Support for eating disorders and disordered eating, and for the families around them. Recovery-focused, judgment-free, and free of numbers and comparison.
Eating disorders are serious illnesses, not lifestyle choices or vanity — and they affect people of every age, gender and body size, including people who look entirely well.
This is a recovery-oriented space. That doesn’t mean everyone here is doing well, or that you need to be committed to recovery to post. It means the direction we’re facing is towards getting better.
What people talk about here
Wondering whether what you’re doing counts as a disorder, particularly if you don’t fit the picture you’ve seen. Bringing it up with a GP for the first time. Treatment, waiting lists and what a dietitian or therapist actually does. Recovery as an uneven process rather than a straight line. Eating in front of other people. Family who don’t understand, or who comment on food and bodies without meaning harm. Supporting a child, partner or sibling without making it worse. And relapse, which is common and is not a failure.
Support beyond the forum
- Butterfly Foundation — national helpline for eating disorders and body image concerns. Call 1800 33 4673.
- National Eating Disorders Collaboration — Australia’s national resource centre for eating disorders.
- Kids Helpline — free 24/7 counselling for ages 5–25. Call 1800 55 1800.
- Lifeline — 24/7 crisis support. Call 13 11 14.
Eating disorders have serious physical effects that aren’t always visible or felt. Please stay connected to a GP even when you feel fine.
Posting rules for this category
These aren’t negotiable, because what’s harmless to write can be genuinely dangerous to read:
- No numbers. No weights, sizes, BMIs, calories, or goal figures of any kind.
- No behaviours. Don’t describe how you restrict, purge, compensate, or hide symptoms — including “what worked”.
- No before-and-after images or descriptions of bodies, yours or anyone else’s.
- No comparison — not with other members, and not framed as your own inadequacy.
Describe how you feel and what’s happening in your life instead. That’s the part other people can actually help with, and it’s the part that matters.
How to use this category
You don’t have to be sick enough. That question is a symptom, and it keeps people from getting help for years.
Post anonymously if you’d rather. Come back on the bad days as well as the good ones.