Eating Disorders with Dr. Colleen Reichmann

The Maybe Running Will Help podcast started while I was in treatment for an eating disorder. I was desperate to feel like I could still run, and I believed there were reasons to run (and reasons that I ran) that weren’t just for weight loss.

It wasn’t until recently that I really understood that running helps me mentally more than physically. It’s how I slow down my brain and calm my nervous system. It’s good for me in ways I didn’t think anyone would understand, and back then, I was terrified someone would take it away.

After all these years, I still have questions. I still need to be reminded of the things I learned in treatment because that disordered voice still shows up. And maybe most importantly, I still crave validation. I want to know that my challenges are real. That they’re worth hearing. That I’m not alone. But also, strangely, that I’m not normal.

For many years, I assumed everyone thought like me. I thought they obsessed like me and controlled food like me. And so I couldn’t understand why I hated myself so much for it.

In the conversation I’m sharing today with eating disorder expert and clinical Psychologist Dr. Colleen Reichmann, I learned even more about the people who are like me, but also how we’re different from each other and from people who don’t have an eating disorder.

I asked her what she thinks about running safely with an eating disorder. And I learned what the considerations are for being active through treatment.

When people think about eating disorders, they often picture something visible. But what they don’t see is the noise. And while what we look like isn’t always what outsiders expect, inside we suffer in many of the same ways.

Some topics I want to highlight in this episode are:

• Being underweight for “your body” might not look like you’d expect or show up on your BMI

• GLP-1s are impacting the eating disorder community and maybe our society 

• There is a new focus on eating disorders for middle-aged women

• People with eating disorders can run and talk about it with their therapists!

  
  

I hope that through this conversation, you better understand this disorder so you can better support yourself or someone you know who may be suffering.

For more information on Dr. Reichmann, go to https://www.wildflowertherapyllc.com/, where you can also find a link to her Instagram account. You can find her book, The Inside Scoop on Eating Disorder Recovery, on Amazon at this link.

And if you need help or just want more information, check out https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/