When it comes to motivation – human beings are wired to change to either avoid PAIN or to gain PLEASURE.
Some go even all out and say that ALL human decisions and actions are done either to avoid pain or gain pleasure.
When we do something we all have some sort of motive behind it, most likely we are not even willing to move a feather “just because”.
For example:
– When we decide to recover it’s likely because living with an eating disorder is causing you so much misery (pain) that you are ready to take action.
– Or when you decide to relapse it’s likely because eating disorder seems easier and more anxiety decreasing (pleasurable) way to deal with any current situation.
And there are countless examples like that.
So how you can use the concept of pain and pleasure to your advantage in recovery and “motivate” yourself to keep on going in your recovery? Find out in this video!
Hi, Elisa
I have a restrictive past and am trying to repair my metabolism. I have been watching all of your videos and they have been SO helpful! I am a 27 year on female and am weight restored (weight I was before ever restricting), but did so eating less that the minimum requirement. Now I have been instructed to eat at least 3,000 a day and to count them to make sure I hit the minimum. Im not sure what to do because counting the calories is causing me extreme anxiety and making eating a meal stressful. I know that if I ate intuitively I might eat well above 3,000 because I have a healthy appetite and that also causes anxiety because its such a huge difference from my restrictive past. Do you have any advice for what I am experiencing? Thanks again for all of the amazing information you are sharing with people trying to get better <3
Hi! if you are confident you will be eating 3000 anyway by not counting then go for it! even if after a while you feel counting helped you better you can always go back to counting. so try it out and see if it helps you more! its ok to adjust things and listen to what YOU need! 🙂
Thank you so much! I will keep that in mind. I am committed to sticking with this for the rest of my life. I was terrified of 3,000 calories because it is double what diet culture likes us to believe, but you have been a huge help and example of how we can fuel our bodies with energy from food and our bodies will know what to do with any extra!
Hi Elisa,
I’m not sure if this method applies to me, as I am already overweight (209 pounds) but I definitely got here by crash dieting, relapsing, bingeing, dieting again etc. The last 45 pounds came two years ago when I went to through a horrible depression and I didn’t had the energy anymore to diet, I just ate what I want whenever I wanted. I’ve kept my weight stable since then by keeping crash dieting whenever I go over 209 but then when I lose a few pounds I just binge again. I am really unhappy with my body. I wish I could turn back time 15 years and weigh 145 again, but I’d be already happy with 160!
What should I do? I already stopped weighing myself and counting calories, but I’m feeling my clothes getting tighter every day and I am afraid I will just gain more and more. Why would my body even need to gain more fat to go back to a set point? 🙁
Hi! you are not gaining because you are eating too much but because of what state your body is at hormonally and metabolically thanks to dieting, its suppressed and thinks it has been through starvation and still is. always resorting back to food control is a form of deprivation, no matter your current weight number. I really recommend reading “Health at every size” book. the answer is never to continue restriction or dieting, recovery is the best option. to restore your normal relationship with food and your body and to let the body find its own best weight, to heal the metabolism and hormones. no matter the weight number, dieting will not make you healthy but it makes everything worse for the long run.