So, as someone who gained a lot of weight in recovery, none of my old clothes fit me. I have come to terms with this, but havent been able to get rid of all my skinny clothes until today. I finally put them in a bin to donate, even though i was crying the whole time. My mother is very thin, and wanted to keep some of them for her and I kind of freaked out at her, because i dont think i can handle her wearing them and having them in our house, as they are a major trigger and it took so much to actually get rid of them. Now i feel kind of bad, because i know she didnt mean to upset me and she doesnt understand anything about eating disorders. Has anyone else had so much trouble with getting rid of clothes and/or daeling with family who dont know/understand EDs?

[Skeezyks]

Hello maddiealh: I'm sorry I don't have anything to share with regard to your experience. Hopefully there will be some other members who can relate. However I see this is your first post here on PC. So... welcome to PsychCentral! I hope you find the time you spend here to be of benefit.

Here's a link to an article, from PsychCentral's archives, on the subject of how to deal with family members & friends who don't get it. Perhaps it may be of some interest:

https://psychcentral.com/blog/7-ways...o-dont-get-it/

I don't know, of course, if you're here simply seeking advice with regard to this particular concern or if you plan to hang in here with us. However, should you be planning to continue on (we hope you do)... may I suggest you introduce yourself over on PC's New Member Introductions forum? Here's a link:

https://forums.psychcentral.com/new-...introductions/

There's a lot of support that can be available here on PC. The more you post, & reply to other members' posts, the more a part of the community you will become. Plus there are the chat rooms where you'll be able to interact with other PC members in real time (once your first 5 posts have been reviewed & approved.) So please keep posting!

[ShaggyChic_1201]

I can relate! I gave my skinny clothes away assuming I'd never be able to wear them again. Then I asked for them back a year later when I could.

It's a hard thing to do - come to terms with a changing body, even when the changes are needed or inevitable.

Please post how you're doing now

Shaggy

[Blueberrybook]

It is awesome that you got rid of your "skinny" clothes! I think I hung on to mine over 5 years after recovery with the thought that maybe I'd need them again someday. (Well, I say recovery, it's not like the ED thoughts have ever completely left me; they are just less frequent, and I still just have to choose not to act on them.) I didn't know any people IRL skinny enough for those clothes, so I just gave them to Goodwill. Even if I had known someone they would have fit, I would have gotten rid of them because simply seeing them on someone would be a trigger for me. I even got rid of all my old jewelry I wore when my ED was bad because it reminded me of such a bad time in my life. When I got rid of my ED clothes and jewelry, it was a sort of catharsis for me.

I have been a healthy weight (albeight low-normal, but still a normal BMI for my height) for years since at least 2003, with a brief relapse around 2012. My mother still doesn't get it. Just last month, she asked me, "What happened to you while you were in college and had anorexia? What changed? You were fine in high school." By "fine", she means a normal weight though in truth, I had ED thoughts then and was showing signs of bipolar disorder. It was just easier to act on ED thoughts not living at home. She knows I was sexually abused by an uncle (through marriage, my aunt later divorced him). She knows sexual abuse often leads to eating disorders. I don't think any of my family "gets" it. You don't get it unless you've been there, I think.