I admitted that I was probably exaggerating and didn’t know everyone in my grade, but that every single girl I did know had disordered eating of some kind throughout (and continuing into college) or at some point. This included taking phen phen (sp?), slimming down for their sports coaches or creepy older boyfriends, compulsive exercising, full-blown anorexia (followed by therapy and a future of supplements and health problems), and run o’ the mill bulimia and calorie counting to look good for the prom or in reaction to a newly developing body. Across the board.
So, who here has never gone to extremes in an attempt to lose weight, whether that means trying a crash diet (whatever your size), restricteing food while already at a healthy weight, or suffering from diagnosed anorexia nervosa?
I wouldn’t characterize myself as ever having an eating disorder, but if you are going to include calorie counting or trying to lose a few pounds quickly for a special occasion then I have done those things. I don’t think calorie counting is a disorder though. Sometimes it helps to see how much you are actually eating.
I have restricted calories pretty severely, (1000 a day or thereabouts) but only for a week or so. I wouldn’t put that in the category of anorexia or bulemia.
I did overeat though, and weighed a fair bit. I managed to get over the worst of it when I realized I really didn’t have to finish everything on my plate like my Dad/Grandparents told me growing up.
Forgot to mention that, if you’ve never counted a calorie needlessly, what do you credit this to? (e.g. strong role models, avoidance of mainstream media)
And feel free to post if you did have an eating disorder but didn’t think so at the time. When I have this conversation IRL, there are usually quite a few ‘Not me. Though I did binge and purge for a few weeks, but that was mostly stress’-type comments.
Nope, never. I’m currently dieting, but only because my pants wouldn’t fit when I returned from my summer abroad. And its not crash-dieting, just filling up with more veggies and less starch and hitting the gym. My goal according to BMI indexes is still “overweight”, but I’m busty, so I give myself leeway on those things. I just don’t want to have to buy new jeans!
I didn’t have a diagnosed eating disorder, but I definitely had an unhealthy view of my own body in high school/college. At 16 I was 5’1 and approx 100-105 lbs, but LIED on my first driver’s license and said I weighed 120. I honestly believed that I looked at least 120, and it was just some weird joke that the scale only showed 105, no one would believe it.
I also freaked out one day when trying on jeans (Gloria Vanderbilt – this was the 80’s) and decided I had to lose weight immediately, so I stopped eating. Pretty much completely. Several days later, when I hadn’t actually lost 20+ pounds (in my teenage stupidity I thought the weight would fall off hour by hour) I became discouraged. Then I fainted. That, luckily, was the end of my anorexia.
Now I’m 40 and I weigh about 130, and I just absolutely can’t believe how skinny I look in old pictures.
I didn’t have a weight loss eating disorder, but I was fat in high school and didn’t do anything about it. I just ate as I wanted.
I can’t say that any of the girls I knew/hung out with had eating disorders BUT I’m sure I tended towards hanging out with other fat girls, and perhaps I was not close enough with any girls for them to have told me about their issues.
I am pretty neurotic about things like weight, general appearance, etc. I’m always worried, what if I do get fat? I have a high metabolism, so I don’t really gain weight no matter what I eat. (Though I’m not in the habit of overeating.) Sometimes I think that if I weighed a “normal” weight, I’d probably have developed one. But no, the answer is still no.
Never had an eating disorder. Watching intake, and once losing weight for a wedding, yes.
Not having an eating disorder does not mean I had the proper body image in my head. I am and have always been, pear shaped, even at 110 lbs. A freind would describe it as callipygian. So when remarks are made from various people regarding how fat your ass is, you see your ass as fat, whether or not that person meant it as a compliment.
I can’t really attribute it to anything. I do know that in my family, we served ourselves our dinner and sat at a table, and I was (what I now realize) a healthy weight. When I lived with my husband and his mom, they ate in front of the TV, and a plate is served to you. I gained weight immediately, because ‘you finish what’s on your plate’.
I’ve always been fairly comfortable with my body, except those rare times I’ve put on a couple of extra pounds. When that happened, I just increased my exercise and reduced my calories.
I never had an eating disorder, but was accused of being anorexic several times. A couple of times teachers sent me to the office without telling me why, and when I got there, a guidance counselor was waiting to scope me out. Another teacher talked to me himself, and when I insisted that I ate plenty, ordered me to do my research paper on anorexia.
Not me. I gained about 35 pounds when I quit smoking, but 100 + 35 = okay for someone 5’4". Although my late husband did tell me my ass was getting big. :rolleyes:
My husband’s stepdaughter might have an eating disorder. She’s rail-thin but she also bleaches her hair to straw and tans until her skin is leathery, so it’s an image problem with her, not just weight.
My best friend in high school in the late 50’s probably had an eating disorder. Her weight yo-yo’d depending on what was happening in her personal life. I’d watch her eat and then puke, and I had no clue how dangerous that was. She had a nervous breakdown, did some stuff to get arrested, got some counseling and some meds, and did okay for a few years. I lost touch with her and don’t know what happened in her 20’s and 30’s. She died of heart disease in her mid-40’s.
I’m another that never had an eating disorder, though was often “accused” of being anorexic. I’ve never dieted or anything like that, I was just very skinny naturally. I’m still thin, but not stick skinny anymore. I’m lucky.
Like someone else said, this certainly doesn’t mean I had a good body image: I definitely thought I was fat all through high school, and I never weighed more than maybe 120 at 5 ft. 8!
I’ve had one eating disorder or another for most of my life… I think I will always tend toward that way of thinking, if not always that way of eating and action. But it starts with a certain mindset, whether or not you are always active in it. It is VERY easy to become active in it even after not having been for some time. Sort of like a game… a serious mind game, which leads to obsession.
In any case, my issue is the comment on mainstream media - I think a lot of people give them too much credit for being the cause of eating disorders. And they themselves almost give themselves a big pat on the back for it. But I really think you have dig much deeper to find the root of each individual’s problem and the families may be more than a little uncomfortable with this, so a nice broad scapegoat is an easy fix.
My other pet peeve is those who think that they are going to be “cured” from a severe eating disorder. It’s more of a question of whether you’re active in the disorder, how long, how you’re coping now, what your support system is, how well you know yourself, and what your level of obsession is/can be. I myself have had ups and downs. Most have relapsed more than once. It’s just the nature of the beast - it’s not just a behavioral disorder.
Nope. I never paid much attention to what I was eating. When I went abroad for a year in high school, I gained weight what with the unfamiliar food and how yummy it was, but then I quit eating quite so much and lost it again.
Now I’m overweight and wish I’d exercised more in college, and I’m working on paying more attention to what I eat. I’m having a hard time cutting out the sugar though–I’ve cut down a lot, but I sure do love dessert.
Keep in mind that eating disorders can and do occur for reasons other than wanting to lose weight. In my case, my eating was the ONLY thing I could control in a really horrible environment, so I controlled it.
I do think I’m naturally predisposed to be a functional non-eater in times of stress anyway, so combine that with the originating cause of my eating disorder and you can get in trouble with the weight loss. But as I said, the weight loss wasn’t the goal or the intent. It was the side effect.
Also I agree with Lissak, I would never say I’m cured of anorexia. I am in remission, I know my triggers and I pay attention to them as well as to various sources of stress in my life. When the demon rears its head (and it’s a demon to me), then I reach out to my friends for help and support.