In the evolving landscape of eating disorder treatment, clinicians are increasingly challenged to look beyond traditional models and address the full complexity of recovery. While nutritional rehabilitation and psychological support remain foundational, the role of movement—particularly in cases involving compulsive exercise—has often been oversimplified or excluded entirely.
J. Aronson LCSW P.C., a psychotherapy practice specializing in trauma, eating disorders, and compulsive behaviors, has partnered with Integrated Eating and Free Your Fitness, which is dedicated to bridging the gaps in treatment and provides a structured protocol targeting compulsive relationships with sport, exercise and movement. Together, psychotherapist Jessica Aronson and registered dietitian and yoga therapist Maria Sorbara Mora bring a deeply integrative lens to one of the field’s most under-addressed intersections: the relationship between eating disorders, exercise addiction, and the body’s neurobiology.
Their work reflects a shared mission—supporting individuals in moving from cycles of control and compulsion toward regulation, flexibility, and reconnection. At the heart of this collaboration is a growing recognition that recovery is not linear, and that movement and nutrition must be treated as interconnected systems rather than separate domains. Free Your Fitness utilizes an innovative method, Sit, Stay, Heal™. This model helps redefine what sustainable, embodied recovery can look like.
The Interview
Q: Many eating disorder treatment programs still default to restricting or eliminating movement entirely. From your perspectives, what are the limitations of this traditional exercise abstinence model—especially given the complex and often non-linear relationship between movement, nutrition, and recovery?
Jessica Aronson: The abstinence model can be necessary in acute phases, but it often becomes a blanket solution rather than a clinically nuanced intervention. What gets missed is that movement, for some individuals, is not just a behavior—it’s part of a biological and emotional regulation system. Sit, Stay, Heal™ targets exercise and compulsive movement as the primary target. When eating disorder treatment removes or minimizes the importance of the relationship to sport, movement, and exercise we risk reinforcing rigidity rather than resolving it. Recovery is rarely linear, and when nutrition and movement are deeply intertwined, treating one in isolation can stall progress in both.
Maria Sorbara Mora: I see this often—clients may be nutritionally rehabilitating, but their relationship to movement remains unaddressed. Or the opposite: movement is removed, but without proper nutritional support, the body enters further stress. These systems are constantly interacting. Eliminating movement without a plan for reintegration can create fear, dysregulation, and even withdrawal-like symptoms. We need models that reflect the complexity of the body, not simplify it.
Q: How do you define the difference between healthy movement and compulsive exercise, particularly in individuals where nutritional status, energy availability, and psychological drivers are all interacting at once?
Maria: Healthy movement is flexible, responsive, and nourished. It adapts to the body’s needs. Compulsive exercise, on the other hand, is rigid and driven—often disconnected from physical cues. Consider a client who presents with fractures in their body and despite feeling pain they cannot stop exercising. When someone is undernourished or depleted, even “normal” exercise can become harmful. That’s why we assess not just behavior, but context: lab markers, energy availability, and emotional drivers which all matter.
Jessica: I often look at the function of the movement. Is it being used to regulate anxiety, avoid emotional experience, or earn permission to eat? Compulsion lives in the inability to stop—even when there’s injury, exhaustion, or medical risk. Healthy movement includes choice and Compulsive movement removes it.
Q: There’s growing recognition that exercise addiction has biological underpinnings. Can you walk us through the neurochemical and physiological processes—including the role of nourishment and depletion—that make movement addictive for some individuals?
Jessica: Movement activates powerful neurochemical pathways—endorphins, dopamine, stress hormones like cortisol. Over time, the body can become dependent on these cycles to feel stable. When someone stops, they don’t just experience discomfort—they experience a kind of withdrawal. That’s why this isn’t just behavioral; it’s physiological.
Maria: And nutrition plays a critical role here. When the body is under-fueled, those stress and reward systems become even more dysregulated. We often see elevated cortisol, disrupted hunger cues, and increased reliance on movement to generate a sense of control or relief. Without adequate nourishment, the cycle intensifies.
Q: What actually happens—both psychologically and physically—when someone with exercise addiction is required to abruptly stop all movement during treatment, especially if nutritional rehabilitation is happening simultaneously?
Maria: The easiest way to describe it is that there is withdrawal from the thing they have become dependent on. Exercise releases feel good chemicals such as dopamine (think runner’s high). The more you exercise the more dependent your body gets to this chemical release. The brain created less of it organically known as down-regulation. For many with disordered relationships to exercise this means they can not feel regulated without exercise. When individuals have to stop exercising abruptly, the body can feel like it’s crashing. Clients report irritability, anxiety, temperature dysregulation, and even depressive symptoms. It’s not uncommon for this to be misinterpreted as resistance, when it is a physiological response.
Jessica: Psychologically, it can feel destabilizing. Movement has often been a primary coping mechanism, or part of someone’s identity. Consider a professional swimmer or runner; removing the sport without replacing it with other regulatory tools—or without a structured pathway back—can increase distress. This is where treatment needs to be more intentional and supportive, rather than purely restrictive.
Q: In your work together, how do you approach the intersection of movement and nutrition when supporting recovery, particularly given that progress in one area doesn’t always move linearly with the other?
Jessica: We approach it collaboratively and flexibly. Sit, Stay, Heal™ provides a structure that guides clients to identify where they are and at each stage. Specific tools and skills are provided in every phase of the model. The protocol includes principles from RO DBT, DBT, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, SE, Mindfulness, and is experiential. The key is recognizing that these processes are complex and multi-faceted, they require ongoing assessment and flexibility.
Maria: Exactly. We’re constantly evaluating what the body is communicating. Lab work, physical symptoms, emotional regulation—all inform how we proceed. This is why a one-size-fits-all model doesn’t work. Recovery requires attunement, not rigid sequencing.
Q: Can you share more about the Free Your Fitness “Sit, Stay, Heal™” model, and how it provides a structured, clinically informed path that addresses both movement and nutrition while challenging the traditional abstinence-based approach?
Maria: The Sit, Stay, Heal™ model was designed to meet this exact gap. It offers a structured progression that helps clients pause, regulate, and rebuild their relationship with movement in a way that is supported by proper nourishment and physiological awareness. It’s not about removing movement indefinitely—it’s about restoring safety and connection first.
Jessica: What makes it powerful is that it provides both containment and direction. Clients aren’t left in uncertainty—they have a framework that helps them understand what’s happening in their bodies and how to move forward. It respects the biology of addiction while also supporting psychological healing.
Q: For clinicians, dietitians, and fitness professionals reading this, what are the most important shifts in mindset or practice needed to better support individuals navigating both disordered eating and compulsive exercise?
Jessica: We need to move away from binary thinking—healthy vs. unhealthy, allowed vs. not allowed—and toward understanding function, context, and regulation. It’s also critical to integrate body-based approaches, not just cognitive ones.
Maria: And we need more collaboration across disciplines. Nutrition, mental health, and movement professionals all hold pieces of the puzzle. When we work together, we can create more sustainable and effective recovery pathways. For those interested in expanding their approach, learn more about integrative recovery models.
Q: What does recovery look like when both nourishment and movement become regulated, intentional, and rooted in connection rather than control?
Maria: It looks like freedom—being able to move or rest without fear, to nourish without negotiation. The body becomes something you listen to, not something you manage.
Jessica: And ultimately, it becomes a relationship. Movement is no longer a demand—it’s a dialogue. That’s where true healing happens.
