This is bugging me, and I just have to ask it. For those who ARE overweight, and trying to lose weight, how do they NOT slip into an ED? They count calories, they weigh themselves weekly or what not, they eat less than they used to. They're picky about the foods to eat, less fat, the whole carbs thing, they use diet pills, etc.. Sometimes they fall off the wagon and start over.

Obviously they are always thinking about their weight loss and lifestyle changes, where is the fine line between just dieting and having an eating disorder?? :confused:

Dear EmLittrell,

The way I understand it (and I have been on both sides of the spectrum) is that a diet is a controlled discipline. If an overweight person uses diet pills, it is usually in conjunction with a specified caloric intake daily. There are numerous diet plans out there; some are food specific while there are others that require the intake of liquids(diet shakes, blended juices, etc.) to make their "plan" successful. Dieters can control what they eat, no matter what physical or psycologically emotional situation occur or have occurred in their lives.

A person with an eating disororder may take the same diet pills but will use them solely or combine with them laxatives, enemas, etc. Some will eat nothing at all or very small quatities of food which are at calorically and nutritionally inadequate levels. Others will continuously eat and then purge it. Psychological and emotional factors usually come into play.

Those who have or had an eating disorder are familiar with the terms anorexia and bulemia. Women are the majority and men comprise a miniscule minority with regards to the eating disorder population.

Take care and God Bless.Love and Peace.Forthemasses only.

The main difference is that people who are dieting quit losing weight when they reach their goal weight. A woman who wieghs maybe 140 wants to be maybe 120, she doesn't then change her mind and go for 100 or 85 or 70...

The worlds view of an eating disorder is so messed! Eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes. Not everyone with an ED is necessarily underweight. An eating disorder is all about what is going on inside. CONTROL is at the core of every eating disorder in my opinion. People use bingeing, purging, starving, over-exercising...ect to control and to hide feelings.

It's interesting...My eating disorder actually began as a diet. I simply cut out sweets and started to exercise. Then I stared to lose weight, and it gave me this "high" that I couldn't get from anything else. I started to obsess about food and exercise. Low and behold...ED entered my life. I kept restricting and spending a lot of time at the gym. I thrived off the number on the scale. Before I knew it...I had lost myself.

Everybody has their own story. But it all comes down to letting this monster that we call "ED" control our lives!

The pivetal moment for me was finally seeing that I had a problem. Recovery has been the hardest trial...but it is what I have chosen to do. It is honestly a life or death decision. I hope that we can all continue to focus on RECOVERING. Because no one deserves to live with the crap of an eating disorder! I hope that everyone can overcome this! It is my hope.

It's interesting...My eating disorder actually began as a diet. I simply cut out sweets and started to exercise. Then I stared to lose weight, and it gave me this "high" that I couldn't get from anything else. I started to obsess about food and exercise. Low and behold...ED entered my life. I kept restricting and spending a lot of time at the gym. I thrived off the number on the scale. Before I knew it...I had lost myself.

ahhhh So it be the same situation for me. It took one or two "Ohh, you've gained some weight" comments to make me be like, "OKAY.. I've gotta reverse that!" But being 95 pounds in the very beginning I guess I didn't need to in the first place, and the comment might've been a compliment maybe? I dunno.. but whenever someone talks about gaining weight our first thoughts is it's always a negative thing.

For about a couple months, my daily calorie intake was between 400-600. And then I went on a trip and all you really eat on a vacation is junk food, so I came back with horrible constipation cuz my body wasn't use to that. For about 6 months I ate normally again, not watching what I was eating, until I received another one of them comments (from the same person). Then I got "smarter", and thought, "OKAY...I'll be for real now!"

I used a dieting cookbook that had math calculations in it, and calculated how many calories I needed daily to still lose weight. My total came to 1,100...and ever since that's what I've been stuck on, making sure I get that much at the most. Then it became an obsession..I bought a scale, and so on. I never thought I would ever be obsessed with it...but then from the very beginning I just wanted to lose weight, I never set myself a goal to reach.

EmLittrell

I'm in remission- but relapsed this past week-:eek: and that can occur to a person when in remission as no one is perfect nor is anyone's life. There is a balance of give and take- or you will go bonkers. It is hard to stray from the triggers that set off ones time bombs. This past week I failed my usual system- and didn't apply it.

Your question. I have spent my entire adult/teenage life with an eating disorder; both anorexic and bulimic. Now I am overweight due to psych meds and menopause- I'm 36 but had a hysterectomy due to endo, and now I'm in surgeical menopause- yuck. Messes with metabolism.

Anyway, it has caused me to gain weight due to messing with my metabolism, and causing me to crave carbs. I slowly but surely now weigh the highest I've ever weighed in my life. I'm so ashamed to even type my weight- it is that embarrassing. :( Let's just say, over the edge of the mark of the BMI factor to obese now. Wahhhhh.... by one point. I'm not considered 'normal'.

The dieting-ED factor. The fine line theory is this: One can lose weight with an ED if they are overweight if they stick to a healthy low calorie diet with sensible foods in the basic food groups and have an exercise regimen daily for 30-45 mintues; no more or less/ to cure obsession. And, to do yoga 3 times a week to help aide in relaxation and toning. This was advised by the Nutritionist who specializes with people who have ED's.

If a person then in this situation becomes obsessive about their weight situation, they need to ask themselves questions about what is going on with their weight, food intake, and mental status. It will help re-evaluate the picture of what is going on and then seek medical advice/therapy.

Does that make sense?

The best advice I can offer: Plan out your daily meals and snacks. Drink water sensibly, and limit caffiene. People with ED's thrive on caffiene- and that is a bad habit to start and one to break.

Are you in college EmLittrell? That was the hardest time for my ED. How are you doing right now?

Thinking of you

Coffeegirl

Yeah it's starting to make sense to me now. And d@mn those meds for all the weight gain! Not that it's of any importance, but I'm not sexually active, but when I AM I plan to be reponsible and use birth control. But it freaks me out cuz I've heard so many stories of people gaining a lot of weight when on it, and I just know that if that happened to me I might be even worse off with my ED than I am now.

And it's strange how you mentioned yoga! I was planning on starting that, doing it about once a week. I have a video that my friend gave me a few Christmas's ago as a joke, and I never thought I would actually USE it. lol

I'm not in college. As a whole, I would say my life is pretty relaxed. My life revolves around traveling, really. I work, save up money, and then I fly somewhere to see my favorite bands. lol That's about all I do right now. haha Except now I am saving up money for a car next Spring, I need it veryyy badly so my parents don't hafta drive me around everywhere anymore. (I'm 21) So that's a priority.

Highschool was the worst time of my life. I didn't have food issues back then... well I went through a suicidal phase where I tried starving myself to death, but obviously that never happened. lol But at least back then I didn't look in the mirror at my 90 whatever pounds and think, "God, I'm fat."

i would say from my point of view that people with ed have a lot of control issues that is not prevalent in "dieters thinking". people who go on a diet do it to get to a weight they find acceptable, people with ed may start out as that and then the thing of being in control of the numbers on the scale, measurements, start to take over, nothing becomes good enough. it's funny because my ed started in my early 20's too, maybe that is a tough time in a person's life, my ed really is about control because i also have ocd, another control type illness. i really pray we can all overcome this crap, it ruins lives!!

i would say from my point of view that people with ed have a lot of control issues that is not prevalent in "dieters thinking". people who go on a diet do it to get to a weight they find acceptable, people with ed may start out as that and then the thing of being in control of the numbers on the scale, measurements, start to take over, nothing becomes good enough. it's funny because my ed started in my early 20's too, maybe that is a tough time in a person's life, my ed really is about control because i also have ocd, another control type illness. i really pray we can all overcome this crap, it ruins lives!!

My best friend has OCD, and she eats so little and verryy verryyy slowly. I've suspected for a longg time about her being anorexic, but I just can't prove it. She never finishes her food, and it annoys me. If I buy it, I HAVE to finish it for fear of wasting money. lol

And the 20's suck... LOL

Hello all,

Dear EmLittrell,

My ED began when I was in early catholic elementary school. It was then about body image, control(or better yet, lack of it) deep, emotional, self esteem issues, not wanting to waste my parent's money and wanting a means of escape from family and life in general. The bathroom was visited more than my own bedroom. I kept my feelings bottled up inside.

For years I had it under control until an auto accident that occurred on July 27, 2005. I am still in constant pain, insurance companies are lying; things that are beyond my control. I still find myself eating a lot but try to resist purging and then there are times that I would not eat at all or very little.

Everything that I worked so hard to accomplish(moving forward, disorders being in remission) does not seem to matter at this point(lack of interest and concentration problems).

Take care and God Bless.Love and Peace.Forthemasses only.