Fatorexia: Is it a thing?

Hungry_Shopgirl
Hungry_Shopgirl Posts: 329 Member
edited July 2017 in Health and Weight Loss
So I just came across the term in a blog post and had never heard of it before. A google search brought this up: dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1267883/Fatorexia-In-mirror-Sara-saw-slim-woman-Just-problem-17st-So-deluded.html

In a nutshell, she describes it as "Though still fat, you think you are slim and exhibit all the reverse traits of anorexia."

Have you guys heard of it before? Do you think it's a real thing?
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Replies

  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    Apparently a made up word in the title of a book:

    http://www.cosmopolitan.co.za/health-fitness/body-health/fatorexia
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    Positive self image? Probably
    Denial? Certainly
    A mental disorder? No!

  • 43501
    43501 Posts: 85 Member
    Hungry_Shopgirl wrote: »
    So I just came across the term in a blog post and had never heard of it before. A google search brought this up: dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1267883/Fatorexia-In-mirror-Sara-saw-slim-woman-Just-problem-17st-So-deluded.html

    In a nutshell, she describes it as "Though still fat, you think you are slim and exhibit all the reverse traits of anorexia."

    Have you guys heard of it before? Do you think it's a real thing?

    I don't know if this is actually the same thing, because it sounds like the article is a mental health issue and not a conscious choice, but it kinda reminds me of the death fatty movement. There are a lot of obese people out there (calling themselves "deathfats", apparently to poke fun at the term "morbidly obese") who take the whole "health at any size" concept entirely too far by claiming that being severely overweight doesn't come with health complications and that all the studies that show otherwise are the works of biased "fatphobic" health professionals who have deeply internalized fat hate.

    I once had a "friend" who was a proud self-described death fatty. She was so large she needed mobility aids to get around because her knees were starting to give up. She absolutely denied the possibility that the weight was the issue and said it was just "bad knees and fibro". We aren't friends anymore.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,190 Member
    I think this minimises the seriousness of anorexia. So she cut the tags out of clothes and never looked in a mirror. Denialist and potentially a bit delusional. She's just trying to sell books.
  • cs2thecox
    cs2thecox Posts: 533 Member
    1) Daily Fail
    2) Clearly promotion for her book

    I'm just proud I resisted the sidebar of shame today!
  • dutchandkiwi
    dutchandkiwi Posts: 1,389 Member
    Daily Fail as mentioned often already Not worth even reading
    Their business model is built on making women feel embarassed about their body harassing women and lying
  • rianneonamission
    rianneonamission Posts: 854 Member
    She's not looked in a full length mirror for years...?

    That's ignorance. Not fatorexia, not body dismorphia, just plain ignorance.

    I actually find it rather distasteful that she (mis)uses those strong mental health terms to describe herself.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    I think this minimises the seriousness of anorexia. So she cut the tags out of clothes and never looked in a mirror. Denialist and potentially a bit delusional. She's just trying to sell books.

    This.

    I do think some people are in denial or have bizarrely inflated egos or the like, but not that it's an ED akin to anorexia.

    And yeah, Daily Mail.
  • chelllsea124
    chelllsea124 Posts: 336 Member
    Um..... what.
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,219 Member
    Body dysmorphia is pretty prevalent in the fitness/bodybuilding world. Heck, I may have it myself, according to my dear wife. I'm 225# at 6'1 and I still see nothing but a skinny dude in the mirror. I still feel like people look at me and are thinking "damn, that dude is too skinny". I'm not kidding.

    I intellectually "know" that I'm not small but what I see in the mirror is something different. It's part of what keeps me going to the gym and lifting. ;)

    This just sounds like some variant - I wonder how many formerly overly "skinny" people, especially men suffer from this.
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    I think calling it fatorexia is insensitive, but body dysmorphia absolutely goes both ways. I believe I experience a mild form. If I didn't own a scale and know my BMI chart by heart I would believe I am much thinner than I really am. I have to take my measurements before buying clothes because I'll buy clothes a couple sizes too small and think they look fine. I've always had a full length mirror and have never been able to see the gains unless they were very large and sudden. I think I'm struggling to stick to my diet after losing 60 pounds, I'm still 80 overweight, because I honestly can't see where I need to lose more weight from.

    That lady in the story sounds a little different though. Like she is cutting out tags and avoiding mirrors because she just doesn't want to believe she is obese. Sounds more like denial to me.
  • susanmc31
    susanmc31 Posts: 287 Member
    kristikitter wrote: »
    I get what it's saying - I would just call it "denial" to be honest. Even "body dysmorphia" is too strong.

    A lot of people 'have' this - they think they're a fine weight but candid photos etc. tell a different story.

    This is me to a 'T', I was in severe denial of my size and if I looked in my mirror I was fine but when I looked in the mirror with someone next to me (eg. at work my co-workers and I were all walking past floor to ceiling mirrors) I am shocked at how much bigger I was compared to them. I just thought I was the same size as them. It was/is total denial. I figured since I went to the gym everyday that the scale was lying - nope it was me lying to myself. I'm getting better now - over 40 pounds lost but still 50 to go.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Exactly that, estherdragon.
  • raquele3394
    raquele3394 Posts: 180 Member
    In 1996 When I was 25 years I experienced that! I was gaining weight but did see in the mirror how fat I was. The only way that I could tell that I was gaining weight was the scale.
  • WakkoW
    WakkoW Posts: 567 Member
    Honestly, I think a lot of us can relate to this a little bit. I know I can.

    But it's just denial and not a mental disorder for the majority. I'm just glad I've always reigned it in before getting too out of control.

  • blakejohn
    blakejohn Posts: 1,129 Member
    normally when I pass a mirror, I take a moment to flex.
  • AliNouveau
    AliNouveau Posts: 36,287 Member
    blakejohn wrote: »
    normally when I pass a mirror, I take a moment to flex.

    You flex your fat?

    Flatorexia makes me think of flatulence but that's another topic clearly. Seems a little ridiculous really. And an attempt to make a name for acceptance. Although I never saw myself as fat as I was, oddly I don't see myself as the shape I currently am.
  • Hungry_Shopgirl
    Hungry_Shopgirl Posts: 329 Member
    Wow! I had no idea that posting something from the Daily Mail would make people not click on it! Pardon my ignorance, I'm originally South American so I don't even know what kind of reputation that site has.

    I ran across the term in this article in a Spanish-speaking newspaper: http://tn.com.ar/salud/lo-ultimo/megarexia-el-mal-de-ser-feliz-con-sobrepeso-afecta-8-de-cada-10-obesos_805490
    But I figured not many would be able to read it. So I just google searched the term and copy pasted the first English-language article I found on the topic.

    I guess now I know better eh?
  • kristikitter
    kristikitter Posts: 602 Member
    @estherdragonbat I have had the exact same moment - "yeah I could probably lose a bit of weight" - and then there was THAT photo that just hit me and it really, really hit home.

    Thank you for sharing, I am still not brave enough to share mine!!!
  • gothomson
    gothomson Posts: 215 Member
    As others have said - Its the Daily Mail enough said. It, along with that other joke paper "The Sun" wouldn't know a fact if it came up and slapped them across the face. Check somewhere else and see if this is the case - you'll not get anyting useful from The Daily Mail.

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