How to Stay Accountable in Eating Disorder Recovery During COVID-19

Even under the most ideal circumstances, eating disorder recovery is never linear, but self-isolation can hinder your progress even more. If you have paused treatment during this time, it can be harder to stay accountable and meet your recovery goals. But recovery from an eating disorder during this pandemic is still 100% possible.

Here are some ways you can stay on track in recovery when you are stuck at home:

1. Log your meals, thoughts, and feelings

Keep track of what you are eating, the feelings, thoughts, and urges you are having, and anything else you want to express using a journal, the notes section of your phone, or the Recovery Record app. If you use the Recovery Record app, you can share your logs with your treatment team so they can provide feedback and support. But even if you don’t share your entries with a treatment team, keeping track of how you are doing is a great way to check in on yourself and stay aware of how your recovery is going.

2. Write a schedule for yourself

Dietitians often do this for their clients, but if you don’t have one from a treatment provider, consider making a schedule for yourself. With the pandemic, our routines have gone out the window. Routines are key in the early stages of eating disorder recovery, so setting up a new one for yourself can make a huge difference. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Just jot down a schedule that includes meals and snacks. Here’s an example:

8:00 Breakfast

9:00 Walk the dog

9:30 Start homework or work

11:00 Morning snack

11:15 Homework or work continued

1:00 Lunch

1:30 Relaxing activity

2:30 Homework or work

3:30 Afternoon snack

3:45 Homework or work

6:30 Dinner

7:00 TV/Games/Reading Time

8:30 Evening snack/dessert

10:00 Bed

No matter how you design your schedule, remember that you can be flexible. Some days you may sleep in or stay up late, and that’s perfectly okay. Recovery is all about re-learning flexibility. A schedule is not meant to be followed to a T; it is just there to guide you and help you stay on track with your meal plan.

3. Join an online support group

Having a group you can relate to and check in with on a weekly basis will help hold you accountable in your eating disorder recovery. Kindful Body offers free online support groups every Monday afternoon starting March 30. There is also an evening eating disorder support group session you can join for a small fee.

4. Plan self-care activities

Make time for reading, arts and crafts, creative writing, painting your nails, learning a TikTok dance, playing music, baking, having Netflix time with friends using Netflix Party, Skype dates, video games, or anything else you like to do throughout the week to make sure you are giving yourself time to relax and unwind.

5. Set challenges for yourself 

It might feel easier to just avoid fear foods altogether during this time with restaurants being totally closed or only open for delivery. But a recovery without challenges won’t help you progress. Set up challenges for yourself, no matter how small, and ask someone you trust to hold you accountable for completing them. You can also motivate yourself to do them by coming up with "rewards.” A reward could be more screen time or a small online shopping purchase. 

Working towards recovery while in quarantine can be extra challenging. But if you put the effort in and create a structure for your days, you can manage your eating disorder recovery even while everything else in life feels out of control.

If you need extra support or guidance to create a plan that works for you, you can contact us for a free 15-minute phone or video consultation for online eating disorder therapy. Kindful Body was doing online eating disorder therapy before Covid-19 and before it was “cool” because it works and our clients love it.