Life without Anorexia

My motto is
'Dont let the sadness of your past & the fear of your future ruin the happiness of your present'

My life at the moment is completely different to how it once was. I spent 5 years sick with anorexia nervosia and depression as well as struggling with self harm and overexercising. I spent 2 years in different treatment centres.
And since 2012 i have been declared healthy from my eating disorder.

I have been blogging for 7 years, and my whole journey is written in my posts. I now represent healthy and happiness. I want to show anyone struggling that it is possible to recover, no matter how hard it may seem.

I now blog about recovery, my life, veganism and positivity!

If you have any questions leave them in the comment section as i am much quicker at answering there, otherwise you can always send an email: [email protected]

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Friday, June 14, 2013

Answers :)

What kind of jobs have you held in the past? Just summer jobs?
I've only had one job experience which was in a supermarket. I thought it was pretty fun (i.e i dont mind stacking food all day!! haha XD) Otherwise i havent had any jobs... due to the fact that i became sick when i was 12 and spent 2,5 years in hospital, so havent had the chance to have a job :)

What are the schools like in Sweden? I've been trying to compare your school with mine, just because I'm curious.
Schools in Sweden are alot different to those in other countries - i think. When you are 16 you start gymnasium (equivalent to high school i guess?) and you go there for 3 years. Though you have to chose what 'school line' you are going to go, whether you go more of a study line (i.e social science, natural science, business, humanistic etc) or if you go more practical (hairdresser/musical/media/builder etc)
  I chose to go social sciences, because then i study pretty much everything. And leaves my options more open.
 Time schedules are very different for everyone. The schedule which ive had has been quite easy, but its going to get harder next year. But it was like this, on Mondays i either started at 1pm or 8am. 
 But on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays i began at 8.15 and on Friday i began at 9.45am. And i finished between 3.30-4.30pm. And i had between 3-4 classes each day (the classes are 65-75 minutes) and some days i had long breaks i.e 1 hour - 2 hours. Hence why some days i headed home during those breaks, and somedays even headed to the gym when i had longer breaks.
  Each school is different and everyone has different time tables :)

Do you get an a allowance? What kind of chores do you have?
   Nope, dont get an allowance :/ I never really go shopping or buy anything, but usually i get money if i do want to buy something (which isnt often.) i do pretty much all chores - dishwasher (several times daily), take daisy for walks, laundry, clean, cook etc. I like to joke that im Cinderella, because i really do feel a bit like a slave at times. Because it feels like i never get any appreciation for what i do :/ But no need to get into that :/

What is moderation?? Like when people say, eat junk food or cheese or whatever in moderation... what do they mean by that? like how often is moderation ? I don't understand :(... :)
   Well moderation is different for everyone i guess. But i like to say moderation is between 1-3 times a week. Though it depends on what it is.
   I mean McDonalds, i would say dont eat more thatn 2-3 times a month. But with chocolate its ok to eat 2-3 times a week (or more, if thats what you feel like). Cheese i would say is fine once or twice a day.... Though thats just my opinion on things :) So moderation is different for what the item is, and of course who the person is.
   I mean if someone if extremely overweight, then moderation on cheese might just be once or twice a week.... 
  

How/why did you start to recover...I mean people have noticed that I've lost weight, but I'm good at hiding just how much I've lost so I don't think anyone has noticed that I have an ED. Did you decide yourself to recover or did somebody force you to? I'm just curious - I don't know if I'm strong enough to begin recovery yet. Thanks :D
   In a way i was forced to recover. I mean i was admitted into hospital. But i was no where near ready to accept that i even had a problem, yet have to recover. It took circa 2 years in hospital (in and out from inpatient to day patient and back again) until i finally decided to recover.
   Recovery has to come from you. I mean you can be admitted to hospital, but that is just a place where you are forced to eat and rest - which is good. And it can definitely help you recover, but unless you truly want to recover, the chances of relapsing or doing wrong are high.
  Lying to your family, and not eating are jsut going to have bad consequences. If they have noticed that you have lost weight, they will notice if you lose any more. And im sure someone will put the pieces together. And in the end you'll have to seek help, or you'll end up in a very bad state.
   I know it can be hard to want to recover, or to even think you are strong enough. But you will never know until you try. And you have to keep doing the right thing (eating, gaining weight) eve nwhen things get tough. You have to challenge the voice in your head, be stronger than the voice in your head. Thats the only way you can recover.

How do you stay motivated? When did you consider yourself as healthy? Why did you decide to recover? Do you ever think about going back to your old ways today, or are you only looking forward? 
   I'll start with why i decided to recover. Basically i had been in hospital for circa 2 years (different hospitals), and i had been an inpatient 3 times (it was my 4th time when i decided to recover) and i had been a day patient 2 times. And i had hit absaloute rock bottom. Physically and mentally, i felt so tired. And i saw no way out. I thought i was a helpless case. It took me several weeks back in inpatients before i decided to do things right and want to recover - my sister was my inspiration. I saw how she was able to just eat whatever food she wanted. And i wanted to be able to do that aswell. Also she was going to school and had friends and a boyfriend, that was what i wanted. And i realise that i could either be sitting in hospital, thin and hating myself. Or i could be out living life, being healthier and yes weighing more then i wanted. But in the end, living a life and being at home outweighed the fact that i had to eat an gain weight.
    One of the staff at Mando described me as being a shell. While i was in inpaitents. I was always quite, i sat there, completly blank. I never cried, i never showed when i had anxiety, i never spoke. He said that i was like a shell - my body was there, but mentally i looked very blank. 
  But he said that he almost noticed the difference in me when i decided to recover, that was when i started talking a bit more (with the help from D, who was also in inpatients at that time.) and he saw the light come back into my eyes. :)
   How i stay motivated, not sure if you mean now, or when i was recovering? But i presume you mean when i was recovering. Its hard to recover, not everyday is easy. But its just to keep your motivation on top. While i was at Mando, i had to eat. There wasnt anyway around that, and that was a good thing. Because the days where i really didnt want to eat, was filled with anxiety and just wanted to cut my own skin off, those days i still had to eat. And that makes a difference, because you are then going against the voice in your head. And even if its tougher those days, its those days that make a difference - i mean life isnt always easy, but you have to overcome the obstacles.
   What kept my motivation on top when i was at home was that, i wast allowed home so often so when i was at home. I had to prove that i could eat. And the thing that made it easier was that i ate new foods. Foods that i liked, like trail mix, or yoghurt covered nuts/raisins. I added berries to my yoghurt. I got to choose the bread i wanted etc.
  So i ate food which i wanted to (even if it was still following my meal plan.) It made it easier to eat at home.
  And eventually over time, it felt more weird to not eat. It was normal to eat, and i didnt see it as eating = weight gain, because that is definitely not how it is. And thats what you need to remember. Food is energy. And you need it, even if you are not doing anything. You still need energy. You just have to keep eating and resting, even on the days that are tougher. And in the end, eating wont be connected with anxiety.

When i considered myself healthy.... When i started school again. I felt i had a normal life then. I ate 5-6 times a day, didnt have problem with food. Though there was still a few fear foods (i started school Autumn 2011 and i still hadnt eaten chocolate - or small bits, but not proper. And i was still scared to actually buy junk food.) but those things i overcame :) 
    I considered myself healthy circa 6 months before i was declared healthy.

Do i ever think about going back? No. I mean there are down days, where i can hate the way i look and wish that i weighed 20kg less. But i know those are silly thoughts, and i would never actually start losing weight or stop eating. Because 90% of the time i do like the way i look. And of course, i love food too much.
    The difference between now and when i was sick is that if i get thoughts like wanting to lose wieght, i can be stronger then the thoughts. And know that they will go away. And also, i know the consequences of losing weight/not eating... it can go so quickly, from just wanting to lose 2-5kg, to suddenly you are scared to eat any food.

3 comments:

  1. So helpful! The last question especially relates to me about staying motivated. It's almosy like I want to recovered so badly...but I don't want to gain any weight! Like it or not, I have to accept that these two things are connected. Right now, especially this past week, I've been dealing with the fear of gaining too much weight, not just going to a healthy BMI put gaining even more than that. We recently found out my body is in hypermetabolic mode, meaning that instead of gaining weight from eating more, I actually started to lose more. This little part inside of me was happy about this, but I know this is just putting me farther from recovery. It's coming down to the wire and the hospital might be the only option at this point because we obviously have to up the calories even MORE than before, which gives me a panic attack. I have to remind myself that I am actually a lot skinnier than I even imagine myself to be. All these people tell me I look like a skeleton, but all I see is someone who shouldn't gain weight. Of course, I also have a major problem and outlook, only seeing food as weight gain, never as energy, ever. Staying motivated especially now is very hard, but I need to start to reconstruct my thought of what food actually is.
    This was very helpful with this problem, as always. :)

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  2. Thank you for answering my questions and explaining. It's helped a lot. Xx

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