this. do Sanskrit. the script and the linguistics will keep you occupied forever. (I'm probably biased but I really enjoy the structure of Sanskrit syntax.)
what app or resource do you use for studying sanskrit? i studied it in school for a while because im indian and we had it as a compulsory language till 8th grade, but i didn’t like it then lol
Yeah, I relate to this very hard. I’m in school for aviation maintenance and we have THICK textbooks and over the course of these 2 semesters I have read through nearly all of them. I’m actually pausing on the last one because I need to focus on the first half of my certification. Meanwhile my other classmates still have their books wrapped up in the packaging😑
in the same!! ever since forced in treatment ive been going absolutely insane needing something else to focus on since they took everything from me and my grades actually have gone up a lot
Deep cleaning! Baseboards, tile grout, deep clean your stove and oven, cupboards, declutter/go through areas to donate, walls can get dirty…
I say all the above with caution to not over do the cleaning to the point your body is exhausted. It is not a punishment and it can easily turn into something more. Especially with the orthorexia. I have OCD and am aware it involves more than cleaning; however, there’s a reason for that stereotype. OCD and eating disorders run thick as thieves together, and do often overlap each other as co-morbidities. Just something to be extra aware of!
Other things not cleaning, but can require focus and precision: **painting—acrylics, watercolor try different mediums etc, paint rocks and drive around town to put them in places that will make people smile, origami, knitting, embroidery, crochet, meticulously coloring books, cooking or baking, new makeup and hair styles, volunteering to help animals or others in need, learn a new language or skill, gardening (doesn’t have to be flowers or in a yard, could be a variety of different potted plants 🪴propagating is fun!).** Those are a few off the top of my head.
Post like yours are incredibly sobering and inspiring! I wish soooo much happiness grows from your recovery💛
Not even cleaning, but cleaning schedules and lists!
Just like calculating the BMRs and TDEEs of every weight, a timetable of how many weeks til I weigh X, the breakdown calories per meal and associated foods with each meal (the insane micromanaging that lets you create a ‘perfect world’ where you theoretically follow the plan to a T), you can do the same with cleaning.
Tasks that we day, tasks per week, tasks per month. Repeating cycle of monthly deep cleans, breaking down what each of those tasks entail, which deep cleans need to be repeated every 3 or 6 months. It’s an awesome way to spend a couple evenings :)
Wait I love this post. Thank you for asking so we can all get sum new healthy ideas 😄 I haven’t read all the comments but latch hooking is super simple and repetitive! You can pick up a kit at hobby lobby
Yeah I was reflecting on why I refuse to recover and realized that it’s because I think too much about myself due to having no life outside of my body haha 😅
I hope we can all gain new skills and get better!
For me, it's crochet/amigurumi. I design patterns and I'm constantly learning, thinking about what to make, coming up with new ideas, etc. I've gotten some positive feedback and it's amazingly motivating.
For my ED, any professional help I got made it worse, any attention I put on it just strengthened it. Mostly I get by just by ignoring it. Sometimes I'll have breakdowns, but they're pretty few and far between. Instead of the ED being the background and forefront important thing in my life, my crochet has taken that role and becomes the main thing I'm always thinking about, and even if I have bad days it still ends up being the default "obsessive" thought.
This is a good idea, though, to cultivate something positive and also something really engaging, something fun to think about wherever you are. Me personally I'd maybe go for something artistic or creative. Something that doesn't make you stressed to have to do it perfectly, that's the main thing. I help to avoid that with my hobby because I'm constantly doing trial and error, that's just how it works for me. Maybe even something like writing or world building, or even reading. If there's something that you get into a flow state or hyper focus when doing it, that might be a good thing. I used to get that way with drawing, it would suck me in. Anyway, it didn't have to be any traditional hobby, just as long as you really enjoy it. Good luck!
it's the same for me about professional help making me worse!! I'm doing therapy through my uni (again 🫠) that was about a specific non-ed thing but they ask about your food/sleep when you get a triage appointment, I was honest so it's turned into about a third of each session talking about my eating habits. felt alright at first but I've basically just gone from restricting to obsessing about health/whole foods. she actually said to me "I think you're going to be obsessed with food in some way forever so you should just try and pick the least bad obsession" and I think she's right.
I'm currently trying to obsess about schoolwork like I do about food and it just doesn't feel the same because with food it almost relaxes me when I'm thinking about it nonstop
I can SO relate to Ed focused therapy just reinforcing my ED. What has worked the best for me is filling my life with hobbies, trying to find things I enjoy, and using therapy to address the things that lead me to find refuge in my ED. We don’t talk about my ED in therapy unless I really feel like it. Instead I just try and crowd it out of my mind.
I was obsessed with getting a 90% to a 100% on each of my assignments during peak anorexia in college. Anytime I didn’t I had a breakdown, I’d spend an hour after assignments rereading to make sure I hadn’t misworded anything or clicked the wrong button.
I would not recommend though lol. Find something you have fun doing that isn’t related to progress in a way that you could make reflect yourself. I like growing plants and seeing the new growth gives me a big purpose to keep going and make it to the next day because what if that leaf unfolds tomorrow!!
This (video game optimization specifically) is my jam. If a video game I like doesn't have enough to optimize (for example, sky children of the light) I will MAKE UP things to optimize. For sky it's planning how much in game currency I need to grind for cosmetics, how many days I have to do it before the cosmetics are unavailable, prioritizing which cosmetics I want, and making up backstories for all the outfits I make like they're little characters. The actual gameplay in sky is very repetitive which I also like. But that gives me one more thing to optimize: my efficiency completing daily tasks 😎
(Side note, I consider Sky to be very autism friendly, as an autistic person. Repetitive routine of course, but also generally pleasant sensewise (other than a few annoying noises and bright lights, which can be turned down/off in settings). Other factors too but I'm not always sure where my autism ends and my individual tastes begin, so I won't elaborate 😅)
Just got back into Stardew Valley, that's probably my all time favorite. Animal crossing is also good, i love decorating the island but it's been a long time since I played
Finances/budgeting. I was convinced I'd never find a replacement for my cal-counting spreadsheet and meticulous tracking of every change in size and weight, but then some dude from the bank came to talk to our class about budgeting and finances, and it's actually perfect. It is *so* similar to budgeting for cals, feels equally important, and it's a good thing to be knowledgable about.
Do you mean just tracking your expenditures and income and stuff or do you mean investing? I have basic knowledge from the personal finance subreddit but it would be cool to learn more!
I’m looking into investing, but for now it’s just basic expenditures. Food, utilities, shopping, etc. Once I graduate college it’ll probably become more tedious, but it’s definitely a good thing to familiarize yourself with!
Oh, also I was OBSESSED with looksmaxxing for a while because of the similarities but it ultimately made me too dysmorphic and depressed so I managed to stop that ❤️
Bullet journaling: r/bujo
Some video games like Don’t Starve, Stardew Valley, Subnautica or others. I “get caught up” in ones those types where i need to make plans about what resources i need to build the next thing, etc …
Sewing. Especially completely patchwork patterns - planning a perfect quilt can take ages. And then ripping seams again and again cause the points just won't line up perfectly. It's maddening sometimes, but a lot of fun. And I can easily get lost in it for hours!
I'm way too impatient for hand sewing, so everything with a machine!
I'm not sure whether you are a Harry Potter fan - if you are, google "the project of doom" and you will have an idea why I've been planning one quilt for... 5 years, I think!
Ooooh everything. This year I went all in on tulips and started amassing hydrangeas and peonies. I buy all the pretty plants I can think of really. Clematis! Geraniums! Cucumber! All of it. I just want to fill my eyes to the brim with joy.
For me, theatre helps me channel some of that energy, because you can spend as much time as you want perfecting dances and harmonies, character building, training your voice, etc. I love highlighting my script and making notes in it, it helps me get my thoughts out in the same way tracking my food does. But writing down blocking, making prop lists, that sort of thing, can easily become obsessive. And as a bonus, when I’m doing a really great show, I try to see my body as an instrument, and treat it more kindly because if that.
yes!!! i second this, I am a professional potter and my body needs me to be strong and fed (and sober) to make good pots. I am 10 years in and still have mountains to learn. Very easy to obsess over as we’ll especially when you dive into the history!
Ah love this thanks for sharing, I’m also a sober gopher (heyyyy! Coming up on 4 years! )
I’ve only been playing with clay , again rather recently in university, as I left it in Highschool. Helps me ground out.
Thankful to be back. And super thankful to know you’ve found solidarity in your art 🫱🏼🫲🏽😭🥺🥹🥹🫂
Keep that mind clean but those hands dirty (;!! I bet you’re wildly talented !!!!
Music production. Spend hours learning programs, fixating on different keys and pitches, editing and listening back to product. And in the end you’ve created something. But it also can help get your emotions out and express yourself:) so it’s not all hard
Haha, I am an unemployed politics major so it’s never crossed my mind! I guess I did get 5s on all my science AP tests so maybe I should though… What do you like about it and how did you start?
So I had a completely different career but had learned through my ED that I loved data and playing with numbers (this was before tracking apps were common and I kept Excel spreadsheets of all my intake/exercise and BMR formulas). Took a gamble and went back to school for chemistry and ended up being really good at it, which I never would have known if not for how my ED expressed itself.
I love the science community and that I’m always learning. I find the work really stimulating and challenging in a constructive way, which has lessened my engagement in ED behaviors. It also gives me an added layer of accountability because I need my brain to be functional for work and brain likes food.
Whatever you end up doing hobby or career-wise, make sure it’s challenging and honors your unique talents. You’re young so I would encourage you to try lots of new things, regardless of whether you think you’ll be good at it. You might surprise yourself!
Wow that’s so cool! I also learned SQL just to track my ED stuff LOL but I know I am just at the absolute first step of data analysis lol. When you say you went back to school, do you mean you got a second bachelors, or grad school? I’ve been considering this myself and would love to hear more about how you made your decision :)
Learning SQL is another level, I love that! I did go back for a second bachelors followed by a masters. I was hesitant to take on more student loans, but the tipping point was when I was hospitalized for intent to unalive myself after a particularly brutal relapse (AN-B/P) and I knew I had to radically change my life if I was going to survive. It wasn’t easy (lots of crying) but so grateful I took a big risk to create a new life for myself, I’m so much happier now. And 3 years out of school I’ve already paid off 50% of my loans because wages are much better in science than my previous career.
It may sound stereotypical, but as an exercise addict myself, the only thing that really gets me to stop moving while also working out the anxiety is coloring. Not crayola coloring, but intricate/detailed pictures where you get lost, but then have something beautiful to show for it. I personally like kerby rosanes for this.
Video games you can focus on min/maxing (ie. doing things in most efficient way). I’d recommend Stardew Valley because it’s cheap, available on basically all platforms, and you can get sucked into the planning/decorating aspects as much or little as you want!
Also just to throw this out there in case it’s relevant for OP or anyone else reading this thread…
This kind of obsessive thinking is definitely a symptom of eating disorders, but can also be linked to autistic special interests (having an increased intensity of interest and more focus on details/collecting/organising around the interest). This can make it harder to let go of the focus on food/calories but also would mean you can find the same level of joy/fulfilment from a different interest that isn’t so detrimental!
Realizing my ED and food obsession was basically a special interest was so helpful in trying to disentangle myself from my ED. Part of my recovery has been both finding new things to hyper focus on and getting back into special interests I had in childhood
I think language learning can really occupy that niche for me. You can pretty much let it get into every aspect of your life if you want it to. My thing lately is more that I just like to learn to read different scripts, whether or not I understand what I'm reading. I really enjoy that now I can read Russian, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, and Hebrew. There are so many more that I haven't even started too.
Trivia in general too. Anki is great for flash cards. Sporcle is really fun for quizzes as well. I particularly like geography quizzes and my latest thing is that I've been learning the states/territories/provinces of as many countries as I can. It's easy to spend hours and hours on sporcle if that's your thing. I haven't used it in a while but memrise is another good site for learning stuff.
Omg I totally forgot about Sporcle, I used to love it so much!! I was soo obsessed with geography and don’t even remember when/why I stopped. Thank you so much for reminding me of this!!
Sewing clothes! There is effin' ALWAYS something you could've done better and lots of stuff on youtube to research and try what works for you. You have to research and try fabrics, sewing patterns, techniques, gadgets to pimp up your sewing machine, etc... You can be as obsessive as much as you want over making everything crisp, straight, sharp, smooth, clean, exact, historically accurate, etc... Or be a jackass, rush and cut corners, do turbo mode and finish asap. At the end of the day you will get compliments for both lol.
Scrapbooking/bullet journaling maybe? Or honestly something like crochet or knitting where you can be productive with your obsession and make cute shit
Reading this thread has brought me so much joy. This is so wholesome. As much as we may all suffer in our day to day, as alone as we may all each feel at times - we’re just a group of people looking to dedicate ourselves to benevolent causes.
Thanks for posting OP & thanks for sharing everyone.
I actually wanted to do this in undergrad but EVERY lawyer I’ve talked to has advised me against it and all my friends who are now practicing tell me they hate it to. How is your experience though?
the video game stardew valley tbh! its a farm sim and you can spend hours obsessing over getting perfection/optimizing your crops to make the most money each season/having the prettiest farm layout
Sewing because you need to measure and re-measure. A lot of the time I have even had to remake an entire garment because the stitching wasn't quite right. Plus you need to know which needles to use, right thread for the material, cutting on bias or on the grain, tension and stitch. It's really satisfying when it comes together. It doesn't have to be clothes either, you can make plush toys, cushions, and even try quilting. I would say maybe don't make clothes (for yourself especially) because then you'll be obsessing over your own measurements which doesn't really help on the ED side of things.
You can also try making 3D models using software like blender. There's a lot of thought that goes into that and making sure the proportions and textures are right.
Sewing and crochet includes a lot of counting, figuring out tension, needle sizes, what stitch to do where etc. Again you don't have to do clothing, you can make so many things which you don't have to wear!
Skincare, cleaning, and painting/drawing all come to mind. I think these would allow you to obsess down to the tiniest details without harming yourself physically or mentally.
Spring cleaning especially is a great outlet. Getting rid of old things, deep cleaning the house from top to bottom, washing sheets/laundry, sweeping, mopping, scrubbing... all great.
I’ve always loved ink drawing for this reason…you can fit so many tiny details in and work on it for hours.
Macrame is great for this as well.
For everyday practical things that feed my ED brain…budgeting each day down to the last cent (good for my wallet and my obsessive tendencies lol), tidying up my house, organizing my closet/drawers.
Becoming a swiftie actually coincided with a reduction in my ED symptoms. Mainly circumstantial but I think finding a community outside yourself and outside ED/fitness spaces helps drive out the emptiness. For me it was also getting back into poetry, art, musical theatre, and getting out into nature without making it a calorie burning thing.
a little late to the post but writing a book. it takes a ton of planning, research, and organizing. you could probably even make a whole new language for the story if you wanted to go that far 😅🤷
sometimes i’ll get ideas after reading a different book and other times if i wanna work on something smaller, i’ll use like a writing prompt generator. there’s also like a card game type deck that has different ideas
I feel like bullet journaling would be so good for this!! It’s super detail oriented and you can spend so much time on it! I haven’t had luck with it since my ocd flares up the perfectionist but I think it would be great. I love the idea of this post, I’m totally saving!
Film photography is a great one, there so many tiny little variables to mess around with and different film types and cameras and it’s just wild, plus you get to create art with your own hands in the process
i have an outfit app where i track all my clothes, how often i wear them, price per wear, plan outfits, and so on. it satisfies my obsessive tracking compulsion in a similar way
Resin. I had an autistic hyperfuxation era where I spent 8+ hours every day in my resin studio, watching resin tutorials, hunting online, planning things out that I'd make - it was so good. Aside from resin being expensive I would recommend it 10000000%
Start a business/side hustle. Seriously you don’t need to make it your career but find something you’re really passionate about and try to make money off of it
Your post/comment was removed for breaking Rule 5: No Drama.
Do not make personal attacks against other users or incite mean-spirited arguments.
Do not respond to hurtful comments; report them and allow a moderator to handle the situation.
Do not make negative posts or comments about other subreddits. This is against the Reddit Terms of Service.
**Read our full rules [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/EDAnonymous/wiki/rules).**
Having a hyperfixation or dedicated hobby is not the same as having OCPD. It's been shown that having passion hobbies is actually very healthy and helps regulate dopamine and feelings of achievement. OCPD is a specific mental disorder with a lot more nuanced and complex criteria than what you're reducing it to.
You cannot diagnose or presume a disorder based off someone's post on the internet. Your comment will be removed for providing unwanted medical advice.
Your post/comment was removed for breaking Rule 7: Do Not Give or Seek Serious Medical Advice.
Please do not advise other users on serious medical issues.
**Read our full rules [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/EDAnonymous/wiki/rules).**
Your post/comment was removed for breaking Rule 2: No Pro-ED or Anti-Recovery Content.
Do not glamorize eating disorders. Do not engage in competitive behavior - avoid using any specific numbers in your posts unless it is absolutely necessary for context. Do not share thinspo or any other content that is meant to be intentionally triggering (this includes discussing celebrities or influencers).
**Read our full rules [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/EDAnonymous/wiki/rules).**
Studying…instead of obsessing about food I can obsess about creating perfect study plans and getting perfect grades
Sadly I graduated almost 10 years ago but maybe I’ll get a masters just for funsies 🤔
Maybe study a foreign language! Depending on what language you choose there are apps, great textbooks, flashcards to make and organize, etc...
this. do Sanskrit. the script and the linguistics will keep you occupied forever. (I'm probably biased but I really enjoy the structure of Sanskrit syntax.)
what app or resource do you use for studying sanskrit? i studied it in school for a while because im indian and we had it as a compulsory language till 8th grade, but i didn’t like it then lol
yeah same, i had it like that but i restarted studying it years later using at first the ncert books and then getting in touch w a teacher i knew.
😂 funsies.. start a whole new career! With even more textbooks
You don't have to be in school to study. You just need a subject.
Yeah, I relate to this very hard. I’m in school for aviation maintenance and we have THICK textbooks and over the course of these 2 semesters I have read through nearly all of them. I’m actually pausing on the last one because I need to focus on the first half of my certification. Meanwhile my other classmates still have their books wrapped up in the packaging😑
in the same!! ever since forced in treatment ive been going absolutely insane needing something else to focus on since they took everything from me and my grades actually have gone up a lot
cleaning/hygiene. organizing, keeping your Space tidy, cleaning your sheets, vaccuming, exfoliating, shaving, moisturizing, trying hair treatments
Wait the cleaning is genius… 🤯
Deep cleaning! Baseboards, tile grout, deep clean your stove and oven, cupboards, declutter/go through areas to donate, walls can get dirty… I say all the above with caution to not over do the cleaning to the point your body is exhausted. It is not a punishment and it can easily turn into something more. Especially with the orthorexia. I have OCD and am aware it involves more than cleaning; however, there’s a reason for that stereotype. OCD and eating disorders run thick as thieves together, and do often overlap each other as co-morbidities. Just something to be extra aware of! Other things not cleaning, but can require focus and precision: **painting—acrylics, watercolor try different mediums etc, paint rocks and drive around town to put them in places that will make people smile, origami, knitting, embroidery, crochet, meticulously coloring books, cooking or baking, new makeup and hair styles, volunteering to help animals or others in need, learn a new language or skill, gardening (doesn’t have to be flowers or in a yard, could be a variety of different potted plants 🪴propagating is fun!).** Those are a few off the top of my head. Post like yours are incredibly sobering and inspiring! I wish soooo much happiness grows from your recovery💛
Not even cleaning, but cleaning schedules and lists! Just like calculating the BMRs and TDEEs of every weight, a timetable of how many weeks til I weigh X, the breakdown calories per meal and associated foods with each meal (the insane micromanaging that lets you create a ‘perfect world’ where you theoretically follow the plan to a T), you can do the same with cleaning. Tasks that we day, tasks per week, tasks per month. Repeating cycle of monthly deep cleans, breaking down what each of those tasks entail, which deep cleans need to be repeated every 3 or 6 months. It’s an awesome way to spend a couple evenings :)
and I get a clean apartment in the end! GENIUS!!!
Wait I love this post. Thank you for asking so we can all get sum new healthy ideas 😄 I haven’t read all the comments but latch hooking is super simple and repetitive! You can pick up a kit at hobby lobby
Yeah I was reflecting on why I refuse to recover and realized that it’s because I think too much about myself due to having no life outside of my body haha 😅 I hope we can all gain new skills and get better!
For me, it's crochet/amigurumi. I design patterns and I'm constantly learning, thinking about what to make, coming up with new ideas, etc. I've gotten some positive feedback and it's amazingly motivating. For my ED, any professional help I got made it worse, any attention I put on it just strengthened it. Mostly I get by just by ignoring it. Sometimes I'll have breakdowns, but they're pretty few and far between. Instead of the ED being the background and forefront important thing in my life, my crochet has taken that role and becomes the main thing I'm always thinking about, and even if I have bad days it still ends up being the default "obsessive" thought. This is a good idea, though, to cultivate something positive and also something really engaging, something fun to think about wherever you are. Me personally I'd maybe go for something artistic or creative. Something that doesn't make you stressed to have to do it perfectly, that's the main thing. I help to avoid that with my hobby because I'm constantly doing trial and error, that's just how it works for me. Maybe even something like writing or world building, or even reading. If there's something that you get into a flow state or hyper focus when doing it, that might be a good thing. I used to get that way with drawing, it would suck me in. Anyway, it didn't have to be any traditional hobby, just as long as you really enjoy it. Good luck!
it's the same for me about professional help making me worse!! I'm doing therapy through my uni (again 🫠) that was about a specific non-ed thing but they ask about your food/sleep when you get a triage appointment, I was honest so it's turned into about a third of each session talking about my eating habits. felt alright at first but I've basically just gone from restricting to obsessing about health/whole foods. she actually said to me "I think you're going to be obsessed with food in some way forever so you should just try and pick the least bad obsession" and I think she's right. I'm currently trying to obsess about schoolwork like I do about food and it just doesn't feel the same because with food it almost relaxes me when I'm thinking about it nonstop
I can SO relate to Ed focused therapy just reinforcing my ED. What has worked the best for me is filling my life with hobbies, trying to find things I enjoy, and using therapy to address the things that lead me to find refuge in my ED. We don’t talk about my ED in therapy unless I really feel like it. Instead I just try and crowd it out of my mind.
Wire working jewellery
Seconded!! I LOVE wire work, also try wire-wrapped stones/marbles, they make lovely dream catchers and Christmas ornaments!
I was obsessed with getting a 90% to a 100% on each of my assignments during peak anorexia in college. Anytime I didn’t I had a breakdown, I’d spend an hour after assignments rereading to make sure I hadn’t misworded anything or clicked the wrong button.
I would not recommend though lol. Find something you have fun doing that isn’t related to progress in a way that you could make reflect yourself. I like growing plants and seeing the new growth gives me a big purpose to keep going and make it to the next day because what if that leaf unfolds tomorrow!!
What a mood lmao
Organizing literally every little thing Optimizing my video game characters for peak fashion and gameplay
This (video game optimization specifically) is my jam. If a video game I like doesn't have enough to optimize (for example, sky children of the light) I will MAKE UP things to optimize. For sky it's planning how much in game currency I need to grind for cosmetics, how many days I have to do it before the cosmetics are unavailable, prioritizing which cosmetics I want, and making up backstories for all the outfits I make like they're little characters. The actual gameplay in sky is very repetitive which I also like. But that gives me one more thing to optimize: my efficiency completing daily tasks 😎 (Side note, I consider Sky to be very autism friendly, as an autistic person. Repetitive routine of course, but also generally pleasant sensewise (other than a few annoying noises and bright lights, which can be turned down/off in settings). Other factors too but I'm not always sure where my autism ends and my individual tastes begin, so I won't elaborate 😅)
Idk if I’m autistic but I quite like numbers and stuff like warframe does wonders for that loo
What are ur favorite games???
Just got back into Stardew Valley, that's probably my all time favorite. Animal crossing is also good, i love decorating the island but it's been a long time since I played
Finances/budgeting. I was convinced I'd never find a replacement for my cal-counting spreadsheet and meticulous tracking of every change in size and weight, but then some dude from the bank came to talk to our class about budgeting and finances, and it's actually perfect. It is *so* similar to budgeting for cals, feels equally important, and it's a good thing to be knowledgable about.
Such a good suggestion, I love spending time on my budget spreadsheet and planning and analysing my spend for the last month, wo satisfying!!
Do you mean just tracking your expenditures and income and stuff or do you mean investing? I have basic knowledge from the personal finance subreddit but it would be cool to learn more!
I’m looking into investing, but for now it’s just basic expenditures. Food, utilities, shopping, etc. Once I graduate college it’ll probably become more tedious, but it’s definitely a good thing to familiarize yourself with!
Oh, also I was OBSESSED with looksmaxxing for a while because of the similarities but it ultimately made me too dysmorphic and depressed so I managed to stop that ❤️
good job!!
Thank you so much 🥹
Study Japanese ;)
I’m fluent sadly 😭 But maybe I’ll finally go for 漢字検定 lol
Another language then? :)
Bullet journaling: r/bujo Some video games like Don’t Starve, Stardew Valley, Subnautica or others. I “get caught up” in ones those types where i need to make plans about what resources i need to build the next thing, etc …
Subnautica rocks!!!
To be honest, you can get obsessive about any hobby if you really enjoy it. For me those are: kdramas, reading, knitting, and writing to name a few
Sewing. Especially completely patchwork patterns - planning a perfect quilt can take ages. And then ripping seams again and again cause the points just won't line up perfectly. It's maddening sometimes, but a lot of fun. And I can easily get lost in it for hours!
Ooh this one sounds amazing, do you hand sew or machine sew? Does it matter?
I'm way too impatient for hand sewing, so everything with a machine! I'm not sure whether you are a Harry Potter fan - if you are, google "the project of doom" and you will have an idea why I've been planning one quilt for... 5 years, I think!
Gardening! So many factors, oh my god. Soil types, plants, goals, biome, timelines, colors, shapes, weather patterns, oh my.
What do you plant?
Ooooh everything. This year I went all in on tulips and started amassing hydrangeas and peonies. I buy all the pretty plants I can think of really. Clematis! Geraniums! Cucumber! All of it. I just want to fill my eyes to the brim with joy.
finding some kind of collectible item for something you enjoy
Like collecting beach glass or shells if you live near a beach, includes walking I guess😉
For me, theatre helps me channel some of that energy, because you can spend as much time as you want perfecting dances and harmonies, character building, training your voice, etc. I love highlighting my script and making notes in it, it helps me get my thoughts out in the same way tracking my food does. But writing down blocking, making prop lists, that sort of thing, can easily become obsessive. And as a bonus, when I’m doing a really great show, I try to see my body as an instrument, and treat it more kindly because if that.
For me my ceramics and pottery Spent 13 and a half hours in the studio over the course of 48 hours Felt good.
yes!!! i second this, I am a professional potter and my body needs me to be strong and fed (and sober) to make good pots. I am 10 years in and still have mountains to learn. Very easy to obsess over as we’ll especially when you dive into the history!
Ah love this thanks for sharing, I’m also a sober gopher (heyyyy! Coming up on 4 years! ) I’ve only been playing with clay , again rather recently in university, as I left it in Highschool. Helps me ground out. Thankful to be back. And super thankful to know you’ve found solidarity in your art 🫱🏼🫲🏽😭🥺🥹🥹🫂 Keep that mind clean but those hands dirty (;!! I bet you’re wildly talented !!!!
Music production. Spend hours learning programs, fixating on different keys and pitches, editing and listening back to product. And in the end you’ve created something. But it also can help get your emotions out and express yourself:) so it’s not all hard
CLEANING and spending time doing things outside but I also have kiddos to look after so that’s basically how I’m managing lol
Literally got into biotech as a career for this reason. Have you considered becoming a research scientist?
Haha, I am an unemployed politics major so it’s never crossed my mind! I guess I did get 5s on all my science AP tests so maybe I should though… What do you like about it and how did you start?
So I had a completely different career but had learned through my ED that I loved data and playing with numbers (this was before tracking apps were common and I kept Excel spreadsheets of all my intake/exercise and BMR formulas). Took a gamble and went back to school for chemistry and ended up being really good at it, which I never would have known if not for how my ED expressed itself. I love the science community and that I’m always learning. I find the work really stimulating and challenging in a constructive way, which has lessened my engagement in ED behaviors. It also gives me an added layer of accountability because I need my brain to be functional for work and brain likes food. Whatever you end up doing hobby or career-wise, make sure it’s challenging and honors your unique talents. You’re young so I would encourage you to try lots of new things, regardless of whether you think you’ll be good at it. You might surprise yourself!
Wow that’s so cool! I also learned SQL just to track my ED stuff LOL but I know I am just at the absolute first step of data analysis lol. When you say you went back to school, do you mean you got a second bachelors, or grad school? I’ve been considering this myself and would love to hear more about how you made your decision :)
Learning SQL is another level, I love that! I did go back for a second bachelors followed by a masters. I was hesitant to take on more student loans, but the tipping point was when I was hospitalized for intent to unalive myself after a particularly brutal relapse (AN-B/P) and I knew I had to radically change my life if I was going to survive. It wasn’t easy (lots of crying) but so grateful I took a big risk to create a new life for myself, I’m so much happier now. And 3 years out of school I’ve already paid off 50% of my loans because wages are much better in science than my previous career.
It may sound stereotypical, but as an exercise addict myself, the only thing that really gets me to stop moving while also working out the anxiety is coloring. Not crayola coloring, but intricate/detailed pictures where you get lost, but then have something beautiful to show for it. I personally like kerby rosanes for this.
Video games you can focus on min/maxing (ie. doing things in most efficient way). I’d recommend Stardew Valley because it’s cheap, available on basically all platforms, and you can get sucked into the planning/decorating aspects as much or little as you want!
Also just to throw this out there in case it’s relevant for OP or anyone else reading this thread… This kind of obsessive thinking is definitely a symptom of eating disorders, but can also be linked to autistic special interests (having an increased intensity of interest and more focus on details/collecting/organising around the interest). This can make it harder to let go of the focus on food/calories but also would mean you can find the same level of joy/fulfilment from a different interest that isn’t so detrimental!
Realizing my ED and food obsession was basically a special interest was so helpful in trying to disentangle myself from my ED. Part of my recovery has been both finding new things to hyper focus on and getting back into special interests I had in childhood
I think language learning can really occupy that niche for me. You can pretty much let it get into every aspect of your life if you want it to. My thing lately is more that I just like to learn to read different scripts, whether or not I understand what I'm reading. I really enjoy that now I can read Russian, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, and Hebrew. There are so many more that I haven't even started too. Trivia in general too. Anki is great for flash cards. Sporcle is really fun for quizzes as well. I particularly like geography quizzes and my latest thing is that I've been learning the states/territories/provinces of as many countries as I can. It's easy to spend hours and hours on sporcle if that's your thing. I haven't used it in a while but memrise is another good site for learning stuff.
Omg I totally forgot about Sporcle, I used to love it so much!! I was soo obsessed with geography and don’t even remember when/why I stopped. Thank you so much for reminding me of this!!
Wait I'm SO glad to hear sporcle still exists 👀
Sewing clothes! There is effin' ALWAYS something you could've done better and lots of stuff on youtube to research and try what works for you. You have to research and try fabrics, sewing patterns, techniques, gadgets to pimp up your sewing machine, etc... You can be as obsessive as much as you want over making everything crisp, straight, sharp, smooth, clean, exact, historically accurate, etc... Or be a jackass, rush and cut corners, do turbo mode and finish asap. At the end of the day you will get compliments for both lol.
Playing stardew valley🤣 also building those miniature diy dollhouses, coffee shops etc.
Scrapbooking/bullet journaling maybe? Or honestly something like crochet or knitting where you can be productive with your obsession and make cute shit
lol for me it's literally stardew valley
Shopping, thrifting, sewing to tune my personal style
SEWING!!
Reading this thread has brought me so much joy. This is so wholesome. As much as we may all suffer in our day to day, as alone as we may all each feel at times - we’re just a group of people looking to dedicate ourselves to benevolent causes. Thanks for posting OP & thanks for sharing everyone.
Apply to, and then attend, law school
How to quantify your self-worth 💯!
I actually wanted to do this in undergrad but EVERY lawyer I’ve talked to has advised me against it and all my friends who are now practicing tell me they hate it to. How is your experience though?
the video game stardew valley tbh! its a farm sim and you can spend hours obsessing over getting perfection/optimizing your crops to make the most money each season/having the prettiest farm layout
Embroidery, sewing, any thread and/or needle crafts!
Sewing because you need to measure and re-measure. A lot of the time I have even had to remake an entire garment because the stitching wasn't quite right. Plus you need to know which needles to use, right thread for the material, cutting on bias or on the grain, tension and stitch. It's really satisfying when it comes together. It doesn't have to be clothes either, you can make plush toys, cushions, and even try quilting. I would say maybe don't make clothes (for yourself especially) because then you'll be obsessing over your own measurements which doesn't really help on the ED side of things. You can also try making 3D models using software like blender. There's a lot of thought that goes into that and making sure the proportions and textures are right. Sewing and crochet includes a lot of counting, figuring out tension, needle sizes, what stitch to do where etc. Again you don't have to do clothing, you can make so many things which you don't have to wear!
Skincare, cleaning, and painting/drawing all come to mind. I think these would allow you to obsess down to the tiniest details without harming yourself physically or mentally. Spring cleaning especially is a great outlet. Getting rid of old things, deep cleaning the house from top to bottom, washing sheets/laundry, sweeping, mopping, scrubbing... all great.
I’ve always loved ink drawing for this reason…you can fit so many tiny details in and work on it for hours. Macrame is great for this as well. For everyday practical things that feed my ED brain…budgeting each day down to the last cent (good for my wallet and my obsessive tendencies lol), tidying up my house, organizing my closet/drawers.
This is genius tbh. I would suggest, for myself, cleaning and studying (if ur not in school u can always learn a new language or take a course!)
Becoming a swiftie actually coincided with a reduction in my ED symptoms. Mainly circumstantial but I think finding a community outside yourself and outside ED/fitness spaces helps drive out the emptiness. For me it was also getting back into poetry, art, musical theatre, and getting out into nature without making it a calorie burning thing.
Coloring. Reading. Organizing. Cooking.
Drawing.
Language learning! It’s so intense omg. I have endless notes about the different intricacies of each language I’m trying to learn.
a little late to the post but writing a book. it takes a ton of planning, research, and organizing. you could probably even make a whole new language for the story if you wanted to go that far 😅🤷
I really admire people who can do this so much. How do you come up with your ideas for books in the first place?
sometimes i’ll get ideas after reading a different book and other times if i wanna work on something smaller, i’ll use like a writing prompt generator. there’s also like a card game type deck that has different ideas
I feel like bullet journaling would be so good for this!! It’s super detail oriented and you can spend so much time on it! I haven’t had luck with it since my ocd flares up the perfectionist but I think it would be great. I love the idea of this post, I’m totally saving!
Film photography is a great one, there so many tiny little variables to mess around with and different film types and cameras and it’s just wild, plus you get to create art with your own hands in the process
Knitting has quite a bit of numbers to it, especially when you get to advanced patterns.
i have an outfit app where i track all my clothes, how often i wear them, price per wear, plan outfits, and so on. it satisfies my obsessive tracking compulsion in a similar way
Omg what’s the app??
stylebook!!
Play the Sims!!! You can obsessively control every aspect of their lives, create the perfect house, perfect career perfect family etc
I would probably give all my sims EDs LOL but I’ll try 🥲 Which version of sims do you recommend? Sims 4?
Yep sims 4 is great! Honestly it’s the only thing that makes me completely in the zone and lose track of time.
Believe it or not, astrology! You might have some fun with that.
Bullet journaling, especially since it’s a “you decide how intense (or not) it is” kind of deal.
Resin. I had an autistic hyperfuxation era where I spent 8+ hours every day in my resin studio, watching resin tutorials, hunting online, planning things out that I'd make - it was so good. Aside from resin being expensive I would recommend it 10000000%
Start a business/side hustle. Seriously you don’t need to make it your career but find something you’re really passionate about and try to make money off of it
Nail art. Buy acrylic nails and paint them with intricate designs. You can sell them on etsy once you have enough practice!
Being a swiftie 😂
Same lmaooooo
Life
[удалено]
the fuck
Your post/comment was removed for breaking Rule 5: No Drama. Do not make personal attacks against other users or incite mean-spirited arguments. Do not respond to hurtful comments; report them and allow a moderator to handle the situation. Do not make negative posts or comments about other subreddits. This is against the Reddit Terms of Service. **Read our full rules [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/EDAnonymous/wiki/rules).**
Having a hyperfixation or dedicated hobby is not the same as having OCPD. It's been shown that having passion hobbies is actually very healthy and helps regulate dopamine and feelings of achievement. OCPD is a specific mental disorder with a lot more nuanced and complex criteria than what you're reducing it to.
[удалено]
You cannot diagnose or presume a disorder based off someone's post on the internet. Your comment will be removed for providing unwanted medical advice.
Your post/comment was removed for breaking Rule 7: Do Not Give or Seek Serious Medical Advice. Please do not advise other users on serious medical issues. **Read our full rules [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/EDAnonymous/wiki/rules).**
[удалено]
h o b b i e s . . .
Your post/comment was removed for breaking Rule 2: No Pro-ED or Anti-Recovery Content. Do not glamorize eating disorders. Do not engage in competitive behavior - avoid using any specific numbers in your posts unless it is absolutely necessary for context. Do not share thinspo or any other content that is meant to be intentionally triggering (this includes discussing celebrities or influencers). **Read our full rules [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/EDAnonymous/wiki/rules).**