30 Things I Identified as Signs I was Hungry// ED Recovery 

I identify with many of the signs you discussed. Feeling sad after finishing a meal is a huge one for me. I'll also delay the start of certain meals I've especially been looking forward to, in hopes of making them last as long as possible. Another one is indecision on food choices for fear of 'getting it wrong' - thinking I only get one chance at the meal, and then have to wait until an 'appropriate time' before having something else. I regularly experience a lot of GYN and gastro discomfort that makes it seem difficult to eat frequently.

WOW fear of feeling full. This is me. I feel like I kinda want everything so I always eat but make sure I don't eat to fullness so I can be hungry for my next craving.... and then "walk or exercise" to make room for hunger lol It is crazy how we know what we are doing or thinking, but it is just so hard to stop.

Yikes. #20 going to sleep thinking about breakfast hit home HARD. I’ve been doing that every day for a year and a half but thought it wasn’t a big deal because I never fully relapsed or anything extreme like that…thank you for validating these hunger cues and getting my head back on straight!

I am a little over a year into my All in recovery and still have a majority of these thoughts. It’s crazy to me how long it can take to fully nutritionally rehabilitate/rewire. It just shows how deeply rooted the Ed has been in my life and how grateful I am to be coming out of it. Thanks for all your tips! This video was definitely a wake up call for me.

All of these points are making symptoms so much more transparent! Thank you!! Honestly, one of my symptoms which drives me crazy is spending so long in a supermarket, then finally getting to checkout and seeing my extremely boring shopping cart (especially compared to other people). I even look at bakeries etc on Maps in my city and other that I might visit someday, with no intention of going to them - exhausting waste of my time

Thank you so much for this, realizing specifically realizing that watching recovery related videos is a hunger signal is an extremely important realization as I'm going through my first week of all-in recovery right now

I find it hard to know what is genuine/organic mental hunger because I am constantly thinking right I am in recovery what should I eat / yay I can eat what I want / What would I choose right now? I am on day 2 of all in (Only started yesterday)

The menus 😬😅 I used to literally choose a random city in look up restaurants in said city. Then I’d go through and look at all their menus and choose what I would order if I were there… totally normal 🙃

Yess I had every single one of these! I've been all in now since Mid January, trying to stick to 3 meals and snacks but it never turned out like that. I would be hungry all the time! and I would eat a lot, still obsessing with counting calories but not letting it stop me from eating (or so I thought!) I realised i've been hangry for months oops. I would just have days where I ate alot more each week. I don't have that panic loss of control with eating anymore but I had one day last week where I ate so much in one sitting still again with lots of chocolates. But since then my appetite has calmed down as i've stopped trying to get my fast walks in and i'm just relaxing now instead. Unfortunately all this eating has triggered my UC multiple times so far this year which didn't help with me wanting to eat regularly (it's an issue right now actually) But I don't regret doing this for myself. I should probably eat now to be honest! I don't want to go backwards. Thanks so much for this. I love listening to you. And urgh that intimacy bit, I remember I told my bf at the time after, that i'm so hungry and all i'm thinking about is food and he looked so disappointed in me because he loved it when I hardly ate. Well, I blocked him over a year ago and that's it now lol. I was miserable with him. My body has got bigger now and i'm learning to love myself and trusting that my appetite will calm down and i'll be back to being energetic and happier again :D i'm already feeling it actually. Do not fear, just eat :) I don't want a life where i'm constantly thinking about food all the time!

I relate to almost every single one of these. ESPECIALLY the '' noticing every single thing related to food '' thing. In my garage we store cereals and raviolis and all kind of conserves. Since I got ill I've been more and more happy to look at this special part of my garage. Oops. I obviously still have a long way to go to get out of this energy deficit... I wish I could be farther along (as I'm. Mentally feeling good with myself and having no urges to restrict anything anymore).but i guess this is a phase I need to go through. BTW I can't thank you enough for this video, it's incredibly helpful and so reassuring. I feel so much less alone!!

Thanks for putting this video together, Emily. I can sadly currently relate to most of these. A few were new to me, and I’m going to acknowledge them going forward. I’ve always struggled to honor ALL of my hunger, but so long for the “head space” freedom of not being constantly food-focused. I feel encouraged by some of what others have commented, and not so alone. Neural rewiring is just feeling so impossible after 15 years of this. And I’d love to hear more on the fears or discomfort with being full.

You’re such a wonderful person! ❤

I hardly ever comment on videos but felt the need to comment on this one. Just to say thank you for such incredibly helpful content x

I am on day 8 of recovery and I have been dealing with most of these symptoms for months now. My mental hunger is an absolutely insane 24/7 neverending stream of food thoughts and I just don't know how to cope. The most disturbing sign for me however is that I would actually be smelling certain foods that are now even there. 🤦‍♀️

Absofrikinmuffinlutely one of the most helpful videos i’ve ever seen!! Thank you for bringing me some more clarity 💜💜

Wow almost all these behaviours resonate with me. And ive done so many just subconciously today. Thanks youve opened my mind to how far my ED has affected my thought processes. 💝

so grateful for finding your videos. i've lately been worried i'm developing a binge disorder because every night i try so hard to stick to my plan or what i imagine is what i should eat, then after midnight i'm always craving something mentally even if physically i'm not hungry at all. why is this happnening to me because i feel so crazy! is it really normal in recovery to have these anormal amounts of food and food thoughts ?

I’ve been in recovery for over a year. I’m doing so much better and feel like I’m in a restored weight range. In the last few weeks, my hunger has been crazy. I never experienced extreme hunger earlier in my recovery, but NOW I feel like I can’t get enough food. Can extreme hunger come late in recovery? Struggling to feel like I can honor it since it’s probably just life stress :/

Thanks for this video, I've really been struggling to identify hunger until it's 'too late' and I'm ravenous and then 'over-hungry' (if that's even a thing)

I keep thinking about what I have in my fridge, what's to buy, what I'd eat if I was hungry

Intrigued to know if it's normal to still have some of these things even though you're more than 10 months in to recovery and you are certainly over a healthy weight??