MFP & Eating Disorders - when to hit the brakes!!!

AquaticQuests

I think MFP is fantastic but frankly a few pictures I come across on the success stories forum indicate some people may be having trouble knowing when to STEP ON THE BRAKES even if the goal weight number they had selected at the beginning of the journey has not been reached!
Is it just me that's noticing this?

0somuchbetter0

Do you mean that some people in your opinion have gotten too thin and keep on losing weight? I don't think that's necessarily related to eating disorders. Lots of people with eating disorders look perfectly "normal" weight...or are fat...(like me). Maybe those people you're referring to aren't too thin at all, maybe they just look that way in the pic...or maybe they like being super thin...maybe it's all a matter of perception. Hard to say without knowing specific examples.

SomeNights246

Do you mean that some people in your opinion have gotten too thin and keep on losing weight? I don't think that's necessarily related to eating disorders. Lots of people with eating disorders look perfectly "normal" weight...or are fat...(like me). Maybe those people you're referring to aren't too thin at all, maybe they just look that way in the pic...or maybe they like being super thin...maybe it's all a matter of perception. Hard to say without knowing specific examples.

Thank you. Thank you SO much.

I have an eating disorder, but most cannot tell by looking at me. Generally they only can if they saw me just a year ago today, and know how much I lost and how quickly. Eating disorders don't really have a 'look'. And even though some people's goal weights might seem too small, it's more how they get there that is indicative of an eating disorder. Not the end goal. Eating disorders are more in the mind than they are in the appearance.

That said, I do think your point is VERY important. MFP does seem to attract people who are suffering from an eating disorder already or people who are on a VERY fast track to developing one. I would rather see them here, however, than on some of the other... darker... parts of the internet. As here, we can at least try our best to encourage them to seek help for their problem.

0somuchbetter0

Do you mean that some people in your opinion have gotten too thin and keep on losing weight? I don't think that's necessarily related to eating disorders. Lots of people with eating disorders look perfectly "normal" weight...or are fat...(like me). Maybe those people you're referring to aren't too thin at all, maybe they just look that way in the pic...or maybe they like being super thin...maybe it's all a matter of perception. Hard to say without knowing specific examples.

Thank you. Thank you SO much.

I have an eating disorder, but most cannot tell by looking at me. Generally they only can if they saw me just a year ago today, and know how much I lost and how quickly. Eating disorders don't really have a 'look'. And even though some people's goal weights might seem too small, it's more how they get there that is indicative of an eating disorder. Not the end goal. Eating disorders are more in the mind than they are in the appearance.

That said, I do think your point is VERY important. MFP does seem to attract people who are suffering from an eating disorder already or people who are on a VERY fast track to developing one. I would rather see them here, however, than on some of the other... darker... parts of the internet. As here, we can at least try our best to encourage them to seek help for their problem.

*like*

I wonder why the OP didn't post again?

AquaticQuests

Hi People,
Perhaps then I shouldn't have used the word eating disorder and instead used the self coined phrase "goal weight obsession/ fixation"!
Definition: where an individual is unwilling to alter/ change the goal weight initially input in MFP, despite changes in body composition that may point at the original goal weight target being excessive/unhealthy".
That a better phrase to use?
I don't think this is just my imagination - this seems to be a real issue for some MFPers!

TavistockToad

Hi People,
Perhaps then I shouldn't have used the word eating disorder and instead used the self coined phrase "goal weight obsession/ fixation"!
Definition: where an individual is unwilling to alter/ change the goal weight initially input in MFP, despite changes in body composition that may point at the original goal weight target being excessive/unhealthy".
That a better phrase to use?
I don't think this is just my imagination - this seems to be a real issue for some MFPers!

but you're just going with YOUR perception of 'unhealthy' and 'healthy'. i've always been in the healthy BMI category even before losing weight, plenty of people said i didnt need to lose any weight to begin with... hasnt stopped me losing 2 dress sizes... and i'm still in the healthy BMI range... but now i look better naked!

yes, there are some people with EDs, there are some who dont really understand composition and are just going for a scale number regardless of bodyfat, there are some people who have a goal weight that i think may be too low.. but thats not for me to judge.

AquaticQuests

Perhaps what I am talking about would be categorised as an Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS): as defined in the MFP resources here - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/50203-mfp-news-announcements

Or perhaps it defies definition or requires a whole new definition!

With the rise of Goal Weights and the success so many of us have had on MFP (often because of our single minded/ borderline obsessive dedication to attaining a certain fixed number on a scale, perhaps the fixation with a fixed number on the scale is a new thing for the psychologists/psychiatrists to look into!

If I was in the field I may have thought about writing a paper on this - but alas I am not!

Just a layman thinking out loud from a couple of things I've noticed!!