When does healthy eating become disordered eating?
czmiles926
Posts: 130 Member
Is it bad to weigh out all your food and track every single calorie even if you're not trying to lose weight?
If your bmi was just underweight but you didn't want to gain any weight would that be bad?
If your bmi was just underweight but you didn't want to gain any weight would that be bad?
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Replies
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The fact that you are worried about it means it's probably disordered eating or at least on the verge of that. The good news is that you recognize there may be a problem. It might be a good idea to talk to a professional at this point.
https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1575987-eating-disorder-resources32 -
To address your thread title first, I think healthy eating becomes disordered when it either keeps you from enjoying eating, causes negative emotions, or keeps you from doing other things in your life. Like if you feel guilty if you can't weigh your food for a meal, or you refuse to go to a friend's birthday dinner.
Beyond that, I agree with @usmcmp if you are worried about it that could be a sign in and of itself.
Being underweight can be just as unhealthy as being overweight. Eating enough to fuel your body properly is also an important part of "healthy" eating. Please take care of yourself!22 -
Yes. As you are tracking calories for pure weight management. Now, if you were tracking nutrients instead....making sure you get enough protien and not too much cholesterol. Then that would be different.3
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I took the eating disorder screening quiz and it said I was at risk of an eating disorder:( I also use mfp to make sure I eat enough protein as well because I don't eat meat.
I was always underweight but when I first went to uni and made my own meals for the first time I started to gain weight which scared me. I like to control my food but I don't think im that obsessive because some days I don't use mfp (when I'm eating out or at other people's houses).5 -
czmiles926 wrote: »I took the eating disorder screening quiz and it said I was at risk of an eating disorder:( I also use mfp to make sure I eat enough protein as well because I don't eat meat.
I was always underweight but when I first went to uni and made my own meals for the first time I started to gain weight which scared me. I like to control my food but I don't think im that obsessive because some days I don't use mfp (when I'm eating out or at other people's houses).
No one knows you as well as you know yourself, but sometime we (as humans in general) can miss or dismiss warning signs that crop up for unhealthy behaviors. It's a great sign that you're self aware enough to 1) take the quiz and 2) feel like you need to question your own behaviors that may be unhealthy.
I see nothing wrong with counting calories/using MFP to ensure that you're getting enough nutrition and keeping track of your macros. The being scared to gain weight when you're already slightly underweight is concerning though. It hints at a disordered mindset. Counting your macros is a great step in maintaining health, but being scared of moving into a normal weight category is basically the opposite.
Ask yourself (and be brutally honest with the answer), Why am I afraid of gaining some weight? I understand not wanting to gain *too* much, but if we're talking 5-10 pound, which would still be a healthy weight for you, why is that a frightening concept? Is it vanity? Do you feel more in control if you weigh less/monitor your intake more? Are you not sure that you can be healthy if you were heavier? Is it for athletic performance? The answers to that question will go a long way to helping you see if you're developing disordered thinking about weight and/or food.
I wish you good luck, and if your campus has a mental health counselor that you can access may I suggest that you bring up your concerns with a professional?13 -
Only a professional can tell you for sure if you have an eating disorder. If you don't have a mental health professional, speak to your GP and they can help you get started finding one. A GP should also be able to help you figure out if you are in fact at risk and need to see someone.2
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I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I spent most of my life at the bottom of the healthy weight scale for my height. It was mostly my job and my not prioritizing food. I'd skip eating all of the time if I was too busy. That's obviously bad for your health.
You DO need to gain enough to get to the bottom of that healthy weight scale. But if staying on the lower end makes you happy, I get it. I liked looking a bit thinner than I needed to be. But when I'd inadvertently fall underweight, I didn't hesitate to gain a bit on purpose...but keep the very slim look.
But it IS an issue if you refuse to get into the healthy weight range. Since you're not in deficit and probably want to continue to look slim, then add muscle through strength training so that you're healthier and still have that modelesque look.6 -
Healthy eating is the opposite of disordered eating. Healthy eating means that you're eating enough of everything you need every day, but not too much of anything over time. Healthy eating incorporates a relaxed attitude towards food and eating and the way your body looks. It means that you eat food you like, and that you enjoy eating and that you like your body. It does not mean you don't give a sh|t about nutrition or appearance.8
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czmiles926 wrote: »Is it bad to weigh out all your food and track every single calorie even if you're not trying to lose weight?
If your bmi was just underweight but you didn't want to gain any weight would that be bad?
There is no absolute definition/answer. Do you feel stressed/guilty/anxious if you don't log/weigh/measure? Do you feel stressed/guilty/anxious when you eat, even if its a reasonable sized meal? If yes or maybe, it would not hurt to find a professional to talk to.1 -
in my experience, it is when food becomes something you are illogically anxious over, when any change to a plan to eat out or what food is going to be served changes and you cry and scream and refuse to eat because that's not what you planned. when you reward yourself for not eating with more not eating.
an eating disorder or disordered eating is obsessive, illogical and controlling.
please seek help if you feel like this or anything resembling this.2 -
Why did you never come back to your thread OP? lol4
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kat_princess12 wrote: »Only a professional can tell you for sure if you have an eating disorder. If you don't have a mental health professional, speak to your GP and they can help you get started finding one. A GP should also be able to help you figure out if you are in fact at risk and need to see someone.
This exactly. A quiz is not a mental health professional diagnosis.1 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »Why did you never come back to your thread OP? lol
Because *kitten* happened3 -
czmiles926 wrote: »Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »Why did you never come back to your thread OP? lol
Because *kitten* happened
I hope you are well.0 -
It's not always easy to know where the lines are. But you're already underweight and still trying to lose weight, that's concerning. I'd have a talk with your Dr if I were you.1
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Depends on who you ask too. I have friends who think that refusing a free lunch to save calories for the week end is a sign of an eating disorder.
IMO you pretty much HAVE to get close to an eating disorder to lose weight though. Think about it, you have to think way too much about food and plan meals and say no to some things you really want so you don't gain weight. That's definitely not a normal way of thinking about food either.
Bottom line is that if we overate enough to be obese, we probably have another kind of eating disorder in the first place. So obviously we'll have to take extreme steps to fix it. Like I told my friend... yeah, maybe refusing a free lunch seems crazy, but you pretty much have to get close to crazy at times if you want to lose the weight (just IMO, of course).12 -
Depends on who you ask too. I have friends who think that refusing a free lunch to save calories for the week end is a sign of an eating disorder.
IMO you pretty much HAVE to get close to an eating disorder to lose weight though. Think about it, you have to think way too much about food and plan meals and say no to some things you really want so you don't gain weight. That's definitely not a normal way of thinking about food either.
Bottom line is that if we overate enough to be obese, we probably have another kind of eating disorder in the first place. So obviously we'll have to take extreme steps to fix it. Like I told my friend... yeah, maybe refusing a free lunch seems crazy, but you pretty much have to get close to crazy at times if you want to lose the weight (just IMO, of course).
Most insightful comment I have read and 100% true. Thinking about food all the time, measuring and logging by the gram is definitely neurotic to people that don’t do it but it works for weight loss and it’s technically “easy” after you get through the mental part so it becomes your new “normal.” And then you refuse the drinks and pizza during social time with friends because you already ate your allotted calories for the day etc. I guarantee you that when you leave the party, your friends are talking about you. It’s just human nature unfortunately.4 -
fitoverfortymom wrote: »czmiles926 wrote: »Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »Why did you never come back to your thread OP? lol
Because *kitten* happened
I hope you are well.
I'm ok. My eating habits aren't disordered I was over thinking (like usual). I have lost weight recently (not good) and my sleeping pattern and appetite have been a bit screwed up (due to questionable lifestyle choices) but I'm starting to recover.8 -
There is no absolute definition/answer. Do you feel stressed/guilty/anxious if you don't log/weigh/measure? Do you feel stressed/guilty/anxious when you eat, even if its a reasonable sized meal? If yes or maybe, it would not hurt to find a professional to talk to.
This. And unless you are starving yourself constantly or over exercising and under eating you should be fine. I was anorexic for many years when I was young. I didn't eat a lot of the time or only ate a few crackers and water each day in order to keep that number on the scale where I wanted it.1 -
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I think the first goal for you is to gain weight in order to no longer be underweight. Being at a healthy weight will help you avoid problems such as hair loss, vitamin deficiency, and osteoporosis.
Please speak with your doctor about your concerns, and I do think weight gain would be a good start.3 -
Agree with @usmcmp and @kimny72. Also if you ever start becoming "snobby" with others about what you eat and telling them "they shouldn't eating that", is a likely a sign of disordered eating. Oh and you lose friends quickly that way.
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I've seen articles that say... If you answer yes to 5/7 of these, you may have an eating disorder..... Total nonsense
I'm pretty sure it can clinically be classified as a disorder when you do it despite the fact that it is causing you harm, or if you have some type of panic attack at the thought of not having your way for a meal
Examples:
If you leave town for a day or two and literally starve yourself because you have deemed everything to be below your standards... You have a problem
If you refuse to eat because your scale is broken, leaving you unable to track your intake... You may have a problem
If you bring your scale with you to say, a restaurant and are totally embarrassed by the fact that you have to weigh your food but can't help it... You may have a problem
If you purge because you did not track what you ate, you definitely have a problem...6 -
While you have to be consistent, determined and thorough to lose weight, I do NOT agree that you have to come close to disordered eating.
Some of the behaviours may be superficially similar, but there are crucial differences - specifically, how you feel about it. Calorie counting and healthy choices should not be associated with anxiety, and to the extent that they are, you are doing it wrong.
Now, of course we all struggle with this initially, but if you are moving in the right direction, you should see a decrease in that anxiety and a gradually healthier, more proportionate relationship to food as time goes on. Less moralising, less splitting, less worrying, less emotional eating, less self-hatred, less need to fret over every bite.
By contrast, an eating disorder will see an increase in all those things over time, because an eating disorder is not a means of empowering yourself - it is a progressive loss of control.
We should all take note of this and regularly check our feelings and attitudes, because it is true that any weight loss effort carries a risk of developing disordered eating behaviours.
Look at your trajectory. You should see an improvement in your attitude and feelings around food. If it's deteriorating, you need to revisit your approach, and perhaps seek help.14 -
CattOfTheGarage wrote: »While you have to be consistent, determined and thorough to lose weight, I do NOT agree that you have to come close to disordered eating.
Some of the behaviours may be superficially similar, but there are crucial differences - specifically, how you feel about it. Calorie counting and healthy choices should not be associated with anxiety, and to the extent that they are, you are doing it wrong.
Now, of course we all struggle with this initially, but if you are moving in the right direction, you should see a decrease in that anxiety and a gradually healthier, more proportionate relationship to food as time goes on. Less moralising, less splitting, less worrying, less emotional eating, less self-hatred, less need to fret over every bite.
By contrast, an eating disorder will see an increase in all those things over time, because an eating disorder is not a means of empowering yourself - it is a progressive loss of control.
We should all take note of this and regularly check our feelings and attitudes, because it is true that any weight loss effort carries a risk of developing disordered eating behaviours.
Look at your trajectory. You should see an improvement in your attitude and feelings around food. If it's deteriorating, you need to revisit your approach, and perhaps seek help.
Explain to me how eating at a deficit is possible without any anxiety when you LOVE eating and have a social life that often involves food (that you may not have much control over).
Why do you think that people gain the weight back? Because it gets harder, not easier, for most people.19 -
CattOfTheGarage wrote: »While you have to be consistent, determined and thorough to lose weight, I do NOT agree that you have to come close to disordered eating.
Some of the behaviours may be superficially similar, but there are crucial differences - specifically, how you feel about it. Calorie counting and healthy choices should not be associated with anxiety, and to the extent that they are, you are doing it wrong.
Now, of course we all struggle with this initially, but if you are moving in the right direction, you should see a decrease in that anxiety and a gradually healthier, more proportionate relationship to food as time goes on. Less moralising, less splitting, less worrying, less emotional eating, less self-hatred, less need to fret over every bite.
By contrast, an eating disorder will see an increase in all those things over time, because an eating disorder is not a means of empowering yourself - it is a progressive loss of control.
We should all take note of this and regularly check our feelings and attitudes, because it is true that any weight loss effort carries a risk of developing disordered eating behaviours.
Look at your trajectory. You should see an improvement in your attitude and feelings around food. If it's deteriorating, you need to revisit your approach, and perhaps seek help.
Explain to me how eating at a deficit is possible without any anxiety when you LOVE eating and have a social life that often involves food (that you may not have much control over).
Why do you think that people gain the weight back? Because it gets harder, not easier, for most people.
I think you might need to step back a second here and consider that not everyone is like you.
You get to make choices about how much of that food over which you have no control you eat and which of those foods you chose to eat. Everyone serves vegetables of some kind.
I've been negotiating downright perilous food situations for 20 years due to celiac disease. Doing it under calorie limits is a cake walk in comparison.
I also don't agree that you have to become nearly disordered to maintain weight. I watched my late mother in law maintain her weight, and she was thoughful about food. It's perfectly normal. When she wanted extra dessert later, she held back earlier in the day. When she noticed her clothes getting tight, she cut back on her desserts.
ETA: Furthermore, there comes a time where all of us need to confront our attachment to food in order to conquer our issues with our weight. I don't think you've done that. Eating is emotionally important to you for some deep reason. You need to examine it and move past it or you will gain all your weight back.
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CattOfTheGarage wrote: »While you have to be consistent, determined and thorough to lose weight, I do NOT agree that you have to come close to disordered eating.
Some of the behaviours may be superficially similar, but there are crucial differences - specifically, how you feel about it. Calorie counting and healthy choices should not be associated with anxiety, and to the extent that they are, you are doing it wrong.
Now, of course we all struggle with this initially, but if you are moving in the right direction, you should see a decrease in that anxiety and a gradually healthier, more proportionate relationship to food as time goes on. Less moralising, less splitting, less worrying, less emotional eating, less self-hatred, less need to fret over every bite.
By contrast, an eating disorder will see an increase in all those things over time, because an eating disorder is not a means of empowering yourself - it is a progressive loss of control.
We should all take note of this and regularly check our feelings and attitudes, because it is true that any weight loss effort carries a risk of developing disordered eating behaviours.
Look at your trajectory. You should see an improvement in your attitude and feelings around food. If it's deteriorating, you need to revisit your approach, and perhaps seek help.
Explain to me how eating at a deficit is possible without any anxiety when you LOVE eating and have a social life that often involves food (that you may not have much control over).
Frustration, yes. Unrequited greed, by all means. That's part of life. I'm not saying you always get to eat whatever you want, whenever you want it, and we all live happily ever after. Being a person predisposed to be fat, who has made a commitment not to be, is challenging, and it sucks at times.
But anxiety, self-loathing, feelings of moral failure - these should not be associated with food. Food is just food. The restraint needed to lose weight or avoid putting it on should not cause mental anguish or rely on self-destructive thought patterns. That's an entirely different thing from being annoyed because you can't have a cookie.11 -
CattOfTheGarage wrote: »CattOfTheGarage wrote: »While you have to be consistent, determined and thorough to lose weight, I do NOT agree that you have to come close to disordered eating.
Some of the behaviours may be superficially similar, but there are crucial differences - specifically, how you feel about it. Calorie counting and healthy choices should not be associated with anxiety, and to the extent that they are, you are doing it wrong.
Now, of course we all struggle with this initially, but if you are moving in the right direction, you should see a decrease in that anxiety and a gradually healthier, more proportionate relationship to food as time goes on. Less moralising, less splitting, less worrying, less emotional eating, less self-hatred, less need to fret over every bite.
By contrast, an eating disorder will see an increase in all those things over time, because an eating disorder is not a means of empowering yourself - it is a progressive loss of control.
We should all take note of this and regularly check our feelings and attitudes, because it is true that any weight loss effort carries a risk of developing disordered eating behaviours.
Look at your trajectory. You should see an improvement in your attitude and feelings around food. If it's deteriorating, you need to revisit your approach, and perhaps seek help.
Explain to me how eating at a deficit is possible without any anxiety when you LOVE eating and have a social life that often involves food (that you may not have much control over).
But anxiety, self-loathing, feelings of moral failure - these should not be associated with food. Food is just food. The restraint needed to lose weight or avoid putting it on should not cause mental anguish or rely on self-destructive thought patterns. That's an entirely different thing from being annoyed because you can't have a cookie.
Exactly. And if one thinks that anxiety around food is normal, it might be worth taking a step back, and honestly asking if some disordered patterns are at play.
This is part of why eating disorders are *so* taboo in society, and why nobody discusses it. Everyone thinks that you need to act or be a certain way, or that people with EDs are a certain profile... when the reality is that while not every behavior is an eating disorder, it's a lot more prevalent and a lot different than what you'd think.
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But again, everyone is so quick to tell people that they have an eating disorder if they are too thin or watch calories, yet being 100 lbs overweight is nornal.3
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I think it's the other way around. If you're going to succeed with weight management, it can't be a struggle. My love for food has matured (if that is an appropriate word) as food became more of a "limited resource" - instead of eating as much as possible, of anything, anytime I could (that is, whenever I couldn't help myself, or nobody was watching), I pick reasonable amounts of my favorite items, and never feel ashamed, guilty, or like I'm losing control. This goes hand in hand with being more assertive - I don't accept every offer of food anymore, and with being more confident - if none of the foods offered are good enough, I can wait until I find something I want to eat. Not being afraid means I'm also becoming more flexible, so a wider range of foods are indeed acceptable. For me, it's getting easier.CattOfTheGarage wrote: »While you have to be consistent, determined and thorough to lose weight, I do NOT agree that you have to come close to disordered eating.
Some of the behaviours may be superficially similar, but there are crucial differences - specifically, how you feel about it. Calorie counting and healthy choices should not be associated with anxiety, and to the extent that they are, you are doing it wrong.
Now, of course we all struggle with this initially, but if you are moving in the right direction, you should see a decrease in that anxiety and a gradually healthier, more proportionate relationship to food as time goes on. Less moralising, less splitting, less worrying, less emotional eating, less self-hatred, less need to fret over every bite.
By contrast, an eating disorder will see an increase in all those things over time, because an eating disorder is not a means of empowering yourself - it is a progressive loss of control.
We should all take note of this and regularly check our feelings and attitudes, because it is true that any weight loss effort carries a risk of developing disordered eating behaviours.
Look at your trajectory. You should see an improvement in your attitude and feelings around food. If it's deteriorating, you need to revisit your approach, and perhaps seek help.
Explain to me how eating at a deficit is possible without any anxiety when you LOVE eating and have a social life that often involves food (that you may not have much control over).
Why do you think that people gain the weight back? Because it gets harder, not easier, for most people.12
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