Fatorexia: Is it a thing?

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Replies

  • distinctlybeautiful
    distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
    Wouldn't the opposite of anorexia involve deliberately trying to gain weight because you think you're too skinny? Maybe I'm splitting hairs..
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited July 2017
    I was very fat. I didn't mind it, but there was no doubt in my mind that I was obese, it just didn't bother me enough to make changes until it did. I don't think these "symptoms" apply to the obese. Obese people know that they are obese. Someone who is overweight with visible extra fat may think they are "big boned" just because they are not morbidly obese. Yes, there are people like that, but it does not cause distress or is a result of some deep seeded mental/emotional issues. Not everyone who is in denial about something has mental illness, otherwise we would have "cellphoneorexia" for those who deny spending too much time on their cellphones, "foodorexia" for those who deny eating a lot, "relationshiporexia" for those who are in denial that their relationship is falling apart...etc. What a bunch of hogwash.

    If they believe "being in denial" is too mainstream of a term, they could use "podsnappery".

    P.S:

    How do you know that term is made up?

    The suffix -orexia has to do with appetite and food intake. Being in denial about being fat has nothing to do with food intake.
  • Marjayhan
    Marjayhan Posts: 59 Member
    "P.S:

    How do you know that term is made up?

    The suffix -orexia has to do with appetite and food intake. Being in denial about being fat has nothing to do with food intake"

    Because there is already words to describe what that person is. Obese and denial, suffering from obesity and conning herself into thinking all is ok,not fatorexia. Caused mostly by addiction to food not focusing on themselves or their health for whatever issues they have in their lives because the food makes them feel good. It's hard to abstain from an addiction to food because you still need to eat in order to live. It looks like the person is looking for an excuse to be pitied in the way she made herself be. And looking to not be judged for overeating. Which leads me to the next word got to do with her condition. Denial. Denial and not thinking you are that big, and seeing a skinny person in the mirror is not fatorexia. I know people in this situation as well. An obese woman i know said, oh! you must be only a size 8! (uk) and i was like ehhh...no actually i'm a size 12. And she said oh i would never have thought that you don't look it! And as i looked at her just generally i noticed this obese woman wasn't wearing big baggy clothes to hide what she was, she was wearing tight real fitted clothes where you could see everything squished and hanging out here and there (and she's absolutely entitled to) and i thought to myself, this is a person herself in denial squashing herself into smaller ill fitting clothes, because she was in denial as to her real situation. If she wore clothes that fit her size she would definitely have to go up 3-4 sizes more.

    As other people have stated it sounds like after she lost the weight she wanted to sell a story.

  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I think people can wrongly perceive the size of their body but that is not reverse anorexia.
    I think how we see ourselves can be complicated and inaccurate at any size.
  • jessiferrrb
    jessiferrrb Posts: 1,758 Member
    Loug1983 wrote: »
    That was a painful read, woman avoids mirrors and pretends she doesn't know she is fat, woman is forced to face reality and then compares her denial to people with a mental health issue.

    I'm sure there are many of us who have not noticed just how much weight we have allowed ourselves to put on. I know even now the person in the mirror doesn't look too fat to me, but the camera never lies so I know full well I still have work to do!

    This. Seeing myself in the mirror, I always thought I looked 'okay'. Sure, I could lose a few pounds, but it wasn't so obvious.

    And then there was this:

    5du3krkqfd2n.png

    Yeah, truth hurts. That doesn't make not noticing it a mental health issue. (I guess a case can be made for not being depressed about my previous appearance because I didn't notice how heavy I was, but it sort of got obvious when I went clothes shopping. And I sure as heck didn't walk into a place like Victoria's Secret or Lulu Lemon and wonder why nothing fit.)

    As a frequent con goer, I want to know who is cut out!

    Eldon "Foggy Nelson" Henson from Daredevil. (And Mighty Ducks, Hunger Games: Mockingjay, and few other things.)

    giphy.gif
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    That's him! <3
  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
    edited July 2017
    Loug1983 wrote: »
    That was a painful read, woman avoids mirrors and pretends she doesn't know she is fat, woman is forced to face reality and then compares her denial to people with a mental health issue.

    I'm sure there are many of us who have not noticed just how much weight we have allowed ourselves to put on. I know even now the person in the mirror doesn't look too fat to me, but the camera never lies so I know full well I still have work to do!

    This. Seeing myself in the mirror, I always thought I looked 'okay'. Sure, I could lose a few pounds, but it wasn't so obvious.

    And then there was this:

    5du3krkqfd2n.png

    Yeah, truth hurts. That doesn't make not noticing it a mental health issue. (I guess a case can be made for not being depressed about my previous appearance because I didn't notice how heavy I was, but it sort of got obvious when I went clothes shopping. And I sure as heck didn't walk into a place like Victoria's Secret or Lulu Lemon and wonder why nothing fit.)

    This reminds me of when I was at a con and got my picture taken with Eliza Dushku. I was feeling like I was looking awesome that day. And then I got the picture back and she looked like a gorgeous pixie and I looked like a sweaty beached land whale. (I wasn't even warm, the light was just hitting me the wrong way!) Now I have a pic with one of my favorite actors that I NEVER look at. It's shoved down in the dark and never sees the light of day because looking at it makes me feel like absolute *kitten*.

    I always look so much fatter in pics than I feel looking in the mirror.

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  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    That's about as rich as what I read here once, that everyone who was overweight must have an eating disorder, because no one who was healthy would eat enough to put on that much weight. So it must be an eating disorder.

    Some people take denial to an artform, and as just desperate to blame something that isn't themselves.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,262 Member
    Are denial, attention/profit-seeking and refusal to take personal responsibility (**) a real thing? Sure.

    Fatorexia? More like a subtype of special snowflake-hood than a disorder, if you ask me.

    But I'm a pretty cranky li'l ol' lady. ;)

    (** "I know I'm still fat and probably always will be . . . .Although I am not promoting obesity, and fatorexia is not an excuse to be fat, it is definitely a reason.")
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,241 Member
    Loug1983 wrote: »
    That was a painful read, woman avoids mirrors and pretends she doesn't know she is fat, woman is forced to face reality and then compares her denial to people with a mental health issue.

    I'm sure there are many of us who have not noticed just how much weight we have allowed ourselves to put on. I know even now the person in the mirror doesn't look too fat to me, but the camera never lies so I know full well I still have work to do!

    This. Seeing myself in the mirror, I always thought I looked 'okay'. Sure, I could lose a few pounds, but it wasn't so obvious.

    And then there was this:

    5du3krkqfd2n.png

    Yeah, truth hurts. That doesn't make not noticing it a mental health issue. (I guess a case can be made for not being depressed about my previous appearance because I didn't notice how heavy I was, but it sort of got obvious when I went clothes shopping. And I sure as heck didn't walk into a place like Victoria's Secret or Lulu Lemon and wonder why nothing fit.)

    As a frequent con goer, I want to know who is cut out!

    Eldon "Foggy Nelson" Henson from Daredevil. (And Mighty Ducks, Hunger Games: Mockingjay, and few other things.)

    Awesome! <3 Foggy!!
  • JessicaMcB
    JessicaMcB Posts: 1,503 Member
    Oh ffs she knew well enough to "choose her clothing carefully" and never use full length mirrors. She knew she was fat and now she knows how to make money off of people desperate not to have to take responsibility for their own shenanigans . Sense-arexia I say :/
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,745 Member
    margeh75 wrote: »
    yea but surely your clothes size tells you , you are fat. I don't know any world where a size UK 18 upwards is a skinny. You may not have scales or mirrors but i assume one still wears clothes, so when your clothes no longer fits you and you find yourself buying size 16, then 18, then 22 you should have the intelligence to know you are putting on too much weight and you have a problem. I'm not fat shaming anyone, i'm just saying be the size you want to be, and if you're not, do something about it, make healthier choices. And if your brain is telling you troublesome things about your body , weight, looks etc then its time to seek professional help to deal with it.

    I don't know about the UK, but in the US clothes manufacturers began 'vanity sizing' - where they changed the definition of a certain size. I wore a size 10-12 for years. When I was 25, I weighed 120 pounds, and wore a size 12. As I gained weight, my size stayed the same. Eventually, at 177, I was still wearing a size 12. That was the effect of the manufacturers changing size definitions. After I lost 50 pounds I went to a store wearing a pair of size 10 pants. I replaced them with a pair of size 6. New sizing. It made it really easy to have no clear idea whether I was fat or not. I still have some ancient pairs of pants that are an old size 10. Even though I weigh 123 now, they are tight.
  • spiffychick85
    spiffychick85 Posts: 311 Member
    I didn't read the article...not yet at least. As a former anorexic, who has suffered everlasting bone density and heart issue from my disorder, I just wonder, did this person think about food day in and day out? Was it a compulsion? Did this dramatically affect her daily life in any way? If no...then my B.S. in Psych says she did not have a disorder of any kind. I was taught that a true "disorder" has to impede your daily life/actions in a relevant way, but it's on daily mail so I will read with caution :D
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
    margeh75 wrote: »
    yea but surely your clothes size tells you , you are fat. I don't know any world where a size UK 18 upwards is a skinny. You may not have scales or mirrors but i assume one still wears clothes, so when your clothes no longer fits you and you find yourself buying size 16, then 18, then 22 you should have the intelligence to know you are putting on too much weight and you have a problem. I'm not fat shaming anyone, i'm just saying be the size you want to be, and if you're not, do something about it, make healthier choices. And if your brain is telling you troublesome things about your body , weight, looks etc then its time to seek professional help to deal with it.

    I don't know about the UK, but in the US clothes manufacturers began 'vanity sizing' - where they changed the definition of a certain size. I wore a size 10-12 for years. When I was 25, I weighed 120 pounds, and wore a size 12. As I gained weight, my size stayed the same. Eventually, at 177, I was still wearing a size 12. That was the effect of the manufacturers changing size definitions. After I lost 50 pounds I went to a store wearing a pair of size 10 pants. I replaced them with a pair of size 6. New sizing. It made it really easy to have no clear idea whether I was fat or not. I still have some ancient pairs of pants that are an old size 10. Even though I weigh 123 now, they are tight.

    This is so true! Vanity sizing is out of control. I just bought a pair of pants in a size 2 (Talbots) - that's insane! I am, at the smallest, a US size 6 (in my twenties when I weighed 10 - 15 lbs less than I do now), there is no possibility I am now or would ever be a 2. It's just ridiculous!
  • RosieRose7673
    RosieRose7673 Posts: 438 Member
    mph323 wrote: »
    margeh75 wrote: »
    yea but surely your clothes size tells you , you are fat. I don't know any world where a size UK 18 upwards is a skinny. You may not have scales or mirrors but i assume one still wears clothes, so when your clothes no longer fits you and you find yourself buying size 16, then 18, then 22 you should have the intelligence to know you are putting on too much weight and you have a problem. I'm not fat shaming anyone, i'm just saying be the size you want to be, and if you're not, do something about it, make healthier choices. And if your brain is telling you troublesome things about your body , weight, looks etc then its time to seek professional help to deal with it.

    I don't know about the UK, but in the US clothes manufacturers began 'vanity sizing' - where they changed the definition of a certain size. I wore a size 10-12 for years. When I was 25, I weighed 120 pounds, and wore a size 12. As I gained weight, my size stayed the same. Eventually, at 177, I was still wearing a size 12. That was the effect of the manufacturers changing size definitions. After I lost 50 pounds I went to a store wearing a pair of size 10 pants. I replaced them with a pair of size 6. New sizing. It made it really easy to have no clear idea whether I was fat or not. I still have some ancient pairs of pants that are an old size 10. Even though I weigh 123 now, they are tight.

    This is so true! Vanity sizing is out of control. I just bought a pair of pants in a size 2 (Talbots) - that's insane! I am, at the smallest, a US size 6 (in my twenties when I weighed 10 - 15 lbs less than I do now), there is no possibility I am now or would ever be a 2. It's just ridiculous!

    Agreed! I had lost a bunch of weight a few years back and when I finally decided to buy jeans (instead of living out of Walgreens jeggings), I originally bought a size 4 (which was roughly the size I was a few years prior at that weight). I tried them on in a hurry because I hate clothes shopping and figured they'd have to fit. Well, turns out they were way to big! I ended up in a size 0! That's literally only 5 years difference from before I gained weight and then after losing the weight! I'm sure I'll just disappear soon with this vanity sizing!
  • InkAndApples
    InkAndApples Posts: 201 Member
    I really hate this trend of adding -orexia to the end of things to try to make them seem more dramatic. Fatorexia as a term is nearly as obnoxious as tanorexia.

    So much ugh.
  • kristikitter
    kristikitter Posts: 602 Member
    -EXIA: From Ancient Greek ἔχειν (ekhein, “to have”), present active infinitive of ἔχω (ekhō), habit.

    So, actually, ingesting a lot of fat would be "fatorexia." Other than the fact it's a nonsense word.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    I didn't read the article...not yet at least. As a former anorexic, who has suffered everlasting bone density and heart issue from my disorder, I just wonder, did this person think about food day in and day out? Was it a compulsion? Did this dramatically affect her daily life in any way? If no...then my B.S. in Psych says she did not have a disorder of any kind. I was taught that a true "disorder" has to impede your daily life/actions in a relevant way, but it's on daily mail so I will read with caution :D

    But it's on Daily Mail so I won't bother reading it at all. ;)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,262 Member
    margeh75 wrote: »
    yea but surely your clothes size tells you , you are fat. I don't know any world where a size UK 18 upwards is a skinny. You may not have scales or mirrors but i assume one still wears clothes, so when your clothes no longer fits you and you find yourself buying size 16, then 18, then 22 you should have the intelligence to know you are putting on too much weight and you have a problem. I'm not fat shaming anyone, i'm just saying be the size you want to be, and if you're not, do something about it, make healthier choices. And if your brain is telling you troublesome things about your body , weight, looks etc then its time to seek professional help to deal with it.

    I don't know about the UK, but in the US clothes manufacturers began 'vanity sizing' - where they changed the definition of a certain size. I wore a size 10-12 for years. When I was 25, I weighed 120 pounds, and wore a size 12. As I gained weight, my size stayed the same. Eventually, at 177, I was still wearing a size 12. That was the effect of the manufacturers changing size definitions. After I lost 50 pounds I went to a store wearing a pair of size 10 pants. I replaced them with a pair of size 6. New sizing. It made it really easy to have no clear idea whether I was fat or not. I still have some ancient pairs of pants that are an old size 10. Even though I weigh 123 now, they are tight.

    Y'know, I lived through that vanity sizing evolution, too, while getting fat and even obese along the way. (I'm 61.)

    Somehow, the fact that my old size 14 was too small (picking a random size here) and my new size 12 fit . . . that left me with a pretty clear understanding that I was getting fatter . . . even if the number on the scale had somehow escaped me (it didn't).

    Yeah, vanity sizing made it a little easier not to fret about gain day to day, but not to know or understand? That would've required a heapin' helpin' of denial on the side.
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    I think I have this... I'm thinking I look good and lean and then someone takes a picture of me LOL
  • Mouse_Potato
    Mouse_Potato Posts: 1,512 Member
    mph323 wrote: »
    margeh75 wrote: »
    yea but surely your clothes size tells you , you are fat. I don't know any world where a size UK 18 upwards is a skinny. You may not have scales or mirrors but i assume one still wears clothes, so when your clothes no longer fits you and you find yourself buying size 16, then 18, then 22 you should have the intelligence to know you are putting on too much weight and you have a problem. I'm not fat shaming anyone, i'm just saying be the size you want to be, and if you're not, do something about it, make healthier choices. And if your brain is telling you troublesome things about your body , weight, looks etc then its time to seek professional help to deal with it.

    I don't know about the UK, but in the US clothes manufacturers began 'vanity sizing' - where they changed the definition of a certain size. I wore a size 10-12 for years. When I was 25, I weighed 120 pounds, and wore a size 12. As I gained weight, my size stayed the same. Eventually, at 177, I was still wearing a size 12. That was the effect of the manufacturers changing size definitions. After I lost 50 pounds I went to a store wearing a pair of size 10 pants. I replaced them with a pair of size 6. New sizing. It made it really easy to have no clear idea whether I was fat or not. I still have some ancient pairs of pants that are an old size 10. Even though I weigh 123 now, they are tight.

    This is so true! Vanity sizing is out of control. I just bought a pair of pants in a size 2 (Talbots) - that's insane! I am, at the smallest, a US size 6 (in my twenties when I weighed 10 - 15 lbs less than I do now), there is no possibility I am now or would ever be a 2. It's just ridiculous!

    This makes me crazy! I weigh 25 pounds more than I did in high school, but I'm two sizes smaller?!?
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