How Slow is Too Slow?

So I'm currently reading Food: The Good Girl's Drug
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t/0425239039/ref=oh_detail
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What have I learned so far? Well, I've reinforced that I do, in fact, have an eating disorder. This darn book is written like the author knows me all too well. Of course, just as the book predicted last night, I'm waiting for the part that "heals" me so I can get skinny. Yep, that's disordered thinking, y'all. So far there have been no answers, just a lot of head nodding and, as of last night, a little sadness. I know I'm broken, but I want to be fixed...but I don't know that this book, or any book, is going to do that for me. Silly me, I always thought I'd just one day break the cycle. I've fought so hard in my life to break every cycle and statistic. I knew buying a house would be one big step in proving I had moved on from the expectations of a pregnant 18 year old whose life seemed completely out of control. But the more I read the more I think that I will never be "fixed" and will never NOT have an eating disorder. So maybe this book will help me learn how to live with my eating disorder...and maybe, just maybe, it will help me forgive myself and allow myself the freedom to love myself no matter how fat or skinny or out of control my life seems.

While I read this book, I'm a little afraid and a little put off dieting in the way that I know. I know it's a symptom of my eating disorder to be overly restrictive and overexercise. It's likely how I sustained my injury in the first place. So I'm trying to be patient with myself and work through this first. And when this book is done, I have another in my Amazon cart.

I guess the only good thing that is coming out of this is that I'm no longer content with simply losing weight. I want to heal. I want to love myself. I want to feel okay in my own body. I look at pictures from just a couple years ago when I was running and working out religiously and I think, "Man! I wish I was back there again!" and then I think, "But I was still SO fat!" I realize that I'll never be okay with myself, never be fully confident with myself at any weight until I learn to be confident and loving toward myself at EVERY weight. It's something I thought I had down last time I started this journey, but I guess I was just fooling myself. I was letting my eating disorder lead me and I'm just not ready to keep doing that for the rest of my life.

The truth is, I've learned this behavior from everyone around me. Part of it might be genetic. I honestly believe both my parents have suffered and may continue to suffer with binge eating disorder. I used to watch my mother sneak spoonfulls of frosting straight from the jar. I watched my father eat way more food than any normal person needed. My entire family celebrates and loathes food at the same time. We get together for Thanksgiving and either stuff ourselves full or restrict ourselves...and then we praise those who restrict themselves and sit and talk about how we're all fat and need to lose weight. As far back as my Grandmother, this has been our tradition...and I picked it up easily. My perfectionist nature made it even more dangerous a habit for me to learn. The constant dieting I was pushed into as a child probably didn't help. And I don't even have to guess how the fact that I have always been a constant disappointment to my real father plays a role in all of this.

So, I guess for now I'm understanding myself more and why I am the way I am. I understand a little better why I binge and restrict and overexercise. I understand the driving forces behind that...now it's time to learn how to cope and overcome those urges and become a HEALTHY person. Not skinny. Not "normal"...whatever that is. I need to learn to have a HEALTHY relationship with food.

I'll let you all know how that turns out! *lol* Maybe somewhere along the way I can help someone else feel like they aren't alone or a failure for not being able to lose weight like they "should".... But really I'm just hoping to help myself here. I need to show myself some love and attention for a bit and stop blaming myself for everything.