Not ready to give up dieting?
If you’re not quite ready to give up dieting, this blog is for you.
moving away from dieting cycles is hard, and most times, scary work.
Because for most people, dieting has served many purposes in their lives.
Many people start dieting in an attempt to feel better about their bodies after years of being taught that to feel good about your body, you have to look a certain way. Others start dieting in an attempt to improve their health status, similarly, after years of being taught that nutrition is the way to achieve health and well-being.
More so, for many people, dieting behaviors offer a semblance of containment.
hope, even.
That as long as you follow a set of rules, you’re promised a certain result.
And, often as many eating disorder therapists know, dieting is a coping tool. A way to make meaning, numb, and/or to try to find safety in a world that doesn’t feel safe for many bodies to exist.
Most people who work with us here at Reclaim have been dieting or engaging in eating disorder behaviors for a number of years, often most of their lives.
And for many, the risk and the grief in letting go of those behaviors can feel like too much.
as online eating disorder therapists in pennsylvania, we’re passionate about helping people normalize their relationship with food and their bodies.
That being said, many of our clients aren’t ready to fully stop dieting attempts or move away from eating disorder behaviors.
We don’t see this as a sign of weakness, resistance, or inability to do this kind of work.
we get it.
Eating disorder therapists see this as an adaptive way to stay safe and contained in the world.
We also hold an unwavering belief that people are deserving and capable of achieving the freedom and joy that can be experienced on the other side of dieting attempts and eating disorder behaviors.
If you’re not ready to give up dieting, or parts of your eating disorder, eating disorder treatment can still help you.
You can develop tools and insights (in the here and now) that can be supportive when you decide that it is time to relearn how to eat intuitively and care for yourself, mind, and body, with unconditional positive regard, respect, and compassion.
If you’re struggling with your relationship with food, you deserve support. You deserve a place to process your fears surrounding moving past dieting and eating disorder behaviors.
You deserve fierce compassion as you negotiate and renegotiate how you live and take care of your body.
If you’re not ready to give up dieting, we get it.
to support you in understanding why you’re not quite ready, here are a few journaling prompts:
When was the first time you learned your body was wrong?
-What do you wish you had been taught about your body instead?
-How can you start to remind yourself of this?
What are all bodies deserving of?
-Do you exclude yourself from deserving this?
-Why/why not?
What are the risks of giving up dieting?
Identify some of the risks of not giving up dieting?
What does a normal relationship with food look like for you?
Identify what gets in the way of actualizing that relationship?
exploring the why’s and hesitations of entering into recovery from diet culture are key to the work our eating disorder therapists do with the people here at reclaim.
If you’d like to explore your current relationship with food, do some healing work around what has brought you to this point, or set goals and move toward a relationship with food that feels trusting and nourishing, we’re ready to support you at Reclaim Therapy in Pennsylvania. Follow these simple steps to get in touch with an eating disorder therapist:
Meet with a skilled eating disorder therapist.
Begin making small steps to overcome eating disorders!
🧡,
We’re trauma therapists and eating disorder therapists in Pennsylvania.
Our team at Reclaim Therapy in Pennsylvania specializes in treating disordered eating and providing treatment for binge eating through an intuitive eating lens. We also provide online therapy in Pennsylvania for grief and loss, body image, and trauma.