Can you have an eating disorder and be over weight?

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Replies

  • monicaP413
    monicaP413 Posts: 165
    Yes! I had them all at one time or another! You can be overweight and bulemic. Your body will hold onto weight if it thinks something is wrong! Please message me if you need to talk, I have struggled through overeating, bulemia and anorexia and none of them are fun, but you can get past them and have a normal life!
  • thank you for all your replies! I will read through the links in the morning as its lateand I will get an appointments
    with a different doctor and ask to be refered (uk so nhs refer you to councellors). I ment 800cal btw I w
    thought it was kcal as thats how they put it on food. I have always been over weight but thinking about it I've always had a thing about eating in front of people and even used to throw my lunches away at school. I know what I'm doing is odd but I don't feel hunger at all. nobody notices what I'm doing and my mum even encourages me to eat less. I've found if I don't mention food then nobody takesany notice as long as I have something.

    thanks again for your replies and sorry for found on.
  • 1234lbsgone
    1234lbsgone Posts: 296 Member

    If she had said she has passed out or had any other side effects from eating only 800 calories then it would be different but she didn't. People saying you HAVE to eat 1200 calories a day are relaying general information and could be just as damaging to a persons mind if they feel worse about their eating habits because they aren't hungry and thereforth don't hit 1200 calories a day.

    I didn't undermine eating disorders or their severity, nor do I encourage anorexia but it is about what is right for our bodies and scientific research shows the 1200 calorie a day rule to be a myth. Forcing yourself to eat to achieve 1200 calories is just as bad for your physical and mental state.

    Please note :I did also suggest she seek counselling if guilt is present after eating as that is a problem.

    While I understand the contraversy with the whole starvation mode thing, I'm trying to say that a person suspected of having an ED is not considered in the general scheme that a non-ed person would. 800 cals for a mother who takes daily walks is too low. I challenge you to find ACTUAL science that says I am wrong. I don't doubt that you can survive on less than 1200 cals, I did for 13 years before I was hospitalized. But the effects that I now have to live with are life-altering. Because I was treated by a team of medical professionals, it was determined by blood tests that I could safely eat 1000 cals, no less and still live comfortably with no dangerous effects. The OP did not let on that her metabolism had been medically tested to determine what her body needs to survive. And you cannot determine that based on her post and your weight watchers article. If you want to debate starvation mode, fine. But this is not the thread do do it in.

    I'm just saying.
  • 1234lbsgone
    1234lbsgone Posts: 296 Member
    thank you for all your replies! I will read through the links in the morning as its lateand I will get an appointments
    with a different doctor and ask to be refered (uk so nhs refer you to councellors). I ment 800cal btw I w
    thought it was kcal as thats how they put it on food. I have always been over weight but thinking about it I've always had a thing about eating in front of people and even used to throw my lunches away at school. I know what I'm doing is odd but I don't feel hunger at all. nobody notices what I'm doing and my mum even encourages me to eat less. I've found if I don't mention food then nobody takesany notice as long as I have something.

    thanks again for your replies and sorry for found on.

    Kcal is not an incorrect term. It is actually the way calories were referred to in my biology of nutrition class. We just say cals for short.

    I wish you luck in finding a new doctor, preferably someone who is educated in eating disorders. I say that because I experienced something similar. After my recovery, the first time, I started gaining weight. I had new doctors because I was living on my own and not on my fathers insurance anymore, so nobody knew my history. As my weight climbed, they encouraged me to diet. I told them about my ED and they insisted if I was gaining the weight I was gaining then I was obviously "cured" of my eating disorder. I think I was eating around 500 cals on some days. By the time I reached 200 pounds, I found an endochrinologist who was mortified at how long this had gone on. Not just 1, but 7 different doctors encouraging me to starve myself. My metabolism was completely shut down, my thyroid wasn't working, and my hormones were beyond messed up. He said in these exact words, "IDIOTS, thats what they all are, you should have NEVER been told to diet, especially not alone!" We worked to increase me calories to 1000, then 1200, and now I'm at a normal weight. I still struggle with not eating at times, but for the most part, I know that food is good and I need it to live.

    Feel free to friend me if you would like support. I'm here for you. You don't have to go through this alone.
  • audjrey
    audjrey Posts: 360 Member
    Wow. What a lot of info to get through (all the responses I mean). And yet, no real solutions. How sad.

    According to wikipedia.com,

    "Eating disorders refer to a group of conditions characterized by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual's physical and mental health."

    blackdragonclare - from my understanding of what you've said thus far, you eat bad foods and you under-eat. That said, I think it's safe to say you have some unhealthy relationship to food, which might be characterized as an eating disorder.

    To help you understand why you eat bad foods and under-eat, you might consider trying to answer these questions, for yourself.

    What association do you have to these 'bad' foods?
    How do these foods hinder you?
    How do these foods nourish you?
    When you first start eating 'bad' foods, how did they make you feel, initially?
    At what age were you when you first started eating these bad foods?
    What major event occurred in your life at the time when you first began eating these bad foods?
    How do you feel now when you eat these foods?
    Do you have the same thoughts and feelings about these foods today as you did when you first started eating them?

    If you were to write a list of 'good' foods, what items would you write on that list?
    How do you feel about those food items?
    What thoughts do you associate to these food items?
    What sort of people do you associate eating these foods?
    How do you perceive yourself in relation to the sort of people you imagine eating these foods?

    If you could be a skinny person right now, what types of foods do you think you would WANT to eat?
    How much food do you imagine you would eat if you were skinny right now?
    What would your plate look like?
    What kinds of foods would be on that plate?
    If you could count the calories on that plate, how many would there be?

    Imagine yourself hanging out with your friends as a skinny person. Can you?
    What types of foods are you eating?
    How do you feel about these foods?
    What, if anything, is lacking in these foods?
    How do these foods deprive you?
    How do these foods nourish you?
    How do your friends feel about you eating these foods?
    How do you feel about eating these foods?
    How do you feel about eating these foods with your friends?
    What thoughts and feelings do you have about yourself while eating these foods?
  • moonay
    moonay Posts: 30
    I'm not posting to debate starvation mode I am bringing another viewpoint to the table because it is just as incorrect to tell someone they should be eating 1200 calories if that is not right for their body.

    You cannot determine based on the OP that eating less than that would catagorically be too low for her body (there are no references to her frame size, bone mass, muscle mass - all of which make a substantial difference), nor based on the OP can you determine any effect that telling someone they should be eating 1200 calories a day would have on someones mental state if an ED is present.

    I'm not telling her to become anorexic or belittling eating disorders I am giving an objective opinion based on my experiences and the information I have been given from the NHS just as you have posted based on your experiences in life.
  • allegram
    allegram Posts: 117
    Yes, absolutely. Like everyone else has said, if you feel that you have a poor relationship with food and your weight, seek help. There are a million and one resources for someone with an ED.
  • Meganne1982
    Meganne1982 Posts: 451
    Yes you can. My bulimia was at it's worst when I was still obese. And compulsive overeating is an eating disorder.
    Eating disorders are not dependent on being too skinny (though anorexia's specific definition includes low weight)- it's about the psychological relationship with food.
  • calliope_music
    calliope_music Posts: 1,242 Member
    yes, i have (mostly) recovered from one, and i am still considered obese.
  • Wow. What a lot of info to get through (all the responses I mean). And yet, no real solutions. How sad.

    According to wikipedia.com,

    "Eating disorders refer to a group of conditions characterized by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual's physical and mental health."

    blackdragonclare - from my understanding of what you've said thus far, you eat bad foods and you under-eat. That said, I think it's safe to say you have some unhealthy relationship to food, which might be characterized as an eating disorder.

    To help you understand why you eat bad foods and under-eat, you might consider trying to answer these questions, for yourself.

    What association do you have to these 'bad' foods?
    How do these foods hinder you?
    How do these foods nourish you?
    When you first start eating 'bad' foods, how did they make you feel, initially?
    At what age were you when you first started eating these bad foods?
    What major event occurred in your life at the time when you first began eating these bad foods?
    How do you feel now when you eat these foods?
    Do you have the same thoughts and feelings about these foods today as you did when you first started eating them?

    If you were to write a list of 'good' foods, what items would you write on that list?
    How do you feel about those food items?
    What thoughts do you associate to these food items?
    What sort of people do you associate eating these foods?
    How do you perceive yourself in relation to the sort of people you imagine eating these foods?

    If you could be a skinny person right now, what types of foods do you think you would WANT to eat?
    How much food do you imagine you would eat if you were skinny right now?
    What would your plate look like?
    What kinds of foods would be on that plate?
    If you could count the calories on that plate, how many would there be?

    Imagine yourself hanging out with your friends as a skinny person. Can you?
    What types of foods are you eating?
    How do you feel about these foods?
    What, if anything, is lacking in these foods?
    How do these foods deprive you?
    How do these foods nourish you?
    How do your friends feel about you eating these foods?
    How do you feel about eating these foods?
    How do you feel about eating these foods with your friends?
    What thoughts and feelings do you have abou

    jt yourself while eating these foods?

    I don't really eat "bad food" I live on soup, grilled or steamed fish and lots of vegetables. I ate a magnum ice cream yesterday and the guilt was terrible but that's quite a rare thing.

    if I had to write a list of good food and bad food good - fish chicken vegetables and fruit bad- pretty much everything else


    I think the only way I will ever be skinny is when im dead as I never have been not eating much for me is more about feeling in control more than anything.

    as for howI would feel being skinny I don't know as I can'timagine it
  • *bump*
  • cowlover22
    cowlover22 Posts: 309 Member
    yes I have know people who starve themselves and are overweight b/c their metaolism shuts down. Also binge eating, bulilmia. I have anorexia now but stuggled with bulimia of and on for what ever reason my metbolism kicked in and now i am anorexic..usued to weigh over 200 lbs so the answer is yes!
  • yes I have know people who starve themselves and are overweight b/c their metaolism shuts down. Also binge eating, bulilmia. I have anorexia now but stuggled with bulimia of and on for what ever reason my metbolism kicked in and now i am anorexic..usued to weigh over 200 lbs so the answer is yes!
    thank you for your reply and good luck on your recovery
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