Has anyone else heard how it is common for people with EDs use MFP?

finnthetherian12
finnthetherian12 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss

I have an ed but I am wanting to work towards recovery, and i've heard a lot of ED people use this site/app. Is that true? I'm not wanting to trigger myself too bad on the community tab if that is true.

Answers

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,963 Member

    Hello, I'm so glad you're wanting to work towards recovery. I hope you have good support (and if you have a team, they know you're wanting to use MFP?).

    The community cracks down pretty hard on pro-ED threads and posts and they get reported and removed pretty quick. I'm not sure about the groups, they used to be a lot less moderated than the main community, but they're all pretty quiet these days and I suspect you won't find any pro-ED discussion if you don't go looking for it.

    Over all, in the community, there's a great group of sensible, knowledgeable, helpful people who are absolutely not pro-ED and will jump in to put a stop to anything that starts going that way.

  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,969 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10938592/has-anyone-else-heard-how-it-is-common-for-people-with-eds-use-mfp

    There's a lot of pro ED content on MFP, it's just that the pro ED community has learned how to code it. I.e. "anyone else having trouble managing to eat all of ther allotted 1000 calories?" Or "I weigh 95 lbs, but am still skinny fat! How do I lean out?". Reading do much diet talk on its own can be very triggering for anyone with an ED. Just be aware of your own triggers.

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 7,098 Member

    Generally speaking, I think counting calories is not recommended for people with a history of ED (based on what a friend with an ED told me). So it would make sense that people with an active ED are active on this app.

    • I would recommend asking your treatment team about using this app
    • And as for the community: we do get the occasional ED-leaning posts but it's against the rules to actively promote ED behavior - monitor how you feel when visiting the boards?
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,985 Member
    edited May 12

    Do people with ED, or in ED recovery, or even after they've been in recovery for a while use MFP and similar apps? For sure. Often.

    Is it, generally speaking, good and helpful for their recoveries to do so?

    Let's consider! How many professionals in the field of managing EDs recommend counting calories, or using apps to count calories, as part of the solution?

    Restriction and counting calories to achieve it is often seen as a potential trigger that leads to either ED like behavior, or to the development of EDs, in people who haven't even had one! And this is even more true if they have some underlying susceptibility to (re)developing ED! So that's good two and a half strikes with no ball before we even get started!

    Now I may, or may not, PERSONALLY believe that the act of counting is the central issue in that equation. I may PERSONALLY believe that how one views the act of counting, and what one does with the information and how one views and engages in the activity of counting has a lot to do with the final outcomes.

    But once bitten twice shy! Because once a behavioral rut is already imprinted in one's brain recovery, even after multiple years, is not a permanent cure.

    So how would the people who are helping you recover react if you were to tell them that you're planning to count calories? That should give you the answer you need!

    And I do, really do, wish and hope that you manage to recover and move on to the point where ED is no longer a central theme in your life.

    A healthy life is so much more than that, and I hope you manage to get there!

    And to do so it may be helpful to you to consider whether the (generically speaking) things you've been doing so far in your life are actually helping you or hindered you from achieving health… and whether gradually changing them (and allowing yourself to change them and move on to new things) may be a good strategy to help you move forward.

    Take care and best of luck!

  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,281 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48607357#Comment_48607357

    Maybe. I assume that some of this is trolling. People who are bored looking to get a rise out of the regular posters.

Categories