This episode is raw, honest, and deeply hopeful.

I sit down with Brooke, one of my coaching clients, who recovered from a severe eating disorder that began in her teens — fuelled by praise for being “small,” TikTok diet culture, gym culture, religious conditioning, and a deep fear of weight gain.

Brooke shares her journey from hospitalisation and years of being “technically recovered but mentally trapped,” to full food freedom, weight restoration, and a life no longer ruled by her eating disorder.

This conversation is especially powerful if you:

• Are afraid you’ll never recover mentally

• Fear weight gain won’t stop

• Have food allergies that complicate recovery

• Struggle with body image, curves, or modesty conditioning

• Feel “different” or like recovery won’t work for you

In this episode, we cover:

✨ How praise for being “small” planted the seeds of Brooke’s eating disorder

✨ TikTok, calorie counting, gym culture & “healthy” restriction

✨ Why traditional treatment kept her stuck

✨ The turning point that made her choose recovery for herself

✨ Doing recovery “for the we” when doing it for yourself feels impossible

✨ Navigating recovery with food allergies (without using them as an ED excuse)

✨ Full surrender to mental hunger — and why it’s non-negotiable

✨ Gaining multiple clothing sizes and surviving the body image grief

✨ Religious shame, modesty, curves & reclaiming bodily autonomy

✨ Why weight gain did stop — and how set point brought mental peace

✨ The messy middle of recovery no one talks about

✨ Life after recovery: travel, work, relationships & real freedom

Powerful quotes from the episode:

💬 “I thought I’d be the biggest person who ever recovered. I wasn’t.”

💬 “The long-term hard is living with an eating disorder forever.”

💬 “Full allowance is what traditional recovery misses.”

💬 “You can recover physically and mentally — I’m proof.”

💬 “The eating disorder thrives in shame. I’m taking my power back.”

If you’re scared, exhausted, or stuck in the middle — this episode will remind you what’s possible.

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