Parent Encouraging My Eating Disorder

I relate to everything you said. My mom seemed to like me more when I was skinny. I went clothes shopping with her and when I told her what size fit, she was so proud that it was a smaller size. We would compete to see who lost the most weight the fastest. She started selling me weight loss supplements. I went into treatment for my ED and she said I needed to grow up. When I came home and I had gained weight, she still kept giving me smaller clothes and tried to get me to fit into them. She constantly talks about my eating habits and makes me feel bad. At the time I didn’t have a diagnosis. I think I’m diagnosed now, but I’m still confused about it. My moms actions around food and weight trigger me so much. I tried to recover, but she’s been mean again and I feel like if I lose weight she’ll like me again. Just know that your weight is not your worth. You are still the same person no matter how much you weigh. Your mom has her priorities wrong. Weight is not equal to health either. Your mental and physical health are most important. She should be proud of you for trying to recover, not be proud of you for using ED behaviors.

Yes I have parents that feed into my ED behaviors. My dad was severely overweight and began fasting 6 days at a time for the last year and when he was eating it was keto diet. When he lost so much weight and learned the health benefits of fasting, not eating became praised in my household. It was celebrated when someone in my house would skip meals or fast. Fruit, processed foods, potatoes, grains all became demonized. It was so wrong to eat one of those things. It has been a big mental game for me and there are weeks that I struggle more than others but what has helped immensely is two things. 1. Discussing with your parents how such comments are making you feel and are feeding the behaviors. 2. Getting a therapist that you can talk to about the ED and getting to the bottom of the behaviors. For me my ED behaviors increase during times of stress and where I feel a lack of control. Hope this helped.

Sadly, I've heard a few stories where parents encourage eating disorders. What helps is remembering that you're doing it for you and your health and nobody else.