Eating Disorders in the Workplace
How to manage your Recovery While Managing Your Career.
Many of us spend years managing an eating disorder while balancing demanding careers. We push through exhaustion, meet deadlines, show up for others—while quietly struggling with food, body image, and control. But high performance doesn’t mean we’re okay.
For those of us with high-functioning eating disorders, the workplace can be both a trigger and a barrier to recovery. Long hours, high expectations, skipped meals, and the pressure to maintain an image of success all feed into disordered behaviors. And when it comes to seeking help, the challenges feel overwhelming.
How do we recover without stepping away from our careers?
How do we navigate treatment while keeping the professional lives we’ve worked so hard to build?
This article explores the intersection of work, stress, and eating disorders—and how we can recover without losing ourselves in the process.
1. How Workplace Culture can feed Disordered Eating
Research shows that the workplace can serve as either a bridge or a barrier to recovery, depending on how stress, stigma, and structure interact.
Work culture can normalise disordered behaviours in ways that make eating disorders feel invisible—even to ourselves.
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Working through lunch, back-to-back meetings, or replacing meals with coffee.
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Periods of extreme control followed by moments of feeling out of control.
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Telling ourselves we’ll eat “after this task” and pushing the goalpost all day.
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Fitting in workouts at 5 AM before work or late at night, no matter how exhausted we are.
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Feeling pressure to look or dress a certain way, dressing to conceal body shame or dreading work events with food.
“A stressful work day used to feel like such a gift. It gave me a break from my own mind, having to think about or face my anxieties around food, whilst at the same time facilitating my eating disorder behaviours. ”
2. The Challenges of Balancing Recovery With a High-Performance Career
One reason many avoid treatment is the fear of losing professional momentum.
What if I need time off?
What if my boss finds out?
What if people see me differently?
Many people with eating disorders feel pressure to overcompensate at work, pushing themselves harder to hide the struggles they’re facing.
“I was stuck in this adrenaline cycle, believing that if I wasn’t constantly pushing, fighting, I was somehow failing. Food was either an after thought, or something I would turn to help regulate my anxiety, so I could perform better. The peace I have now, actually nourishing myself properly... I am a far better leader and operator than I ever was.”
💡 The truth is, recovery doesn’t have to mean stepping away from work completely. But it does require making space for healing.
3. Talking to Your Employer — How to Get Support Without Stigma
Many of us hesitate to talk to HR or our managers because we fear being judged or seen as weak. But eating disorders are serious health conditions, and we have the right to seek support.
⤷ Here is how you can approach the conversation strategically.
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Many countries have workplace protections for mental health conditions, including eating disorders. You may be entitled to accommodations.
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You don’t have to disclose everything. A simple statement like “I’m managing a medical condition and need some flexibility” can be enough.
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Whether it’s adjusting break times for meals, working remotely for therapy sessions, or modifying travel schedules, being clear on what you need makes it easier for employers to support you.
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Positioning accommodations as a way to maintain long-term productivity and well-being can help employers see the value in making adjustments.
4. Flexible Recovery Solutions: Finding Help Without Pausing Your Career
One of the biggest barriers to treatment is the time required for traditional programs. Many inpatient and intensive outpatient programs require extended leave from work, which isn’t always feasible.
But recovery doesn’t have to mean stepping away completely.
At Ianthe House, we’ve designed a remote, flexible model that allows professionals to recover while maintaining their careers.
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—because taking care of yourself shouldn’t mean stepping back from your goals.
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—because lasting change requires more than a few weeks of intensive care.
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—because eating disorders don’t have a ‘look,’ and recovery shouldn’t require hitting rock bottom or choosing between personal and professional responsibilities and your wellbeing.
If time, work, or stigma have kept you from seeking help, know that there are options designed for you.
⤷ Final Thought
We don’t have to choose between our careers and our health.
We don’t have to prove we’re struggling ‘enough’ to deserve support.
We don’t have to wait until we’re at our breaking point to recover.
“Trust the process and don’t be scared. The group is such a lovely safe space, you will get an incredibly rare opportunity to connect with other (amazing) women, who can understand, resonate and empathise with your experience. Whilst it’s daunting at first, sharing your experience is so important.”
Want Your Workplace to Support eating disorder Recovery? Here’s How to Take the First Step
Many professionals with eating disorders hesitate to ask for help at work—not because they don’t need it, but because they fear stigma, misunderstanding, or a lack of support.
But change is possible. And it can start with a single step.
If you’d like your company to explore workplace support for eating disorder recovery, you can anonymously submit your company’s HR contact details below.
⤷ How It Works
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Your name and identity will never be shared.
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We’ll reach out to your company’s HR team, providing research-backed evidence on how eating disorders impact the bottom line through workplace productivity, absenteeism, and retention.
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If your employer is open to providing employee wellness programs, we offer tailored, confidential recovery programs that they can sponsor—without them ever knowing who initiated the request, who is participating.
“I always thought prioritising recovery was a career risk I simply couldn’t afford. In hindsight, I see it as a self-worth issue. The truth is, it gave me my life back—both personally and professionally.”
