Are you currently experiencing extreme hunger in anorexia recovery? I know how terrifying the experience can be! In this post, I'm sharing five things I experienced when going through this messy phase of ED recovery.
1. Constantly Thinking About Food
I used to believe mental hunger wasn’t “valid.” I feared I had neurally rewired my brain to be obsessed with food and that honoring it would cause me to “swing to the other side” and become a binge eater.
2. Aversion to Vegetables
During my ED, I was a “volume eater.” I would load up on vegetables, protein powders, and whip as much air into whatever I was making (hello “protein fluff” 🤢) to “trick” myself into believing I was full – but physical fullness and holistic satisfaction are two completely different experiences. When you’re recovering from restriction, the body wants to acquire as many calories as quickly as possible – so why “waste” time eating vegetables if it can go straight for the peanut butter and pastries?
3. Aversion to Exercise
This one was really hard for me. When I first started experiencing extreme hunger, I could still “compensate” for some of it by moving more. But as the extreme hunger intensified and I gained weight, I lost all “motivation” to move. This triggered the fear that I would never have the motivation to workout ever again.
4. Eating Foods You Don’t Like
During my “extreme hunger episodes,” I would eat whatever high-calorie items I could get my hands on – even if I didn’t particularly “enjoy” the taste. I would eat entire sticks of butter like they were bananas and eat whatever pastries were on sale at the shop that day. I once ate an 8-count box of large jelly donuts – and I don’t even like jelly donuts!
5. Feeling Hungrier After Eating
This one really challenged my autistic brain’s desire for predictability! I would often go into the kitchen sensing the upcoming feast, only to be shocked by how vast of a feast it would eventually become. I would swear not to eat until tomorrow because I was beyond stuffed with what was well over 10K calories of pure fat and sugar, only to feel pulled towards a few more apple pies (or whatever else was my extreme hunger hyperfocus at the time) a few hours later.
Do you want to STOP thinking about food all the time? Grab your copy of my book How to Beat Extreme Hunger: A Neurodiversity-Affirming Guide to Food Freedom!