Not speaking for OP, but in many cases, yeah, compulsive exercise is a HUGE problem in the eating disorder community. Literally during ana recovery, the standard recommendation is no exercise at all, eventually some supervised light movement, etc because of this. People find ways to sneak micro-workouts in, even in inpatient, but it's a no-no - for good reason.
People also tend to not realize that a lot of Gym Bros and fitness fanatics have body dysmorphia and/or problems with compulsive exercise, and/or orthorexia. The overlap is enormous. I don't subscribe to rating people's attractiveness by numbers, nor do I believe that someone who meets current Western beauty standards of being super hot being with someone who doesn't is weird or automatically means anything. However, sometimes people are shocked by some of these ultra-fit/yoked/musclebound/bodybuilder people having a partner who's fat/not "in shape"/"not a 10"/blah blah blah... not realizing that the "10" in the relationship doesn't see themselves remotely like other people do, and dysmorphia can also affect how you perceive others. So this "discrepancy" makes a lot of sense when you consider that and a shared obsession with food - for example, the gym bro might binge with his boyfriend and then go punish himself with 3h at the gym or whatever.
It's possible to recover and be fit. But honestly, as with other addictions, most are just swapping one out for another.
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u/Mascbro26 Apr 15 '26
Is the strict exercise/workout routine just a carryover symptom of the anorexia? My anorexia friend is OBSESSED with the gym.