Do I have an eating disorder?

jainafaith

When I'm motivated to lose weight I eat as healthy as possible and I basically starve myself. I eat very little. Once I reach my goal weight I end up changing my diet and binging on lots and lots of junk food. I would gain up to 10-12 lbs after binging. I start to obsess over my weight. I would check it several times a day. I would check when I wake up, after I eat lunch, after I workout, after I use the bathroom, after I drink water etc... I monitor my weight the whole day and it upsets me. I was 125 lbs a few months ago when I was barely eating. Now I eat soooo much that I reached 135 lbs in a short period of time. My weight always fluctuates like this. I don't understand how I can eat very little for a while and next thing you know my eating habits are the opposite. What can I do about this?

PrizePopple

If you think you have an eating disorder, and it seems like you might have disordered eating patterns (but I am not a medical professional capable of making a diagnoses in real life much less over the internet), it would be wise of you to seek help from a medical professional. No one online will be able to give you the help you need.

http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/resource-links

https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1575987-eating-disorder-resources

Merkavar

How do you eat as healthy as possible and starve yourself? Is starving healthy? How is not getting energy and vitimins healthy?

Anyway if I was to diagnose you as a non doctor I would say yes.

If you describe your diet with the words starve and binge it's probably a good sign of a disorder in my oppinion.

Nony_Mouse

You need to seek professional help.

azulvioleta6

jainafaith wrote: »

I eat as healthy as possible and I basically starve myself.

That, right there, sounds like disordered thinking.

You should discuss this with a professional. Start with your current general doctor or talk to your counselor/psychologist/psychiatrist if you have one. The links above have some good information too.

Best of luck to you!

SoulOfRusalka

1. "I eat as healthy [sic] as possible" and "I basically starve myself" are mutually exclusive. You can't starve yourself and be healthy at the same time. Literally impossible.
2. If you have to ask, you probably do have a problem, but strangers on the internet can't diagnose you.
3. If you try to actually eat healthily, in moderation, once you reach your goal weight you might be able to continue eating healthily because your body won't be desperately trying to get you to eat more. I know it's hard.
Good luck!

MelodyandBarbells

You ban foods from your diet (or just plain ban food), but they somehow wind up finding you, anyway. You should think of incorporating them in reasonable or at least small quantities while you lose weight. How tall are you?

And yes, I encourage you to seek professional help for your situation.

Christine_72

So basically you practically starve yourself until you can't stand it any more and burn out and then you eat like there's tomorrow. Is this kinda how it goes?

hhnkhl

You have no muscle thus you gain weight much fastet.

TPoTFanatic

You can try talking to a professional, but I just want to say that you're not really doing it right. You should NOT start binge eating as soon as you lose weight, and you shouldn't STARVE yourself doing it.

Eat healthy foods: fruits, vegetables, eggs, etc.
Drink plenty of water: 8 glasses a day recommended.

And most importantly - EAT. I eat a little bit every three hours. Try the cup diet, maybe? Find a plastic cup and eat that amount of fruit if you get hungry, or vegetables. Don't immediately cut off your food - not only are you losing calories, but important vitamins and nutrients. Eat small amounts of food throughout the day. Once you lose enough weight, DO NOT go back to junk food and binge eating. Slowly, VERY slowly increase the amount of food you eat. Maybe instead of 1 cup do 1.5 cups every time. Add a little junk food, but limit yourself to maybe a cup a week.

The biggest problem is the drastic change. Your body can't keep up with your diet changes. Quickly shifting from overeating to starving is very unhealthy, as is the opposite. Everything needs to be balanced. If you're afraid of breaking and just flopping back to junk food, take it one step at a time to get it out of your diet. Or, once you've lost the weight you want, and you want to maintain it, slowly bring it back.

And don't forget that you shouldn't lost weight by just starving yourself. Eat, but do exercise. That makes it less frustrating, and gives the same, if not better, results.

That's most of what I know. If you're really concerned, though, you could consult a physician or dietician to help.

TimothyFish

I'm not qualified to tell you whether you have a disorder or not, but it sounds pretty normal to me. Most people can put up with a lot of self-sacrifice as long as they can see the end in sight. But it leads to burnout, so once people reach they goal, they quit whatever they were doing. This is why it is recommended that people try to lose weight more slowly. Instead of eating to reach a goal, change your eating patterns to something that you can sustain for the rest of your life.

MelodyandBarbells

TimothyFish wrote: »

I'm not qualified to tell you whether you have a disorder or not, but it sounds pretty normal to me. Most people can put up with a lot of self-sacrifice as long as they can see the end in sight. But it leads to burnout, so once people reach they goal, they quit whatever they were doing. This is why it is recommended that people try to lose weight more slowly. Instead of eating to reach a goal, change your eating patterns to something that you can sustain for the rest of your life.

I've done the slide back to my old ways, too, whether it was diet or exercise, but:

No binge eating disorder
No constantly checking my weight - I just was done and didn't care
The no weight checking definitely wasn't upsetting me multiple times a day
And frankly I don't really recall starving myself - just a weird unsustainable diet

They sound fairly unhappy in general and participate in multiple destructive habits related to their food...

malibu927

If you think you do, you need to speak with someone

rybo

I'm not a doctor, but I would recommend going to one for help with your issues.

scottacular

Another subscriber to 'the how can you call yourself healthy and say you starve yourself in the same line' group here. You need to be explaining this to a doctor. But just a thought for you to consider, maybe instead of drastically cutting calories and then drastically increasing them - you instead find somewhere in between where you eat enough to lose a little bit of weight but also keep you satiated and give you all of the nutrients you need.

mitch16

If you have to ask whether or not you have an eating disorder, then you probably have an eating disorder. Seek professional help.

RoxieDawn

If you are asking people in cyber space whether you have disordered eating habits... well that in it self is a problem.

Seek professional help or not, but folks on MFP (in cyber land) CANNOT diagnose whether a person has disorder with eating or thinking or even writing a post like this on a public forum.

brianpperkins

"When I'm motivated to lose weight I eat as healthy as possible and I basically starve myself."

Just look at the contradiction within your first sentence ... and discuss that with a professional.

RoxieDawn

I always seek advice for my medical, psychological and emotional problem from strangers and always post my problems in public forums.... makes a whole lot of sense now that I think of it.

Sbivens2383

gia07 wrote: »

I always seek advice for my medical, psychological and emotional problem from strangers and always post my problems in public forums.... makes a whole lot of sense now that I think of it.

Lol! My thoughts exactly!