Eating Disorder Recovery

Why exercise often becomes complicated in eating disorder recovery

Exercise is often framed as either something you must keep doing, or something that must stop completely. For many people in eating disorder recovery, neither extreme feels safe or realistic. Movement can carry fear, guilt, rules, or a sense of punishment, even when the intention is to feel better or to regulate your emtional state.

This isn’t because you’re doing recovery “wrong”. It’s because movement has often been tangled up with control, body image, and harm for a long time.

‍How I work

I support people to rebuild a safer, more sustainable relationship with movement during eating disorder recovery. My work centres medical safety and where you’re at right now, rather than forcing you into rigid rules about what exercise should or shouldn’t look like.

That might mean:

• pausing or reducing certain types of movement
• changing how and why you move
• focusing on harm reduction rather than perfection
• or reintroducing movement slowly, with support

We go at a pace that supports recovery, not one that undermines it.

Lived experience and clinical care

I bring both professional experience and lived experience of an eating disorder to this work. I understand how complex, loaded, and emotionally charged movement can feel in recovery, especially when exercise has previously been tied to coping, identity, or self-worth.

I know better than most that there is no single “right” way to recover and recovery goals look diffrent to each person.

A careful, evidence-based approach

There’s a common belief that all movement must stop during eating disorder recovery. The evidence doesn’t support this as a blanket rule, and for some people, it can cause additional distress or harm.

I take a nuanced, individual approach. Together, we decide what supports your recovery and what doesn’t. That might include education, planning, reflection, or in-session movement, when appropriate. The focus is always on reducing harm and supporting recovery, not pushing through or performing wellness.