Body Empowerment

This is a wonderful question, and an ongoing discussion in the eating disorder recovery world. There is no right or wrong answer, but from my personal experience and from what I’ve learned from mental health professionals and medical experts throughout my time as a recovered person and advocate is that recovery is often seen as a space of maintenance, while “recovered” is often seen as a space of termination. That means that those who say they are “in recovery” are in an ongoing journey of maintenance to withhold from eating disorder behaviors and symptoms, while those “recovered” have completely terminated the eating disorder behaviors and symptoms. Thus, it is hard to determine when “recovery” turns into “recovered.” One thing I feel confident suggesting is that that transition from “recovery” to “recovered” is something each person can determine for themselves. For me, I felt like I transitioned from “recovery” into being “recovered” when I stopped being afraid of food and stopped eating emotionally. It was about a year or so into recovery. I hadn’t engaged in eating disorder behaviors or symptoms that entire time, but I noticed my awareness shifted from thinking about recovery to just living my life. That’s when I felt it had shifted. Hope this helps and please feel free to ask more questions if you have them!