5 Practical Skills for Lasting Eating Disorder Recovery

The right coping skills make all the difference

Recovering from an eating disorder isn’t a straight path. Even when you’re making progress, there will still be days when old habits or thoughts creep back in.

These setbacks don’t mean you’re back at square one. They’re a natural part of the recovery process.

Anne, a former Eating Recovery Center (ERC) patient, shares some of the most important skills she learned during treatment.

These five eating disorder coping skills helped her through some of her hardest moments and are a great place to start when things feel overwhelming.

Lean on these skills to help you navigate the journey.

1. Stay present in the moment

Having an eating disorder is hard. Everyday situations like eating out with friends can trigger all kinds of emotions and behaviors. Panic attacks can show up without warning. Plus, you might be dealing with other conditions or negative comments from people who don’t understand what you’re going through.

When it becomes too hard to manage, Meredith Nisbet-Croes, MS, LMFT, CEDS-C, national clinical response manager at ERC, says, “Pulling yourself back into the present moment can help.”

“When anxiety goes up, options go down,” adds Nisbet-Croes. “Be patient with yourself. Try using grounding techniques, like pressing the soles of your feet into the floor and noticing how the ground feels beneath you or focusing on each toe making contact.”

Gentle breathing exercises like inhaling for four counts, holding for seven and exhaling for eight can help support regulation, too.

By getting through the moment without added negativity or self-criticism, you create room to heal. This helps you build the resilience you need to face whatever comes next.

2. Build a consistent routine

Adding structure to your day — whether through consistent meals and snacks, work or school schedules, self-care or other activities — can feel daunting at first.

But a flexible routine isn’t about strict rules. It’s about setting yourself up for success.

Anne’s eating disorder began when she was just 13. After her parents’ divorce, she lost the rhythm of regularly eating meals together as a family.

“I don’t think I knew what ‘normal eating’ was,” she reflects, “But that’s what treatment did for me, it restored that rhythm and normalcy.”

Creating consistency in areas like sleep, work, exercise and social life can also ease decision fatigue and provide a sense of stability in an unpredictable world.

As Nisbet-Croes says, “If you’ve established a routine, you can lean on it when making recovery-focused choices feels impossible.”

To start, “Try setting regularly scheduled dates with friends or family, having frozen meals for easy access or setting up an auto-order of your favorite snacks or groceries,” says Nisbet-Croes. That way, when you’re drained, you have those supports in place.

3. Reframe your relationship with food

For many people in recovery, food can feel daunting.

Whether from years of being affected by diet culture or receiving conflicting advice from professionals, “food was frightening for so long,” Anne shares. “I was convinced my body and food were flawed.”

But through treatment, Anne came to realize that her body and food were never the problem. Rather, food was nourishing and energizing her body.

Shifting your relationship with food is a personal journey, often best explored in therapy. However, Nisbet-Croes suggests starting with curiosity.

“Ask yourself, ‘Can I look at my relationship with food as if I’m an outsider? What would happen if I made a different choice? How would that help or hurt me?’”

Learning that all foods have a place in a balanced diet gave Anne a sense of freedom — and this new mindset spilled into other areas of her life.

“Now I can go to a restaurant I never would have gone to before recovery,” shares Anne. “I don’t know what’s in the food – but it’s really good and I’m enjoying it! My life is so much richer and fuller.”

4. Lean on your support people

One of the most important lessons in recovery is that you don’t have to face it by yourself.

Whether it’s family, friends or treatment professionals, having a support system can make all the difference.

Anne recalls a moment during treatment when things felt impossible: “I was having a meltdown, but [my care team] had hope for me when I couldn’t.”

On the toughest days, lean on the people who care about you, whether by inviting them to sit with you through the pain or listening to a gentle reminder to stay the course.

Anne explains: “Trust your loved ones. Trust the experts. Life can get so much better.”

If you don’t have anyone to lean on right now, know that you’re not alone.

“Not everyone has close family or friends,” says Nisbet-Croes, “but there are free support groups and community connections that can bridge the gap, and your treatment team — therapist, dietitian, medical doctor — can support you as well.”

5. Take things one step at a time

Looking too far ahead can make things seem impossible, so Nisbet-Croes encourages focusing on small, manageable steps:

“Ask yourself, ‘What do I need in the next 15 minutes? The next 30 minutes?’ If even that feels too much, just think about the next 5 minutes.” Take a breath, call a friend and go from there.

In treatment, Anne saw how hard it can be to put this skill into practice. However, when her situation felt dire, she came to learn that recovery isn’t about fixing everything at once.

For her, addressing persistent discomfort with digestive issues took time. While frustrated, Anne reminded herself, “They’re trying to save your life. When the time is right, we’ll get there.”

Some days, taking a small step meant eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. On other days, it meant finding motivation in her weekly family visits.

Those little moments may seem small, but they matter. They all add up.

Coping skills learned in treatment last for life

With the right support and skills, real change is possible. Anne reminds us of the ripple effect this can have on entire families and communities:

“It’s been great to model change [for my kids]. It has been very impactful for them to see such a huge change in me. They say things like, ‘Mommy, you’re so much happier’ and ‘Mommy, you used to be in pain all the time, and now you’re just so full of energy.’ I’m a different person, and they really see it.”

And Anne is not the only one.

About 82% of ERC patients report gaining practical coping skills in treatment that make a meaningful difference for their healing and recovery.

If you or your loved one is struggling with an eating disorder, we’re here to support you on your recovery journey.

Give us a call at 866-622-5914 or send us a short message. We’ll listen to what you’re going through and help you find the right path to healing.

Find more recovery coping skills:

15 Ways to Manage Eating Disorder Triggers
50+ Eating Disorder Recovery Tips for Tough Days
What I Learned From My Relapse: Real Stories of Eating Disorder Recovery