO much ED BS I cling to and know I need to mentally push through if I want Total freedom (which I do) --> milkshakes, savoury (bacon/eggs/etc) breakfasts, milkshakes ALONGSIDE food, repetition throughout the day (e.g. eat bread for breakfast lunch and dinner and stop having to have all the meals totally different), stop limiting dairy (e.g. have the cappuccino AND cheese AND cereal with milk AND yoghurt/custard etc), stopping making food decisions based on the previous meal/snack etc. The list has many, many more things on it. Urgh. There is work to be done so I'd better get cracking 🤦🏻 As always, Emily, your videos and content cause me to properly reflect and realise okay Mark just cut the nonsense and push through; you're only prolonging the very things which drive you out of your brain, so cut it out! Thank YOU 😊

Happy Anniversary 🎉 Oh yes totally relate, chocolate, pasta, rice, potatoes in any form, cake, biscuits, milk ( is almond milk even milk really??) Will continue challenging them all - glad I now love eating crisps daily.

dear emily thank you so much for making these videos! your content has helped me so much already. do you have any tips for recovery in summer in particular? im bloated and my stomach hurts, but only the thought of getting a heating pad when its 30°C is giving me a heatstroke and the heat is also killing my appetite. its not like im craving nothing in particular, everything just sounds nauseating and i cannot survive off forcefeeding myself icecream alone for 3 month. i think soups and stews would be easy on my stomach but it really isnt the season. right now its more of a salad-kind of vibe? (not just leafy greens, im also talking about pasta-,potato- and couscous-salad) fruit and vegetables are in season and finally affordable, and i wanna eat all of the watermelon and peaches i can before i can only buy apples. im also struggling with resting. cuddling up on the couch with hot chocolate and watching a movie feels more natural for me when its autumn/winter right now i wanna be outside, spend time with my friends at the lake i don't wanna miss out on that comfy clothes are easy enough, i basically life in baggy old shirts - though i think id be more comfortable if i could hide behind sweatshirts and winter clothes and my weight gain wouldnt be as noticeable and (very important): whats your favourite flavour of ice cream?

Happy Anniversary! My five: Bananas, rice, ice cream, non-organic meat and coffee creamer. All my challenge foods are either carby or 'unclean'. Now that I'm in month four of recovery I'm starting to see where the error in my thinking is. Like you say, ED is tricky. It tries the back door, the windows and the chimney lol