My ED Recovery Win: Learning to Exercise for Myself

I wanted to share a recent win for me and my ED recovery! :) Mild TW I’ve never liked sports since elementary school. I have flat feet, so walking and running for an extended period of time is very uncomfortable for me. I also have very low stamina, and get hot extremely easily when I do anything active. Basically, doing any sort of physical activity SUCKS for me. And yet, my ED drove me to go running to the point of exhaustion. So you can imagine that post-recovery, the thought of exercising terrified me, since I didn’t even like it before. However, I began to really notice my low strength and stamina during my day-to-day life, and I wanted to do something about it. I kept thinking about how great it would just feel to be a little stronger, a little more flexible. And ultimately I decided that that was the reason I was going to start exercising. In treatment for my ED, they would say, “Would you still exercise even if your weight stayed exactly the same?” And I decided, yeah, I would. I don’t want to do it to lose weight, I want to do it to feel good. So I decided to go with my friend/roommate to the gym on my college campus once week just for an hour at least. She has a similar body type to me, but knows a lot about exercise since she was on a swim team and was taking Pilates, so she could teach me how to do some exercises! I would also have an accountabili-buddy to make sure I wouldn’t spiral and someone to be with to keep the weight-loss vibes at the gym at bay. I went this week and last week, and let me tell you, it felt really good. I just started with things I was comfortable with, biking for cardio so I wouldn’t have to stand on my feet, using the small weights, and doing everything for short periods of time. I thought I hated sports and physical activity, but maybe what I really hate is doing things that make me uncomfortable and that I don’t enjoy. Wow imagine that 😳