recovered-ish with chloe cox

One of the most common questions I get — from clients, from my own lived experience, from people who have spent years wondering — is this: why me? Why did I get an eating disorder when the people around me didn't?
In this episode I'm getting into the real answer. Not the oversimplified version. The actual, nuanced, deeply personal answer — using my own story, my clinical experience, and the framework I use with clients in my group program The Quasi-Recovery Exit to help people understand themselves in a way that actually moves the needle in recovery.
This one is a thinker. I hope it gives you some real clarity.
This Episode Is Brought to You By Cozy Earth
Cozy Earth makes the softest, most comfortable pajamas and bedding I’ve foung — and comfort in my body is something I don't compromise on anymore. Visit CozyEarth.com and use code RECOVERY for up to 20% off.
In This Episode:
Why I grew up with two sisters, in the same family, doing the same activities — and I'm the only one who got an eating disorder
The genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger framework — and what it actually means for understanding your own story
The specific temperament traits I was born with that made me vulnerable to an eating disorder
How my performing arts high school became the environmental trigger that intensified those traits
Why understanding what caused your eating disorder is actually one of the most powerful things you can do in recovery
The identity conversation — how the traits your eating disorder co-opted are actually your greatest strengths
Why you won't lose yourself when you recover — you'll finally find yourself
How narrative therapy helps you make meaning of your story without shame
What to do with the traits you don't want to give up in recovery
A reframe for the question "what's wrong with me?" — and what to ask instead
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro + new desk setup 2:00 Life update — pregnancy announcement followup, son's hospital stay, Disneyland plans 4:00 A note on binge urges and what they're actually telling you 6:00 Today's topic: what actually causes an eating disorder? 7:00 Growing up with two sisters — same family, same upbringing, only I got an eating disorder 10:00 Genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger 12:00 The temperament traits I was born with — drive, perfectionism, sensory sensitivity 16:00 Early signs of genetic predisposition — body awareness from a very young age 18:00 How performing arts high school became the environmental trigger 22:00 Competition, comparison, and the perfect storm that created my eating disorder 24:00 How to understand your own story through this lens 26:00 The identity conversation — temperament vs conditioning 28:00 Your eating disorder traits are actually your superpowers 30:00 Narrative therapy and making meaning of your story 32:00 What to ask yourself instead of "what's wrong with me?" 35:00 How to channel your traits toward recovery and growth 37:00 Closing thoughts
Practical Reflection Questions From This Episode:
What traits do I have that might have made me vulnerable to an eating disorder?
What life circumstances intensified those traits or made the eating disorder necessary?
What do I actually like about those traits — and do I want to keep them in recovery?
Resources + Connect with Me:
Instagram: @recoverwithchloe
Recovery Skills Training: use code PODCAST for $57 off!
Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Subscribe on YouTube!

Episode Description
First things first — I have some news. Big news. News that explains a lot of the cryptic, tired, off-kilter energy you've been picking up on these last few weeks.
I'm pregnant. Baby number two is on the way and she is a girl.
But after that announcement, we're getting into something I've been genuinely fired up about — because right now, in 2026, I believe this is one of the hardest moments in recent history to be in eating disorder recovery. The cultural noise around weight loss is louder than I have ever heard it. And I wanted to talk honestly about what that's like, what it stirs up, and how to actually stay the course when it feels like the whole world is doing the opposite.
In This Episode:
The big announcement — baby number two, and what being pregnant with a girl brings up for me as someone in ED recovery
Why I believe right now is one of the hardest moments in history to be actively recovering from an eating disorder
The cultural conversation around weight loss in 2026 — and why it feels so different from anything we've seen before
The comparison to the nineties and early two thousands thin ideal — and why this moment feels even harder
A client story about recovering while her parents were actively dieting — and what that taught me about staying the course when everyone around you is going a different direction
Why choosing to eat adequately right now is genuinely a countercultural act
The psychology behind why people without eating disorders get pulled into these cycles — and why understanding that actually helps
Why GLP-1s and weight loss medications are a different conversation for people with eating disorder histories
How to use a little healthy rebellion to protect your recovery
Practical strategies for navigating social media, diet culture talk, and the cultural moment we're in
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro 1:00 Reflecting on last week's body image episode 2:00 The big announcement — I'm pregnant 5:00 Having a girl — and what that brings up around passing on an eating disorder 7:00 Why right now is one of the hardest times in history to be in ED recovery 9:00 The cultural noise around weight loss in 2026 10:30 Comparing this moment to the nineties thin ideal 12:00 How we got here — and why it feels different this time 13:30 Choosing to eat adequately as a countercultural act 15:00 A client story: recovering while her parents were actively dieting 20:00 Putting yourself in the driver's seat of your own values 22:00 The psychology of why people without EDs fall into these cycles 24:00 Why GLP-1s are a different conversation for people in recovery 27:00 It's okay to feel frustrated that other people seem to have an easy solution 29:00 Practical strategies: resetting your algorithm, limiting social media 32:00 Clarifying your values around why nourishment matters to you 33:30 The internal scoff — giving yourself permission to know better 34:30 Finding your people and filling your feed with counterculture 35:30 Telling yourself you can wait it out 37:00 Closing thoughts — eat your food. you know better.
Practical Strategies Mentioned:
Limit or take breaks from social media — especially during high-exposure seasons like spring and summer
Reset your algorithm intentionally — spend time actively liking content that feels safe and muting or reporting what does
Resources + Connect with Me:
Instagram: @recoverwithchloe
Recovery Skills Training: use code PODCAST for $57 off!
Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Subscribe on YouTube!

Honest confession: my body image has been pretty rough lately. And yes, I know — I'm a recovered eating disorder therapist who just last week talked about how quiet my ED voice has gotten. So what gives?
In this episode I'm getting real about what bad body image actually looks like for me now, 11 years into recovery. How it's different from the eating disorder voice. What body dysmorphia really feels like from the inside. And the specific things that actually help me move through it — not the textbook DBT stuff, just what genuinely works for me right now.
This one is honest, a little messy, and I think a lot of you are going to relate.
This Episode Is Brought to You By Cozy Earth
Bad body image weeks call for a soft place to land at the end of the day. Cozy Earth makes the softest, most comfortable pajamas and the absolute coziest bedding — and comfort is something I don't compromise on anymore. Visit CozyEarth.com and use code RECOVERY for up to 20% off.
In This Episode:
Why you can have a quiet ED voice and still have terrible body image — and how those are actually different things
What body dysmorphia really is and how it shows up as a sensory experience, not just negative thoughts
Why bad body image days are often a signal that something else is off in your life
The wardrobe disaster phenomenon and what it actually has to do with body image
Why body neutrality is more accessible than body positivity — and what it actually looks like in practice
What I do instead of white-knuckling through a bad body image week
Why clothing and personal style have genuinely been a game changer for my body image
Somatic tools that help when you want to completely dissociate from your body
How to talk about body image struggles in a way that actually helps you process them
Why showing your body care — even when you don't love it — is what actually heals the relationship
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro 1:00 Life update — a weird season, turning 31, and learning to meet my own needs 5:30 This week's topic: my body image has been rough lately 6:00 How body image and the ED voice are actually different things 8:30 What body dysmorphia really feels like from the inside 12:00 The wardrobe disaster and what it signals 15:00 The sensory experience of body dysmorphia 18:30 Social media, idealized bodies, and wanting to dissociate 20:30 Body neutrality vs body positivity — and why neutrality is more accessible 23:00 Riding the wave vs actually doing something about it 25:30 Feelings change — they always have a beginning, middle, and end 26:30 What actually helps me: clothes, comfort, and personal style 29:30 Nuuly subscription — and why it's been a game changer especially for variable sizing in recovery 33:00 Zooming out: bad body image as a signal, not a fact 35:30 Somatic tools for when you want to crawl out of your skin 38:30 Orienting exercise — how to arrive back in your body 39:30 Body patting and butterfly taps 40:30 Talking about it — but in a specific way 43:00 Showing your body care even when you don't love it 45:00 Closing thoughts
Practical Tools Mentioned:
Zoom out: when body image is off, look at what else is going on in your life — it's usually a signal, not the whole story
Orienting exercise: find the farthest point you can see, then the closest, then no
Resources + Connect with Me:
Instagram: @recoverwithchloe
Recovery Skills Training: use code PODCAST for $57 off!
Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Subscribe on YouTube!

Episode Description
One of the most common questions I get — from clients, from Instagram, from people deep in the trenches of recovery — is this: does the eating disorder voice ever actually go away?
In this episode, I get honest about my own experience with the ED voice: what it sounded like at its worst, how it shifted through different stages of recovery, and where it lives now (spoiler: it's a lot more like an intrusive thought about tap dancing in a grocery store than a voice running my life).
This isn't a tidy yes-or-no answer, because recovery isn't tidy. But it is a real one — and one I don't think the internet talks about honestly enough.
In This Episode:
What the eating disorder voice actually is — and why it can feel like a separate voice in your head (and no, that doesn't mean you're "crazy")
The difference between ego syntonic and ego dystonic thinking, and why that shift matters in recovery
My personal experience with the ED voice from its loudest point to where it lives now
Why the voice often gets louder when you start recovering — and what that actually means
The beach ball analogy: why trying to "shut up" the ED voice often backfires
What actually moves the needle: building your own voice, not silencing theirs
The near-relapse I've talked about before — and why it happened even without a constantly active voice
Why "if I can't fully recover, why even try?" is one of the most dangerous traps in recovery
Practical tools for when the voice feels all-consuming
Timestamps:
0:44 Intro & life update 3:22 Episode topic intro: the eating disorder voice question 7:19 What is the "eating disorder voice"? 10:56 Who asks this & why 13:39 My personal experience: the voice at its worst 14:38 Do I still have disordered thoughts? My honest answer 20:42 How I got to where I am today 28:06 The beach ball metaphor: giving the voice less space 32:24 My answer: yes and no 36:54 Practical tips if the voice is all-consuming 40:03 Outro

Practical Tools Mentioned:
Name the voice: learn to label thoughts as "eating disorder thoughts" without immediately fighting them
Hear it, don't obey it: practice acknowledging the ED voice and giving yourself permission to have a different opinion — even if you don't know what that is yet
Identify the feeling underneath: fear, panic, sadness — and ask what you need that isn't an eating disorder behavior
The "noise" technique: when all else fails, just say it out loud — noise, noise, noise
Quotes from This Episode:
"The goal maybe isn't to stop having an eating disorder voice entirely. Maybe the goal is to stop having it rule your life."
"It stopped being just about the eating disorder. I started writing more about meeting new people and discovering new parts of me."
"Even if your life can be 50% better than it is right now — that is so worth it compared to the 100% hell that is living with an eating disorder."
Keywords/Tags: eating disorder recovery, eating disorder voice, ED voice, does the eating disorder voice go away, quasi-recovery, restrictive eating disorder, disordered eating, food guilt, recovery mindset, anorexia recovery, bulimia recovery, Recovered-ish podcast, Chloe Cox, recovered-ish, eating disorder therapist, eating di
Resources + Connect with Me:
Instagram: @recoverwithchloe
Recovery Skills Training: use code PODCAST for $57 off!
Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Subscribe on YouTube!

hello, lovely friends. welcome back to recovered-ish.
today we’re talking about the part of recovery that i think catches a lot of people off guard:
how long it takes.
 how messy it is.
 and how discouraging it can feel when you’re doing “everything right” and still not feeling better yet.
because i think a lot of people go into recovery expecting it to feel hard for a little while… and then eventually click into place.
and when that doesn’t happen, it’s really easy to spiral into:
 is this even working?
 why is this still so hard?
 am i doing recovery wrong?
this episode is the reality check i think a lot of people need.
in this episode, i talk about:
why recovery often feels worse before it feels better
the part of healing nobody really prepares you for
why treatment is a beginning, not a magic fix
how eating disorders create false safety
why discomfort doesn’t mean you’re failing
what actually keeps people going when recovery feels long and exhausting
why you’re not behind just because it’s taking time
i also talk about the difference between wanting recovery and actually staying in it long enough for your brain and body to catch up.
if you’ve ever thought, “i’m trying so hard… why does this still feel awful?” this one is for you.

sponsor

today’s episode is sponsored by Cozy Earth — truly one of my favorite brands i’ve gotten to partner with.
if you want to romanticize your life a little and make your bed / pajamas / nervous system feel better, i highly recommend.
use code RECOVERY for up to 20% off
 👉 www.cozyearth.com

support beyond the podcast

💛 Recovery Skills Training — my step-by-step program for eating disorder recovery
 use code PODCAST for $57 off
 👉 https://recoverwithchloe.thrivecart.com/recovery-skills-training/
follow along on instagram:
 @recoverwithchloe
don’t forget to eat your food.
Resources + Connect with Me:
Instagram: @recoverwithchloe
Recovery Skills Training: use code PODCAST for $57 off!
Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Subscribe on YouTube!