2nd Chance PT

07/02/2024

What is important to you? Company, beautiful coffee, gorgeous cake a very enjoyable mix. I find taking a 'before' photo distracting so only the aftermath. Lovely times

15/07/2022

This is certainly true anorexia can often be missed and dismissed, anorexia has many features and does not have to reflect the common shock horror images often associated with this serious condition. Body shape and size are also not representative of severity or impact on the person. Similarly body shape and size are not an indication of recovery.

Yes, people of all sizes can have anorexia.

An important conversation that we need to keep having is the one about how diagnoses and grouping people by symptoms, although well-intentioned, can actually be really harmful. Take anorexia for example. Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is it's own classification according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Version V (2013). Then there is what's labelled as "Atypical Anorexia Nervosa" (AAN) which falls into a large sub-category of eating disorders called Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorders (OSFED). Both are serious. Both can be life-threatening. In a study by Whitelaw in 2018 (and btw Melissa is not just "Whitelaw" she is an AMAZING Dietitian from here in Melbourne!!) found that "In adolescents with restrictive eating disorders total weight loss and recent loss were better predictors than admission weight of many physical complications....." OK so let's make this clear - people in ALL bodies can have very much the SAME complications, the SAME symptoms, the SAME struggles AND it needs to be said that people across body sizes are treated VERY differently in the world, and in the health system. We urgently need to re-visit the way we define, group and pathologise bodies for the convenience of our system. When people are being harmed, it's not good enough. People with "atypical" AN are NOT "atypical. In fact, I would suggest they are more typical than anyone of what happens when diet culture and fat phobia collide. See the human. See the human. See the human.
*Please don't come at me with "yeah but in the DSM......" because you'd be missing the point AND doubling on exactly what I'm saying the issue here is (and literature supports), that complications and severity is comparable across weights yet the disparity of care is horrible*

01/02/2022

At first it can seem impossible. eating disorders do not usually have one cause, they are a combination of factors. Like this knot they are complex, being complex does not mean they cannot be unravelled and picked apart. photo by Clare Gelderd Photography Clare Gelderd

27/04/2021

Moody and choppy this evening, this is what I need. Beautiful in it's gloom, dim light creates the scene. Cannot be delivered by a screen, this has to be live.

03/04/2021

"I had so many rules I kind of, felt like in a prison and I thought that these rules might help me yes, control would mean I lose weight. But because that did not happen I thought is that really control?"

Binge eating recovery involves breaking those rules to release the prison.

ALL IN BINGE EATING RECOVERY AND COPING WITH WEIGHT GAIN – This video is a conversation between Katerina Weis and me about her recovery from binge eating and...

28/01/2021

Credit to A very simple message, basing yourself on body shape, size, appearance is usually an unfulfilling journey.

Self-esteem builds from the inside, and is more robust and flexible than a set shape or space.

26/12/2020

Boxing Day for someone with an eating disorder can be just like this, body image a nightmare, feeling fat, worthless, groggy, sensitive, prickly The temptation to hide, or compensate is high, self-worth at a low. The punishment very real. Self-care is never more important, as is looking at the big picture. Take time for yourself today, and to use a phrase from advertising 'you are worth it'.

08/12/2020

Event restriction is here, coming up to Christmas period an eating disorder will restrict food intake, increase exercise with the goal of creating a buffer zone to allow for the food on Christmas day. The problem is restriction leads to binging, or for some further restriction. It never ends and the buffer is a white elephant. A Trojan Horse carrying the eating disorders deeper. This can also apply to any event perceived to create a threat, or challenge to rules.

Do not be fooled.

18/11/2020

Doing the maths most eating disorders involve constant calculations, and constant rules to follow. How many calories, how long until I eat, how much will I eat, have I got it right.

Checking the packet, checking an app or nutrition table. How many minutes of exercise, what heart rate, what speed, how many calories burned. What's my weight, how much do I need to lose such a number, more calculations, how low can I go, how more exercise can I do.

A continuous tally on which life is based, no wonder there's little room for anything else this is 24/7 365.

This tiring battle controls everything, when people come to recovery they are fed up of this. Often they have never told anyone, sometimes people know but don't know what to do.

At 2ndChancePT I provide hope and a way to work towards getting your life back. Recovery is possible, you just have to take the chance.

17/11/2020

Perfect storm is a phrase used to describe the combination of factors behind an eating disorder, here a perfect storm is set to describe the circumstances and effect created by the Covid-19 pandemic. A vaccine may solve the physical problems, but the effect on the mind may last a lot longer.

A mother describes the mental trauma of lockdown - as doctors warn of a looming mental health "emergency".