Watch out for eating disorders and don't encourage them

gottogetinshape

Just to reiterate:

I am very careful to take this into account: We all have our healthy minimum calorie requirement, depending on our height, age, activity, etc. and of course there's no 'one size fits all' calorie goal. I am talking only about people who are anorexic. I won't assume they are without clear evidence, and not just a low calorie intake.

Ang108

Very sensible. By the same token, it should be understood that some people can't eat as much as others and are perfectly healthy. Not everyone who eats under 1200 has an ED. Sometimes I have the impression that some people are approaching these boards with the presumption that everyone under a certain weight and calorie level is anorexic.

Thank you for saying this. I was getting frustrated, because so many people assume that everyone who eats 1200 calories or less has a ED or is doing harm to their body and/or health. I don't think that is necessarily true. I am one of the people who eats almost daily at a large deficit and sometimes barely eat 1000 calories. I eat two eggs with vegetables or cheese with three tortillas and often fruit in addition for breakfast, east sweet potatoes or rice several times a week and think that in the last 40 days have skipped two lunches because of work.
I eat more healthy food that many people who eat 2000 calories, but drink soft drinks, eat sweet snacks or have other " treats " daily. I don't, because I come from a " no snack " culture.....and..... that makes the great difference I believe; I am 65 and five feet tall. And yes, I resent the crowd who comes down on people like vultures based on the fact that some of us only eat 1200 calories or less without checking food diaries and inquiring why.
I do however absolutely agree with those who want to avoid congratulating those who obviously have an unhealthy relationship with food.
If I can't access someone's food diary I will never comment, and if I comment based on having checked the diary I also usually explain what my comment is based on.

Crochetluvr

I encourage people to make a note in their food diaries if they are under the weather when they have low numbers. Most of my friends do that now.

I agree that I find it hard to encourage people that are eating less than 1200 calories a day for an extended period of time.

There are people here who have had bypass surgery who MUST eat far less than 1200. Calories alone can't be the test. Neither can weight.

There are certain signs: For example, people who boast about eating extremely low calorie diets (1200 is NOT a Very Low Calorie Diet), or complain that they can never reach their calorie goal although the simple answer is to eat more.

Incidentally, people who constantly boast about how much they can eat bore me too. I don't care how much you can eat. You're overweight. If you weren't overweight in the first place this wouldn't even be an issue.

I always check the stats of every person I "friend". If they have a medical problem I know about. And I never chastise anyone for what they do or don't eat...its their business. But if someone has been eating 1400 calories for awhile, hits a plateau and then goes down to 900....well, I am not going to encourage that. They may lose, but they probably wont be successful in the long run.

I started out at 1200 and only recently upped my calories to 1300. So I would not comment negatively about anyone doing 1200 calories. I don't think its too little, either.

luckyjuls

Very sensible. By the same token, it should be understood that some people can't eat as much as others and are perfectly healthy. Not everyone who eats under 1200 has an ED. Sometimes I have the impression that some people are approaching these boards with the presumption that everyone under a certain weight and calorie level is anorexic.

Thank you for saying this. I was getting frustrated, because so many people assume that everyone who eats 1200 calories or less has a ED or is doing harm to their body and/or health. I don't think that is necessarily true. I am one of the people who eats almost daily at a large deficit and sometimes barely eat 1000 calories. I eat two eggs with vegetables or cheese with three tortillas and often fruit in addition for breakfast, east sweet potatoes or rice several times a week and think that in the last 40 days have skipped two lunches because of work.
I eat more healthy food that many people who eat 2000 calories, but drink soft drinks, eat sweet snacks or have other " treats " daily. I don't, because I come from a " no snack " culture.....and..... that makes the great difference I believe; I am 65 and five feet tall. And yes, I resent the crowd who comes down on people like vultures based on the fact that some of us only eat 1200 calories or less without checking food diaries and inquiring why.
I do however absolutely agree with those who want to avoid congratulating those who obviously have an unhealthy relationship with food.
If I can't access someone's food diary I will never comment, and if I comment based on having checked the diary I also usually explain what my comment is based on.

I guess for me, it depends on activity level. Someone burning 1000 calories for an hour and a half of Zumba using an HRM and eating 500 calories and NEGATIVE nets, even if they are "IF"ing (intermediate fasting), are a red flag with me. That's a recipe for disaster. People just estimating their calorie burns, I don't worry so much about. Certain inaccuracies will add up during the day and so I know they'll be fine.

I also worry about former sufferers of anorexia coming here and obsessing about their food diaries. Sometimes I feel like they are impeding their own progress being here.

gottogetinshape

I encourage people to make a note in their food diaries if they are under the weather when they have low numbers. Most of my friends do that now.

I agree that I find it hard to encourage people that are eating less than 1200 calories a day for an extended period of time.

There are people here who have had bypass surgery who MUST eat far less than 1200. Calories alone can't be the test. Neither can weight.


There are certain signs: For example, people who boast about eating extremely low calorie diets (1200 is NOT a Very Low Calorie Diet), or complain that they can never reach their calorie goal although the simple answer is to eat more.

Incidentally, people who constantly boast about how much they can eat bore me too. I don't care how much you can eat. You're overweight. If you weren't overweight in the first place this wouldn't even be an issue.

I always check the stats of every person I "friend". If they have a medical problem I know about. And I never chastise anyone for what they do or don't eat...its their business. But if someone has been eating 1400 calories for awhile, hits a plateau and then goes down to 900....well, I am not going to encourage that. They may lose, but they probably wont be successful in the long run.

I started out at 1200 and only recently upped my calories to 1300. So I would not comment negatively about anyone doing 1200 calories. I don't think its too little, either.

I don't comment negatively and wouldn't encourage anybody else to.

gottogetinshape

Very sensible. By the same token, it should be understood that some people can't eat as much as others and are perfectly healthy. Not everyone who eats under 1200 has an ED. Sometimes I have the impression that some people are approaching these boards with the presumption that everyone under a certain weight and calorie level is anorexic.

Thank you for saying this. I was getting frustrated, because so many people assume that everyone who eats 1200 calories or less has a ED or is doing harm to their body and/or health. I don't think that is necessarily true. I am one of the people who eats almost daily at a large deficit and sometimes barely eat 1000 calories. I eat two eggs with vegetables or cheese with three tortillas and often fruit in addition for breakfast, east sweet potatoes or rice several times a week and think that in the last 40 days have skipped two lunches because of work.
I eat more healthy food that many people who eat 2000 calories, but drink soft drinks, eat sweet snacks or have other " treats " daily. I don't, because I come from a " no snack " culture.....and..... that makes the great difference I believe; I am 65 and five feet tall. And yes, I resent the crowd who comes down on people like vultures based on the fact that some of us only eat 1200 calories or less without checking food diaries and inquiring why.
I do however absolutely agree with those who want to avoid congratulating those who obviously have an unhealthy relationship with food.
If I can't access someone's food diary I will never comment, and if I comment based on having checked the diary I also usually explain what my comment is based on.

I guess for me, it depends on activity level. Someone burning 1000 calories for an hour and a half of Zumba using an HRM and eating 500 calories and NEGATIVE nets, even if they are "IF"ing (intermediate fasting), are a red flag with me. That's a recipe for disaster. People just estimating their calorie burns, I don't worry so much about. Certain inaccuracies will add up during the day and so I know they'll be fine.

I also worry about former sufferers of anorexia coming here and obsessing about their food diaries. Sometimes I feel like they are impeding their own progress being here.

I worry about the same (former sufferers of anorexia coming here and obsessing about their food diaries and having their progress impeded).

toutmonpossible

Very sensible. By the same token, it should be understood that some people can't eat as much as others and are perfectly healthy. Not everyone who eats under 1200 has an ED. Sometimes I have the impression that some people are approaching these boards with the presumption that everyone under a certain weight and calorie level is anorexic.

Thank you for saying this. I was getting frustrated, because so many people assume that everyone who eats 1200 calories or less has a ED or is doing harm to their body and/or health. I don't think that is necessarily true. I am one of the people who eats almost daily at a large deficit and sometimes barely eat 1000 calories. I eat two eggs with vegetables or cheese with three tortillas and often fruit in addition for breakfast, east sweet potatoes or rice several times a week and think that in the last 40 days have skipped two lunches because of work.
I eat more healthy food that many people who eat 2000 calories, but drink soft drinks, eat sweet snacks or have other " treats " daily. I don't, because I come from a " no snack " culture.....and..... that makes the great difference I believe; I am 65 and five feet tall. And yes, I resent the crowd who comes down on people like vultures based on the fact that some of us only eat 1200 calories or less without checking food diaries and inquiring why.
I do however absolutely agree with those who want to avoid congratulating those who obviously have an unhealthy relationship with food.
If I can't access someone's food diary I will never comment, and if I comment based on having checked the diary I also usually explain what my comment is based on.

I guess for me, it depends on activity level. Someone burning 1000 calories for an hour and a half of Zumba using an HRM and eating 500 calories and NEGATIVE nets, even if they are "IF"ing (intermediate fasting), are a red flag with me. That's a recipe for disaster. People just estimating their calorie burns, I don't worry so much about. Certain inaccuracies will add up during the day and so I know they'll be fine.

I also worry about former sufferers of anorexia coming here and obsessing about their food diaries. Sometimes I feel like they are impeding their own progress being here.

I worry about the same (former sufferers of anorexia coming here and obsessing about their food diaries and having their progress impeded).

I don't mean to sound callous, but that is THEIR struggle. They have to figure out how to live in the world, the world is not going to conform to them. By way of analogy, an alcoholic should not belong to a wine lovers' forum.