It’s the 27th December. Christmas is barely over.
Yet today I have already had a Slimming World leaflet through my door, seen an advert on Twitter about ‘burning off the mince pies’ and was confronted by an entire stand of diet cookery books next to a selection of workout gear in Tesco.
I feel so angry about this. I hate how quickly society switches at this time of year: it was just days ago that everywhere we turned were messages telling us to gorge ourselves on every kind of food imaginable because ‘it’s Christmas’, yet the second it’s over we’re being made to feel guilty about the very thing we’ve been actively encouraged to do.
IT’S OKAY TO EAT AT CHRISTMAS.
IT’S OKAY TO EAT EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR.
This is an incredibly difficult time for anybody who has or has ever had an eating disorder. I think I am probably as recovered as I am ever going to be at this stage, but if there is ever a time that I would be vulnerable to relapse, it would be this time of year. But it’s not even just about that. This is a challenge for anybody who struggles with their body image or self esteem, who judges their worth by their body and who has been made to feel uncomfortable in their own skin.
If you want to change your body, that’s okay. But make those choices because you love your body and want to take care of it, not because you hate it. Your body is incredible, it literally keeps you alive. It deserves to be loved.
Your body is not you, it is just where you live. There is so much more to you than that and please try not to let the world make you think otherwise. You do not need to change any part of yourself just because Christmas is over.
No matter how much you have eaten or how little you’ve exercised over the Christmas period, you still need to eat and you still deserve to eat
Cara's Corner 
This is my second Christmas in recovery and I must say I agree with all of this so much and it breaks my heart too. I feel so guilty and overwhelmed by indulging over the Christmas period and I feel as though I have gone back so many steps in my recovery just from the intensity of this time. Thank you for writing this – it helps to know I am in no way alone. So hard for so many people but we have to remember: we deserve to eat, we deserve to eat, we deserve to eat. ♡
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You are certainly not alone at all but I’m sorry you feel this way too! Just remember we need to push through this difficult few weeks then all will be back to normal 💗
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Love love love this!!
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Thank you! I feel better for getting it out my system haha
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Haha glad you feel better! It’s true though, its diet and exercise stuff everywhere, even on Insta all I’m seeing is exercise videos and “how to burn that fat”… makes me cringe.
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Me too – it will all die down soon that’s what I’m clinging on to.
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Reblogged this on Living Beyond the Borderline.
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Thank you for this very positive affirmation.
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“If you want to change your body, that’s okay. But make those choices because you love your body and want to take care of it, not because you hate it.”
I absolutely adore this, you’re totally spot on 💕💖
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Thank you xx
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