Before this sub, I was one of the "ya I only eat 400 calories a day but I don't have an eating disorder because I'm choosing to do this and I'm totally in control no big deal" people

Looking back, I realize I've had an unhealthy relationship with food since I was very young. I have never been able to just...eat without under or over doing it. In the back of my mind, I knew I had an eating disorder but I would ignore that voice. I was skinny and overexercised and I was unhappy. I felt so alone and depressed that I would lose control and binge. Spend the next few days hating myself and refusing to leave the house. Being uninformed about EDs, this was proof to me that I didn't have an eating disorder. I thought I was just gross

People told me I was so thin and they would encourage me to eat. Yet I'd look in the mirror and think "maybe if I lose 10 more pounds, the sides of my stomach will shrink? Then I'll be happy." I'm 5'11 and weighed around 115 (not sure my current weight because I don't weigh myself anymore! :D)

Then I found this sub! Before this, I'd only browsed for MPA for calorie counts etc. I had a horrible time with that community because I feel it's very competitive and negative. Finding this sub was like...holy shit. I'm not alone. I'm not a freak. I'm not the only person that that's eaten an entire bag of uncooked noodles slathered in mustard. I'm not the only person that feels unworthy of happiness if I eat more than 400 calories. I'm not the only person that's been through this.

I was finally able to talk freely about what's going on with me to people that care and understand. No one condescended to me or tried to fix me. I can't express what that sub did for me. It brought me out of my depression. Do I still suffer from my ED and engage in bad habits? Yes, but it's better now. I have hope and I'm able to laugh at the fucking ridiculous things this disorder makes me do. I owe a lot to this community

I didn't realize I had an ED until ProED lol but now I got a diagnosis so I guess it helped

ProEd made me feel welcomed, understood, and gave me a place where I could truly share my personal thoughts and feelings and struggles without feeling judged. I'm a 24 year old female and only 2 years ago developed my ED. ProEd was a place for me to go when I was at my worst and my best. And now it's gone. My ED has pretty much stayed the same since I found the sub. I found it not too long after I realized I was struggling.

I didn’t know I had an eating disorder until I found ProED. As messed up as it sounds I went looking for eating disorder sites for tips on how to suppress my appetite. I learned what I was doing was binge eating because I was constantly restricting my food intake and it resulted in me snapping and binging. I didn’t realize how unhealthy my relationship with my body and food was until I found a place full of people like me.

r/proED made me realize what I was doing was not normal. I've never been diagnosed with an ED bc I've never went to a doctor for it. I'm also slightly overweight and you know that means that I can't have an eating disorder. /s

It helped me a lot because it validated what I was feeling. I saw posts about peoples hair falling out that scared the shit out of me. I would be gone for weeks at a time trying to ~get better~.

Did r/proED trigger me? Not really. Maybe for like 30 mins lol but for me personally, reading/seeing things online (unless it's pictures) doesn't really trigger me. People in RL trigger me. People talking about ED's in RL trigger me. Idk maybe it's just like how some people have different ways of studying, maybe theres different ways of being triggered lol.

Anyways, i missed yall.

edit: take a shot everytime i use the word trigger