Controlling your freak out!

[@kmoy]

Some of the first things I started eating again were PB&J sandwiches, ice cream and frozen coffee drinks. I've always had a sweet tooth. Videos where you are eating while talking to us really help. Helps normalize eating.

[@choosingrecovery1683]

Kristin Moy Same. I first ate peanut butter toast constantly and cookie dough

[@friendoftherese1]

You are so refreshing! Lately, even though I'm fully weight restored plus some, I have been craving sweet things like crazy. So, I'm indulging that craving and trusting that it will all work out. So that means sweet things for breakfast, lunch and dinner and in between. Anyone else crave sweets?

[@steffis4480]

THANK YOU TABITHA!!! I always tried just to eat like "normal" persons do. But when being malnourished you aren't supposed to eat like a normal person would do :( This is what every therapist and nutritionist is expecting from you: Eat normally! But "normal" is an individual term. My normal now should be: EAT HUGE AMOUNTS OF WHAT YOU CRAVE in order to gain weight and recover. But it's sooooo hard to bare with all these physical side effects. It's so hard. Listening to my mental hunger - the defintion of mental hunger - I just started to thought about it, when I came across your blog! :) Lucky me to have found you!

[@StitchyMessNamedJess]

This video is perfectly timed, as I just had a meltdown on the phone with my husband because I didn't think I could eat the lunch that I had brought to work. I watched this video while I ate, and it helped. Thank you!

[@amandasmith3306]

I’m currently in recovery and freaking out over the amount of food I’ve eaten today and it’s only lunch… literally having a panic attack. I wish I could talk to you live and in person

[@helenthomas3101]

At the moment, I’m looking at you eating this and I’m freaking out! I am amazed and soo proud that you can do this! I only wish I get to that stage soon. I really want to and I know I should. I’m going to try to!❤

[@hannahcollardgray4448]

Put simply, feel the feeling and do it anyway. I love how blunt Tabitha is. I respond to the advice from people who call me out and notice when my recovery isn’t recovering, because it’s all talk and no trousers. I’m also using all tabitha’s advice to give myself acceptance and commitment therapy/training.

[@ClandestineGirl16X]

you are amazing. my god. you put everything i want to say about my ED into words. and i love your tough love approach. i need to apply this in my recovery.

[@luciep8563]

oh my gosh - I am said "Lucy" thank you so much for answering. The last part really resonated with me and it's exactly what I did at lunchtime. Also, definitely not calling you a liar, my eating disorder is ahah!

[@lindsaywilliams3774]

Thank you So perfect. So needed.

[@j_the_yeet_gamer7947]

Absolutely love this video.

[@leannecraggs3165]

Laughing my head off !! 😂😂love ur humour x

[@user-fw5wb4rt2n]

So funny to see you enjoying chocolate from my country, the Netherlands! They have so many awesome flavors, but the one with sea salt is definitely one of the best! 🤩

[@imagineclearwater7409]

God I wish I found your website and resources earlier! Feel it could have helped me to avoid years of horrible out of control eating and exercise, later purging. If only I could have just chilled out a little in the beginning, and just let my body eat without trying to constantly burn everything away, things would have been SO much better. I totally thought I was just destined to be huge because I wanted to eat EVERYTHING. The freak out is real! 2.5 years in recovery (yay!!), I am so normal now! Appreciating the videos :)

[@sambarnes8429]

I’m glad that Lucy asked this- I think my Anorexic mind is trying to persuade me that I’m just fluffin greedy AF- 4 eggs fir breakfast- still hungry? Yes- More than my husband? Yes.... But then I hate my greed and I purge; consequently I don’t think I’m ill, just greedy- I’m not very thin anymore ad I’ve managed to gain 12 pounds- my BMI is now 17. I wish I could believe that this is me and my situation and then I could allow myself to believe in this path. I’ll reboot ( again) today and let’s hope it lasts 💪🏻🙏🏻🧠

[@claraoliveira4905]

bmi 17 is still underweight.

[@survivorswapped7637]

I'm recovering from anorexia binge-purge and I just stopped exercising this Monday for literally the first time in over a year. I've let myself eat whatever the fuck I want and I've easily eaten over 5000 calories a day the past 5 days. I feel bloated all day and on top of that I have to deal with this all day being in school. My dietitian/therapist are apart of an inpatient program that follows minnie maud guidelines and if I were to tell them how much I'm eating they'd tell me that I'm going back to my bingeing behaviors and that this is unhealthy. Is it possible still to recover normal hunger cues by following the minnie maud minimums even if you feel like the minimums are very restrictive to my mental and physical hunger? I feel like I'm gaining too much weight to the point where its going to be unhealthy and I want to be able to go back to exercise, not as calorie compensation but because I'm an elite high school athlete and I love competing.

[@juliedeloddere2790]

I love it! When i eat evening, then morning end then some other thing and i’m full... like full... i get up and go to the supermarket because i have eaten it all to go get the next things i’m gone eat! I love you’re advice! Thanks for the podcasts (girlfrombelgium)

[@sophieshyn4837]

Just love your videos so much

[@tisamonta]

Great video, thank you! My bloated belly freaks me out so much, because it literally NEVER goes away. Bloat baby just stays there for weeks and weeks. But that‘s just part of recovery I‘m gonna have to get through. Stay strong you all! x

[@sonjak.4043]

This is the same problem that I've got too! And it makes me crazy sometimes because it is so super hard to not freak out about it because I've got that fear of doing harm to my body (and it feels like harming my body) through eating when I don't feel like eating at all (and by that I mean I don't feel like it because of physical reasons like the massive bloating and stomach ache and delayed gastric emptying,)! HOW TO SHIFT THAT MINDSET??? Eating seems to be against my bodys health when I am still in pain after hours even when I know I would have to eat again to gain weight and to get healthier. Forcing myself to eat in those moments feels like doing greater harm and I feel so uncertain about that. Any advice here how to deal with this mentally? I know it's about trusting my body that it will digest normally again within time (after 16 years of malnutrition...) but sometimes my mind goes like "OMG mayby you don't have an eating disorder but just IBS and food in tolerances." But I already did so many check-ups over the last years and despite a heavy unbalanced microbiom, food sensitivities and extreme underweight nothing was found. Well sure my hormones are not balanced too. Anyone here who's experiencing similar things? I just want to believe that digestion will be working again but it seems so crazy, like constant overeating when I feel full even after hours after small portions and then to eat again.

[@tisamonta]

Hi Sonja, I usually don't experience stomach ache while (or after eating) myself, but as you mentioned yourself - the only way out of this is by eating ENOUGH and consistenly throughout each and every day! I'm by far no expert or anything but after 16 years of malnutrition and extreme underweight, your body just needs to learn how to cope with food again. It may not feel right in the moment, but it definitely will in the future!!! I know I'm telling you nothing new, but I feel like sometimes we need a reminder to "force" ourselves to eat (as it feels like this for you). Since I posted my comment a month ago, I would love to tell you that my bloating has gone away, but it hasn't - our bodies just need time to heal. But what I can tell you is, that eating regularly will be getting much (!) easier and you will definitely start to enjoy your meals again. I'm wishing you all the best and sending you much love. You got this girl!! xx

[@katyobrien1660]

​@@sonjak.4043 Hey Sonja, I don't know if you'll see this reply but I just stumbled across your comment and you sound very much like me. It's so tricky to navigate ED recovery with my stomach giving me constant pain signals that only get worse when I try eating more food. Anyway, I would love to hear an update on your situation if you wouldn't mind sharing. In any case, thank you for this comment that made me feel a little less alone.

[@dearbhailecasey1225]

I’m freaking out right now. I drank a lot yesterday and am super hungover and I can’t stop eating.😰 I just want someone to say it’s okay. Is it okay?

[@amymarguerite3507]

Dearbhaile Casey it’s definitely okay. I do this regularly - it’s so normal to eat a shit ton when you’re hungover! Go for it!

[@choosingrecovery1683]

We are moving now to and my hunger has increased so much

[@Mimivo-cm5zr]

I put on sooo much weight in the last Time (behause of the huge Hunger)... I am Not „Thin“, and My mind tells me to stop... 😥

[@katsymatsymay7264]

What if....I have over exercise injuries that need to be healed....and I am being told that nutrition will “heal” those injuries....but I am in quasi recovery and haven’t completely stopped controlling what I eat and actually have I t stopped exercise completely. All that to ask....should I eat a “certain” way or should I just hope that the food that I do eat(letting go of control) will heal me as well? I don’t know if that makes ANY sense...but....hopefully you can shed some light 🙏🏻

[@j_the_yeet_gamer7947]

How did you not throw up after eating all of that in recovery? :/