Is MFP a breeding gound for eating disorders

Options
123457

Replies

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Options
    Unless someone is very short (so that 120 is a healthy weight) 1200 is not a reasonable calorie goal.

    I believe 5'4 is still the average height for a woman in the US, and 120 is a perfectly healthy weight for someone of that height. Indeed, it's a fine weight for someone 5'5 or even 5'6, depending on build. Thus, if you want to tell everyone they should eat 10x their goal weight (which seems to me a pretty problematic way of determining what someone should eat--I average around 1700 and have been losing nearly 2 lbs/week, and my goal is 120), then you can't really complain that lots of people are going to eat 1200.

    Given my build, 110 would be a reasonable and healthy goal weight, although I'm probably going to focus more on building muscle when I get to 120 or around there.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Options
    People whose EDs make them fat can talk all day long about how they weigh 225 and ate 6,000 calories that day and the post will be met with sympathetic advice.

    Advice, because they are trying to change this. See the difference?
    Say, "I'm an emotional eater" and you'll get a bunch of Me Toos.

    Yes, I frequently say "me too, and this is what's helped me break that pattern" and go on to give advice, as I think the person wants to change that, not to be cheered on in emotional eating. I would probably say don't beat yourself up, as I don't think feeling shame or beating yourself up over food helps get over EDs of whatever sort, including even just the emotional eating cycle.
    Say, "I had a bad day and ate double my allotted calories and you'll hear, "Oh, you poor thing. Life happens." But say that you never break 1.000 and watch the crap hit the fan.

    See the lack of equivalence here?

    If I said "I'm depressed about a breakup and have no appetite" I'd get lots of help on how to deal with that, like the emotional eating example. If I said "I feel like I don't know what to eat and can't make 1200" I'd get obnoxious posts, yes, but lots of helpful advice too (I try to give the latter, so I know it is given, and I see others doing it too). But if I said "I never eat more than 900 and don't eat back exercise, since I lose faster that way" I'd not get supported and it would likely be deleted. One is a struggle with a problem and one is something else.
    It's only the people whose unhealthy relationship with food makes them skinny that can't discuss it. If your ED makes you fat, you're good to go.

    People struggling with EDs that cause them to lose seem to be able to discuss it. They just can't do so in a way that seems to encourage or enable it, for obvious reasons. This is not a pro ana site.
  • LaReinaDeCorazones
    LaReinaDeCorazones Posts: 274 Member
    Options
    Eating disorders are sad, I agree. When I started on this site I didn't pick up on anything that seemed to "promote" me to eat anything less than the what I entered a my daily calorie allowance.

    Agreed, someone could use the site for that, but I don't see how this is "promoted".

    I didn't say that eating disorders are promoted I said that the tools used to lose weight could be used wrongly by people with eating disorders. I actually said that MFP promotes heathly eating, please re-read my post. FYI the only edit was to change an 'a' to an 'are'.

    You do realize eating disorders were around before MFP and they found ways to do the exact same thing pre MFP right?

    There are lots of places on the internet now where the tools are used to help those who are in the throws of an ED continue down their path...instagram, pintrest, FB (groups) any weight loss site

    pre internet they were more alone perhaps but they still did what they did....
    Agreed I started dieting/ not eating when I was in 7th grade back in the early 90s....long before mfp
  • martinel2099
    martinel2099 Posts: 899 Member
    Options
    I don't believe MFP is a breeding ground for eating disorders, if anything I think this is the place people can go to and learn how to develop a healthy relationship with food.

    I've known several people (including myself at one point in my life) where I thought I would have to do something extreme in order to lose weight, it couldn't have been as simple as just counting the calories. after joining weight watchers then transitioning to fitness pal I found that I can actually enjoy all of my favorite foods just in moderation and make myself accountable for my food choices.

    With calorie counting, you can enjoy all of your favorite foods but you need to practice moderation and be accountable for your food choices.
  • PrizePopple
    PrizePopple Posts: 3,133 Member
    Options
    Didn't read all the replies, but this why there is that warning that people get so pissed off about. You know, the one when you eat under 1200 or so calories and it tells you that you're not eating enough. It's there for this very reason, as a method to deter those with and ED. They can't see how much they might weigh in 5 weeks, so it's one less thing to enable them.

    And that is why people who complain about it usually get smacked down.
  • TeachTheGirl
    TeachTheGirl Posts: 2,091 Member
    Options
    There will always be someone who does something contrary to what's being advertised.

    So I wouldn't say it's a breeding ground, but it might act as a magnet?
  • TheBigFb
    TheBigFb Posts: 649 Member
    Options
    Ifs a breeding ground for anything, its affairs
  • LaReinaDeCorazones
    LaReinaDeCorazones Posts: 274 Member
    Options
    So... by that logic... is babycenter.com where people go to GET pregnant? a LITERAL breeding ground?
    Lolz
  • alyssareyans
    alyssareyans Posts: 88 Member
    Options
    Anything that can be used, can be abused. MFP is no exception.

    Absolutely agree with this. If we started doing away with things just because people abuse/misuse it, then there'd be nothing left. Every inanimate thing has the potential and is probably abused/misused by at least one person. That doesn't mean you get rid of it. You can try to help others but if they don't want help then it doesn't matter what the thing is, they're going to misuse it. But that doesn't mean that MFP or any other weight loss site is a breeding ground for anything. Especially MFP. Posters are consistent in telling people "you're eating too little, go see a doctor". That's one of the things I actually like about this site.
  • Biggirllittledreams
    Biggirllittledreams Posts: 306 Member
    Options
    I don't believe that MFP creates eating disorders. If someone already has one, it might trigger or enable it, but that's not MFP's fault.

    Exactly - if somebody has the genetic pre-disposition for an eating disorder, anything - MFP, Seventeen magazine, etc. - could potentially trigger them. While the content would be potentially triggering, that doesn't mean it's to blame; we need more education about eating disorders and more funding for both treatment & research.

    I have seen plenty of threads on here where people discuss recovery and getting help for their conditions. People with that mentality are going to have it regardless of where they go. At least vocalizing it here would mean potentially getting their hands on resources to recover. What they do with those resources is up to them, but some people are willfully the way that they are.
  • TeashaLorna
    TeashaLorna Posts: 8 Member
    Options
    I am a person with an eating disorder, I own it and MFP is helping me to deal with it. I am in recovery; and this is but one tool in my tool box of recovery. Thank you to MFP for making this program available to me.
  • LiminalAscendance
    LiminalAscendance Posts: 489 Member
    Options
    Ifs a breeding ground for anything, its affairs

    Is there something you'd like to get off your chest?
  • Chibimii
    Chibimii Posts: 16
    Options
    An eating disorder can come from and be aided by almost anything.

    But if you use the site in the way you're supposed to no one should have to worry about it.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Options
    Sometimes I think it's a breeding ground for 'overly ordered' eating. I guess it would actually fall under orthorexia, in a way. But it's obsession with the numbers moreso than the health aspects of the foods.

    https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/orthorexia-nervosa
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
    Options
    10626620_665752840199660_1573662461133835467_n.jpg?oh=3d4585b60561538e58fe59b7f06266e3&oe=54852178&__gda__=1422471326_f3d3d1ee2c1109421f8fe2c7791f8ff8
  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 6,956 Member
    Options


    MFP is a breeding ground for mean people, torso avi's, and bacon.

    The only thing better than bacon, is when bacon breeds with bacon and gives us more bacon.


    And also the other stuff you said is muy true as well. Though I think we need fewer or the two former. Just a personal preference...
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    Options
    10626620_665752840199660_1573662461133835467_n.jpg?oh=3d4585b60561538e58fe59b7f06266e3&oe=54852178&__gda__=1422471326_f3d3d1ee2c1109421f8fe2c7791f8ff8

    I like this, but to be devils advocate your decision making ability may be structured by past experiences and nurture.
  • refinley2
    refinley2 Posts: 52 Member
    Options
    No more than a school classroom, a set of office cubicles, or a walk down any street in America.
  • SteveMFP123
    SteveMFP123 Posts: 298 Member
    Options
    Anything can be used negatively.

Categories