Hello everyone :wave:

For about a year and a half I have been counting my calories everyday. And everyday I make sure that they are under 600. I drink alot of water and coffee, and I'm constantly exercising. I get really bad headaches and have lost about 45 pounds. Everyone is noticing and they can really see it in my face. I get killer headaches everyday but I try to deal with them. And I won't stop eating this way cause I'm not at where I want to be with weight loss yet. Everyone is bringing it to my attention that they think I have an eating disorder because if I go out to eat with them I only get a soup and don't eat it all, or they're noticing it cause I never want to eat around them. But I am eating something!! Is this bad? But its working for me so why should I stop? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

:confused:

In my opinion, anytime food becomes an obsession in any way shape or form it's an eating disorder. To us, food is not just food. We have a twisted view of eating and of what food means to us. To some people, it means strength and happiness to avoid food. To others, food is like an addiction that soothes the mind and provides safety from something going wrong in life. There are so many different forms of eating disorders, but as long as food has taken on a different meaning to you (an obsessive one), there's a good chance you've got an eating disorder. I can go on and on about how 600 calories a day is extremely unhealthy, and about what's going to happen to your body when you start eating a normal amount of calories again (which has to happen at some point or you will die- starvation, lack of nutrients, whatever...), but the fact is it doesn't matter how much knowledge you have about it. We all know what we are doing to ourselves. We know the facts. I work at a health club, amongst personal trainers and nutritionists. And I still throw up my food and starve myself. I know it's wrong, and I know if I don't stop I'm going to die. Just like you know that you're not eating enough. Yes, you are losing weight. Of course. It's simple physics- you take in less calories than you burn and you lose weight. But you know you're doing something dangerous, just like I know I am. Losing weight doesn't have to be so restrictive and so dangerous. You don't have to obsess over food. You don't have to let it control your life. I think you should talk to a professional right away. Believe me, I know it's not easy because you just want to keep losing weight. But you CAN keep losing weight, just in a healthier way. If you don't deal with it now, it will only get worse. One thing that has helped me some is looking through my baby pictures and trying to visualize "little me" yelling at "grown up me" to stop doing this to her. It makes me realize how important my life is and how beautiful a person I am. And so are you. You just have to realize it.

Ditto, what Sara said....
Any time you are making a conscious decision to restrict that low & consciously control when you eat, and what you eat - that is an ED (in my opinion)...it's not a situation where you simply "forgot" to eat...
As far as the headaches go, your blood sugar could be low, as well as u are not getting enough food...when I restrict below 600, I get headaches all the time...what works for me, and may or may not work for you- is to place your meal throughout the day (because I was eating one meal for the whole day). For example, you could possibly eat 200 in the morning, 200 for lunch, and 200 for dinner...that might tie you over and suppress the headaches.
Btw, I don't consider this advice- you seem very set on not changing your ways- this info is just to help with the headaches and if you get any dizziness along with it...

Thanks for the replys. Its good to hear from someone who understands. I was seeing a doctor every month, to help with my anemia (which is probably coming from not eating enough). And I stopped going to the doctor cause I think he suspected something. I don't wanna go back tho. I don't know when this is gonna stop. I'm scared if I get help, they'll make me fat again. This is a big battle for me. A total life change too. My belief is... If I stop now I'll gain weight. And to make matters worse, I am a really stubborn person so I won't change my ways. You could tell me that this we'll make me die and I'll probably say that won't happen to me. I try to spread my calories throughout the day, like I eat half of a banana in the morning, lunch I drink a coffee, I'll have half of a nutrition bar for a snack and then a soup or salad for dinner. If I eat anymore than that I feel guilty. But these headaches hurt so much they make my jaw hurt. I know that you can't make me go to a doctor, I have to find it in myself to go. But how do I overcome the fear, the no trust that I have towards doctors. Scared that they'll make me fat again?

Hi,
I have never suffered from an eating disorder but I am training to be a nutritionist and am interested in learning about eating disorders. I have been ill for many years (10 years) ever since a minor operation with an anesethic that went wrong, this caused me to have an auto-immune disease (dr's are still investigating which one) so I have to watch my food closely (as some foods make my symptoms worse), I don't eat wheat/dairy/potatoes or refined sugar but enjoy my food and don't have an issue with weight. There was a point when I could have had an eating disorder when I was unclear of which foods made me feel worse so I started fearing all foods. I made myself aware of what could be happening and put a stop to it straight away by telling myself that not eating a good variety will have a terrible effect on my body and actually counteract my goal of getting better. Anyway through trial and error the foods above do make me unwell and I am 200% better since avoiding them but I still eat lots of other foods to replace i.e corn, rice, sweet potatoes, tofu, meat, lots of fruit and veg plus I take vits and minerals.

I decided to study nutrition to help people with health issues and want to cover eating disorders but first I have to understand whay people hurt themselves.

Do people with eating disorders start seeing food as the enemy? and that eating foods will do damage to themselves whether it be in weight gain or something else (I can understand this fear of food as I almost went there)
Like they start by dieting then just keep going cutting out more and more foods and convince themselves that this is needed.

What are people with eating disorders trying to achieve? do they have a goal i.e losing weight that they are working towards or did it start that way and spiral out of control?

Are they punishing themselves for a guilty feeling and make food the focus of their attention to make them forget what they are trying to deal with?

Do those with eating disorders that are obviously underweight with bones showing etc genuinely look in the mirror and see someone who is fat or do they see the bones but feel that they could lose a bit more. Is it like a feeling of being unsatisfied and you must keep going?

I really want to understand why people starve themselves or make themselves sick so that I can one day help those people.
I hope I am not angering people with my ignorance but I don't think enough time is spent actually getting to the root of a person's problems......

I think Anorexia and other eating disorders might be a result of a completely seperate problem/issue that manifests itself as an eating disorder and those that cut themselves (I can't remember name of condition)are punishing themselves too just in a different way. It is so hard to not eat and it is really hard to give yourself the unpleasant feeling of vomiting (I have a major phobia about being sick) So what is the motivation that keeps you going?

Why is being fat so scary? I would much prefer to be fat and feel great and be able to do everything I want to in my life than to be thin, unwell, miserable. I am unwell not out of choice I am trying to do everything to get better and want to warn that if you don't eat well you could end up unwell like me and for what? don't do it to yourself stop now whilst you have a chance. I have been studying cell metabolism and I know your body needs fats, proteins, carbs, water in order to function if it doesn't get all these in a good amount it will one day stop working for you.
Thanks Leanne

Hi Leanne

It's great that you want to learn about eating disorders, there is certainly a lot to learn! I suggest you have a read of some of the posts on this board as we are all very honest and open here and you will get a good view of how we feel whether we have anorexia, bulimia, binge eating or whatever. I can say definitely that yes, EDs are a manifestation of a root problem, often unhappiness at school, work or home or some form of abuse...the list goes on. But basically it isn't all about getting thin. It is on the surface but deep down it's a different issue.

Personally, when I look in the mirror I think I am fat. Relatively of course, I don't think I am hugely obese but I do think that I genuinely need to lose weight. According to my BMI I am underweight but that doesn't stop me from thinking I need to lose weight.

Please feel free to ask more questions, I am quite happy to help and I know others will be too! If you can start a new thread that'd be great as this one is for MissTres :)

Speak soon

x J*L x