4 Tips for Struggling with Motivation in Eating Disorder Recovery

By: Jennifer Rollin, LCSW-C, Therapist & Founder of The Eating Disorder Center

As an eating disorder therapist in Rockville, Maryland, I often hear about struggles with motivation in eating disorder recovery.

The way that I conceptualize a struggle with motivation in eating disorder recovery is not typically that someone is actually unmotivated, more so, that the person is very afraid and that this can interfere with doing the recovery actions.


Tips for Struggles with Motivation (i.e. feeling afraid) in Eating Disorder Recovery

1. Remind yourself of why you started eating disorder recovery in the first place.

Eating disorders love to show people their experiences of living with an eating disorder through ‘rose colored glasses.’ It’s important to reflect back on the miserable days that you had with your eating disorder (in detail) if it feels safe to do so. 

Try to remind yourself of what your ‘reasons’ were for starting recovery in the first place if you are currently looking for recovery inspiration.


2. Think about what your life might look like five years from now if you are still deeply struggling with an eating disorder vs. free from this.

This is an exercise that really helped me in my own eating disorder recovery. By making a list of what I thought my life would be like five years from now in an eating disorder versus out of one, I realized that my life would continue to be pretty miserable if I did not work on taking some recovery actions.


3. Remind yourself of your ‘reasons to recover.’

Make a list of your ‘reasons to recover’ and revisit it when you are struggling. You might choose to keep it in the notes section of your phone or taped onto your wall.

Some examples of reasons to recover from an eating disorder:

• To fully enjoy my college or high school experience.
• To improve my relationships.
• To be a good role model with food and my body for my kids or future kids.
• To achieve my career goals.
• To be able to focus more in school.
• To improve my relationship with my family.
• To travel and fully enjoy the moment.
• To not have more life milestones colored by an eating disorder.

 
4. Feel the fear and take action anyway.

Remember that while it can be difficult, it is possible to both feel afraid and take action in the direction of your true values anyway.

Feeling discomfort, fear, or guilt in the recovery process is often not an indicator that you have ‘done something wrong,’ rather sometimes it means that you are challenging your eating disorder which is a great thing.

It’s important to recognize that we can feel discomfort in the direction of our true values vs. in the direction of an eating disorder’s values.

If this is feeling hard, it’s so important to reach out for support from an eating disorder therapist or an eating disorder recovery coach, as well as from loved ones.

Remember that life in an eating disorder can be tiring and recovery can also be tiring. However, typically only one pays off in the end.

You deserve a full life. One that you generally cannot have on an empty stomach or while deeply struggling with eating disorder behaviors.

As always, I'm over here rooting for you!

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The Eating Disorder Center is a premier outpatient eating disorder therapy center founded by Jennifer Rollin. We specialize in helping children, teens, and adults struggling with anorexia, binge eating disorder, bulimia, OSFED, and body image issues. We provide eating disorder therapy in Rockville, MD, easily accessible to individuals in Potomac, North Potomac, Bethesda, Olney, Silver Spring, Germantown, and Washington, D.C. We also provide eating disorder therapy in Arlington, Virginia and virtually throughout Virginia. Additionally, we offer eating disorder therapy virtually in New York (NYC), Florida, Pennsylvania, and California. We provide eating disorder and EMDR trauma therapy in Rockville, Maryland and virtually throughout Maryland and Virginia. We provide eating disorder recovery coaching via Zoom to people worldwide. Connect with us through our website at www.theeatingdisordercenter.com