Eating Disorder?

LegacyUser

bit of a weird one this so please bare with me!

Firstly, sorry for going unregistered but i know a few people on here, and don't really want them to know, if they would stumble on this thread!

anyway, growing up as a child i was always on the "heavy" side, not obese, but certainly not thin. When i was around the 15/16 year old mark, i was obsessed with my weight, weighing myself everyday, eating less, doing lots of exercise. I didn't really get anywhere, so i cut down on food a lot, i could go a few days with barley eating anything.

but there where periods of days where i would eat normally, big meals etc, and this made me feel guilty/worse so i slowly started to get into the habit of getting sick after a meal, this could be 1ce every 2 days, or up to 3 times a day.

The getting sick part only really happened when i was turning 17, and is still going on (im 19 now), i remember one christmas where i literally didn't eat anything, and when i did - i would get sick straight after.

Currently, i weigh around 8.5-9 stone, and lots of people have commented saying i've lost a lot of weight, look very thin.

but the strange part is, i'm not quite sure i have a full blown eating disorder, because there are days where i will eat normally/a lot but then after those days, i would feel very guilty and stop eating / eat very little amounts / make myself sick.

I don't particularly like what i'm doing, but i feel like its my only option and all that.

also not to sure why im posting this, mostly to get it of my chest, and to see what you guys should think i should do?

Im not really in the position to talk to anyone about it, i dont want to bother my close friends as ive bothered them a lot in the past with my problems, my other friends, well they aren't the type of people that i could discuss these sort of things. Ditto my familly, i just cant talk to them about it.

Oh and im a guy btw.

So basically im looking to see what you guys think, do i have an eating disorder? Am i just being obsessive about my weight? What should i do?

Thanks.

dudara

www.bodywhys.ie is a good place to start.

LegacyUser

dudara wrote: »

www.bodywhys.ie is a good place to start.

Thanks will take a look at that.

oh, and i should probably add that personally, i do not see myself as thin, anytime i look at myself i can see problems, but i dont know what to think as people say i look thinner, thin etc, but i think "oh their just being nice".

smiler26

Hi,

Well just before Christmas my sister came clean and admitted she is bulimic. It's a really tough illness, and I know she was a bit mortifiied telling us about it because she felt really silly for doing something consistently that she knew was wrong.

I really strongly advise that yu talk to someone. If not a friend/family, at least go to your GP and talk to him/her. My sister is just married, is 30 yrs of age, and now they've told her that it's likely she'll never even be able to have kids due to this illness. i'm not trying to scare you or anything, I just want you to realise how serious this is.... please get help.

TPD

Rereading your post, im not sure what you mean exactly, but it seems you think you're too heavy.

How tall are you? I'm 18, about 6', and 12 stone the last time I weighed myself. My girlfriend is constantly telling me I'm too skinny.

The Sweeper

eating123 wrote: »

So basically im looking to see what you guys think, do i have an eating disorder? Am i just being obsessive about my weight? What should i do?

OP, being obsessive about your weight and having an eating disorder do go hand in hand. Each is a symptom of the other.

If you are consciously regularly making yourself sick in order to remove food that you have binged on from your body, you are bulimic.

You mention that you have 'bothered' your close friends a lot in the past with your problems. Often times, eating disorders are a manifestation of deeper issues - controlling your eating offers you a feeling of absolute control over something in your life, often when you feel you have control over nothing else. People who suffer from eating disorders are often strict perfectionists who feel like deadbeat failures.

You DO need assistance to get past this in your life, because bulimia can do a lot of damage to your body. For one, you can destroy the enamel on your teeth by being sick every day, and you rob your body of essential nutrients, leaving you wide open to infection and a low immune system in the short term, and more serious heart problems and osteoporosis later in life.

As dudara said, bodywhys is a very good place to start.

LegacyUser

TPD wrote: »

Rereading your post, im not sure what you mean exactly, but it seems you think you're too heavy.

How tall are you? I'm 18, about 6', and 12 stone the last time I weighed myself. My girlfriend is constantly telling me I'm too skinny.

im a little under 6 foot. i dont know what to think tbh, when i i weigh myself i dont necessarily think "oh thats to high" i just think "that can be lower" is you get me?

i just read on the site given above:

Repeated episodes of binge eating, i.e. eating larger than normal quantities of food in a short space of time.
Compensating for binges - this can take the form of purging or getting rid of the food by vomiting or using laxatives.
Other means of trying to ensure there is no weight gain include periods of fasting or dieting, exercising and using diuretics.
Preoccupation with body weight, shape and size.
Self-evaluation is influenced significantly by body weight, size and shape.

thats basically me in a nutshell

I know its bad for me, i know it can cause problems, i know i shouldn't do it, but the guilt takes over me and it just happens.

and about going to my GP, im nervous enough talking about this year, i just dont think i can go talk to someone about this, i stuck really, on the outside i put out like everythings ok, but then when im at home i just get really depressed about everything.

estar

there isnt really a definition of a eating dis-order

you do have dis-ordered eating. you dont have
a healthy relationship with food and use food
as a control mechanism to control your feelings
about yourself

so yes, if you were my friend and told me this story
i would say that you had an issue with food that
was interfering in your enjoyment of life and
development

educate yourself by reading up on it
and learn about the dangers.

it isnt just bad in the moment to make yourself
sick or starve yourself.

you are risking your long term health, ulcers, bad teeth
fertility, depression and your brain is over occupied with all that
thinking about food, rather than all the things you
could be thinking about instead. all those lost thoughts!!!!

therapy can help but 90% of the work is going
to have to happen in your own head

you can be slim and fit and not be putting your health at risk
by following a healthy balanced diet and not skipping meals.
follow the 5-3-3-2 pyramid - 5 fruits and veg, three servings
of carbs, 2 of dairy and 2 of protein for a while and see the change.
include 30 mins of exercise 3-4 times a week. and NO DIET FOODS.
they are counter productive. oh, and 2.5 litres of water a day.

a seving is your cupped palms.

geminilady

you've made your first step acknowledging that you may have a problem, well done. I would check out bodywhys, and maybe speak to your GP? These things escalate wit time so try and sort in out now. Best of luck.

JuliusCaesar

estar wrote: »

oh, and 2.5 litres of water a day. .

A bit off topic, but this is a myth that can be dangerous (google polydipsia or water intoxication)

The 2 litres of water a day is a MYTH:

http://ajpregu.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/283/5/R993 for the summary of a scientific article by a physiologist

or http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2002/aug/080802.html
an article about this for the layperson

Sorry mods.

dudara

JuliusCaesar

Please do not bring up such topics in this forum - they do not belong here