Inspiring Eating Disorder Quotes to Empower Your Recovery Journey

"To stay in recovery, you must be responsible for finding your own motivation. Remember, motivation may not be easy to come by at first. It will probably be a very small, timid part inside of you. When you find it, let that part be in charge. Let the minority rule and lead you to a life you never dreamed was possible"

- Jenni Schaefer

"Food is something I am going to have to face at least three times a day for the rest of my life. And I am not perfect. But one really bad day does not mean that I am hopeless and back at square one with my eating disorder. Olympic ice skaters fall in their quest for the gold. Heisman Trophy winners throw interceptions. Professional singers forget the words. And people with eating disorders sometimes slip back into an old pattern. But all of these individuals just pick themselves back up and do the next right thing. The ice skater makes the next jump. The football player throws the next pass. The singer finishes the song. And I am going to eat breakfast."

- Jenni Schaefer

"Difficult times are temporary and better days are ahead. Lows are a natural part of the recovery journey and do not define your worth or identity."

- Nikki Banas

"You have to make peace with food. You have to learn and program your brain to understand: your body needs food."

- Callie Bowld

"Your life is worth so much more than whatever body part you are so furiously fighting."

- Callie Bowld

"Recovery takes time. Current struggles are temporary and we are growing wiser and more resilient each day."

- Morgan Harper Nichols

"You are not alone. You are not weak. You are brass and bold and stronger than this disease."

- Callie Bowld

"Recovery is full of ups and downs. There is no such thing as a linear life. But you can always turn your setbacks into setups to come back stronger."

- Brittany Burgunder

"It’s natural to feel lost and overwhelmed. Rest and trust are essential, even when progress isn’t visible. We still moved forward despite weariness."

- Morgan Harper Nichols

"Progress is not always measured by visible milestones or achievements. Every small step forward, no matter how imperceptible it may seem, is still progress."

- Morgan Harper Nichols

"Continue. Be loving and be strong. Be fierce and be kind. And don’t give in and don’t give up."

- Maya Angelou

"You are worthy of pride for the strength and resilience you have shown in overcoming difficulties. Despite challenges, you have the courage to keep moving forward, growing, and healing."

- Charlotte Freeman

"I wish I could tell every young girl with an eating disorder, or who has harmed herself in any way, that she’s worthy of life and that her life has meaning. You can overcome and get through anything"

- Demi Lovato

"If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies, how very different our ideals of beauty would be."

- Lauren Jauregui

"Recovery doesn’t mean putting your life on hold. Recovery means holding on so you can live your best life."

- Brittany Burgunder

"I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles."

- Laurie Halse Anderson

"Emotional pain cannot kill you but running from it can. Allow. Embrace it. Let yourself feel. Let yourself heal."

- Vironika Tugaleva

"Your emotions make you human. Even the unpleasant ones have a purpose. Don’t lock them away. If you ignore them, they just get louder and angrier."

- Sabaa Tahir

"Having a healthy relationship with food means you are not morally superior or inferior based on your eating choices."

- Evelyn Tribole

"Making peace with food requires that you transition from a place of fear to a place of love."

- Dr. Anita Johnston

"You have to make peace with food. You have to learn, and program your brain to understand: your body needs food."

- Callie Bowld

"You are meant to have the option to comfort yourself with food. You are not a robot eating battery pellets for energy."

- Caroline Dooner

"No two eating disorders are the same. No two individuals are the same. No two paths to recovery are the same. But everyone’s strength to reach recovery is the same."

- Brittany Burgunder

"Recovery is a verb, not a noun. You have to be an active participant to improve continuously."

- Brittany Burgunder

"Eating disorder recovery becomes possible when you keep making the next right decision over and over. With time, these decisions become automatic."

- Brittany Burgunder

"Recovery does not mean putting your life on hold. Recovery means holding on so you can live your best life."

- Brittany Burgunder

"Breaking an addiction is never easy, but it can be done. You are stronger than that red-faced demon screaming in the bathroom."

- Callie Bowld

"The end of an eating disorder begins with the decision to stop."

- Callie Bowld

"In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety."

- Abraham Maslow

"There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t."

- John Green

"Recovery isn’t easy, at first. It takes time. It takes more work, sometimes, than you think you’re willing to do. But it is worth every hard day, every tear, every terrified moment."

- Marya Hornbacher

"There is no magic cure, no making it all go away forever. There are only small steps upward; an easier day, an unexpected laugh, a mirror that doesn’t matter anymore."

- Laurie Halse Anderson

"You are your own standard of beauty."

- Nayyirah Waheed

"I heard my body is a topic of conversation, so I wanted to say, I’m proud of my body and you should be proud of yours too…I could give you a million reasons why you don’t need to cater to anyone or anything to succeed. Be you, and be relentlessly you. That’s the stuff of champions."

- Lady Gaga

"The moments where recovery feels the most painful are often the ones you are making the most progress, because it indicates you are actively challenging your demons. Keep on pushing forwards even when the eating disorder voice screams at you. Things tend to scream when dying."

- Amalie Lee

"The first principle of recovery is the empowerment of the survivor. She must be the author and arbiter of her own recovery. Others may offer advice, support, assistance, affection, and care, but not cure."

- Judith Lewis Herman

"Why spend your whole life trying to be somebody you’re not? It’s so much more fun to be yourself."

- Lady Gaga

"Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses, not lifestyle choices."

- Demi Lovato

"All the world is full with suffering. It is also full with overcoming."

- Helen Keller

"I need to remember that I am capable of doing hard things because I’ve faced challenges before and emerged stronger each time. Those emotions and feelings that seem overwhelming now are not new; I’ve navigated them successfully in the past."

- @ozo.art

"Each time I overcame those feelings, I built resilience and learned valuable lessons about myself. I trust in my ability to endure and grow, knowing that I’ve done it before and can do it again."

- @ozo.art

"I am stronger than I think, and I can get through this."

- @ozo.art

"I’m proud of you."

- Charlotte Freeman

"Each breath can symbolize resilience and determination—the choice to keep moving forward, even when it feels difficult."

- Morgan Harper Nichols

"Hold onto hope and believe that brighter days filled with joy and peace are on the horizon."

- Nikki Banas

"Stop spending all day obsessing, cursing, perfecting your body like it’s all you’ve got to offer the world. Your body is not your art, it’s your paintbrush. Whether your paintbrush is a tall paintbrush or a thin paintbrush or a stocky paintbrush or a scratched up paintbrush is completely irrelevant. What is relevant is that YOU HAVE A PAINTBRUSH which can be used to transfer your insides onto the canvas of your life — where others can see it and be inspired and comforted by it."

- Glennon Doyle

"I'm on a journey to discover what it's like to be free of all demons."

- Demi Lovato

"And I said to my body, softy: I want to be your friend. It took a long breath, and replied: I have been waiting my whole life for this."

- Nayyirah Waheed

"I don’t want to wait until I’m 73 to embrace my body. To look back and think of my beauty: How did I miss it? Let’s not wait another moment."

- Ashley Asti

"Speak to your body in a loving way. It’s the only one you’ve got, it’s your home, and it deserves your respect."

- Iskra Lawrence

"I’m not going to sacrifice my mental health to have the perfect body."

- Demi Lovato

"You have been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens."

- Louise Hay

"Know that you are worth so much more than the value you place on your body. It’s not the only thing that defines you."

- Molly Tarlov

"My worst days in recovery are better than the best days in relapse."

- Kate Le Page

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You are allowed to be a masterpiece and a work-in-progress simultaneously."

- Sophia Bush

"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."

- Harriet Stowe

"You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally can’t, you do the next best thing. You back up but you don’t give up."

- Chuck Yeager

"One thing I have come to notice in my life is that recovery for me has not been linear. It’s more two steps forward, three back, five forward, two back, so I’m always improving but there are setbacks within the improvement."

- Jonathan van Ness

"Though no one can go back and make a new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new end."

- Carl Bard

"In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety."

- Abraham Maslow

"Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’"

- Mary Anne Radmacher

"The words “I am” are potent words; be careful what you hitch them to. The thing you’re claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you."

- A.L. Kitselman

"Get off the scale! I have yet to see a scale that can tell you how enchanting your eyes are. I have yet to see a scale that can show you how wonderful your hair looks when the sun shines its glorious rays on it. I have yet to see a scale that can thank you for your compassion, sense of humor, and contagious smile. Get off the scale because I have yet to see one that can admire you for your perseverance when challenged in life."

- Steve Maraboli

"In the midst of hate, I found there was in me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was within me, an invincible calm… In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back."

- Albert Camus

"Counting calories is not the answer, because eating is not the problem."

- Dr. Anita Johnston

"When your healthy self is strong enough to deal with all that comes your way in life, your eating disorder self will no longer be useful or necessary."

- Carolyn Costin

"Watch a movie that makes you laugh or listen to a song that makes you cry. Embrace your emotions and be proud of what you feel."

- Demi Lovato

"When embraced and accepted, negative emotions can be a powerful catalyst to positive change in one’s life and can lead to a deeper feeling of meaning and authenticity."

- Dr. Paul TP Wong

"If we are ready to tear down the walls that confine us, break the cage that imprisons us, we will discover what our wings are for."

- Michael Meegan

"At this very moment, you may be saying to yourself that you have any number of admirable qualities. You are a loyal friend, a caring person, someone who is smart, dependable, fun to be around. That’s wonderful, and I’m happy for you, but let me ask you this: are you being any of those things to yourself?"

- Phillip C. McGraw

"To know ourselves better, we must slow down enough to feel our feelings and to hear our deeper thoughts."

- David D. Corbett

"What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven’t even happened yet."

- Anne Frank

"Instead of resisting any emotion, the best way to dispel it is to enter it fully, embrace it and see through your resistance."

- Deepak Chopra

"Feelings are like waves, we can’t stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf."

- Jonatan Mårtensson

"On tough days, what can you do to make today 1% better? Even the smallest steps are progress towards victory. I believe in you."

- Unknown

"The size of my waist has nothing to do with my worth."

"Your body is always deserving of food. You don’t have to earn it."

"Make peace with the mirror, and watch your reflection change."

"The minute you think of giving up, think of the reason why you held on so long."

"Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations."

"Your relationship with food is one of your earliest and most meaningful relationships. It’s also a relationship you will have for the rest of your life. It might as well be the best relationship that it can be."

"I intend to accept my body today, love my body tomorrow, and appreciate my body always."

"When I look in the mirror, I often see only my physical appearance, missing the impact I’ve had on others, the joy I’ve brought, and the strength I’ve shown. This message encourages me to recognize that my value is far more complex and extraordinary than a reflection can convey."

- Unknown

"How much you eat at a single meal has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you’re a good friend, daughter, mother, sister, aunt, thinker, worker, citizen or overall human. Nothing you consume will ever diminish how valuable you are in those areas that count so much more."

"Hating your body will never get you as far as loving it will."

"Flexibility in your food choices is healthy. Eating a variety of foods is healthy. Focusing on enjoying your food is healthy. Not stressing about your food is healthy."

"Our minds distort our mirrors."

"Feeling guilty for eating when you're hungry is like feeling for breathing when your lungs need oxygen. We've literally been taught to be ashamed of our basic human needs. Refuse to feel the shame. You are allowed to eat."

"When you starve yourself, you feed your demons."

"Your weight may change but your worth does not."

"No food will ever hurt you as much as your eating disorder will."

"Recovery is a challenge, but it’s not as difficult as continuing to live the wrath of an eating disorder."

"Feelings are just visitors, let them come and go."