Setting New Year’s Resolutions in Eating Disorder Recovery
New Year’s resolutions are another wintertime tradition that diet culture inevitably plagues. It can be triggering for those suffering from eating disorders to be bombarded with content reminiscent of the very unhealthy behaviors they are aiming to unlearn. Learning to set non-weight-centric resolutions for the upcoming year can help break these patterns going into 2022.
By: Samreen Khan
Goals of achieving a “summer body” or committing to a “clean” diet run rampant on social media as acquaintances and influencers alike swear to change their appearance in the coming year. Diet culture creates this myth that we have to “get back on track” after the holidays just so we buy weight loss programs and products in January.
You may have set goals in pursuit of changing the size of your body in the past. Resolutions about weight loss are unadvisable in recovery. Health goals that seem innocent could actually be counterproductive; like the eating disorder in disguise. For example, one may consider cutting down on sugar “for health reasons” this year. In reality, the motive behind this resolution is probably to lose weight. Focusing on numbers in any regard, even when they appear to be beneficial for your recovery, can cause extra stress and place more emphasis on the state of your body or what you’re eating. Eating disorders already create a heightened awareness of your body. Recovery should bring about the opposite and instead foster body neutrality. Instead of setting goals about changing your body itself, consider resolutions that focus on changing your mindset about your body.
Looking back at old resolutions can also be challenging. Not achieving a goal set at the beginning of the year can give you feelings of failure or worthlessness and make you feel like you have not worked hard enough. To combat these emotions, remind yourself of all of the things you have accomplished this past year - whether they are big or small accomplishments. Everything you faced this year allowed you to grow. Brainstorm a list of things you are proud of. Writing down our beliefs can help validate and solidify them. It is okay not to achieve everything you told yourself you would at the beginning of the year. You are only human, and there are only 365 days in a year. Every new year gives you more room to grow and more time to fulfill your goals.
To avoid these feelings of shame next year, keep your resolutions realistic. Setting twenty major goals may end up overwhelming you instead of motivating you. Scatter smaller resolutions amongst ambitious ones, and cap your list when you believe you have reached your limit. Goal setting is a valuable habit and can help your desires become a reality. Still, like any other habit, it works best when you are mindful of your boundaries and abilities. In addition, you don’t even need to have a new year’s resolution. You can set goals throughout the year, even in July.
You may feel tempted to set recovery goals related to preventing relapse in 2022. Recovery is rarely linear, and relapse is something that many people experience. By placing unrealistic expectations on yourself, you may pressure yourself too much and feel ashamed if you cannot fulfill these goals. Relapse does not make you weak or have failed your recovery journey. It is human nature to struggle, and you should not feel guilty.
Growth, more often than not, is unquantifiable. Even if you did not grow in the way you expected yourself to this year, each year naturally brings about some form of change within yourself. Whether you believe in setting New Year’s resolutions or not, be proud of the lessons you have learned in the past year. Instead of shaming yourself to change, challenge yourself to grow in the upcoming year.
If you or a loved one are struggling with an eating disorder during this holiday season, we are here to help. At BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™, our compassionate, highly skilled team of clinicians is trained in diagnosing and treating the spectrum of eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, compulsive overeating, and other disordered eating behaviors and body image issues.
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This post was written by BALANCE Blog Intern, Samreen Khan.
Samreen is a senior high school student with an ardent drive to de-stigmatize mental illness and eating disorders. Born and raised in the Bay Area, she experienced the harmful effects of “fitspo” culture firsthand for most of her childhood. Throughout her own recovery journey, she became passionate about deconstructing diet culture and raising awareness about eating disorders in her everyday life. Samreen began extending her own ideology of intuitive eating and body neutrality to others by publishing her own writing online when she was fourteen, and has since received several awards for her prose and poetry. She has conducted research on the biological and evolutionary implications of familial mental illness, and is currently taking college-level Sociology and Psychology courses with hopes to delve further into the social and cultural constructs that bolster disordered eating, especially within marginalized communities. She’s grateful for the opportunity to combine two of her strongest passions — writing and mental health — by working with BALANCE!