Watch out for eating disorders and don't encourage them

gottogetinshape

It becomes very clear very quickly when someone on here has an eating disorder i.e. anorexia. I can't support their weight loss because they are ill and need to eat MORE not less but, of course, I wish I could support them to get well. I guess all/most of us have an eating disorder in a way, whether it's binge-eating/comfort-eating/addiction to junk food/not enough self-love to eat well etc. but I, for one, am trying to cut down on the junk, improve my diet, exercise more, and get healthy, not kill myself. I absolutely cannot congratulate anorexic people on their ability to cut down to a few hundred calories a day and I think we all need to be careful not to fuel people's eating disorders. Look at Food Diaries before you congratulate someone new on coming under their calorie goal. I've seen lots of comments on a status saying Blah blah came under their calorie goal and when I have looked at their Food Diary, I see that they are living on almost nothing, over-exercising, and they are already very thin. I would feel responsible for strengthening their resolve to make themselves thinner and thinner and sicker and sicker. I feel that we all need to take care not to encourage eating disorders and unhealthy behaviour on here. Of course we support one another when we slip and eat too much pizza or whatever but this is not a site for underweight people who want to become even more underweight.

I feel sick when I see people congratulating someone on being under their goal, then see that they are massively (and continually) under-eating and are already underweight.

kylaenslow

I completely agree! It really bothers me when I see that people are simply congratulating others for being under goal but they aren't actually LOOKING at the food diary. We all have 'not hungry days' (which I had more of them!) but it's the continual under-eating that is the problem.

Yes these people need our encouragement and support...but to get better mentally and physically not to encourage them to become an 80-lb sickling.

gottogetinshape

I completely agree! It really bothers me when I see that people are simply congratulating others for being under goal but they aren't actually LOOKING at the food diary. We all have 'not hungry days' (which I had more of them!) but it's the continual under-eating that is the problem.

Yes these people need our encouragement and support...but to get better mentally and physically not to encourage them to become an 80-lb sickling.

Exactly. Some days we're ill, for example, and don't eat much, and that's totally different, but it's so obvious so quickly who the people are who have an under-eating/starvation disorder and it really upsets me when people congratulate them for their massive under-eating. I had someone add me with 'thin' in their username and I was concerned immediately. I then realised they're extremely young and massively under-eat and people are encouraging them to do so. It upsets me and makes me angry. We all need to take some responsibility for what we do on here and not help people to make themselves sick.

gottogetinshape

Bump

lizcr13

I 100% percent agree that people should not be using My FItness Pal as a tool to encourage an ED. I think it's important ask when you are concerned about their health to ask. Like you said, if someone is eating a very low amount and doing so continually or not trying to stop it's a major risk to their health.
Asking them about their eating first is definitely the way to approach the subject. Some people use My Fitness Pal when recovering from an ED or a type of disease or illness that affected their diet, so in the beginning or during certain times they may have consistently low calorie intakes or eating very little. Making sure they are trying to improve their well being even if they aren't eating enough is something that you should clarify with them about.
I also agree that if you see a friend dramatically eating less, purposely trying to lose weight while underweight, or having an unhealthy goal, congratulating them is not going to help.
I think this is a good post, it's very mindful of being supportive of your friends in different types of ways.

gottogetinshape

I 100% percent agree that people should not be using My FItness Pal as a tool to encourage an ED. I think it's important ask when you are concerned about their health to ask. Like you said, if someone is eating a very low amount and doing so continually or not trying to stop it's a major risk to their health.
Asking them about their eating first is definitely the way to approach the subject. Some people use My Fitness Pal when recovering from an ED or a type of disease or illness that affected their diet, so in the beginning or during certain times they may have consistently low calorie intakes or eating very little. Making sure they are trying to improve their well being even if they aren't eating enough is something that you should clarify with them about.
I also agree that if you see a friend dramatically eating less, purposely trying to lose weight while underweight, or having an unhealthy goal, congratulating them is not going to help.
I think this is a good post, it's very mindful of being supportive of your friends in different types of ways.

I agree. My first step is always to ask if they're ok and that I am worried that they haven't eaten much. I totally understand that some people are recovering from an eating disorder and may be here to increase their eating and I will very gladly support them, I just won't encourage people who are ill and thin to lose more weight. I will encourage them to get help from a professional.

ldrosophila

Bother's me too, and even the way MFP is set up it gives kudos for eating less than you should. I would rather give person kudos because they ate plenty of fiber or met their calcium goal.

onedayatatime12

All I can say is you are such a good person for saying this, and speaking the truth. I wholeheartedly agree with you, and I think we should 'report' such posts, so we can alert the MFP administrators that this is in fact being used as a tool of self-destruction for people with ED. Maybe they can help those people to understand what they're doing is detrimental to them, but as far as our control goes, all we can do is not support them in their ED.

yaseyuku

It always bothers me when I see people encourage other people for eating such low calories on medically unsupervised diets.

I see it quite a lot unfortunately.

Morninglory81

I choose not to reply to the"so and so came in under cal goal" if there is something they struggled with or are proud of I will encourage as best as I can but this automatic post I ignore. The consecutive days post on the other hand I will always encourage!

gottogetinshape

Bother's me too, and even the way MFP is set up it gives kudos for eating less than you should. I would rather give person kudos because they ate plenty of fiber or met their calcium goal.

Yes! Totally agree. I posted in another forum last night saying we have to stop beating ourselves up if we hit or go a bit over our calorie goals as, if we've set them sensibly, they already include a deficit. It's not good, really, that MFP gives kudos for coming under your calorie goal, and the terrible thing is I feel bad when I don't come under, but I'm aware of it and can talk myself out of it. MFP could perhaps give kudos for eating within a certain range e.g. anything between your TDEE minus 15/20% and your TDEE or kudos if you hit your (healthy) exercise goal for the day, something like that.

crista_b

That's one reason why I don't comment on the daily log posts. I've seen people who comment on every single log saying something like "Good job!" or "Great logging!" (even if the diary is closed!) and to me it just seems stupid. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but if someone comments on my log, I'm not going to acknowledge it. My diary is closed, and for all you know, I had a saltine today and exercised for 4 hours and that's why it says I was under my goal. Don't blindly congratulate people.

gottogetinshape

All I can say is you are such a good person for saying this, and speaking the truth. I wholeheartedly agree with you, and I think we should 'report' such posts, so we can alert the MFP administrators that this is in fact being used as a tool of self-destruction for people with ED. Maybe they can help those people to understand what they're doing is detrimental to them, but as far as our control goes, all we can do is not support them in their ED.

That's very sweet of you. I think MFP should have a system in place for contacting members who are clearly suffering with eating disorders (and not trying to combat them) and suggesting options for help and support to deal with them. As you say, we can do our best to make sure we're not supporting people to maintain an eating disorder and encourage them to get help.

gottogetinshape

Bump.

(I want to get this out to as many people as possible.)

ks4e

I haven't been a member long but I noticed quickly that there are lots of people who eat way below their calorie goal and who work out excessively. I always check food logs before I comment on anyone eating under their daily goal (I myself plead guilty to that) because some people are being dangerously unhealthy.

I agree that the layout of MFP actually seems to encourage it. When I enter in my daily caloric intake, MFP shows that at the rate I'm eating, I should lose half a pound in 5 weeks if I eat like this daily. It ignores that I'm breastfeeding or that I'm eating healthy calories, etc.

Thinspo is popular and dangerous. These people need therapy, not an app to high five them with their unhealthy choices.

Ashwee87

So much truth!

It makes me cringe when I see people GIVING ADVICE to eat so little. Saw some just the other day of someone eating only around 500 calories, not eating exercise calories back and working out like a mule on steroids. It makes me very, very sad and also makes me want to shake some sense into them. x_x

al369

So true. Thanks for the PSA.

Personally, I just don't comment on diaries that often. I don't comment if I don't look and I don't care to look that often.

WifeofPJ

Bravo for saying this. I was just thinking today that I am so happy that I am loosing weight while eating, when I'm hungry I eat. I do think many people need to here this. (You may though consider me one of the over trained I'm always under my goal because of the calories burned but eat 1700 to 2100 calories a day)

Ashwee87

Personally, I just don't comment on diaries that often. I don't comment if I don't look and I don't care to look that often.

Same here. I personally don't care what a diary says unless someone asks for help, and even then I don't really feel I am one to make suggestions or comments. I have mine closed off so only I can see it because it is a personal tool for me. I don't need people making comments on my food choices, because I am sure it would make some flip out. But it keeps me personally accountable and I am steadily losing at a good pace, so I must be doing something right.

Haha sorry for going off a bit....I tend to ramble. >.>

gottogetinshape

Bravo for saying this. I was just thinking today that I am so happy that I am loosing weight while eating, when I'm hungry I eat. I do think many people need to here this. (You may though consider me one of the over trained I'm always under my goal because of the calories burned but eat 1700 to 2100 calories a day)

I'm fairly often a bit under my goal as well but you EAT and so do I, we don't have anorexia. My concern is the people who do, and who are congratulated for it.

Koldnomore

I don't comment unless I look first. Normally I will also look back at least a week (especially if I see someone losing a lot of weight fast) I will always question if I see someone not eating and if I have to question more than a couple times I un-friend them. Quite honestly I am here for my journey, not to babysit people who choose to starve themselves thin.

My diary is open and public because I have lost weight without starving, without killing myself in the gym and without 'clean' eating and sometimes people are curious what that looks like. I don't even bother to 'complete' it. This way I don't spam people with the results and I also don't see the unrealistic message telling me how much weight I will lose in 5 weeks :P