Eating disorder recovery affirmations can be a powerful tool in treatment, but not all affirmations work for everybody. Read on for 13 affirmations that you can use on your own recovery journey, share with a loved one who is struggling, or use as inspiration to create your own personalized recovery affirmations.

Licensed psychotherapist Tessa Gordon, LMFT, remembers the first time she was ever taught a recovery affirmation. “I was 13 and a woman who came to my church group ran a course called IALAC: I Am Loveable And Capable. We even got buttons at the end,” she says.

At the time, Gordon was being bullied and on the brink of a long battle with an eating disorder. “I left with that button and the instructions to stand in front of the mirror and tell myself repeatedly, ‘I am loveable and capable,’” she says. “I remember thinking, ‘so what?’ That isn't going to stop others from bullying me at school and it isn't going to stop the way I feel about my body or food. It wasn't going to give me a place to eat during lunch time, or have people look at me differently or give me friends to hang out with.”

Gordon’s struggles with affirmations—which can be defined as short statements meant to emphasize your strengths and improve your sense of well-being—continued years later, when she entered eating disorder treatment. The traditional affirmations just didn’t seem to move the needle in her eating disorder recovery. While it was comforting to tell herself “I love my body,” that statement didn’t always ring true, and it didn’t offer any help during her most challenging moments, like mealtimes or when she felt the urge to exercise excessively.

Gordon believes that many people have a similar experience when they’re presented with traditional, generic recovery affirmations, statements like “I am loved,” “I am enough,” or “I am allowed to take up space.” But, as she realized, that doesn’t mean that affirmations don’t work. For many people, finding the right affirmations can make a world of difference.

“My struggles in recovery are not going to be the same as everyone else’s,” she says. “But what did help me was making things that I wanted—and things that I didn't want—very concrete, and finding ways to hold onto that in my recovery. The affirmations I created became incredibly important to me, so much so that I continued to use and repeat them throughout my recovery, and now my life.”

Below are the 13 recovery affirmations that helped Gordon the most as she overcame her eating disorder. If you’re struggling with an eating disorder or know someone who is, consider incorporating some of these affirmations into your recovery process, or using them as a jumping off point to inspire your own words of wisdom. Once you find an affirmation (or affirmations) that resonate with you, try repeating them aloud to yourself several times a day. You might want to write them down and put them in prominent places, or even create visual representations of them through Instagram or another photo editing tool, as Gordon did, and set them as screensavers on your phone.

“Just for now.”

For Gordon, this phrase alluded to staying in the moment and remembering that the way things currently are is not necessarily the way they will stay. “When, where, and what that may look like is unknown, which can add to the fear this will last forever,” she says. “Remember that is just the fear talking. Whatever you’re feeling or experiencing is just for now. I came up with this during my recovery and to this day, I continue to use it for both myself and my clients.”

“Feelings and emotions can be felt without responding."

As Gordon learned in her own recovery, life can—and often is—unpredictable. “I used to think the goal was to get stable in life, and then everything in recovery would be easier,” she says. “Boy, was I wrong.” After completing her last treatment program, she faced a series of unexpected challenges, including an apartment break-in, joblessness, multiple car accidents, and serious health problems. Gordon made it through all of those devastating obstacles by allowing herself to feel sadness and fear, but to continue moving forward anyway.

“Allow yourself to feel it, experience it, and don't judge it,” she says. “ I not only share this with my clients now, but I continue to use it in my own life, beyond the eating disorder, because life continues to throw curveballs, and this is a great reminder of how to keep moving forward.”

“Connecting to what you love and care about makes all the difference.”

Because eating disorders typically thrive in isolation, Gordon believes recovery requires connection and community. “When people discover their passions, values, and what they hold dear, the eating disorder begins to lose its grip,” she says. “It's crucial to create space and time during recovery to support the nurturing of existing connections or the discovery of new values. This process involves finding ways to remain engaged with what you care about.”

“It’s a hard thing you are doing, but you can do the hard thing when you have to.”

Gordon believes it’s best not to sugarcoat the truth: eating disorder recovery can be brutally hard. But those who have been living with an eating disorder have also been coping with intense difficulties. “So whether or not you are able to do ‘hard’ things isn't actually a question,” she says. “But sometimes, it's hard for those who are in the fight and working to remember how much strength and power they actually have. This is a great reminder while still acknowledging how difficult it currently is.”

"Allow yourself to be scared and overwhelmed, just don't change your food because of it."

There’s no doubt that recovery comes with a wide range of different emotions—many of which are unpleasant. Gordon says that it’s important to allow space for those feelings rather than repressing them with old habits. “Feelings can be felt; it's the response to them that matters,” she says. “Eating disorders are excellent for helping people deal with emotions, especially big, overwhelming, or uncomfortable ones. When navigating recovery, you figure out how to experience these different types of emotions without returning to the eating disorder behaviors.”

"Give yourself an evening off from overthinking.”

For those prone to anxious thoughts, the goal of intentionally taking a break from the non-stop inner monologue may seem lofty. But Gordon says scheduling regular overthinking breaks can really help. “When worry is near, it can feel all-consuming,” she says. “Sometimes, the nicest thing to do for yourself is to take the night off and take a break from overthinking.” Knowing that you’re “allowed” to overthink again later can help even the busiest minds calm down for a period of time.

“Deal with what is, not the worries of the future.”

Gordon is drawn to this particular affirmation because it’s action-oriented, providing a sense of direction and purpose. “There are times that the eating disorder can get so caught up in all the ‘what ifs,’ worries, and future tripping, that it can paralyze you from taking any action or dealing with what is right in front of you,” she says. “It’s super important to remind yourself that all your worries are about things that aren't actually here yet, and that you are capable of stopping the worry and dealing with what is here now.”

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

Remembering that feelings are fleeting can be a comforting reminder to those in the throes of a particularly tough time. “It can be so hard in the moment to remember that what you’re feeling won't last forever: anxiety, sadness, loneliness, fear, happiness, sorrow, even the feeling of fullness,” Gordon says. Whatever the feeling is, it will pass in time.

"Stop should-ing all over yourself."

One of Gordon’s favorite recovery affirmations, this one not only brings some much-needed levity to difficult moments, but also empowers you to recognize how the eating disorder is projecting its judgmental and perfectionistic tendencies. “Eating disorder recovery is about more than bringing to light the various ‘shoulds’ you’re living with in regards to food and body,” she says. “It's about exploring the ways these ‘shoulds’ show up in all areas of your life and how these rules, which the eating disorder took up and used to its advantage, are woven into the fabric of your life and how you move through the world.”

"You can't know what you know until you know it."

When life takes unexpected turns, Gordon says it’s common to look back and notice all the things that could have gone differently. “However, that is the benefit of hindsight,” she says. “You now have the knowledge and information that you didn't have previously. Eating disorders love opportunities to find flaws, areas of perceived imperfections, ‘mistakes,’ and fester on them.” But by using this recovery affirmation, Gordon says you can effectively remind yourself that knowledge comes from experience. “While the eating disorder would love to tell you you should have known, the fact is, you can't know something until you actually know it,” she says. “So give yourself a break. Your job is just to remember this for the future, not blame yourself for not knowing it in the past.”

“With one meal, the stakes are not so high.”

Preparing, ordering, and eating meals can be overwhelmingly stressful for anyone in eating disorder recovery. While each meal may feel loaded with meaning, Gordon recommends using this affirmation as a reminder that our bodies are resilient and adaptive, and one meal will never cause any drastic changes. “When you stretch yourself to eat that pizza with your new college roommates, or go to ice cream after the movie and get two scoops, or spring for the burger and fries and not the salad because you agreed to try that with your dietitian this week, the eating disorder can come in and start to criticize and tell you all the ways you really messed up,” Gordon says. “This is a great comeback to that voice, as it reminds the eating disorder that one meal won’t make or break anything. The body won't notice the difference.”

“Appetite comes with eating."

One of the many consequences of an eating disorder is the inability to recognize hunger and fullness cues. Using this affirmation can help encourage consistent nutrition even when your appetite is lacking. “Often people will say they don’t want to eat or can't eat because they either ‘aren't hungry’ or ‘don't have an appetite,’ Gordon says. “However, what they may not realize is that this is usually a symptom of the eating disorder. It is through eating consistently that appetite returns.”

"Everything is okay, it's just a transition."

Periods of transition can be incredibly disorienting and difficult, particularly for those navigating recovery. “Sometimes people forget they are in a transition and don't know why things are more challenging or why they are suddenly struggling more,” Gordon says. “Having this as a reminder that things are okay—nothing is broken or ruined; just in transition—can be incredibly helpful.”

Recovery affirmations can be powerful tools during eating disorder recovery, as well as throughout life in general. If one (or a few) of the affirmations above resonate with you, try saying it aloud to yourself a few times a day. You might also want to write it down or type it out and put it in places where you’ll see it regularly (like making it your phone background or taping it to your mirror). Affirmations aren’t magic bullets, but if you find the right ones, they can help you get through tough moments and shift to a mindset that supports lasting recovery.