weighing food = eating disorder

124

Replies

  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    My therapist believes I have disordered eating behaviors due to the fact that I weigh all food, do not go over my calories except planned special occasions, exercise to earn more calories, and weigh myself daily. She didn't decide these were disordered eating behaviors until I became a normal weight. When I was overweight it was reasonable measures to ensure weight loss. Whatever.

    Do what works for you. If your habits begin to concern you or others it may be worth taking a step back and seeing if it really is out of control. Do you refuse to eat food that others have made because you don't know the calorie content? Do you experience stress or panic when you are unable to weigh food or yourself? Do you experience anxiety or panic when you go over calories by a very small amount? Do you feel obsessed with food, that thinking about it or planning it takes out a significant portion of your time and has a negative impact on other areas of your life? If the answers are yes, talk to a professional about normalizing your relationship with food. If you feel fine about all those things and are just doing the weighing to ensure accurate portion sizes and nothing more, you're doing exactly what hundreds of people on this website are doing and that's fine.

    I think you need a new therapist.
  • Escloflowne
    Escloflowne Posts: 2,038 Member
    I weigh my food because it's accurate and as a Science nerd...Accuracy is very important to me!!!

    I might have a Science / math disorder!!!
  • Fullsterkur_woman
    Fullsterkur_woman Posts: 2,712 Member
    I weigh my food because it's accurate and as a Science nerd...Accuracy is very important to me!!!

    I might have a Science / math disorder!!!
    That's not a disorder. That's just called "awesome."

    And to be more accurate, I believe weighing your food is more precise, not necessarily more accurate. :bigsmile:
  • lizzyclatworthy
    lizzyclatworthy Posts: 296 Member
    Cannot read whole thread because my phone is pants but I under eat horrifically if I don't weigh food. I don't trust guess work so I.put log loads more calories than I eat.
    My mother has asked me to weigh food at her house because I eat more when I know what it is.
  • Escloflowne
    Escloflowne Posts: 2,038 Member
    I weigh my food because it's accurate and as a Science nerd...Accuracy is very important to me!!!

    I might have a Science / math disorder!!!
    That's not a disorder. That's just called "awesome."

    And to be more accurate, I believe weighing your food is more precise, not necessarily more accurate. :bigsmile:

    This person is awesome! Is that accurate or precise!?
  • Fullsterkur_woman
    Fullsterkur_woman Posts: 2,712 Member
    I weigh my food because it's accurate and as a Science nerd...Accuracy is very important to me!!!

    I might have a Science / math disorder!!!
    That's not a disorder. That's just called "awesome."

    And to be more accurate, I believe weighing your food is more precise, not necessarily more accurate. :bigsmile:

    This person is awesome! Is that accurate or precise!?
    Both, for a given definition of precision. That's why I usually say that "so and so is approximately awesome." :laugh:
  • SpeSHul_SnoflEHk
    SpeSHul_SnoflEHk Posts: 6,256 Member
    I'd like to see her bake a cake if she thinks measuring things is disordered.

    Or bread. Bread is really unforgiving if you get the ingredients out of proportion.
  • SomeNights246
    SomeNights246 Posts: 807 Member
    Weighing food can be a symptom of an eating disorder, but it isn't inherently bad. What makes an eating disorder isn't the habits. It's the mind frame. The habits come after the mind frame, not the other way around.

    I find people are quick to accuse anyone of an eating disorder if they're losing weight. Sometimes, it almost seems as though wanting to lose weight is considered "disordered thinking" by certain people. I just ignore these people.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    one symptom doesn't make a disorder. yes weighing food can be a symptom of an eating disorder, just like nightmares can be a symptom of PTSD. But that doesn't mean everyone who has nightmares has PTSD or that everyone who weighs their food has an eating disorder or is at risk of developing one.

    disorders have a whole bunch of symptoms and come with disordered ways of thinking, and someone with the disorder will have a lot of the symptoms and the related disordered thought patterns. One symptom is never enough to diagnose a disorder.
  • AmandaLY17
    AmandaLY17 Posts: 184 Member
    I'd like to see her bake a cake if she thinks measuring things is disordered.

    I rarely measure things (in the traditional sense) when baking or cooking! (you dont always want to eat what I make however LOL)
  • Cadaverous_Bones
    Cadaverous_Bones Posts: 47
    My therapist believes I have disordered eating behaviors due to the fact that I weigh all food, do not go over my calories except planned special occasions, exercise to earn more calories, and weigh myself daily. She didn't decide these were disordered eating behaviors until I became a normal weight. When I was overweight it was reasonable measures to ensure weight loss. Whatever.

    Do what works for you. If your habits begin to concern you or others it may be worth taking a step back and seeing if it really is out of control. Do you refuse to eat food that others have made because you don't know the calorie content? Do you experience stress or panic when you are unable to weigh food or yourself? Do you experience anxiety or panic when you go over calories by a very small amount? Do you feel obsessed with food, that thinking about it or planning it takes out a significant portion of your time and has a negative impact on other areas of your life? If the answers are yes, talk to a professional about normalizing your relationship with food. If you feel fine about all those things and are just doing the weighing to ensure accurate portion sizes and nothing more, you're doing exactly what hundreds of people on this website are doing and that's fine.


    ^^^ THIS. If you experience those feelings/behaviors then I would say you have disordered eating. If you are just being health conscious and making sure you know how much your eating to lose weight its fine. Eventually you should get to the point where you can eyeball it and not have to weigh your food for the rest of your life.
  • Mexicanbigfoot
    Mexicanbigfoot Posts: 520 Member
    I love my food scale. I actually have 2 of them. I didn't realize how LARGE the portions I was consuming were compared to the labeled serving size. I don't think weighing food necessarily is a sign of an eating disorder. I think you did the right thing changing the subject. As long as you are happy and losing weight, keep it up!! :flowerforyou:
  • kimosabe1
    kimosabe1 Posts: 2,467 Member
    people that are fat & not watching calories will criticize every chance they get. They can watch u drop pounds & stay chubby!
  • Laura3BB
    Laura3BB Posts: 250 Member
    Well I've been maintaining 6 weeks now- and I'm still weighing.
    And I do think it's a little bit obsessive and not 'natural' to weigh my food. I do hope I manage to stop soon, but right now it makes me feel insecure.

    So I think weighing in particular when maintaining, is perhaps not always good. At least that's how I feel.
  • lizzyclatworthy
    lizzyclatworthy Posts: 296 Member

    I find people are quick to accuse anyone of an eating disorder if they're losing weight. Sometimes, it almost seems as though wanting to lose weight is considered "disordered thinking" by certain people. I just ignore these people.

    ^this, a million times this!
    I am getting so much grief from practical strangers (because anyone who knows me sees me eat) after a particularly bad weekend I am so ready to snap with the next person who says it. It's a serious mental health issue, I wouldn't tell them even if it were true. I have friends who have battled it and it's offensive for people to throw it out like its nothing!
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I definitely don't think that indicates an ED. However, for some people (myself included) it could be a slippery slope into OCD. I have loads of OCD-type behaviors and have to be cognizant of that. As a result I do not weigh my food. However, I would consider it if I reached a plateau and believed I was underestimating my calorie intake.
  • 1stday13
    1stday13 Posts: 433 Member
    NOOOOOOO! LOL!Keep measuring,That is what teaches us what a normal portion is!!!!!:drinker:
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    well then I guess I have an eating disorder.
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  • lizzyclatworthy
    lizzyclatworthy Posts: 296 Member

    I find people are quick to accuse anyone of an eating disorder if they're losing weight. Sometimes, it almost seems as though wanting to lose weight is considered "disordered thinking" by certain people. I just ignore these people.

    ^this, a million times this!
    I am getting so much grief from practical strangers (because anyone who knows me sees me eat) after a particularly bad weekend I am so ready to snap with the next person who says it. It's a serious mental health issue, I wouldn't tell them even if it were true. I have friends who have battled it and it's offensive for people to throw it out like its nothing!

    Wait for the next DSM to come out.

    Bet they will call NOT being obese an Axis I diagnosis.

    ha ha ha ha... Well you can diagnose me then! :)
  • ChrisS30V
    ChrisS30V Posts: 157 Member
    Those kind of comments are why I ignore most who try to speak to me in regards to weight, eating or exercise habits. I used to get the whole "U GOTZ AN EATING DISORDER" spiel from family members whenever I would describe how I measured out portions of oatmeal or rice, but as time goes on and I've stayed around the same weight, nobody really says anything.

    I've discovered that, unless you're eating/interacting with a group of like-minded people, any attempt to control portion sizes or be mindful of what you eat is going to be viewed with an air of suspicion, considering we live in a society where that's not exactly the norm. Mix that suspicion with all the news stories and daytime TV specials concerning ED's and it's not too hard to see how ignorant or uninformed people could put the two together and see anything other than mealtime gluttony as a symptom of anorexia.

    Yes, weighing food and weighing yourself CAN become an obsession, just like anything else, but there isn't anything at all wrong with weighing your food to monitor portion sizes.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    This
    Weighing food can be a symptom of an eating disorder, but it isn't inherently bad. What makes an eating disorder isn't the habits. It's the mind frame. The habits come after the mind frame, not the other way around.

    and this
    Do what works for you. If your habits begin to concern you or others it may be worth taking a step back and seeing if it really is out of control. Do you refuse to eat food that others have made because you don't know the calorie content? Do you experience stress or panic when you are unable to weigh food or yourself? Do you experience anxiety or panic when you go over calories by a very small amount? Do you feel obsessed with food, that thinking about it or planning it takes out a significant portion of your time and has a negative impact on other areas of your life? If the answers are yes, talk to a professional about normalizing your relationship with food. If you feel fine about all those things and are just doing the weighing to ensure accurate portion sizes and nothing more, you're doing exactly what hundreds of people on this website are doing and that's fine.
  • belgerian
    belgerian Posts: 1,059 Member
    And people who eat whatever in any quantiites with little or no attention to what they are doing to themselves dont have a eating disorder?
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member

    But it's NOT working.

    Right?

    You admit that you are still morbidly obese.

    And there is one right way for everyone. To say weight loss is different for everyone is a complete cop-out.

    Talk to the next "naturally" thin person you get to know and ask them about their eating habits and hunger and the like.

    Your metabolism and genetics is EXACTLY like theirs.

    They have learned to control hunger.

    So can you.

    This is not intermittent fasting, by the way.

    The point is to get you down to eating two meals a day from three or more.

    The key and first step in weight loss is to be honest with yourself.

    I eat my breakfast everyday...usually about 600 calories worth and I am not obese at all...I am at a healthy range for my size...

    If I don't eat my breakfast I get dizzy, and possibly faint...so you telling me not to eat breakfast..psh

    I tell you to whatever...
  • orlaith2012
    orlaith2012 Posts: 4 Member
    no matter what OTHER people think- you cannot control that ever. what you do is your business. who cares what others think. do what is best for you!!! :) kisses
  • Maryanne1923
    Maryanne1923 Posts: 53 Member
    One of my relatives thinks that I am obsessive because I weigh my food and count every single calorie. I told her that it's the only way I can be sure exactly how much I am eating so that I can adjust the numbers of calories consumed and calories burned to create a deficit so that I can lose weight at a reasonable rate. She said "See! you are obsessed!".
  • Fullsterkur_woman
    Fullsterkur_woman Posts: 2,712 Member
    One of my relatives thinks that I am obsessive because I weigh my food and count every single calorie. I told her that it's the only way I can be sure exactly how much I am eating so that I can adjust the numbers of calories consumed and calories burned to create a deficit so that I can lose weight at a reasonable rate. She said "See! you are obsessed!".
    Yep. Obsessed with doing this reasonably. I can live with that. :wink:
  • cpdiminish
    cpdiminish Posts: 84
    Hahahaha. Leave it to a family member to succeed at saying something insulting under the guise of concern.

    I've never really understood why we are taught to be polite to others but seem to be allowed free reign to hurt those we are supposed to be closest to.
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
    Apparently everything is an eating disorder unless you eat whatever you want whenever you want, in moderation of course.. *sigh*
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    how do you have any concept of what you eat if you never EVER measured/weighed it?

    That is the question to ask-
    really it's none of their business and clearly they don't know anything about it if they are all over weight and giving you crap.

    I would say something along the lines of that and then "perhaps you should try is since whatever you're doing isn't working for you/or since clearly you have no idea the quantity of food you are consuming"

    I hate people who say ignorant things like that- it's so annoying- no patience for such things- none at all.

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