Eating Disorder Relapse Prevention in Changing Seasons 

For many, eating disorder triggers intensify into the summer, but with awareness, you can take steps to maintain recovery.

The warm weather and unpredictable schedules that accompany summer can increase eating disorder triggers for those in recovery. The summer heat might make you feel pressured to wear clothes that show more skin, and social activities like swimming or sunbathing might lead to comparing your body with others. Both of these examples show how summertime can increase body dissatisfaction and negative body image thoughts for those in eating disorder recovery. 

No matter your age, summer tends to disrupt your routines. Schools are on break, college kids come home, vacations are planned, and people are frequently out of the office. Transitions can trigger eating disorder behaviors because when you’re faced with new experiences—even positive ones—you tend to turn to behaviors that are familiar and comfortable. The added downtime that coincides with vacations or breaks from school can also lead to more negative thoughts, intensifying urges to use these eating disorder behaviors. 

Maintaining recovery from an eating disorder takes a great deal of effort, consistency, and support. Knowing that summertime comes with an increased number of triggers means that you can start planning for how to prepare for and navigate recovery challenges. To help get you ready for summer, this article will explore the challenges that summertime poses, identify signs of a relapse, and discuss steps for making an eating disorder relapse prevention plan. 

Eating Disorder Recovery Challenges in the Summer 

As summertime approaches, the weather is getting warmer, school semesters are winding down, and people are planning trips. The changing of the seasons comes with unpredictable routines and added social pressures, which can pose several challenges for those in recovery. Let’s dive deeper into a few of these potential triggers.  

Body Image Challenges 

Warm weather oftentimes coincides with an increase in diet-centric conversations. Whether it’s from friends, co-workers, or family, people in eating disorder recovery are commonly exposed to unhelpful and triggering comments about food, weight, and exercise as summertime starts to approach. 

Pressures to be “beach ready” or wear clothes that show more skin can intensify negative body image thoughts, leading to increased body dissatisfaction and eating disorder urges. Body-focused activities like swimming and sunbathing may increase body comparison, and more time with family can mean more exposure to unhelpful comments about your body or recovery.  

Changes to Routine 

In the summertime, many kids and college students are home from school. Parents might be working more irregular hours between trips and people being out of the office. Summertime disrupts many people’s routines and leaves young people’s days lacking structure. Transitions like this can be triggering for eating disorders. 

The added downtime can cause more negative thoughts to trickle in. These thoughts can lead to eating disorder urges and behaviors. Also, disruptions in routine can make it more challenging to stick with a recovery-focused eating schedule, leaving you with more opportunities for eating disorder urges to pop up. 

Social Gatherings 

You might feel more pressure during the summer to engage in social activities or meet up with friends. Seeing others post on social media can cause you to compare yourself and might trigger feelings of being left out or lonely. These difficult emotions can lead to negative thoughts and increase urges to return to your eating disorder. 

Sometimes, summertime social gatherings involve physical activities like biking or hiking, which can be challenging for those with a history of compulsive exercise. There are also holidays, vacations, and cookouts during the summer. These experiences surround food and might feel overwhelming to those in eating disorder recovery. 

Develop an Eating Disorder Relapse Prevention Plan  

Eating disorder recovery is a long process with many ups and downs, so it is important to have a plan for how to cope when things get hard. A relapse prevention plan is a therpeutic tool where you identify your eating disorder’s triggers and come up with strategies for how to effectively cope without returning to old patterns. Having a relapse prevention plan gives you concrete, supportive steps to take when life gets challenging. 

If you or a loved one is in recovery from an eating disorder and you are anticipating some of the abovementioned challenges this summer, a relapse prevention plan is a great resource. You can reference it during the changing seasons and use it as a tool to manage any triggers that come up.  

Here’s a few ideas for how to get started in creating your relapse prevention plan. 

Consult with Your Treatment Team

Opening up to your therapist, and treatment team, about your struggles is a necessary step in recovery. When you feel your emotions and effectively manage without turning to eating disorder behaviors, you build resilency and confidence. Talking through your triggers and getting support in real time shows that you can find emotional comfort outside of your eating disorder.  

Be Consistent 

Your treatment team is your best resource during your recovery process. Whether you’re meeting with a therapist, dietitian, psychiatrist, and/or medical doctor, these professionals know about your eating disorder and will be able to offer insight into your specific triggers. Your therapist will be your point person with whom you can discuss any anticipated challenges and create ideas for coping strategies. 

As it was mentioned earlier in this article, eating disorder thoughts and urges can pop up when routines are interupted or you have too much downtime. Since summertime is full of disruptions to people’s routines, it is important to remain consistent with your appointments. Your therapy sessions or dietitian appointments can remain a reliable resource despite shifting schedules. This is a way to ensure you have ongoing support to actively process any eating disorder thoughts or urges that might get triggered during the summer. 

Identify Strategies to Cope with Summer Triggers 

Your treatment team is your go-to resource for help in anticipating any triggers that might arise during the changing seasons. They know your situation and will be able to pin point triggering situations, emotions, or relationships unique to your recovery journey. 

After you identify your specific challenges or potential triggers, it is important to come up with a plan for how to effectively cope with hard emotions. Many people find it beneficial to write down a list of helpful coping strategies that they can reference when the eating disorder gets loud. Below are a few examples of recovery-focused coping strategies.  

Strategies to Cope with Summer Triggers 

• Develop a solid support system. This can include your treatment team and a few people from your life that are aware of your recovery journey.  
• Be honest. Open up to yourself, your team, and your support people about little slips and eating disorder thoughts. Slips happen to everyone and it’s nothing to be ashamed about!
• Use your voice. Reach out to others when you’re feeling overwhelmed and remember you don’t need to use eating disorder behaviors to show that you’re struggling.
• Stick with your meal plan. Nourish your body despite how others are eating around you.
• Take a break. If a situation is unhelpful to your recovery and activating eating disorder urges, take a break. This could mean stepping into another room for a few minutes, going outside, or even canceling or leaving outings early. 
• Rethink your summer activities. If you have strong eating disorder associations with specific summer activities and don’t feel confident enough in your recovery to manage eating disorder thoughts or urges in those places, then consider doing something else. In the beginning stages of recovery, it can be helpful to make new plans and build new memories outside of the eating disorder. 
• Self-care. Everyone has slips in recovery. Struggles are part of the process. Self-care activities like planning a day to rest, getting new clothes that aren’t tied to past eating disorder memories, or sitting down to journal about your emotions can be supportive ways to offer yourself kindness. Self-care can also help regulate your emotions and leave you feeling more grounded and capable of navigating those tough situations. 

Signs of a Relapse

The triggers accompanying the changing seasons can increase your risk of slipping back into old habits. Even with a relapse-prevention plan and a solid support system, recovery still comes with ups and downs. Being able to spot signs that you’re sliding back into your eating disorder is an essential part of the recovery process. 

Below are some early warning signs that you might be relapsing back into your eating disorder. If you notice yourself in some of these, remember that struggling is nothing to be ashamed about. You are not a failure. This is part of the process. You might just require additional support and interventions to help you get back on track. 

• Several missed or rescheduled appointments with your treatment team
• Avoiding restaurants or other outings that involve food
• Eliminating food groups or a progressive avoidance of foods 
• Isolating or withdrawing from social situations 
• Increased frequency of checking your body in the mirror 
• Trying on old clothes that were worn when your eating disorder was active 
• Struggling to keep up with buying groceries, pay bills, walk your pet, engage in self-care, or other life tasks
• Increased participation in exercising 
• Increasingly comparing your body and food behaviors with those around you 
• Difficulty focusing at work or school
• Stop taking your prescribed medications
• Inability to keep up with personal hygiene 
• Significant change in body weight 

Reach Out for Support Today and Find an Eating Disorder Therapist in Summit, NJ. 

If you struggle with an eating disorder and recognize parts of your experience in this article, we are here to help. Hilltop Behavioral Health has a team of eating disorder experts who would love to support you in your recovery process. On our website, you can request a free consultation call with one of our team members, and we can find a therapist who matches your needs. 

References 

Berends, T., van Meijel, B., van Elburg, A. (2011, November). The Anorexia Relapse Prevention Guidelines in Practice: A Case Report. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care. https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6163.2011.00322.x

Coping with Summer Eating Disorder Triggers (n.d.). ANAD. https://anad.org/coping-with-summer-eating-disorder-triggers/#:~:text=Summer%20can%20lead%20to%20an,comments%20about%20their%20own%20bodies.

Feigenbaum, N. (2012). Maintaining Recovery From Eating Disorders: Avoiding Relapse and Recovering Life. : Jessica Kingsley Publishers. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=oMzdlT1COpEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA8&dq=eating+disorder+relapse+prevention+summer&ots=ms-uBlbZzu&sig=n1cMekFh8_B3MuvQITbpCtVRwaI#v=onepage&q&f=false