One of the most frequent questions i get asked is about after recovery and believing that you will keep gaining weight, eat too much and become lazy.
This type of thinking isnt uncommon, alot of people in recovery have these fears and thoughts however they arent true. If that was the case then everyone recovering from an eating disorder would be overweight, but that is not how it is for most people anyway.
Recovery is NOT just about eating and gaining weight. There is more to it than that. You need to see food as a friend, as part of your life. Not something you need to control, worry over or feel anxious about.In recovery you need to focus on 1) working and fighting the actual problem that triggered your eating disorder. This of course might not be easy to know, for me it wasn't until after recovery that i could reflect on what it was that caused my eating disorder and that was my need for control as well as low self esteem and worry for the future. And i can say that now all 3 of those things are gone, i dont have control issues - or not as extreme as when i was sick, i dont get anxiety attacks or worry too much about the future as well as i now have ok self esteem. Remember that the problem that caused your eating disorder wont just magically go away, you need to overcome those causes. Recovery also entails finding balance in your life, all aspects of your life. Listening to your body and being kind to yourself and learning to live a happy life.
With that being said, if you find balance in recovery - where you can eat enough and all types of food so that you are neither binging or eating restrictvely, because its then that problems might arise later on as you arent fighting your fears you are still letting food control you (Or better said, you are controlling food). If you find balance with food it means that your weight will also balance itself out.
You should not have to compensate by eating less or exercising lots to try to maintain your weight, that is not a healthy relationship with food or exercise.
Its important to remember that you should NOT
exercise to eat. But eat so that you can live life (and if you enjoy it, then exercise).
Exercise is of course a part of a healthy life as it keeps your body and mind healthy. So i do recommend some form of exercise, whether it's just daily activity like taking stairs, walking etc or maybe you enjoy dancing or tennis or swimming a few times a week. That will keep your body and mind healthy, but dont think that you have to exercise after recovery. If you don't enjoy it, then you dont have to force yourself to exercise just because you think that is what others are doing.
I exercise because i love it, it is an enjoyment and a hobby and interest for me. I dont think i would want to work with exercise or do it so often if i didnt love it so much. If my goal was to change my body then i would workout in a different way and i would most probably look very different, but my goal is not to change my body, but to feel healthy and happy and do the form of exercise i enjoy at the moment.
So just because i exercise doesnt mean that you have to as well. YOU CAN STILL MAINTAIN YOUR WEIGHT WITHOUT EXERCISE. Infact the aim is that that is exactly what you should be able to do - maintain weight without any form of compensation.
If you enjoy exercise, that's great. You can begin with that once you are a healthy weight. If you dont enjoy exercise, dont feel guilty. You are not fat or lazy and you wont get fat or lazy either.
I have some more posts regarding healthy set point, weight gain, metabolism etc which might be helpful. But know that you dont have to exercise after recovery and you wont keep just gaining weight unless you end up developing binge eating disorder. But if you find balance and your body adapts and recovers then you should be able to maintain your weight eating roughly the same as you did in recovery - more or less depending on lifestyle, how much you ate etc
Fear of continuing to gain weight after reaching a healthy weight
Healthy set point
How to eat after recovery
Why you shouldnt exercise while in recovery
Finding balance with exercise
Let your body take care of itself
Metabolism and calories in recovery
Metabolism after an eating disorder