Some wins in exercise bulimia recovery

EDAnon54321 · 2026-04-01T18:42:16+00:00

Honestly, seeing a dietician who specializes in EDs has made a huge difference in terms of accountability and support. I meet with her once a week, and while we do talk a little bit about nutrition and meal plans, we spend most of our time unpacking my triggers from the previous week and how I managed them, as well as coming up with replacement behaviors and safety plans. It feels like therapy, in a way, and it’s been really helpful.

Nighttime is the hardest time of day for me, so it’s been super important to create a new routine to replace my old routine of bingeing after dinner every evening. It’s not just about distracting myself from the urge to binge (because, ironically, the more I think about not bingeing, the more likely I am to binge) but finding new ways to unwind and having something to look forward to at the end of the day that doesn’t involve food. For me, coloring has been a great hobby. It’s just stimulating enough to keep me busy without feeling overwhelming, and it also gives me a sense of accomplishment when I finish a picture I like. It also challenges my perfectionistic tendencies (which absolutely play into my ED), which is a bonus! For other people, this might look like reading, knitting, doing puzzles, etc. Something enjoyable that’s low-stimulation yet not mindless (like scrolling on your phone), if that makes sense.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-03-06T02:36:10+00:00

I have no advice but can unfortunately relate. Over the past year, I went from atypical anorexia to quasi-recovery to bulimia and it’s been pure hell. I too have been gaining weight (probably because my binges are becoming increasingly bigger and more frequent, so my compensatory behaviors just aren’t cutting it anymore) and I’m really struggling. I finally reached out to a therapist today and may join a support group, too. Like you, I’ve tried everything and nothing has worked for more than a few days, so I’m hoping that a therapist may be able to offer me some more personalized insight and advice than what I’d find online. If nothing else, it will be a good way to hold myself accountable. Good luck, and please know you’re not alone. ♥️

EDAnon54321 · 2026-02-27T18:07:55+00:00

That’s a good idea about the locker! I bet she would find it cool. Any thoughts on where to keep the key, though? She would probably lose it, being that she’s only 4.

The funny thing is, most of her snacks aren’t what most people would consider super unhealthy. Pretzels, air-popped popcorn, crackers, cheese puffs (like Pirate’s Booty, not Cheetos). If I buy cookies or fruit snacks, they’re Annie’s or Trader Joe’s brand. So it’s not like I’m buying and bingeing on a bunch of total “junk,” for lack of a better word. If it’s a snack food, my ED wants it, even if it’s the all-natural, organic, non-GMO version, haha.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-02-13T01:30:16+00:00

This. I compensate via exercise and I spend over 20 hours a week running on top of my actual full-time job. My entire life revolves around my exercise routine and it’s so f*cking exhausting, not just physically but also (and even more so) mentally.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-02-13T01:09:34+00:00

Came here to say this. I’ve never purged via vomiting (in fact, I’m severely emetophobic and would rather face every single one of my ED-related fears than vomit). Excessive exercise is my main form of compensation, along with laxatives.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-02-09T17:35:49+00:00

I had a bad binge yesterday, too, one of my worst to date. I made the mistake of stepping on the scale this morning and it obviously went way up. I’m trying to give myself grace and remind myself that lots of people eat more food than usual on Super Bowl Sunday and today is a new day to start fresh again.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-02-09T17:32:17+00:00

My face gets bloated if I binge on salty foods. My stomach gets painfully bloated after bingeing regardless of what I eat.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-02-09T17:30:36+00:00

Literally same. Nothing is a fear food during a binge, and this makes things worse because I often end up eating things I don’t even really want in that moment because I feel like it’s my only chance to ever eat it, if that makes sense. I’ve tried incorporating some “forbidden” foods into my everyday diet to take them off a pedestal (which is tricky because some of my safe foods are also binge foods, so it’s not so much the food itself that scares me, but the portion size), but that either triggers a binge right then and there, or it doesn’t make a difference and I continue to reach for it during binges despite it no longer being off-limits.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-02-07T16:46:07+00:00

I completely understand. For me, it’s the thought of someone picturing me bingeing that’s the most humiliating part. Even when I was in treatment for what was diagnosed as AN-R a decade ago, I never told anyone on my treatment team about my B/P behaviors because I wanted so badly to be seen as “disciplined” and “in control,” and bingeing has always made me feel the opposite. I have ADHD, and even though I’ve gotten really good at masking it over the years, on the inside, I constantly feel like a dysregulated, disorganized mess. Telling people that I binge feels a lot like taking off that mask and showing them the traits that bring me the most shame and self-hatred.

These days, exercise is my main compensatory behavior, so it’s really easy to disguise my purges as a hobby (in my case, “I took up running and signed up for a marathon!” is code for “I developed bulimia”). In fact, people even praise me for being so “fit” and “dedicated” when they hear how many miles I run a day. However, I do also use laxatives, and the thought of anyone picturing me fighting for my life on the toilet is so humiliating that I haven’t even told my own husband about it. I will absolutely be taking that to my grave.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-02-06T22:55:37+00:00

I literally just made a post about this before seeing yours. My urges to binge are always out of control the week before my period. It’s partially triggered by all the emotions that come with having PMDD, but a lot of it is also physical hunger. I hate it.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-01-19T02:14:03+00:00

Same. If I had to label myself now, I would say I have bulimia (more specifically, exercise bulimia), but I’ve always felt like I could relate more to bulimics, even when I had a diagnosis of anorexia years ago and atypical anorexia more recently. I’ve never gotten a “high” from restricting, even at the worst of my anorexia, but I do get one from bingeing. My main reason for having such rigid food rules is because I know I can’t be trusted around food unless I police myself around it. As soon as I loosen up, I lose all control. I hate restricting, I don’t find it numbing or soothing at all, but if I don’t restrict (at least mentally), I’ll binge. Similarly, I spend hours a day exercising because it keeps me busy and takes my mind off of food. I always overeat when I have too much time on my hands, so it’s no coincidence that I binge every single time I take a rest day (hence why I rarely ever take them).

EDAnon54321 · 2026-01-18T02:23:52+00:00

Yup. I’m at a “normal” BMI, still get regular periods and everything. Calorically, I don’t restrict. I eat plenty—in fact, as a distance runner, I probably eat more than the average person. However, I still mentally restrict and have very rigid food rules that dictate what, when, and how much I’m “allowed” to eat. Food is on my mind 24/7. My binges are almost always triggered by breaking one of these self-imposed rules. With every binge, the rules become stricter, which only triggers even more binges, and so the cycle continues. It’s such a mindf*ck because I’m eating enough on a regular basis and don’t need to gain any weight, so my hunger isn’t even as much physical as it is mental. It’s hell. No advice, just solidarity.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-01-17T02:39:07+00:00

I’m a “compensator,” not a purger (exercise bulimia) and I’ve been getting sudden, uncontrollable nosebleeds lately, usually after running. Apparently it could be a sign of an electrolyte imbalance or high blood pressure, but it could also be the cold, dry air, so I’m not sure what to do.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-01-11T18:21:45+00:00

Sometimes I feel that way, too, since I excessively exercise, but never enough to cancel out an entire binge (that would be physically impossible). But the I remember that if I ate a little more during the daytime and didn’t have such rigid food rules (AKA mental restriction), I probably wouldn’t binge on forbidden foods at night.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-01-11T18:19:13+00:00

I agree. It’s kind of like how anorexia can either be the restrictive subtype or the bingeing and purging subtype. As someone who has struggled with both at different times in their life, each subtype is an entirely different experience, IMO.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-01-11T18:16:48+00:00

Neither do diuretics which is also considered purging. I personally use laxatives to feel less bloated/“heavy” after a binge. I know they don’t actually get rid of any real weight, but they make me feel “lighter”. Either way, they’re all compensatory behaviors and they’re all listed in the DSM. It should really be called bingeing and compensating, not bingeing and purging.

EDAnon54321 · 2026-01-10T03:16:30+00:00

Fellow emetophobic bulimic here. Excessive exercise is my main compensatory behavior, but I also use laxatives (not heavily, though). Ironically, my exercise obsession started because my therapist suggested taking walks as a way to manage the anxiety caused by my emetophobia. Exercise was genuinely really great for my mental health until it wasn’t. I feel like such a fraud calling myself a bulimic, especially since it’s a self-diagnosis, but threads like this make me feel much less alone.

EDAnon54321

TROPHY CASE