Liv Label Free | Neurodivergent Eating Disorder Recovery [PART 2] Autism and Anorexia Athletica: How to Use Your Autistic Traits to Heal Your Relationship with Exercise
It’s no secret that people with anorexia often engage in excessive amounts of exercise. When you combine that hallmark restlessness with neurodivergent traits like anxiety, perseverance, masking, and a constant state of fight-or-flight mode, you have the perfect storm for exercise addiction. But what if these same traits could become powerful tools in ED recovery? In the second installment of this 2-part series on Autism and Anorexia Athletica, Livia Sara explains how to transform movement from an escape into an energetic outlet. You’ll discover how three autistic traits can influence our relationship with exercise and how to harness them for healing.
Episode highlights:
- How the athletic identity can serve as a mask for autism and why creating a new identity is crucial for recovery
- Why viewing "compulsive" movement as adaptive behavior can shift our understanding of exercise addiction
- How nervous system dysregulation drives the urge to move in autistic individuals
- The paradox of how restrictions can increase the urge to move, and what to do about it
- The power of creating "freedom routines" that provide structure while allowing flexibility
Resources mentioned:
🎙️ Listen to my free audiotraining, “3 Steps to Recovery From an Eating Disorder as an Autistic Person”
📖 Access my free extreme hunger email course for answers to the top 10 questions about extreme hunger
🌈 Enroll in the Autistically ED-Free Academy
📚 Read my books about autism and eating disorders
💗 Join my newsletter to receive Liv Label Free updates
📝 Read the blog post of this episode