Ever been afraid you'd end up with an eating disorder

2

Replies

  • SeaStar
    SeaStar Posts: 113
    MFP did the opposite for me. I was bulimic from the age of 17 up to 23, though the frequency was less after I had developed 3 abscesses in my throat (terrible, I know). Using MFP helped me gain control and understanding of what I eat and how my body will use the energy. It helped me transform from being a soft, skinny, depressed bulimic girl to focusing on feeling ok to eat food and how important exercise is too. Now I am nice and tone and full of energy.

    I will say at times when I have poor eating days it tends to make me feel guilty; the same guilt I felt when I dealt with my eating disorder. That can be very depressing sometimes, but I do my best to not let it sink in and just enjoy myself and food.
  • keem88
    keem88 Posts: 1,689 Member
    i can't speak for everyone in the ed community, but this site can be very triggering
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
    Seriously. With all the calorie counting, weighing in, and working out have you ever been afraid you may become scale obsessed and/or develop an eating disorder? Some people who who have been heavy all of their life develop one because they become obsessive about keeping it off or don't know when to stop losing.

    I suppose one can go from being a compulsive overeater to becoming a compulsive undereater. But I never was a compulsive overeater, so I don't expect that I will become compulsive about food one way or the other. I enjoy eating and I really enjoy nourishing my body with great-tasting, health-building foods. :smile:
  • SJackson50
    SJackson50 Posts: 282 Member
    I'm not worried about an eating disorder, but I am worried that I enjoy the scale and non-scale victories so much, that I won't be able to stop at my perceived goal.

    After I reach my goal, I will still log in for maintenance and to see how everyone is doing for a while. I've never been "at maintenance" before, so I assume it will take some time getting used to.
  • MrsGriffin67
    MrsGriffin67 Posts: 485 Member
    I already suffer from an eating disorder. I tend to either binge eat or overeat. This site has made me more aware of what I am doing.
  • awesomek001
    awesomek001 Posts: 167 Member
    I already suffer from an eating disorder. I tend to either binge eat or overeat. This site has made me more aware of what I am doing.

    Does the idea of having a disorder scare me? You bet! I consider "eating disorders" anything that has to do with an unhealthy relationship with food. Whether that be over eating, under eating, rapid diets, fad diets, yo-yo dieting, compulsive counting - - - anything that keeps you at a disadvantageous relationship with food is a disorder.

    Yup, I worry about it a lot, actually. Having been larger for my entire life, I know that I don't have what is considered a normal body image, and I can be immensely compulsive about tracking. However, that also works somewhat in my favor - in that I get to see how my choices affect my well being.
  • workavoidance
    workavoidance Posts: 28
    I see a lot of people posting about how they aren't worried about eating disorders... with comments that suggest they already have one.

    Obsessing over eating healthy or "clean" is now a classified eating disorder - orthorexia. Being addicted to excessive amounts of exercised can be classified as an eating disorder. Any unusual pattern of eating ( cutting out specific foods or entire food groups, cleanses, doing cycles of fasting, etc. ) can be classified as disordered eating. Any abnormal preoccupation with food (calorie counting) can basically be an indication of an eating disorder. Being obsessively focused on having an ideal athletic physique is as much of an eating disorder as being obsessively focused on having a super thin one.

    You don't need to be emaciated or throwing up to have an eating disorder.
  • veganashley
    veganashley Posts: 70 Member
    Absolutely. I've been on MFP for 6 months and I've become incredibly obsessive about my logging. I'm maintaining right now and I'm scared of gaining. It's really becoming a problem for me.
  • Kagemori
    Kagemori Posts: 88 Member
    ive been an emotional binge eater pretty much my entire life. when I get depressed or said all I want to do is eat, then I feel horrible for eating which makes me even more depressed which makes me eat even more.

    Lately though its been like a switch clicked in my brain. I eat only 1200 cals a day, sometimes a little less but ive seriously contemplated just not eating at all or eating an extremely small amount of food a day. I think that's where the 1200 cals is coming from cause im actually supposed to be taking in more than that but I refuse to.

    I dunno where im going with this, and I don't know if once I start loosing more weight i'll be able to stop or slow down. I don't really plan on just continuously loosing and loosing but it is a thought that somewhat concerns me.
  • pinkgurl87
    pinkgurl87 Posts: 25
    I used to have an eating disorder and ya I'm afraid of going back to it but I can't stand being fat.
  • JDBLY11
    JDBLY11 Posts: 577 Member
    Double post
  • JDBLY11
    JDBLY11 Posts: 577 Member
    Seriously. With all the calorie counting, weighing in, and working out have you ever been afraid you may become scale obsessed and/or develop an eating disorder? Some people who who have been heavy all of their life develop one because they become obsessive about keeping it off or don't know when to stop losing.

    Not really. I feel just as bad about other types of disordered eating as I feel about overeating so it really is not a temptation. I like to do the right thing with my eating. It is worth it on every level, physically, mentally, and spiritually. I am not tempted at all to be bulimic or anorexic. I think you either have a problem in that area or you don't.
  • metacognition
    metacognition Posts: 626 Member
    I think I'm borderline OCD with my food diary. I love numbers, precision, counting, organizing. It's in my nature, though it probably scares people especially as I get closer to my goal weight. My co-workers likely wonder why a skinny girl is worrying about macro nutrient ratios and meal spacing - they don't see me lifting heavy at the gym.

    I've considered the possibility of getting too thin, but I don't think that's going to happen because I would never compromise my health to look a certain way. My goal has always been returning to normal blood sugar / triglyceride / cholesterol levels, followed by strength and finally aesthetics. I'm going to get continue lifting weights and lose 5 more pounds of body fat to lean up for bikini season, and then I'll maintain that look if it's comfortable and practical. Maintaining my weight is so much easier than losing ! I'm not hungry and my lifts are pretty good so I think it will be fine.
  • trevvian
    trevvian Posts: 9 Member
    Yep, & it's not just me wondering; my friends have asked me the same thing.

    I was bulimic all through my teens & then gained a ton of weight back while in grad school, working full time & going through a divorce. Now I've lost 44 pounds since December & I don't feel good about it. I know I'm thinner, but only because my clothes fall off. I don't see a difference in the mirror at all, nor do I feel better about myself. I do worry that I'll end up right where I left off.

    I'm still 25+ pounds overweight, so I tell myself it's not an eating disorder until I'm under goal weight. (Technically, it's defined as an eating disorder when you hit 20% under healthy, so for me that would be 80 pounds)

    I am definitely starting to obsess, though. Can't sleep until my Fitbit says over 8 miles...the last couple days, 10. And if I gain 2 pounds, I eat diurex like it's candy just to get rid of the water weight. To some degree, I need to have something to hate myself for...
  • kanvas92
    kanvas92 Posts: 7
    help! someone? intermittent fasting?seeking more guidance
  • booker2shoes
    booker2shoes Posts: 50 Member
    I think it depends on the person. As one who has been in treatment for an eating disorder twice in my life, I find MFP to be a healthy way to be conscious of my health, not just my calories. Just yesterday, I was near the end of the day and hadn't eaten enough calories. Seeing the calorie count made me realize that I needed to eat something, so I had another snack.
  • LabMonkeySteph85
    LabMonkeySteph85 Posts: 64
    I do have an eating disorder, bulimia. Using MFP does not really affect anything other than the manifestation of it though. Before I started using MFP, I would throw up to get rid of the cals. Now if I have a binge, I use excessive amounts of exercise to counteract the calorie intake. I figure that it is something I will have to deal with for the rest of my life and I am actively trying to change my mindset.
  • 1223345
    1223345 Posts: 1,386 Member
    Yes. You know I think we get so worked up about every little number that it turns into an unhealthy obsession. It can turn into disordered eating. Here is an interesting article. I thought it was interesting because this is a person who wasn't really worried too much at first, but eventually developed a problem just by doing the smallest changes. It all snowballed into doing something very unhealthy.

    http://civilizedcavemancooking.com/reviews/how-intermittent-fasting-saved-mewhile-slowly-killing-me/
  • 1223345
    1223345 Posts: 1,386 Member
    Nope. Only thing I'm afraid of is waking up one day and looking like an olympic athlete. THE HORROR OF HAVING 8-PACK ABS. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    WOW. You must feel pretty good now huh?
  • slim_photographer
    slim_photographer Posts: 310 Member
    no. Unless eating too much is an eating disorder.
  • FitMrsR
    FitMrsR Posts: 226 Member
    It never crossed my mind and I didn't notice it happening until it was too late and very bad. Just keep aware of your feelings and eating habits and if you find them getting unhealthy, talk to someone. I've been in recovery for 6 months and its still a struggle every day to be healthy and not go back to that place.

    ETA: I used to have such a love of good and eating I couldn't understand how anyone struggled with this stuff. This disease has taken all of that away. Good doesn't even taste that good to me anymore and this is coming from a girl who used to eat a jar of nutella in one sitting without worry. I couldn't resist nutella and I now have had an unopened jar in my pantry for months with no desire for it. So it can happen even if you think you love food, sadly. Not that it will but it can.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    I already had an eating disorder. You don't get fat by having a normal relationship with food. What I'm trying to do now is overcome my disorder.
  • KimberlyDCZ
    KimberlyDCZ Posts: 525 Member
    I think many of us here probably already had some type of eating disorder before joining. I have had an unhealthy relationship with food my entire life. I'm a food addict. Sometimes I think about food as soon as I wake up; and fall asleep thinking about food at night. With any other addiction, you would treat it by giving it up completely but you can't do that with food. We need food. In the 2 years before joining here, I had times of binge eating followed by a guilty feeling, enough to make me feel sick. Then it got worse. I would eat a small portion of something I didn't feel was good for me and feel guilty. For example, a handful of popcorn chicken once triggered these feelings. That's when I knew something was wrong. I never made myself purge, I just felt like I should. I'm sure I was on the path to bullemia. MFP helps me to address those issues. I still have days, times when I'm emotional, hormonal, or angry when I just want to stuff my face until I can't stand another bite; but then I think about what that would look like in my food diary. I will admit that sometimes when I eat enough to get full, I still feel guilty, and I still get that tiny little sick feeling in my tummy, but at least I'm dealing with it now. I don't obsess over my food diary. I enjoy life. I do weigh everyday, but I'm thinking of changing that. I'm taking tiny steps to progress. So to answer the question, NO. MFP is actually helping me get over (or cope with) an eating disorder, not creating one.
  • KimberlyDCZ
    KimberlyDCZ Posts: 525 Member
    I see a lot of people posting about how they aren't worried about eating disorders... with comments that suggest they already have one.

    Obsessing over eating healthy or "clean" is now a classified eating disorder - orthorexia. Being addicted to excessive amounts of exercised can be classified as an eating disorder. Any unusual pattern of eating ( cutting out specific foods or entire food groups, cleanses, doing cycles of fasting, etc. ) can be classified as disordered eating. Any abnormal preoccupation with food (calorie counting) can basically be an indication of an eating disorder. Being obsessively focused on having an ideal athletic physique is as much of an eating disorder as being obsessively focused on having a super thin one.

    You don't need to be emaciated or throwing up to have an eating disorder.

    this!
  • ThriftyChica12
    ThriftyChica12 Posts: 373 Member
    an eating disorder is not something u magically "catch" from counting cals.

    honestly, most of us here probably already HAVE an eating disorder...i am a compulsive overeater with a tendency to binge.

    anorexia and bulimia are not the only disorders, u know.
  • KimberlyDCZ
    KimberlyDCZ Posts: 525 Member
    an eating disorder is not something u magically "catch" from counting cals.

    honestly, most of us here probably already HAVE an eating disorder...i am a compulsive overeater with a tendency to binge.

    anorexia and bulimia are not the only disorders, u know.

    Exactly!
  • agggie550
    agggie550 Posts: 281 Member
    Its human nature to worry about something, the best thing about calorie counting and scale watching, is its one of the few things that we actually have control over. Yes i understand there are a million outside influences that could alter the course, but at the end the day we have full control of it, so its kind of healthy to worry and obsess of it, because there are way to many things that people worry about that they have no control over it.
  • 1223345
    1223345 Posts: 1,386 Member
    an eating disorder is not something u magically "catch" from counting cals.

    honestly, most of us here probably already HAVE an eating disorder...i am a compulsive overeater with a tendency to binge.

    anorexia and bulimia are not the only disorders, u know.

    Exactly!

    THAT is NOT what she even implied. She is saying that maybe one could develop a pattern of disordered thinking or an unhealthy obsession from always keeping such meticulous track of everything. Lets not turn this into something it isn't.
  • workavoidance
    workavoidance Posts: 28
    Its human nature to worry about something, the best thing about calorie counting and scale watching, is its one of the few things that we actually have control over. Yes i understand there are a million outside influences that could alter the course, but at the end the day we have full control of it, so its kind of healthy to worry and obsess of it, because there are way to many things that people worry about that they have no control over it.

    The psychology of anorexia is all about control. So... BTW, nobody has control over anything in life; we just have the illusion of control. A healthy response to feeling anxiety about the fact that you can't control life would be to face that fact.
  • AAllin38
    AAllin38 Posts: 20
    I have an eating disorder. I love food and eat a lot so i work out tons.... lol

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