I'm just in recovery and I'm 60. That feels like it adds more to this process

This was such a well done presentation - many thanks to you Carey and EDF!! I've heard many different presentations on IE, and you truly did such a thorough, precise overview in less than 60 minutes! I'm saving this video to my "Recovery Gold" playlist to reference in the future as I continue to work through an almost two-decade battle with anorexia and orthorexia. I have a great team, and am so thankful for resources like this!! ❤🙌

Wow. What a gift and blessing to have discovered The Eating Disorder Foundation, and this presentation! I thank you SO much, Kelli, for sharing your story. So much hope has been renewed in me!! I am a mid-40s woman working through an almost two-decade battle with anorexia and orthorexia (and many related medical complications). I have a great team now, and my faith and trust in God is paramount for me as well. I am not going to give up!! ❤🙌

This is such a beautiful video and overview of the efft process, and delivered with such enthusiasm and heart. Thank you.

As this was a year ago it really has been such a good thing to hear. I was treated in my early 20’s with a disorder. It was awful! Here I was clearly overweight at about 240-260 pounds. But I was obviously depressed and I was a binge eater and not one who threw up but I binge ate. It was one of the most awful artful treatments. Now I’m 60 years old and I suffer from Anorexia. My highest weight was 420 pounds and now at my lowest I’m currently 115 pounds. I see that I do have anorexia but trying to find treatment for this is just awful. I’ve tried and tried and cannot find treatment that my insurance will cover. If you have any options that might be available I would be so grateful. Because not that I would kill myself but the ideation is there. I lost my daughter my only child on July 13,2023. The devastation it has brought to my life is something I find hard to explain. So again if you can help me find any treatments in my area I would be so grateful! I’m in Cleveland, Ohio

Recovery is possible!

I never recovered from treatment due to treatment trauma...I'm still severely anorexic at 41, since age 13.

I wish the 30+ online support group accommodated my work schedule. I’ve been working in recovery for 3.5years. I’ve managed to give up BP behaviors for that long, but still struggle off and on with restricting. But the good days are so much more frequent than the bad and I’m pretty damn proud of myself. I shouldn’t be here…but I am, and I’m happy about it. 20+ years of this and I’m in a place I never dreamt I would be. 💜 One day at a time. It can happen. It takes a while, and I’m not there yet, but I know it will happen. God bless, all. You got this.

I have been suffering with anorexia since age 12 and now I am 50. In and out of hospitals, at least 17 times, tons of counseling and I still can't kick it. My health has deteriorated where I have chronic widespread pain and also panic attacks everyday. I am losing hope. I have tried everything and I just want to die. The physical pain and the loneliness is more than I can bear. My therapist doesn't know what to do with me. I stopped living at age 12. I am not able to work because of the physical pain and now I can't drive or leave my house anymore because of the panic attacks. I have no purpose. I am lost.

Loved this conversation 😊

Yeah I don't wanna face what I've done to myself because I've had this for so long it's all I've known I don't know who I would be without it I can't even imagine that I've been messed up ever since I was a child I don't think there was ever a stable person underneath this to find again I don't wanna give up my various mental issues because they're the closest thing to a personality I have and without them I would be nothing

Yeah the BED thing is so real being shamed for being overweight your whole life with no consideration for the psychological issues that caused it it was never we want you to get healthy it was all about being big and there was so much medical fat phobia not wanting to address my other conditions or insisting that I couldn't do it on my own without surgery and not wanting to take no for an answer and it all scared me and no one even understood that I was already dealing with all of the restrictive side of it I just couldn't control the binging so I was already vulnerable to falling into that and now that I've swung in the other direction and I've become afraid to eat anything at all because I don't wanna go back to what it was like to not have any control and be hated for it now everyone's so proud of me it just proves that there really is such a superficial wait focused approach society needs to understand there's so much more to everything and I mean I couldn't even explain it all because I didn't understand it myself because it's not something that's talked about enough for people to recognize it in themselves

PTSD is definitely a big one cause like you said the abnormal arousal but when you self medicate with starvation you numb yourself you're not consuming enough calories to be aroused buy anything you just turn the volume down and then once you eat again you have to face shit but yeah I traded one fear for another I'm not stressing about my actual trauma because I'm too busy being scared over a piece of bread it's really ridiculous and doesn't help

Yeah the shame for not being over it by now that I didn't outgrow it at 18 like everyone assumes you should that's a tough one also I relate to going to medical professionals and having them celebrate my weight loss even while I'm spiraling but it's not their fault considering I was extremely overweight and got physically healthy I went through great lengths to pretend I did it in a psychologically healthy way but still it hurts when everyone's so proud of you and you know you're cheating but also the classic because I'm still fat I guess I deserve the suffering which I know logically is BS ps Oh yeah sick-cessful that's a perfect way of putting it I'm success story and inspiration I lost 200 pounds and no one even cares that I'm just as miserable as ever I just traded BED for atypical anorexia but as long as I'm disordered in a socially acceptable way that's all that matters

This is kind of relatable I'm only in my 30s but I think a huge part of my eating disorder has always been not wanting to grow up and face being an adult and as I get older it gets worse because I feel like more and more of a failure for not accomplishing anything in my life I can't control the circumstances that I find myself in now and fixing the things that have led to it feels overwhelming and impossible so I focus on an obsession that Shields me me from it but nobody talks about being an adult man with an eating disorder much less being even later in life we all know it's just as common but it's not the conversation that's had in pop culture everybody's trying to recapture their youth and be young and fit forever is more pressure than ever to live up to that nobody talks about the downside of all of this new fitness culture of adults trying to live up to the super fit influencer lifestyle it can start out as positive self help but easily become a toxic spiral where no one ever feels good enough and it's definitely nice to see people have been finally starting to address that lately but also there's the fact that it's not all about just trying to look good live up to society's expectations and then it becomes muddied some people thinking all diet and fitness culture is bad and not understanding that the motives behind it matter it just seems like society as a whole has such a shallow understanding of these topics and it's frustrating but conversations like this one where we can talk about the nuance and complexity and causes are super refreshing

Thank you for sharing your wonderful and informative talk.

Thank you!!

😚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙢

Within sounds like an amazing treatment program, but it's wildly inaccessible because of how EXPENSIVE it is. Coupled with the fact there is a HUGE GAP in accepting insurance. I have spoken with Within many times in the last few months to enter treatment, but I just cannot afford it. I wish I could get treatment at Within because it would allow me to stay in my life.

Thank you so much for these wonderful workshops. They truly help guide me through a family members recovery.

I really want a relaxed attitude to things this would make a huge difference for me..

This talks to me so much! Wow. I'm underweight, super anxious, having panic attacks, cold all the time, weak, very ridged and scared all the time right now I'm 5 10" 116lbs.

The explanation about “control” being the beginning of the eating disorder is one of the best I’ve heard in my 20+ struggle with anorexia!!! Thank you for helping to explain it’s just not about the food side of it.

How does an adult with an eating disorder get through lifelong anxiety around meal preparation when no one is willing to walk then through it?

😳 pքɾօʍօʂʍ

Thank you so much for posting the talk so quickly! I wasn't able to get on until the issue with Zoom was fixed so I missed the first ten or fifteen minutes. I thought it was an excellent presentation and Dr. Gaudiani was amazing as usual! I appreciate EDF offering such important & helpful programs🙏

I wasn’t able to attend last night, thank you for posting!

Thank u so much for this! Can u please email me the event haes for the holidays! I am currently trying best to take a hold of my eating habits and a lifestyle change but sometimes I struggle with emotional/binge eating. I’m confused on witch one it could be kuz sometimes I feel like I struggle with both. This journey has been up and down for me but my main goal and focus is not to loose sight of what I wish to accomplish.

This workshop was so incredibly helpful Sabrina, Bonnie, & Kelli! Thank you so very much🙏 I just participated in the 50+ workshop and it was so comforting that there are people out there who are going through many of the same issues in recovery who are in midlife and I hope to speak to everyone next week 🌞

This is so eye-opening and inspirational. Thanks for being so open!

Such hope for those of us who think/thought we are too old - too deep into an ED to recover. Kelly touched on many factors of my life growing up as well.

EDF has been a lifesaver to so many around an issue that is still such a public taboo. People can stop drinking or drugging, but they can't stop eating. They must instead uncover the reasons why they are binging or starving themselves. EDF is unique because it is not an institutional treatment center, but support for those dealing with eating disorders and their friends and families, who are often at their wits end with fear and frustration.