All should read! EDs, calories, and the truth

skinnyinnotime

Nice post, but don't agree with no.4 I don't see a problem with working out to look good...it makes me feel good!

Not too sure about no.5 either.

lyttlewon

Very nicely written. I am glad you found Yoga. The Eastern Philosophical beliefs are very cleansing and good at teaching you how to love yourself and focus on the moment.

TrailRunner61

Great post! But I dont agree with this .. Calorie counting is quite unhealthy. Eat until you're no longer hungry, and eat foods that make you feel GOOD. If I didn't count calories, I'd still be obese. If I ate until I was no longer hungry, I'd keep eating beyond what my body needs and eating foods that make me feel good.. well I'd be eating mac n cheese, chocolate, chips and all kinds of other junk rather than healthy vegetables that nourish me. Then I'd be huge, again. Yes, agree that 'treats' should be eaten, but in moderation and wtih planning so I don't go overboard, don't feel deprived, don't feel like im on a temporary 'diet', etc.
I'm a recovered anorexic/bulimic and I agreed with everything you said but that. I guess we all have our own ways to lose weight but I can't do it without knowing and seeing just what goes/has gone into my mouth.

lydt5880

This was lovely and written so well. Good for you!

AnnofB

Very good post, but I have to say, I can't eat till I am full or eat when I am hungry because I am always hungry. Now whether this is my actual appetite or just an emotion appetite is debatable. I also have hypothyroidism and I can tell you, unless I count calories I will gain weight. I have to be aware of what I am eating...no choice here.

I agree with Swat in that until joining MFP and counting calories I was unable to recognize when I was no longer hungry. If it tasted good, I'd eat it till it was gone. I've read that every bite after the first one tastes a little less wonderful, but not to me. As others have posted, some of us need to count calories and measure and weigh portions particularly if no food is off limits. To me, I find that if I limit certain things, the scale rewards me. Maybe some day I can look at all foods as fuel and be able to eat a portion and no more. I'm not there now. But "Food is only fuel." is my mantra now.

californiagirl2012

Hello. My name is Cam, and I'm a 19 year old girl, almost 20, living in San Francisco, CA. I had an eating disorder that developed in the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of high school. I was insecure with everything and just wanted some control. But even as I starved, I would slip and binge. My weight fluctuated between 90 pounds and 120 pounds (which for my 5'2" frame is quite large).

When my parents found out, when I was 16, they got me a therapist, an ED doctor, and a nutritionist. With their help, I changed how I see food and how I see weight loss.

1. Don't believe everything you read on the internet. My wonderful nutritionist had been in her profession for years and understood the science between weight gain and loss, and how calories actually work. You see, you NEED carbs. You need a healthy, normal, amount of carbs.

2. Do not ever eat below maintenance level of calories. Trying to gain weight and trying to lose weight have the same solution. If you've been starving, slowly reintroduce amounts of food to work up to a normal level. If you're trying to lose weight, decrease your amount of food until you're at your normal level. The body wants to be healthy. It's hard on the body to be fat. If you give it what it's aways needed, it will give you the body you need to have (over time). Not everyone needs to have THE perfect body, but every single person can have his or her perfect body.

3. Enjoy. People on here so often say that "food is only for nourishment" or "I will not treat my body like a trash can." Sure, it's irresponsible to eat 3 pans of brownies and 7 cheeseburgers and 5 ice cream cones. But really, do not restrict yourself on what you can and cannot eat. Seriously. Don't try to "add things back in later", eat how you're going to eat forever. Maybe physically, yes, food is only for nutrition, but people who say this fail to take culture into account. Sharing a meal or a dessert can be a wonderful culturally significant experience.

4. Don't exercise for weight or appearance. People need to stop running and doing crunches to get that "perf beach body". I understand the desire to want to look great, but unless you FEEL great, about yourself, that's not going to be possible anyway. If you exercise, it should be because of how it makes you feel happy, strong, relaxed, etc.

5. There are NO healthy or unhealthy foods. This was the first thing that my nutritionist told me. I had been categorizing, like many of you, food into "healthy", "okay occasionally," and "bad for you!". She debunked this rather quickly. Huge amounts of anything can be harmful. But no one food can destroy or restore health, so no one food is healthy or unhealthy.

6. Understand, respect, and love your body. Yoga really helped me with this. Your body has a purpose. That purpose is to survive. Help your body fulfill its purpose more efficiently and effectively. Understand why it does why it does. Your body needs to conserve fat sometimes, because fat can be healthy. Understand that, and stop fighting your body.

These are some of the most important lessons I learned through my treatment. People call MFP a great tool for weight loss, but I respectfully dissent. Calorie counting is quite unhealthy. Eat until you're no longer hungry, and eat foods that make you feel GOOD. This is life. If you spend your whole live at war with your body, will that really a be a life worth living? Enjoy everything, experience everything. And above all, love yourself.

You are a sweetheart and I loved reading this. Lots of wisdom here for such a young person.

I'm older (almost 52) and I must say I actually enjoy counting calories as well as sculpting my body with weight lifting. I enjoy it as if it was my destiny to enjoy. But I have never had eating disorders and I got fat because I just didn't know my portion sizes were too big for a small person. I never ate pans or brownies, bags of cookies, or whole gallons of ice cream or ate for boredom or mindlessly ate food. I grew up when there were no computers so to me having a tool that allows me to simply enter what I eat is fun,. It does the math and I don't have to use pen and paper, calories books and calculators.

I love food and I will only eat food that tastes so good it's too die for. I am recovered from all sorts of diets and extensive good food bad food lists and I feel such freedom in letting that go and just using a calorie budget that helps me maintain my health. I love having MFP to help me maintain my health, it does not feel obsessive to me, it's just one more thing I do like balancing my budget, brushing my teeth, tying my shoe, cleaning the house. I view my gym workouts the same way, I LOVE THEM and I LOVE my running.

I am super happy for you and I loved seeing your perspective.

onyxgirl17

Nice post, but don't agree with no.4 I don't see a problem with working out to look good...it makes me feel good!

Not too sure about no.5 either.

Only a problem with working out to look good if you are recovering from an ED. So this doesn't apply to you maybe lol.

tlheppler

bump. Thanks

zenchild

Actually, you DON'T NEED carbs. If your nutritionist tells you this then she is wrong. Just wrong. John Hopkins children's neurology department released a book called the Ketogenic Diet. It details how they use diet to treat epilepsy in children whose seizures do not respond well or adequately to medication. This diet uses very high fat, low protein and very low carbs. They're not entirely sure how it works yet but the brain can function just fine using ketogenic bodies. Somehow changing the fuel the brain uses seems to reset the brain. After a few years on the diet, the child slowly transitions back to to a normal diet and the seizures are permanently reduced or even cured. This diet is so sensitive that using the wrong sunblock (some have carbs) on a child on the diet can bring the seizures back. Adults with epilepsy are generally treated with a modified Atkins diet.
This is not something that most people would want to do. It's hard. Heavy cream and butter become dietary staples. It's just used in cases where 3 or more medications have been tried and failed. But if your child is still going through dozens or hundreds of seizures a day, it's worth it.
I'm not trying to discount your experience. My grandmother suffered with anorexia and was generally 70-80 pounds when she was at her best and 65 pounds at her worst. It destroyed her body and eventually destroyed her mind. I also have a form of epilepsy and I know that I feel better when I decrease my carbs.
I just get upset when someone states that everyone unequivocally NEEDS something, especially when that something can be downright harmful to some people.

MiCool90

Its a shame the OP concept and vision is lost.

Good intentions of the OP was meant but its turned into a point scoring match.

A young woman has found her inner zen and serenity from her disorder she had. She leans on these beliefs and she wants to share and others think this as an opportunity to tear the comfort zone down on the fact of being right or wrong when its such a gray area.

Good job guys

pinkita

A very insightful post, thanks. I could post a novel about the many ways I've experienced first-hand pretty much everything you said. I have Binge Eating Disorder. After reading "Brain Over Binge" and "The Diet Cure" I decided to stop logging my food and stopped counting calories weeks ago.

I used to watch TV while eating my carefully weighed, low-fat meals, but a few days ago decided to practice mindful eating, i.e., no eating while watching TV, really tasting what I'm eating, and eating to satiety rather than fullness. Also eating what I really want.

I found that I really enjoy and mostly want real (i.e. whole, unprocessed) foods. I worked healthy fats like avocados back into my meals, saute veggies in coconut oil, etc. I don't "eat by the clock" anymore, or just because everyone else is eating. I haven't eaten breakfast for days because I don't have an appetite in the mornings. And no, this has not led me to overeat/binge at lunch or dinner. I was even able to eat just ONE cupcake the other day, whereas just days before I would've inhaled a dozen, and I enjoyed it without any guilt or negative self-talk.

I weighed myself this morning and I'm down 5.8 lbs! I'm not constantly thinking about food, or going to the store after dinner and spending $20 on junk food to binge on. Just making small changes, taking things slowly, and focusing more on my mental and emotional health, which I believe leads to better physical health.

One size certainly does not fit all, but so far this is what's working for me.

judychicken

Bump

ToughTulip

Its a shame the OP concept and vision is lost.

Good intentions of the OP was meant but its turned into a point scoring match.

A young woman has found her inner zen and serenity from her disorder she had. She leans on these beliefs and she wants to share and others think this as an opportunity to tear the comfort zone down on the fact of being right or wrong when its such a gray area.

Good job guys

I agree

rieann84

My weight fluctuated between 90 pounds and 120 pounds (which for my 5'2" frame is quite large).

jeez.. i'm 5'2" and my *goal* is 120. i can only hope i'm lucky enough to get there, i'd settle for 125 even. i understand it might be the way your particular frame is, but i worry about the average 5'2" girl reading this who now thinks her weight of 120 is "large".

sam308lbs

thank you for this!! amazing maturity at your age...ignore the haters :flowerforyou:

DarcyGibbs

First and foremost, fantastic post!

However, I feel just as people misrepresent or generalise classifying healthy and un-healthy food, you may have generalised too heavily on people who seem - to you - to be too obsessed with the way their body looks. Many people find a drive, a passion and a calling in physical pursuit and dietary control. I feel it isn't up to anyone to brand their actions poor unless they are doing themselves or others serious harm. Speaking for myself, I have found the journey of self-improvement, not only physically, but also mentally to be wholly rewarding. I'm sure some of my approaches may seem ridiculous to others, but for me, I live a happy and fulfilled life because of them. I think we should all be careful in the way we brand others.

All that being said, I think you have helped a lot of people with your post and I myself thank you for sharing your personal experiences.

EndlessSacrifice

This post is amazing in every way possible.

midnight333

I'm 5'2" and when I was in high school I weighed 123 until I was 20 I was fat to me. I struggled to wear a size 5 but never could I was always stuck in a size 7. Then I gained 15 lbs and unhappily HAD to wear a Jrs. size 11 that really stunk for my 21st birthday. When I was 25 my marrtage dress was a nice size 6. I went into the 140's after age 26 my bra size grew to a 36D that made up alot of my weight. When I turned 30 I was down to 110 and very happy still C cup just a 32C. My wedding dress was too big after 5 years. I was a size 1 or 0 depending on the name brand. I'm in the 160's now my bra size is a large 38DD. My heaviest weight was 209lbs I had the l largest bra I ever owned I was in a 42E. I think EVERY BODY is different. I think some advice you gave was very helpful though thanks for the input. BUT EVERY BODY IS STILL DIFFERENT.
Edit I'm thinking about going down to 115 actually because of all the clothes I have from a trip I took to CA in my 30's.

My measurement's when I was in Cali. were 32 26 36 I was very very happy.

SkyMusic

Hello all,

I sincerely apologize. I did not mean to say that every single one of you would benefit from every single word I wrote. When I said all should read, I meant that all should read because you never know what might help and what won't.

Maybe this won't apply to those with high cholesterol levels or people who sincerely love counting calories or who can't feel hunger signals. That's fine. This does not have to be relevant to you.

I merely posted this because this advice literally saved my life. I used to be so full of hate and self loathing that I did not want to live, and I would die to be thin. I worry about people on that same path, and I know that simple calorie counting in the beginning turned into something horrible for me personally. Because now my life is full of love and happiness. I can love food, all food, and I can eat anything. I don't have to be afraid.

So I hope you find what works for you.

And I wish you all every happiness.

lyttlewon

You don't need to apologize. I appreciated your words even if they may not apply to me 100%. When someone provides us with wisdom is is our job to take what we can from it, and know what doesn't make sense for us.