Pro Anorexia on MFP....

sam_the_girl

Anyone else notice that there are alot of pro-anorexia people on MFP? I think that is too sad. I am on here to become my healthiest and take care of my body. I see girls who report only eating like 500-900 calories and they are destroying their bodies by doing that. I am a hospice nurse and I see so many people dying from diseases related to body neglect/mistreatment and I want to prevent that. I have even taken care of a woman who literally starved herself to death from anorexia. It was such a young and pointless death. I just hope no matter your size, everyone can look in the mirror at the end of the day and realize they are amazing no matter what the scale says. Just my 2 cents....

WinnerVictorious

Anyone else notice that there are alot of pro-anorexia people on MFP? I think that is too sad. I am on here to become my healthiest and take care of my body. I see girls who report only eating like 500-900 calories and they are destroying their bodies by doing that. I am a hospice nurse and I see so many people dying from diseases related to body neglect/mistreatment and I want to prevent that. I have even taken care of a woman who literally starved herself to death from anorexia. It was such a young and pointless death. I just hope no matter your size, everyone can look in the mirror at the end of the day and realize they are amazing no matter what the scale says. Just my 2 cents....

yes, and it's beyond sad.

Mads1997

Its not just this website, you go to any weight loss site and you will see the exact same thing. Yes it sad but not much anyone can do about it.

arcticfox04

Weight loss and fitness sites will always suffer from these problems. The problem is if the people around them in real life can't get them to get some medical help then this just adds fuel to the fire because now they see the actual numbers they're putting in. Though to those that understand how Anorexia works and knows the dangers it can be a very helpful tool to help them lose weight and keep it off while staying healthy at the same time. Its a double edge sword.

On the Fitness side it seems quite tame. Though 90% of the site is used for dieters I'm convinced.

It'd be nice if MFP would put more information to ED on the site where its easy for everyone to see. Namely with links and numbers to support groups that can help save a life.

sam_the_girl

I can understand there are some who just in general don't eat very much or who are the rarity that can live off of under 1200 calories. Especially those who are petite naturally. I feel though, in general, most people need at least over 1,000 calories a day in order to prevent being malnourished and to get the vitamins, fats and protein your body needs just to perform its daily function. I just think it's unfortunate when I see girls with names that have "anorexia" or "bones" in their title. You know why they are on MFP: to continue their obsession with counting calories and to live off of as few calories as possible. I know it is a disease effecting so many people. I just didn't expect for some to be so "openly anorexic" on MFP.

Health_Gal

If someone is promoting a starvation diet on the message boards, be sure and report it to MFP so that people who insist on taking such a dangerous approach to weight loss can not use this website to encourage others to do the same.

skinnyinnotime

Well yes there are loads and recently they keep requesting me...someone on my FL pointed out it's because I have 'skinny' as part of my username. I soon realised they all know each other and add the same people.

I really did try and be supportive, but of course they're not going to listen to me and to be frank I found it really depressing reading their status' .

daydream_believer

i completely agree. it is very sad to see, and even sadder when they wont take advice to make a healtier lifestyle or seek professional help. i think much of the time it is the general misunderstanding that to weigh less or to lose eight equates to eating less.. and therefore this ED mindset starts.
i think the reason there is so many people with eating disorders on here is because we are all people that are health (or for many people weight conscious) to begin with.
i sincerely hope society starts showing people how to lose weight the healthy, long term way.

Froody2

But I probably won't have supper. I may not eat at all for the rest of the night. I am not anorexic, nor bullemic. I just eat differently than others, and yelling at me to eat more won't help. I've lost almost 50lbs in under six months. I average 8-10lb loss a month. It's not drastic. It's certainly not unheard of. Don't assume low cal = anorexic in every case.

Kudos for your weight loss so far. The question I have to ask, though, is how you became fat in the first place? What changed to help you suddenly eat intuitively (and can I have some of it lol).


OP, there's nothing you can do for these people - sounds harsh but it's true. Nobody can help them but themselves when they are ready, so save your own sanity and gently disassociate yourself from them. :flowerforyou:

divemunkey

Anorexia isn't usually about weight loss. It may start that way for some, but it's usually about control.

ottermotorcycle

I just want to make a big distinction here.
Not all girls who have anorexia or another eating disorder are "pro-ana" or "pro-ED." Most of them at least on some level know that what they are doing is unhealthy and are just not yet capable of stopping. I know there are some people who support starvation diets on the forums, but I think those people are more ignorant or uninformed than the mal-intent generally associated with pro-ana.

I have a few friends here on MFP that eat anywhere from 200-1000 calories per day. They have disordered eating habits. I believe the reason they added me as a friend is because they on some level want to recover. They want to see someone doing it the healthy way, counting /enough/ calories and doing exercise for the sake of it instead of to burn off something "bad" they ate. At least I hope so.

All calorie counting websites, especially one with as accurate and complete a database as MFP, will attract people with eating disorders. Seriously, go anywhere else and you'll see the same thing.

sam_the_girl

I agree completely. It's not just MFP, pro-ana is even on pinterest! I hate when I see other girls board with pictures of stick thin girls (mostly of teenagers when being stick thin is actually to some normal). Anorexia is a control thing and it's also a mental disease and an impairment of what is "real."

Skinnyinnotim: I have seen those "cliques" you speak of. It's funny that they are a support group for each other.

FlannelMothman

But I probably won't have supper. I may not eat at all for the rest of the night. I am not anorexic, nor bullemic. I just eat differently than others, and yelling at me to eat more won't help. I've lost almost 50lbs in under six months. I average 8-10lb loss a month. It's not drastic. It's certainly not unheard of. Don't assume low cal = anorexic in every case.

Kudos for your weight loss so far. The question I have to ask, though, is how you became fat in the first place? What changed to help you suddenly eat intuitively (and can I have some of it lol).


OP, there's nothing you can do for these people - sounds harsh but it's true. Nobody can help them but themselves when they are ready, so save your own sanity and gently disassociate yourself from them. :flowerforyou:

I became fat because 1) I took culinary arts in college and though was skinny at the beginning of the program, and relatively average at the end of it, it's what started the weight gain. My profs had a policy - if you screw up a dish, you had to eat it, so you know WHY it's wrong and therefore do it right the next time. Sometimes they were delicious mistakes, but most were vicious punishments lol. 2) After that, though I didn't eat lots to begin with, what I did eat was pizza or McDonald's (as I had taken the night shift after college to help pay bills). I was working two full time jobs, and jobs that were mostly sedentary (weeknight shifts at McD's aren't busy till the weekend), while living my life from pizza box to McNugget box, from sugary coffee drinks to the beer. I changed my diet long ago but realized in the fall that it wasn't enough. In 8 years (give or take) I had gained about 80lbs.

DoriGaga

It's hard to watch anyone do anything destructive to themselves. I had a girl on my friend's list who never went over 300 calories a day, and everyone on her list kept congratulating her on what a good job she was doing. I had to remove her because I couldn't watch that happen, and because there was nothing I could do about it.

I remember when "pro-ana" came into the spotlight, and I was reading up on in (I have an interest in mental disorders), and I read a site that had a FAQ and one question was along the lines of "I have an anorexic friend, what can I say to make them stop?" and the answer was "If it was you, what could someone say to make you stop?", and that really made me think.... If you are hellbent on doing something, nothing anyone says is going to make you stop. Seeing the disgusting pictures on the side of a cigarette box doesn't make people stop smoking. People telling me I will get cancer doesn't make me stop tanning... even though I know logically it's a possibility, like most people, I have the mindset that it won't happen to me.

Anorexic people know that what they are doing is dangerous and unhealthy. Even a lot of the "pro-ana" people are not really pro-ana, they see it as a burden, and they see themselves as a slave to the disease. I spent a long time lurking on some pro-ana message boards, just trying to make sense of it. They don't talk about how much they love it, they talk about how it destroys their lives and how much they hate it, but when someone who doesn't have anorexia comments, they get defensive, because they associate themselves with the disease. Anorexia is not something they have, it's who they are.

It's so sad because it seems like something so easy to solve, but it's really, really not. The anorexia is a product of whatever other demons they are fighting, and without solving the underlying problems, the anorexia can't be fixed. A huge number of these people also suffer from depression or are bipolar, have OCD (real OCD, not the kind where people say "I cleaned my house for 3 hours, I'm so OCD) and also tend to self-harm in other ways (like cutting or burning themselves).

The one thing I will give to the pro-ana sites is this, they claim (and are right in this) WAY more people die from complications due to overeating, than due to undereating. Anorexia only affects 0.5-2% of the US population, though it seems way more prevalent by the pro-ana movement, which makes me believe that a lot of these so-called "pro-anas" are actually lying. Too many of them are extreme dieters trying to get an eating disorder, or those people who say things like "Oh, I was anorexic for a few months, but I stopped." That's not the way it works.

skinnyinnotime

The one thing I will give to the pro-ana sites is this, they claim (and are right in this) WAY more people die from complications due to overeating, than due to undereating. Anorexia only affects 0.5-2% of the US population, though it seems way more prevalent by the pro-ana movement, which makes me believe that a lot of these so-called "pro-anas" are actually lying. Too many of them are extreme dieters trying to get an eating disorder, or those people who say things like "Oh, I was anorexic for a few months, but I stopped." That's not the way it works.

I was saying this to my husband the other day, how anorexic people are given a hard time and people will openly berate them and tell them what they're doing is dangerous but this doesn't happen to overweight/obese people.

I don't mean they don't get insults or silly comments about their size, I mean in the same way that people look down harshly on anorexia.

Both are abusing their bodies, but they're not treated the same.

ETA: some parents will place their anorexic children in hospitals/clinics where they are force fed, I've not heard of any parents sending their obese children to similar places to lose weight.

_Lori_Lynn_

If men don't stop telling me I am fat, I may develop an eating disorder. I can feel it coming. I am getting tired of hearing how, "fat" I am by the guys. I shouldn't care, but I am starting to really do some desperate things to lose weight . I don't ever want to have to hear it again.

vlnalto

ETA: some parents will place their anorexic children in hospitals/clinics where they are force fed, I've not heard of any parents sending their obese children to similar places to lose weight.

I haven't heard of this in real life but remember a multitude of tv/movie characters with joking anecdotes about "fat camp"

Obesity certainly isn't treated with the same level of seriousness since it isn't considered a "disorder"

luvriden

Actually, no I don't see that. Every thread I have read where someone says they are only eating less than 1200 calories a day, almost every reply is " you aren't eating enough" you need to eat more to loose more. Most replies are to eat AT LEAST 1200 calories and ALSO eat all your exercise calories. All the Help threads in the Introduction explain why eating more helps you loose more. Hmmmm, maybe I am just reading the wrong threads.....:ohwell:

amberrose384

If men don't stop telling me I am fat, I may develop an eating disorder. I can feel it coming. I am getting tired of hearing how, "fat" I am by the guys. I shouldn't care, but I am starting to really do some desperate things to lose weight . I don't ever want to have to hear it again.

This post made me sad and a bit outraged. You are hanging around some really awful people if they keep calling you fat, I hope you have some supportive and kind men/people in your life too!

SherryTeach

Well yes there are loads and recently they keep requesting me...someone on my FL pointed out it's because I have 'skinny' as part of my username. I soon realised they all know each other and add the same people.

I really did try and be supportive, but of course they're not going to listen to me and to be frank I found it really depressing reading their status' .

I see that too. Someone in that group friended me, but reading her updates is so alarming, I'm going to have to de-friend. Her group is cheering each other on with the ABC diet and how they are netting zero.

PaigeAnderson100

I can honestly say that I have never had a friend request from someone who is anorexic nor have I heard of it on here but, I do know that there are a lot of people who think that weight loss will happen by not giving your body enough nutrients which is complete and udder b.s!!
I am glad that I don't have any friends like that because, I am not good at keeping my mouth shut when it comes to people damaging their bodies more than helping.
I personally rarely go under 1200 calories and I am proud of the diet that I am on. I would be SO HUNGRY if I didn't eat 1200 calories a day so, I am not sure how people can do 300 unless they are eating lettuce salads ALL DAY LONG. (which actually wouldn't be too bad with some chicken, fruit and a nice tablespoon of dressing).
Weight loss works for some people in strange ways and I hope that whoever is damaging their body gets told by one of you... you are saying that you are concerned but, are you showing your concern to the individual? I hope so!

betterthanbefpre

I've been on the anorexia/bellimic side and I know that it is a control thing. I would get depressed if I ate much of anything that wasn't a salad. If I was starving and beinged I woud make myself sick to ensure I wouldn't gain. I am 5' 10" and I was, at my lowest 115 and wore a size 2 but thought I was still needing to lose. Also, it was so great to hear the constant compliments on my weight...in my mind I thought, "if you think I look good now, just wait!".

Anyway, I take worth from my children and being healthy more than anything else now. I don't want to ever get that small again. It was NOT healthy and honestly not attractive. Now, being much older and wiser I have changed my ways...now my goal is 150. Which is so much better for me and my frame.

It's everywhere...but hopefully they will change their ways and be healthy about it.

emtjmac

I can't say I've really seen any threads that I thought were pro-anorexia.

ScatteredThoughts

I can't say I've really seen any threads that I thought were pro-anorexia.

I've seen a few. They tend to cluster in a particular groups and circles of friends, and support each other via PMs and wall posts. I came across a pro ana forum the other day, where several were exchanging their MFP usernames, so that they could meet up here.

Very sad.

lithezebra

Problem solved - thank you Moderator!

lithezebra

Anorexics have a right to be here too. Hopefully they'll get the kind of help they need to be healthy and happy. However, doing the things that it takes to be healthy has to be a choice.

Alex

Dear Posters,

Please report users that you are concerned about being Pro-Anorexia and/or are violating our community guideline:

3. No Promotion of Unsafe Weight-Loss Techniques or Eating Disorders
a) Posts intended to promote potentially unsafe or controversial weight loss products or procedures, including non-medically prescribed supplements or MLM products will be removed without warning.
b) Profiles, groups, messages, posts, or wall comments that encourage anorexia, bulimia, ]or very low calorie diets of any kind will be removed, and may be grounds for account deletion. This includes positive references to ana/mia, purging, or self-starving. Our goal is to provide users with the tools to achieve their weight management goals at a steady, sustainable rate. Use of the site to promote or glamorize dangerously low levels of eating is not permitted.
c) Photos intended to glamorize extreme thinness will be deleted.
d) Those seeking support in their recovery from eating disorders are welcome at MyFitnessPal.

Additionally, MyFitnessPal strongly recommends that anyone suffering from the symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, or Compulsive eating make use of the resources offered by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. You may reach the ANAD hotline by phone in the US: 847-831-3438 (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, Central Time) or on the web at http://www.anad.org/site/anadweb/

Respectfully,
Olivia
MyFitnessPal Community Manager

WinnerVictorious

I'm really, really nervous about posting on here, but I am probably one of the pro-ana types you are talking about. I just want to say, I am NOT PRO-ana. I rarely eat over 350 cals a day, and I always have a negative net. If I eat more, I feel INCREDIBLY guilty, and NEED to throw up. You rarely see people posting stuff like this because we are doing it for ourselves, not for you, and would really appreciate it if you didn't judge us based on that. We are not "encouraging" our diseases, in fact, I will say right now, DO NOT TRY TO BE ANOREXIC. DON'T TRY TO BE BULIMIC EITHER. It is terrible. Don't report me, I'm saying to do the exact opposite of what I'm doing. Just please, distinguish between pro-ana and those with eating disorders, because I am about as far from pro-ana as I can get.

get help. if you are eating 350 calories a day and netting a negative number, you are killing yourself. literally. none of us here are qualified to help you, but please seek treatment. life is too short as it is. don't cut it any shorter than it needs to be and don't spend your days feeling ashamed of eating or worrying about food.

Sunka1

Problem solved - thank you Moderator!

That was harsh.

FitandFab33

I actively developed/worsened my ED via a website when I was in my teens- everything from mantras to tips and tricks.

It was SICK. I never knew how sick until I was in the throws of it and realized I was stuck in a dangerous illness...

Looking back I can see how dangerous sites like that are to developing minds... anorexia, bulimia, EDNOS are serious, dangerous, and can be life-altering and fatal. Please don't support/reinforce that kind of behavior..

Sunka1

I'm really, really nervous about posting on here, but I am probably one of the pro-ana types you are talking about. I just want to say, I am NOT PRO-ana. I rarely eat over 350 cals a day, and I always have a negative net. If I eat more, I feel INCREDIBLY guilty, and NEED to throw up. You rarely see people posting stuff like this because we are doing it for ourselves, not for you, and would really appreciate it if you didn't judge us based on that. We are not "encouraging" our diseases, in fact, I will say right now, DO NOT TRY TO BE ANOREXIC. DON'T TRY TO BE BULIMIC EITHER. It is terrible. Don't report me, I'm saying to do the exact opposite of what I'm doing. Just please, distinguish between pro-ana and those with eating disorders, because I am about as far from pro-ana as I can get.

Try reading The Diet Cure. It has helped a lot of people in your situation. Good luck.