What happens when an Eating Disorder doesn't look like an eating disorder?

*THE CONTENT OF THIS BLOG IS MEANT FOR A MATURE AUDIENCE ONLY AND CAN BE TRIGGERING FOR THOSE WHO MAY BE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR AN EATING DISORDER.  PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS INFORMATION IF YOU FEEL YOU MIGHT BE TRIGGERED.  THIS BLOG IS IN NO WAY CONDONING AN EATING DISORDER MINDSET OR BEHAVIOR, BUT RATHER TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT EATING DISORDERS.*

     Sorry I didn't post yesterday I couldn't find the right words to say.  But today it has been brought to my attention through a very dear friend of mine who like myself, also suffers from various forms of eating disorders that sometimes your eating disorder is just hard to describe.  What do you do when your not 15% underweight or binging and purging all the time?  What does it feel like to someone with an eating disorder that doesn't fit in to the neat little box given for eating disorders?  My friend and I were sharing stories and relating to one another about how when you don't look like you have an eating disorder it is even harder to recover than when you can physically see you are sick.  There is a whole population of these people out there and it just gets ignored.  Most people just get lumped into the Obese category, but that is detrimental to their recovery.  Almost every picture you see promoting eating disorder awareness is of someone super thin still. 

     I can speak from experience that in my journey to recovery I have been underweight, but I have also been overweight.  It is still hard to wrap my head around that how sick I am actually has little to do with the number on the scale, and that physical sickness is not the only thing that matters.  It breaks my heart that such awareness can be raised for eating disorders and yet so many people still get left out and are forced to feel ashamed, guilty, and alone!  So tonight this blog is for my friends who suffer from eating disorders that go under the radar.  You are not alone!  There is no reason to feel guilty or ashamed for what you see in the mirror, for it's your heart's reflection that says who you really are.