Have I got an eating disorder?

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Replies

  • AlwaysWanderer
    AlwaysWanderer Posts: 641 Member
    No, my BMI is normal, although towards the top end. Me in the picture is before pregnancy, so i wasn't overweight then. I'd like to get back to that weight.

    I just hate the fact that i cant seem to think about food as sustenance, not obsessing about it all the time.
    Since i posted this i got worried that i wasn't eating enough, and that was just the perfect excuse my stupid body needed. I binged so much last week, its sick. 1500 calorie meals were not an exception. I just cant find the moderation. I cant think, ok I'll have a doughnut, i have to have a whole 5-pack, follow that with a large hot chocolate with cream, and then have an extra large McDonalds for dinner because "I'm starving". I don't tell my husband about my binges, I mostly eat when he's not around and dispose of the evidence :( didn't do any exercise either :(
  • AlwaysWanderer
    AlwaysWanderer Posts: 641 Member
    How did you stop?
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    A lot of people here are obsessive about calories, to the point of weighing every ounce they swallow. I'm not sure if it's an eating disorder or not.

    I think you venture into disorder territory when the choices you're making do harm to your body and you don't stop yourself, whether it's over eating or under eating. If you're obsessive about calories, that doesn't really a whole disorder make. It's just a little quirky. Not something that per se requires professional help.

    Talk to your doctor. See what they say. :)
  • kessler4130
    kessler4130 Posts: 150 Member
    Well is your disorder any different than someone who eats 3 meals a day at McDonalds? At least you recognize you have gained weight and diet back down, however based on the information you do it at a dangerously low caloric intake. Yes you have an issue, but so do half the people on MFP eating 1200 calories a day doing cardio every single day. Unless you are 4' tall and do 0 exercise, there is no godamn reason to eat 1200 calories a day.
  • mandycasey
    mandycasey Posts: 274 Member
    Hi you have described me exactly! I'm alot bigger than u though, but the binging or undereating, the heavy full on cardio exercise or nothing at all!!!!!

    I know its not normal but never thought it was a disorder! My old doctor ( old for a reason lol) told me everyones binges etc!!!!
  • rmbenham
    rmbenham Posts: 1
    Hi Sweetie,
    'I'm no expert, but your behavior sounds erratic and irresponsible to your health. I think it's okay - even healthy - to count calories and think about what you are eating, especially if you are trying to lose weight. Tracking what/how much you are eating over a period of several weeks can give you insight into what and how much to eat to achieve or maintain a healthy weight. Exercise of course burns calories, but I wouldn't think of those burnt calories as something to "eat back." Exercise is essential for strengthening bones and muscles, improve vascular, cardio, and poulminary systems, burning extra sugar, carbs, and fat. And it improves brain function. Exercise earns you "bonus" calories, if you want to think of them that way, but I think of these calories as ways to eat more healthy foods to make up for vitamin/mineral defficiencies, or indulge in a glass or two of wine, or that serving of dessert as a treat for hard work. But I don't try to eat back all that I burned through exercise.

    I would seriously discuss your eating habits with your doctor or see a nutritionist and see what s/he says.

    Good luck.
  • northbanu
    northbanu Posts: 366 Member
    Sorry, I didn't read all the replies, so if this is just more noise, I apologize.

    I'd be hard pressed to take anyone's answer here, on this forum or any other, with anything more than a grain of salt. Specific diet questions, tips, etc is one thing, but a only a conversation between your doctor and close, personal friends that you can trust to be brutally honest, can answer this question.

    Having said that, here's my grain of salt: You may or may not have an eating disorder. But maybe your eating habits are just a natural (albeit not necessarily healthy) extension of your personality. Do you obsess and then lose interest, and then obsess again about other things in your life? Are house chores all-out obsessive clean freak for a couple weeks, and then ignored until it finally bugs you? Get stuck playing online games or whatever until you realize you should set them aside and do something else, only to become obsessed with that something else until it bores you?

    All I'm getting at is that maybe your eating habits are just par for the course, and match up with the rest of your personality.

    The thing is though, if you think that you should change your habits because they are detrimental to your well-being, than seeking the help and advice of doctors and therapists is the place to start.

    Sometimes just wondering if there is a problem is the beginning of real, lasting, healthful change.
  • supersupercoolio
    supersupercoolio Posts: 6
    Okay so I obviously don't really know anything about you but as someone who struggles with bulimia I know some stuff about EDs. To me it sounds much more likely that you have disordered eating rather than an eating disorder. Although it is possible that you have ednos (or osfed but I really hate that word) I think that disordered eating or unhealthy but not particularly severe eating habits is much more likely. How often do your binge days come? Would you say it more of a cycle or are they irregular? Do feel that you restrict to punish yourself for your binges? Sorry, you don't have to answer those but some more information would be helpful to determine whether you have ednos or not.
  • sparklefrogz
    sparklefrogz Posts: 281 Member
    Having said that, here's my grain of salt: You may or may not have an eating disorder. But maybe your eating habits are just a natural (albeit not necessarily healthy) extension of your personality. Do you obsess and then lose interest, and then obsess again about other things in your life? ....

    All I'm getting at is that maybe your eating habits are just par for the course, and match up with the rest of your personality.
    I'm like that, actually. Average lifespan of a new interest or hobby is 3 weeks. :)

    But here's why it could be disordered eating for the OP in my (totally worth what you paid for it) opinion: she feels shame or embarrassment around her eating behaviour, to the point where she tries to hide that behaviour from others.
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    Well is your disorder any different than someone who eats 3 meals a day at McDonalds? At least you recognize you have gained weight and diet back down, however based on the information you do it at a dangerously low caloric intake. Yes you have an issue, but so do half the people on MFP eating 1200 calories a day doing cardio every single day. Unless you are 4' tall and do 0 exercise, there is no godamn reason to eat 1200 calories a day.

    Not to derail this thread, but tell that to MFP:

    Your estimated BMR is: 1,182 calories/day


    If I eat more than 1200 calories a day without exercise, I don't lose even 1/2 a pound a week. And I've proven that to myself by trying it, too, unfortunately. I wish I could eat more and be all slothy and still lose weight!
  • ash8184
    ash8184 Posts: 701 Member
    Go see a therapist and/or psychiatrist. Sounds like you need to get in to a routine that you can stick to and make a lifestyle change. I'm not a huge fan of drugs, but there may be something underlying that can be at least temporarily helped with a prescription.

    I say this because I've been there - almost 400lbs in my mid 20s to 160 at my lowest 18 months ago. Talk to someone; it'll help!
  • micfit9
    micfit9 Posts: 18
    Exercise bulimia (non-purging sub-type)
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    I don't tell my husband about my binges, I mostly eat when he's not around and dispose of the evidence :( didn't do any exercise either :(

    Seek psychiatric counseling.
  • supersupercoolio
    supersupercoolio Posts: 6
    This is what I was thinking but unless she has like at least two episodes a week for several months it is ednos. Also to people telling her to seek psychiatric help: honestly how helpful fdo you think you are being right now?

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