Lying about food intake

fteale
fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Would you say anything if you had a friend who was massively overlogging their food intake on here to make it look as if they were eating enough, when you know from days you have spent with them, that they are only eating about half as much as they claim and are looking unhealthily thin?

Replies

  • jess1992uga
    jess1992uga Posts: 603 Member
    Seeing as this is probably some kind of eating disorder and I am in recovery from one I say you should bring it up but do it gently. The thing is the disease can kill them, but you have to watch how you say something as it could be taken as an attack. Come from a place of caring, not reprimanding and you should be fine :)
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    It seems very difficult to talk about food in a way people don't take as an attack.
  • Blayzn10Tiffers
    Blayzn10Tiffers Posts: 181
    Would you say anything if you had a friend who was massively overlogging their food intake on here to make it look as if they were eating enough, when you know from days you have spent with them, that they are only eating about half as much as they claim and are looking unhealthily thin?


    Say something to whom? Saying something to them? Putting them on blast will only make them defensive. Ask them if they know how to log half portions or quarter portions on their diary. Maybe they dont know how. If they are doing it wrong.. honey, they are only lying to themselves and it will show when they gain the weight back!
  • Blayzn10Tiffers
    Blayzn10Tiffers Posts: 181
    Or you can make a game out of it, log each others food for a week or something.. heck I dunno.. text me when you eat something and I will log it type thing??
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    i would speak to their parents if you can, if you are that concerned for the person.

    or speak to the person, but not by saying 'i saw you logged a pizza but you only ate one slice', but ask how they are, how they are feeling etc etc dont mention MFP, just express concern for their health in general.
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
    Ultimately, we can only change ourselves. If your friend is only logging a portion of her calories - how are you going to change that? You can talk to her, but that will likely result in her closing her diary or shutting you out. If she does respond to your advice, that would be great. I've lived a long time and I rarely see one person change another. It's frustrating, I know, but a fact of life. For someone to change, THEY have to want to do it. Good luck.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    Would you say anything if you had a friend who was massively overlogging their food intake on here to make it look as if they were eating enough, when you know from days you have spent with them, that they are only eating about half as much as they claim and are looking unhealthily thin?


    Say something to whom? Saying something to them? Putting them on blast will only make them defensive. Ask them if they know how to log half portions or quarter portions on their diary. Maybe they dont know how. If they are doing it wrong.. honey, they are only lying to themselves and it will show when they gain the weight back!

    You have misunderstood me. This person is logging way over what they are actually eating.
  • tashaa1992
    tashaa1992 Posts: 658 Member
    It seems very difficult to talk about food in a way people don't take as an attack.
    I did this, not logging on here though, in my food diary and my dietician, ex boyfriend and mum used to look at it and I knew they would say something if it looked like I wasn't eating enough because I was meant to be in recovery, I didn't want to recover but it's what they wanted so I lied. There were quite a few times where I was told off because they put two and two together, I mean I was saying I was eating everything I was meant to but losing alot of weight still, yeahh right! I did feel like I was being ganged up on, and it made me feel so small, I felt like everyone was against me and I couldn't trust anyone.

    I think you should say something, but tread very carefully. Don't accuse your friend of anything, you may have the proof but if she/he feels like you're against him/her, he/she will not open up and talk to you. If I was in your position, I would simply ask how he/she is, I would also say I am worried about my friend and if he/she ever wants to talk about anything I'm always here, and I would never judge xxx
  • Blayzn10Tiffers
    Blayzn10Tiffers Posts: 181
    Would you say anything if you had a friend who was massively overlogging their food intake on here to make it look as if they were eating enough, when you know from days you have spent with them, that they are only eating about half as much as they claim and are looking unhealthily thin?


    Say something to whom? Saying something to them? Putting them on blast will only make them defensive. Ask them if they know how to log half portions or quarter portions on their diary. Maybe they dont know how. If they are doing it wrong.. honey, they are only lying to themselves and it will show when they gain the weight back!

    You have misunderstood me. This person is logging way over what they are actually eating.

    I was sort of trying to give you a tactical way of speaking to her without downing her or ambushing her...
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    It sounds like she is anorexic. Arrange some sort of intervention. If she is young, get her parents involved - hopefully they are not in denial.
  • opuntia
    opuntia Posts: 860 Member
    Well, if your friend is under-eating and becoming unhealthy as a result, this is a problem regardless of what she logs on MyFitnessPal. If it were my friend, I would be expressing my concerns about her health and her eating without referring to MyFitnessPal. To bring MyFitnessPal into it is kind of irrelevant, and only adds the implication that she is lying, which is likely to make her less likely to listen to you.
  • opuntia
    opuntia Posts: 860 Member
    Also, unless you're with her 24 hours a day, you don't know her entire food intake, and there is always the possibility that she might not be lying. Just thinking about myself here - I was considered underweight for a long time when I was younger, although I was eating a lot. But I did most of my eating at home - I've never much liked eating around other people, so would eat minimally in public. I often had people suggesting I was anorexic - it gets quite tiresome, especially if they are quite adamant that they are right and they don't listen to you. This happened especially when I was living in Canada, as an English person; what was considered a 'normal' healthy weight in Canada was considerably larger than in England! In the UK, people would say I was thin, but there were lots of other thin people, food portions were smaller, and it wasn't seen as a big deal. But in Canada, everyone was bigger than me, and people were quick to suggest I was anorexic. (From my own perspective, a lot of them looked fat, but I didn't say that to them! I realised it was just different cultural norms. I could have told them they were overeating - a lot of them were - but that would have been inappropriate and rude.)

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