Hm, I haven't had eating issues because of therianthropy, but the same issues that led me to see myself as animal again after a long time were the same reasons I did not bother to feed myself a lot of the time, too. I'll elaborate:
I've neglected my body heavily when I've been unhappy - I starved myself for food because I felt starved for being loved/wanted in a past relationship. Because of feeling hungry and neglected emotionally/sexually, I treated myself poorly - not quite to the extent of eating disorder, I suppose, but I was underweight for some time, and didn't realize it was coming from a mental or emotional standpoint because my body image wasn't what bothered me (though being very thin did keep my breasts from growing, which, in a relationship where I thought I had to be more male than female for my then-girlfriend, certainly helped play some small part in it too).
In that relationship was actually when I began understanding my animal identity again (after several years of ignoring it). I categorized my feelings of starvation for food, sex, and respect into the channel of adolescent male lion. It is no longer a theriotype of mine since the feelings that created it are gone, but it was how I re-realized my animality. I guess "it has to get worse before it gets better" was true for me in that case. Since being more comfortable with my femininity, as well as being in an emotionally and sexually healthy relationship and understanding that I am worthy of treating myself with respect, I've gotten much better at giving my body what it needs in terms of food. I'm pretty proud of the 20-ish pounds I've put on in the past year and a half - I feel a hell of a lot healthier and stronger, I get sick less often, and I have gone from having my topmost ribs showing through front and back, to now even having a little curve on my hips. It is incredible how much loving yourself more can lead to the health of your body.
Thanks for posting this. I do hope it helps more people, too.
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Hm, I haven't had eating issues because of therianthropy, but the same issues that led me to see myself as animal again after a long time were the same reasons I did not bother to feed myself a lot of the time, too. I'll elaborate:
I've neglected my body heavily when I've been unhappy - I starved myself for food because I felt starved for being loved/wanted in a past relationship. Because of feeling hungry and neglected emotionally/sexually, I treated myself poorly - not quite to the extent of eating disorder, I suppose, but I was underweight for some time, and didn't realize it was coming from a mental or emotional standpoint because my body image wasn't what bothered me (though being very thin did keep my breasts from growing, which, in a relationship where I thought I had to be more male than female for my then-girlfriend, certainly helped play some small part in it too).
In that relationship was actually when I began understanding my animal identity again (after several years of ignoring it). I categorized my feelings of starvation for food, sex, and respect into the channel of adolescent male lion. It is no longer a theriotype of mine since the feelings that created it are gone, but it was how I re-realized my animality. I guess "it has to get worse before it gets better" was true for me in that case.
Since being more comfortable with my femininity, as well as being in an emotionally and sexually healthy relationship and understanding that I am worthy of treating myself with respect, I've gotten much better at giving my body what it needs in terms of food. I'm pretty proud of the 20-ish pounds I've put on in the past year and a half - I feel a hell of a lot healthier and stronger, I get sick less often, and I have gone from having my topmost ribs showing through front and back, to now even having a little curve on my hips. It is incredible how much loving yourself more can lead to the health of your body.
Thanks for posting this. I do hope it helps more people, too.