Quasi Recovery: When You’re “Better”… But Not Free!

Quasi recovery is a hard place to explain — and an even harder place to live.

From the outside, things look ok, you're eating enough. Your weight is “stable.” You’re showing up to work, school, life. People might even tell you how well you’re doing.

But inside, food still feels loud. Rules still run the day.Fear still decides what’s allowed, when, and how much.

You’re not unwell enough to justify help — but not free enough to feel at peace.

This is quasi recovery.

What quasi recovery often looks like

It can look like:

• Eating a narrow range of “safe” foods

• Avoiding flexibility — different brands, portions, times, settings

• Constant mental negotiation around meals

• Being technically “weight restored” but emotionally exhausted

• Doing all the “right” things, while still feeling trapped

It’s living life with one foot in recovery — and one foot still held tightly by the eating disorder.

And that can be one of the loneliest places to be.

The Fear of Full Recovery

Full recovery can feel terrifying — not because you don’t want it, but because of what it threatens to take away.

For many people, the eating disorder has been:

• A coping strategy

• A sense of control

• A way to feel safe, predictable, or “good enough”

Letting go isn’t just about food. It's about identity. It's about uncertainty. It's about trusting that life without rules won’t fall apart.

From lived experience, I know this fear all too well!I know how convincing the voice can be when it says: You’re fine where you are.”“Why risk more?”“This is as good as it gets.”

But quasi recovery keeps life small.Quietly. Gradually. Without you realising how much you’re still giving up.

What I Wish I’d Had — And What I Want to Offer You

What I didn’t have then was support that stayed. Support that understood the in-between. Support that didn’t push, rush, or minimise.

What I needed wasn’t someone telling me to “just eat more.”I needed someone who could sit with the fear.Someone who could see the progress…Someone who understood that recovery isn’t a straight line — and that ambivalence is part of the work.

That’s what I want to offer you now.

Not pressure.Not timelines. Not a checklist of “shoulds.”

But steady, compassionate support that helps you move from surviving… to actually living.

You Don’t Have to Choose Between Safe and Free

If you’re in quasi recovery, you’re not failing, you've already done something incredibly hard — you’ve started.

But you also deserve more than a life organised around fear.

You deserve flexibility. You deserve joy, spontaneity and rest from the constant mental load.

Full recovery doesn’t mean everything suddenly feels easy. It means you don’t have to do it alone.

And if you’re not ready yet?That’s okay too.

Support doesn’t require certainty. It just requires honesty — and someone willing to walk alongside you.

You don’t have to stay stuck in the middle. And you don’t have to take the next step by yourself.