Dealing with extreme hunger in E.D. RECOVERY

You wake up starving and you go to bed starving. You feel so unsatisfied- as if nothing is enough. You begin to worry that it will be this way for the rest of your life; that your just part of the unlucky few destined to live an unsatisfied, unfulfilling life when it comes to food.

Well my friend, I am here to tell you that that is a BIG FAT LIE!

What you are experiencing- the incapability to reach satiation during recovery, no matter how much you eat- is called extreme hunger.

What Is Extreme Hunger?

​​ Extreme hunger is a "side-effect" of recovery in which one feels unsatisfied after almost every meal and also feels as if their stomach is a bottomless pit and they could just constantly keep eating. Just a quick note: this is COMPLETELY NORMAL!

Don't Be Afraid to Eat A LOT

When I was in the midst of dealing with extreme hunger in my recovery, I felt as if I would just continuously keep eating 4,000+ calories every day for the rest of my life and that I would balloon up. Little did I know how wrong I was.

Many tend to not believe that you need to be eating such a high amount in recovery; however, one must keep in mind that whether it be anorexia or bulimia, your body is not only in need of nutrients to make up for the energy your expending that day (yes you expend energy when not working out or just laying in bed! ) but it also needs energy and nutrients to repair the damage done to your insides and your organs from back when you were pursuing your eating disorder.

Why You Can't Trust Your Hunger Cues

When I made the commitment to eating more to heal my body, I had to give up a couple things, one of them being my hunger signals.

A lot of people recovering tend to skip straight towards "intuitive eating." Although I'm not a doctor, I would definitely not recommend this. Why? Simply because if you think about it, all those times your body was trying to tell you it was hungry, you ended up neglecting it most of the time, to the point where the hunger just learned to be quiet. Now that you are attempting to eat more and recover, does your body know that instantaneously?

No.

Sadly, we can't simply tell our body's: "Hey I'm not going to starve you anymore, so now you can trust me and we can be friends again!" If it worked like that recovery would be sooooo much easier!

Instead, you must show your body that you are going to feed it and not starve it, even if it means experiencing moments of having to eat when your not hungry. What helped me cope with this was also remembering that all of these nutrients are not only going towards what your doing today, but also making up for the humongous deficit you created during the period in which you were restricting and or purging.

As your body recognizes that you are feeding it again, your digestive system will begin to run more smoothly and efficiently. This is when extreme hunger kicks in on overdrive. Once your body realizes you're feeding it again its jumping up and down and screaming: "feed me! feed me!" Rather than shrivel up and suppress this desire to eat, acknowledge it and honor it, for this response isn't your eating disorder out to get you. No. This is your innocent body's response to being starved. Just like you, your body only wants to be happy and healthy, and free of the negative relationship you've created around eating to begin with.

How Long Does Extreme Hunger Last?

Extreme hunger is a funny thing. It can come and go, or it can literally blow up in front of your face and stay there for days, weeks, or months. From what I have experienced, it varies from person to person. A person whose been in recovery for longer might not have such a strong sense of extreme hunger as one who is just entering recovery. However, that doesn't mean after 'x' amount of months you won't experience it anymore. I still occasionally wake up and have days where I am extremely hungry and just can't satiate my hunger no matter what I do, but I can tell you that it is not as strong as when I first started recovery in November of 2016. Today, if i find myself extra hungry, I'll have a Lenny and Larry cookie (you guys know they are like my life!) as a night snack or I might have a bigger breakfast or dinner or just something extra.

What is most important is: don't ever suppress your hunger. EVER. Remember that the goal is not to go backwards, but to move forwards.

The Bottom Line: Don't Give Up.

Extreme hunger can and will bring up a lot of anxiety and uneasiness. There will be moments when you cry over the half gallon of ice cream you ate (yes i did that too...) and times when you are hesitant to answer your hunger. Think of all those thoughts as simply thoughts. They have no power over you. You know you are doing this to help you and to heal your body and relationship with food. That desire for happiness and health is so beautiful and bright that it is all the more reason you should fuel that desire rather than side with relapse and suppress it.

As Hippocrates once said:

"Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food."

For more information and a more in-depth description on Extreme- Hunger I made a Youtube video that you can check out below. Attached in the description of the video is also some links where you can read up on more info about extreme hunger as well!