When does a diet become an eating disorder?

torilougher

To clarify, I don't think I have an eating disorder but i've been wondering, at what point does a diet become unhealthy mentally?

For me, my diet involves counting calories and recording what I eat/what i exercise on MFP. I want to lose weight because I want to be skinnier and healthier. I basically don't like what I see in the mirror and i've decided to do something about it. However I'm aware that quite a few eating disorders start out the same, watching what you eat, doing exercise, disliking your body etc and I've been thinking, how do you know when a diet has turned into something else? Is there a point when it could be classified as an eating disorder? How can you tell the difference?
Once again i'm not suggesting that I have an eating disorder and I don't mean to offend/trigger anyone, i'm simply wondering.

lblert

I've been bulimic and/or anorexic during different periods of my life since around age 13 (I'm 36 now.) I'm currently 3 years into recovery. From having been in therapy, treatment several times and spending lots of time with other eating disordered people, dieting can definitely trigger an ED, but ED was already there as a sort of latent condition along with other issues like depression and/or anxiety or trauma. It's kind of like how some people can drink alcohol their whole lives but never have alcoholism, whereas some people find the addiction triggered with that first drink. Some people can diet their whole lives but never cross over to an ED, while some people will find their first diet is the beginning of their ED.

Once you cross the line into an ED, it's really not about the food or your weight anymore. It's really about wanting control over something or coping with emotions that painful or difficult. For a lot of people, it's about perfectionism or wanting praise, too. Really food and weight become a distraction for greater underlying issues.

If you find food, diet, exercise, calories, weight, clothing size, etc are controlling every aspect of your life and constantly in your thoughts, that's not a good sign. You want to remain a balanced person.

I hope this helps.

dancerbyday

Dieting becomes an eating disorder, in my opinion, when you will do ANYTHING to lose weight, even if it means malnourishing yourself and losing even muscle mass just to drop a few pounds. Or, again, if you are letting the way you look absolutely control your life. I think you are doing just fine, as long as you don't make weight loss some kind of hobby or something.

ohtheveganity

I've actually been wondering the same thing. About 5 years ago when I was 13 I had what doctors now might consider a slight case of anorexia (so they've said.) I ate around 300-500 calories a day and took my dieting to the extreme. I weighed 101 pounds at 5'2" and wanted nothing more than to be 80 pounds. No matter how thin I was, my whole life I've had a jiggly tummy and that made me think I was fat. Now at 18 I've lost weight in a more healthy way, and I've gone from 163-136. However, for the past week especially, I've been feeling guilty basically any time I eat food. I know I shouldn't and I keep eating how I should anyway, but there's been a certain amount of self-loathing happening.

crevices

Deliberately putting your body through an extreme calorific deficit or overworking your body. Basically, if it's literally controlling your life and thoughts/feelings/actions.

Sparlingo

Bump as I would like to reply when I'm on my computer at home. Good discussion so far!

jennifershoo

When you think about food and calories 24/7. When you're never happy whatever you do. When it's an obsession and it consumes your life.

mjperreault

Your best answer here is from @lblert. I too have struggled with an eating disorder on and off for over 9 years, although it can start off with an extreme desire to be thin, and dieting, calorie counting etc, an eating disorder is in fact a mental illness that really has nothing to do with food itself.

There are specific things a doctor looks for when diagnosing an ED, although many are related to weight and food obsession, they look for symptoms of depression, anxiety, isolation, substance abuse and the like, as these underlying issues tend to be the causes for the surface signs of an eating disorder.

I have now been recovering for over 3 years and although I still track my calories and am conscious of what I eat, I am no longer obsessive about it and have dealt with the underlying issues causing me to use food as therapy.

thatonepersonfromtheinternet

Basically when the aspect of health is removed. When trying to lose weight through proper diet and exercise, the main goal is to achieve wellbeing being while eating disorders (I'm talking mainly about anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, etc here and excluding binge-eating) is to become thin.
Once you start to fear foods, have "safe" foods, or go to extreme measures to lose weight you know that you've hit an eating disorder. Counting calories does not automatically issue an eating disorder but it has the potential to lead to it. If you start to drop your intake under 1200 calories, you compromise your physical health for the idea of perfection. You dismiss the fact that calories are needed for energy and see them as little monsters that grow on you and make you bigger. The obsession or fear regarding food is also a key indicator. When I fell into one, I refused to go to places with my friends because I was afraid they'd make me eat and I'd have no control over it. I still called it a diet though. I tried to hide it under labels but the reason I didn't eat with them was because I was afraid of straying from my "diet". That I guess was the turning point when I realised this was no longer normal.
All diets have the unfortunate potential to become eating disorders but it's the mentality that the lifestyle you embrace is for wellbeing rather than thinness that separates them.