Eating Disorders and Weight Loss/Gain

Im not telling you my weight or how i starve myself.
Im simply saying that about a year ago i did have an eating disorder and its mainly caused by lack of self confidence.

~Hannah~

well about six months ago i had a eating issue and i lost like 5 pounds in a week eventually dropping me to an extreme unhealthy weight and thought i was still "fat" my mom obviously noticed and told me if i didnt fix it i was going to a doctor person it was completely mental and propably caused by pressure from everybody i was around but i will say i still dont really eat but once a day and it still has effects on my body thats all from a not so long eating disorder so i cant believe what could of happened if i had continued my bad habits

I think if someone buys a pair of stunning jeans 1 size too small, and they say 'I will fit in these in two months' than thats the motivation they need to lose a healthy amount of weight by dieting, not starving.

Weird, yeah.

i think this peom somes up how i fell about them in a nut shell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i absolutely hate how the media force feeds the idea that a perfect body is every thing ! thats prolly y rates of eating disorders have jumped!
its almost like every girl in america between the ages of 11 and 19 hate them selves be cause of the aweful media to resort to eating dis orders to lok like they say girls should look!

beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that's exactly what they always told her.
as a child feeling ashamed of her height and weight she always thought that in older life beauty would be her fate.
she hoped and prayed that the ugly duckling in the mirror would disappear.
being fat and lonely was always her biggest fear.
told to not care what people said.
frankly to be a fatty she rather be dead.
quaking in fear as she looked in the mirror.
the fear was finally real.
she 12 and fat w/out any Friends.
but this is not how her story ends.
she looked in the magazine to see what real girls looked like.
so she starved herself to look like them and them a like.
she would exercise for hours a day.
she would mix diet shakes instead of play.
every weight loss diet she tried with haste.
she tied a plastic bags around her waste.
yeah she was thinner. but she was not a winner.
the pressures of the world of fasion became her only passion .
she finally took it too far.
instead of being the fattest she was now the skinniest by far.
she starved to death in the land of plenty.
and it was all an attempt to look like the girls in Fendi.

Why do people get eating disorders?
well i think it has to do with self-conciousness. if you really super care about what people are thinking of you. i have it the other way around. i mean, i think i'm too skinny so i've tried to gain weight. but if you really think you have a problem you should go to a doctor and see what they have to say about the topic. but mine was about being pushed into it.

Viki.:

Why do people get eating disorders?
If your friends are mostly thin, you'll definetely feel pressure to lose weight. The thing is that they love you for who you are. And maybe boys never ask you out, and you think it's because you're overweight, when in fact he's probably too shy to ask. You think everyone stares at how massively gargantuan you are when you're out in town, when people are probably admiring your top. Loads of people in high school are surrounded by thinner people every day, who may just be naturally thin, and they feel like they have to be like them to be popular.

Yeah i agree with you cos im really thin and am all points and so is most of my other friends ecept for one of them shes about a foot taller that me and shes feeling pressure to lose weight cos we are all thin and she thiks she isnt but shes an average weight and im constatly telling her this but she wont listen and gets reallty frustrated with her clothes saying that she looks fat and stuff.

Also Eating disorders can be caused by family members that you dont like saying that you look chubby and stuff because then it makes you feel like a loser when a relative says that to you.

it irritates me when i see people like my brother, scarfing down whatever, whenever he wants - remaining thin and then me, who if i eat ONE unhealthy thing its like - BAM! sdifrehfweightgainihfuhihfr!!

but im eating healthier now.
and everytime i stick to it, the less i hate myself :]

Okay, I realize it's incredibly irritating that I can't back this up, but maybe a year or so ago I saw a documentary on anorexia and this is what it led me to believe:

There are many forms of anorexia. One psychologist went to this tiny island in South America that was still untouched by Western ideas of beauty. On that island, heavier women were considered more beautiful and desirable than slimmer women. The psychologist interviewed a lot of women, and he found that a small percentage of them seemed to be anorexic, even though they didn't percieve skinny as neccesarily ideal. That's sort of "traditional" anorexia. For whatever reason, these people inherantly reacted to stress by controlling their eating habits (by not eating). It gives them a sense of power of their life, which they need in a time when it feels like things are out of their control. These people need to be broken of a habit and find a new way to deal with their stress so that they don't relapse.

But then there's issues with body perception. This is far more common. A majority of girls have a skewed idea of their body, to varying degrees. You get any group of teenaged girls together, one of them says "I'm so fat," and you've got all the rest of them going, "Ohmygod, no you're not! I'm so fat. My thighs are huge!" "No they're not! I'm the fat one, look at my hips!" and so on. This is caused by the media. If we lived in a society that valued, say, greasy skin, these same girls would be moaning about how even though they never wash their faces, they just can't seem to get as many blackheads as [insert celebrity name here]. Everyone has a need to feel beautiful (and thereby accepted), and so when the media presents us with an unrealistic standard of beauty, we feel guilty, shamed, and upset that we do not reach that standard. We believe that if we could just be as skinny as [insert celebrity name here], we would be pretty, and therefore loved. Some people only take this as far as beating themselves up over their weight, and some people take it so far as to go on crash diets. They become addicted to the weight loss and end up with an eating disorder. They need to be broken of their addiction and taught to love themselves and accept their bodies.

That's my understanding of it. Oh, but one more distinction I thought should be made:

There's a difference between a 'diet' and a 'eating/being healthy'. Diets are usually not healthy at all. They are regime's people go on for a certain amount of time to loose some weight, but they are not (or should not be) long-term (would you really want to eat grapefruit for the rest of your life?). Most likely, you will gain back the weight not too long after quitting the diet. Eating healthy, on the other hand, is a lifestyle decision. It involves eating balanced meals (which include some fats and sugars) and excersizing regularly. Young children (who are not morbidly obese) should never go on diets, because it only makes the obsessed with food and their bodies. But a child making the lifestyle adjustment to eating right and staying active is really a wonderful thing, because it teaches them to value their health over their body image.

[Jeez. I just can't seem to write concisely on this board it's like word vomit]

What do you think is a good way to lose weight?
Do you think it's bad for young kids to go on diets?
Why do people get eating disorders?
How do we help people with eating disorders?

1. I good way to lose weight is to exercise and eat what's good for your body. Maybe join a gym or take up jogging.
2. I don't think children should diet like adults do but there's nothing wrong with eating healthy and burning off food by running around. Kids are kids but what you eat now affects you when you're older. That's the way it is.
3. I think people get eating disorders because of a certain image they are trying to be. Someone with anorexia looks in the mirror and thinks "I'm fat". That's what they see. They don't see what they really are because of this image they are trying to persue. Anorexia and Bulimia are a disease that eventually become fatal without help. It sticks in their brain that they need to lose weight when they really need to just exercise and eat healthy.
4. To help someone with an eating disorder, you need to talk to them. Let the person who has the disorder know you care. Get them professional help or anything that will save them. You have to atleast try. Let them know they are beautiful the way they are and inside is what is true.

yeah im fat i dont have an eating disorder somtimes i wish i was skinny but then i think of my family before i pick up that tooth brush and i put it away i hate my physical condition but i try to love myself but i cant hardly any one likes me so i try to go on i was skinny hell i could have been a child model but now i cant now i could be on a magazine 'hey eat right or youll look like this'and i look at all the girls in the magazine and i cry somtimes wishing wishing that i could be loved and be beatiful like them but i know true beuty lies with in
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this is true about me no lies at all

There's such a thing as being committed to what you look like+feeling healthy, such as getting active and eating the right foods. Instead of complaining, remember that you're still growing.

true true Mari even though they say im done growing

i think you should care about your health!i mean if your over wieght dont think about these very strict diets!just eat healthy and work out once in a while!!girls who think they look skinner and better if they look super skinner are just thinking tooo much about there body fat!!i mean everyone looks beautiful no matter how fat or skinny they are!!but going on these strict diets arent gonna help the person or the body!!!

I blame it on the media, always telling us that beign beautiful means you have to be skinny and tan and perfect hair. It blinds people from true beauty, the kind that comes from inside yourself. It comes in all shapes and sizes. If we were all blind would we care about what we looked like then? Being skinny or gaining weight isn't the way to go, just be happy with who you are, be proud of what you are, and that is truely beauty.

Soda_Warfare:

I blame it on the media, always telling us that beign beautiful means you have to be skinny and tan and perfect hair. It blinds people from true beauty, the kind that comes from inside yourself. It comes in all shapes and sizes. If we were all blind would we care about what we looked like then? Being skinny or gaining weight isn't the way to go, just be happy with who you are, be proud of what you are, and that is truely beauty.

yeah its also the media's fault too!for puting those stupid cheap commericals and shows on how a diet is gonna change your diet from fat and ugly to skinny and beatiful!!its a load of crap!!and its all fake!!those wieght loss pills are foney!!so dont go buying what those infomericals tell you to!!those commericals make you feel wrong and unhappy with your body when commeicals should be giving a possitive message to girls all over the world!!!Dont change your self cause someone tells you to!!excercise eat healthy workout and you will be fine!

What do you think is a good way to lose weight? cut back, just eat a little bit less than u normaly do. dont drink soft drinks. more water n stuff like that. Do you think it's bad for young kids to go on diets? it all depends on how much they weigh. if they r heavy then i think they should go on a diet b/c its not healthy for them. but if they r normal size then no. i kno a lot of ppl that "think" that they need to lose weight and they only weight like bout 130. i dont think that "fat" as they call it. Why do people get eating disorders? i dont rele kno the answer for that but my guess would be that they r pressured by their peers. they think that they have to be little miss skinny minny or nobody will like them. How do we help people with eating disorders? i dont kno. u could talk to them. help them to understand that they r hurting themselves from doin this. its not good for them to do this.

No to diets, and yes for life style changes.

I beleive that the media, society and peers all combined place pressure on body image - especially weight. Often the ideal women gets described as smart, funny and attractive or beautiful.

I beleive eating disorders begin when a person feels ugly or is being teased, so they strive for perfection in the belief that if they are thin their life will get better because of the way they are perceived.

I think we need to start with accepting people with different body shapes and features etc, once we start doing that we will be on our way to preventing eating disorders.

Diets are significantly different than lifestyle changes, and a lot of kids don't understand that.
Diets usually will take something out or add something in to promote weight loss, while lifestyle changes are only having you alter what you already do.

I exercise.
I exercise for my own good.
Nothing wrong about that, huh?
Because I've always been a bit chubby.
But that came to an end of the new year.
I started exercising then, and I'm feeling much better about myself now.
Physichally and mentally.
Even though I'm not satisfied with myself yet, I've got control.
I just exercise to prevent diabetes.
That runs in my family...
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You're beautiful, just the way you are. Trust me [...]