Therapy for Adults

Are you struggling with your relationship with food, exercise, or body image?

Eating Disorder Treatment for Adults | Austin, TX

Based in Austin, TX, and serving clients across Texas via telehealth

With Alison Pelz, LD, RDN, LCSW, Therapist 

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You’re not sure if you have an eating disorder, but you do know that something doesn’t feel quite right. 

You’re exhausted by your distress around food and body, whether this is the first time you’ve looked for help or you’ve tried before and still feel stuck. 

Feeling stuck, exhausted, or like nothing has “worked”?

Whatever you’re struggling with doesn’t have to be “severe enough” for it to be worth addressing. It’s easy to minimize your own pain, especially when you’re used to pushing through it. You’ve likely spent years searching for the right approach, or the right person to finally understand what you’re going through. 

Maybe you…

  • Have tried other treatments or programs before, and felt like they didn’t address the real problem
  • Feel like you know “the right things to do” but can’t seem to actually do them
  • Are exhausted by the mental energy food and exercise take up every day
  • Feel embarrassed or ashamed about your relationship with food.
  • Are tired of starting over, again and again
  • Wonder if this is even “bad enough” to get help for

 

You don’t have to keep doing this alone.

 

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Have you been restricting food or chronically dieting, over-exercising, or purging? 

This can look like:

  • Avoiding certain foods or entire food groups out of fear
  • Feeling like you have to “earn” food through exercise
  • Skipping meals or making “excuses” to avoid eating with others
  • Your  thoughts are consumed by food or doing mental gymnastics to count calories or macros when you’d rather be thinking about things that feel important to you 
  • Feeling controlled by thoughts about your body size, shape, or appearance
  • Over-exercising, or feeling physically unable to stop even when injured or exhausted

 

Are you binge eating, emotionally eating, feeling “out of control” around food?

This can look like:

  • Eating until you’re uncomfortably full, even when you’re not hungry
  • Eating in secret, or feeling ashamed after eating
  • Feeling like once you start eating certain foods, you can’t stop
  • Cycling between dieting and bingeing
  • Going on countless diets, weight cycling (experiencing weight loss and gain) and somehow end up feeling worse about yourself 

Have you started GLPs and need somewhere safe and supportive to explore your journey?

This can look like:

  • Mixed emotions about being on the medication (relief, guilt, hope, shame, doubt –sometimes all at once)
  • Experiencing people treating you differently because of your changing body
  • Struggling with how, or if, to talk about your experience with coworkers, friends, or family
  • Extreme fear of regaining the weight
  • Development of new behaviors like throwing up after you eat, rigid exercise patterns, binge-type eating, or not taking the medication as prescribed
  • Dread going to medical appointments because of how providers talk about bodies, weight, and medications

 

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Do you have an extremely limited food variety, or fear around food?

This can look like: 

  • Sticking to a short, specific list of “safe” foods
  • Feeling overwhelmed by certain textures, smells, or appearances of food
  • Often feeling disgusted by new foods or foods that others seem to like
  • Avoiding trying new foods out of fear or anxiety
  • Either avoiding or getting very nervous before any social event that involves food
  • Feeling like your list of safe foods keeps shrinking
  • Forgetting to eat 
  • Don’t get hungry or thirsty
  • Struggling with a fear of eating that started after choking, a medical event, or an allergic reaction

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What Could Life Look Like After Eating Disorder Support?

You may want to be able to eat without analyzing every ingredient, calculating how to make up for it later, or worrying that you’ll lose control. You may want to go to dinner with friends, travel, exercise, or get through a day without food and body thoughts taking up so much of your attention.

Treatment can help you work toward:

  • Eating consistently and intuitively, free from rigid rules or the restrict-binge cycle
  • Feeling calm and at ease before and after eating
  • Moving through foods, meals, and changes in routine with flexibility and ease
  • Enjoying restaurants, celebrations, and social events fully, without avoiding food or planning your day around it
  • Meeting difficult thoughts about your body with steadiness, so they no longer dictate whether you eat, exercise, or show up for your life
  • Moving your body because it feels good, not out of guilt, compensation, or obligation
  • Exploring new foods, textures, and eating situations with curiosity and comfort
  • Having more mental space and energy for your relationships, work, interests, and what matters most to you
  • Advocating for yourself with confidence in medical, social, or family settings – even the ones where you’ve faced bias, stigma, or criticism before

You don’t need to wait until things become more severe to ask for help. We’ll look at what’s happening now, what keeps the patterns going, and what needs to change so food, exercise, and body concerns have less control over your daily life.

How We Can Work Together

Treatment is tailored to you. We start by getting to know your history with food and body, both where things began and what’s happening now, so we understand what’s keeping the struggle in place. From there, we build a plan together to get you where you want to go.

All treatment is delivered as part of an interdisciplinary team. I work alongside your other providers, including physicians, dietitians, and psychiatrists as needed, so everyone is working together to support you.

I support adults struggling with:

  • Restrictive eating
  • Binge eating
  • Compulsive exercise
  • Limited food variety
  • Chronic dieting
  • Body image distress
  • Adjusting to GLPs
  • Diabetes distress 

It doesn’t matter whether or not you have a diagnosis like anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, or ARFID. You don’t have to meet full criteria to get support.

My approach is integrative:

  • Weight and size inclusive
  • Affirming care that’s LGBTQ+ inclusive, neuroaffirming, and culturally responsive
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
  • DBT skills
  • Parts work
  • Relational therapy
  • Exposure work

Ready to Talk About What Support Could Look Like for You?

Reach out today to schedule a free consultation.  Let’s talk about what support could look like for you.

Based in Austin and available to clients throughout Texas via telehealth.

Schedule a Free Consultation