Body image

[@victoria9663]

Bad body image is often (as in my case) both modeled and trained into girls by their mothers. Growing up hearing non stop judgment of other people's bodies made me think that *everyone* was as hyper-aware of body sizes as my mother was. So I was hyper-aware as well, and restricted food to make sure my body lived up to her standard. (She's the biggest victim of her obsession, so I have a lot of sadness and compassion for her own body/food issues now.) It is still absolutely possible to rewire the brain out of those negative body image pathways (I know because my body image is better than it's ever been even after gaining a lot of weight in recovery). But for those of us raised in severely fat phobic homes, negative body image is almost impossible to avoid until you learn better.

[@victoria9663]

@Robin Smith 😔

[@natashaj4113]

So very true 😔

[@elyzak333]

My mother also brainwashed me to hate my body. My ED actually started because she put the entire family on a very strict low fat vegan diet for health reasons when I was just a child. I wasn’t a fat kid. But I was starving of malnutrition due to this diet and when I was 10 she took us off the diet and told us to eat whatever we want. And I did and I got fat. That was how it all started for me.

[@victoria9663]

@@elyzak333 I'm so sorry! So many of us were set on the wrong path as children, and I wish it weren't the case ❤️

[@sparklinginfinity2887]

You are the single most valuable recovery KZbinr/coach. Thank you for sharing your no bullshit approach. It’s the only way.

[@nagmerrie4600]

i agree. I love Jessie Riemann too and Kayla Rose. Pure gold although tabatha you a game changer aren't you!

[@eleonoreconstant]

Same here I can see I m skinny yet gaining weight freaks me out… I read something that said something like a body is not meant to be beautiful, as it’s not its purpose. So it would help to remember that a body is meant for so much more than looking a certain way. It’s doing some crazy awesome stuff like being able to see, smell, taste, move… it has all sorts of awesome organs that make it function the way it does… thanks so much again for your answer 🙏

[@eleonoreconstant]

@Robin Smith I actually think our bodies are fascinating and super interesting but that's just my point of view and if this quote helps you then that's awesome! Thanks for sharing!

[@Mukti481]

I think thats why you were able to recover, because you can accept your body image. I am soooo depressed when I am larger. Almost suicidal with agonizing self hatred and that is why I cant recover . I dont want to go back to looking and feeling like that.

[@АнастасияГончарова-и8ь]

You are so cool and funny, I LOVE your videos ❤

[@nagmerrie4600]

Taaaabatha I loooove your personality.

[@danielannan2174]

Dear tabitha, I greatly appreciate you advice and have been watching your videos for the better part of a year now. I am currently facing a dilemma, in which I am avidly seeking advice pertaining to recovery and am constantly exposing myself to recovery videos - full days of eating, how to overcome fear of weight gain, contributing reasons to my disorder, etc - yet fail to implement. The greatest impediment, frankly, is that I am constantly comparing myself to my state last year, when I considered myself “sick enough”. What challenging is that I am equipped with the knowledge to resize that my attempt at recovery last year was but an excuse to eat more without tackling an underlying compulsions - such as compulsive exercise. My questions, in short , is: how does one begin to implement all the knowledge they have collected; and, additionally, stop comparing myself to my past state.

[@Nina-ne3ez]

Hi Tabitha, I’m 13 weeks into recovery and have properly gained weight. My family are supportive of the idea that I’m ‘in recovery’ but are making fatphobic remarks (complimenting each other on ‘looking slim’, sharing ideas around ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food, walking to ‘burn off the fat’ etc- I think they’re all restricting to some extent) which I find a bit incompatible with their support of recovery. It feels like I’m only ‘allowed’ to gain weight because I’m in recovery but there’s an expectation that my body size will go down over time, and I’m scared of what will happen if it doesn’t go down. The body I’m in at the moment isn’t acceptable to them, they’re commenting on what and how much I’m eating already. I’ve been eating ALL the foods whenever I want, actively trying to gain weight, no exercise, responding to extreme hunger without fail, but everybody seems a bit surprised that my body is bigger now. I’ve tried talking to them and writing it down and recommending videos that might explain things but they don’t seem to want to understand. What am I meant to do now? I’m scared and I don’t want to be ill anymore, but it is exhausting to live in so much fatphobia when I’m in a much larger body than I have ever been in before. Is all of this ^^ anorexia talking- will I just not care what they say when I rewire enough?

[@MabelRD08]

❤❤❤❤❤⚘⚘⚘⚘⚘⚘⚘

[@eleonoreconstant]

Awe thank you and I bet my feet are uglier than yours (ballerina feet 😆) thanks so much for your answer!!!

[@elyzak333]

And also maybe you don’t have bad body image because you don’t have people in society fat shaming you and telling you to eat healthy and exercise because your weight is unhealthy???