Just a Little Note About Some of the Newbies

cammiecane

Hey everyone. Just wanted to post this to give a little perspective. I’m part of an ED forum and we get A LOT of people there who want to lose weight and are begging us to “teach” them how to get an ED/lose weight. We do our best to gently redirect them to healthier ways of losing weight. I’ve noticed recently that everyone on the forum seems to direct them here, to MFP. So I just wanted to let you know that if you frequently have new people asking about vlcd/starvation diets, that might be why.

Most of us try to be gentle to these people, but there are a lot of hangry people there who can be a little harsh and I feel like a lot of those people end up feeling rejected by us.

I’m just mentioning this because I don’t want them to come here, get jumped on by everyone, and feel rejected here as well, and either give up and do something dangerous or find a community elsewhere that’s a lot more unhealthy. So many people have great advice and success stories so I really think this is the healthiest place for them to be.

I’m not saying anyone is mean or anything like that, but I know some people are very passionate about doing things the healthy way and sometimes it can come off as a little bit harsh or judgy to those of us who are more sensitive. Lol.

Now that I’ve written it, I feel kind of weird posting this, but I really do want those members that actually take our advice and make their way over here to feel welcome so that they can take the healthier path to weight loss and don’t have to end up dealing with all the horrible crap that comes along with having an ED.

pinuplove

99.9% of the time here they will be told to seek professional help if they haven't already, and to take these concerns to their treatment team if they have. As they should. No one here is qualified to give weight loss advice to someone with an ED (at least not via an internet forum - we have professionals from all walks here).

If they're just looking for a healthier way to lose weight and the ED doesn't come up, they'll get piles of great advice.

singingflutelady

It's a fine line but I don't think telling them that there is nothing wrong with eating 1000 calories a day is helpful to them either.

cammiecane

pinuplove wrote: »

99.9% of the time here they will be told to seek professional help if they haven't already, and to take these concerns to their treatment team if they have. As they should. No one here is qualified to give weight loss advice to someone with an ED (at least not via an internet forum - we have professionals from all walks here).

If they're just looking for a healthier way to lose weight and the ED doesn't come up, they'll get piles of great advice.

I’m not talking about people with actual EDs. These are people who are so desperate to lose weight that they are hoping they can either “catch” an ED by hanging out with us in our forums or hoping will will “teach” them how to have an ED (which we obviously would never do). Thus, why we send them over here to learn to lose weight in a healthy way.

Anyone with an actual ED would obviously be welcome with us so we wouldn’t be sending them away in the first place.

pinuplove

cammiecane wrote: »

pinuplove wrote: »

99.9% of the time here they will be told to seek professional help if they haven't already, and to take these concerns to their treatment team if they have. As they should. No one here is qualified to give weight loss advice to someone with an ED (at least not via an internet forum - we have professionals from all walks here).

If they're just looking for a healthier way to lose weight and the ED doesn't come up, they'll get piles of great advice.

I’m not talking about people with actual EDs. These are people who are so desperate to lose weight that they are hoping they can either “catch” an ED by hanging out with us in our forums or hoping will will “teach” them how to have an ED (which we obviously would never do). Thus, why we send them over here to learn to lose weight in a healthy way.

Anyone with an actual ED would obviously be welcome with us so we wouldn’t be sending them away in the first place.

Ok, I gotcha! Thanks for clarifying for me

Alex

As members have already pointed out, folks seeking to lose weight in unhealthy ways, especially forms of starvation or other self harm, will be quickly encouraged to seek professional assistance and their posts will be removed.

If folks are coming here and are open to understanding our members can help support them in making long lasting, healthy changes that will not happen overnight but will be sustainable, then hopefully they find their way here and get quickly redirected to a healthy conversation around weight loss.

To new members please remember, there is no promotion of unsafe weight-loss techniques and to our community, please remember to always be kind and thank you for helping people find their way from desperate ideas to hope of long term progress.

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