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Shy Dabbler

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I'm considering writing a short story on the struggles on an eating disorder.

I, personally, I have struggled with having an eating disorder.

But, I would like another person's view on it.


Do you personally have an eating disorder, if so, can you explain your story?

Does a family member or friend struggle with an eating disorder? How does that effect you?

Whats your opinion on eating disorders? How should we deal with them?


All of these can be explained through PM's, if you're not comfortable sharing it "out loud".

Your identity won't be exploited.
I have a funny experience of eating too much food when it's all there presented to me and looking so good, then I puke. Something similar is bulimics who also throw up their food.

Shy Dabbler

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GinnyEvan
I have a funny experience of eating too much food when it's all there presented to me and looking so good, then I puke. Something similar is bulimics who also throw up their food.


I would do something similar. I would starve all day, and as soon as I ate a 300 calorie dinner, I would purge it. Did your family know about this? Or any friends? How did it effect them? Was it an addiction?
Cutsie Mootsie
GinnyEvan
I have a funny experience of eating too much food when it's all there presented to me and looking so good, then I puke. Something similar is bulimics who also throw up their food.


I would do something similar. I would starve all day, and as soon as I ate a 300 calorie dinner, I would purge it. Did your family know about this? Or any friends? How did it effect them? Was it an addiction?


The first few times, no one really noticed it, but then it started happening in front of people. I would run to the bathroom and be sick when they were just right there. I don't like to eat until later in the day, around dinner time. If I have more than one meal a day, it seems like a lot of food.

Shy Dabbler

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GinnyEvan
Cutsie Mootsie
GinnyEvan
I have a funny experience of eating too much food when it's all there presented to me and looking so good, then I puke. Something similar is bulimics who also throw up their food.


I would do something similar. I would starve all day, and as soon as I ate a 300 calorie dinner, I would purge it. Did your family know about this? Or any friends? How did it effect them? Was it an addiction?


The first few times, no one really noticed it, but then it started happening in front of people. I would run to the bathroom and be sick when they were just right there. I don't like to eat until later in the day, around dinner time. If I have more than one meal a day, it seems like a lot of food.


When did it stop, or are you currently continuing to purge? My issues are still here, I never stopped. I honestly don't plan on getting serious help until I'm down to my goal weight. As terrible as it sounds.
I am no expert, but if you excercise and work your muscles, I believe your metabolism goes up. In other words, your body will burn more calories. Therefore you can eat and not gain weight. Sorry if I am pointing out the obvious or just being annoying, as I don't have an eating disorder I can't relate too much.
abrasivecow
I am no expert, but if you excercise and work your muscles, I believe your metabolism goes up. In other words, your body will burn more calories. Therefore you can eat and not gain weight. Sorry if I am pointing out the obvious or just being annoying, as I don't have an eating disorder I can't relate too much.
I think most of them know this. I know I did but when my mother said I had to lose 10 pounds in one week to get my computer back, which was my main source of communication at the time, I exercised my a** off and starved myself (and managed to lose enough within the deadline). Most the people I knew with eating disorders exercised too. It just wasn't fast enough for them to just exercise and have a regular diet

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Cutsie Mootsie
GinnyEvan
Cutsie Mootsie
GinnyEvan
I have a funny experience of eating too much food when it's all there presented to me and looking so good, then I puke. Something similar is bulimics who also throw up their food.


I would do something similar. I would starve all day, and as soon as I ate a 300 calorie dinner, I would purge it. Did your family know about this? Or any friends? How did it effect them? Was it an addiction?


The first few times, no one really noticed it, but then it started happening in front of people. I would run to the bathroom and be sick when they were just right there. I don't like to eat until later in the day, around dinner time. If I have more than one meal a day, it seems like a lot of food.


When did it stop, or are you currently continuing to purge? My issues are still here, I never stopped. I honestly don't plan on getting serious help until I'm down to my goal weight. As terrible as it sounds.

And if, during the course of treatment, you started to gain weight? Would you go back to that behavior to reach it again?

Everyone is aware that such behaviors are unhealthy, but do you know how they actually affect the body?
It may interest you to know that anorexia and bulimia deprive the body of nutrition, inducing a lasting state of starvation. In this state, body mass drops as the body compensates for what would normally be gained via food consumption by converting materials within itself into their base proteins; in other words, it begins to break itself down and cannibalize its own parts in order of increasing vitality to the overal system. First, fats are broken down and used to supply energy to sustain vital functions. Next, muscles throughout the body are destroyed for the same purpose. Bones become weak and brittle as their marrow is drained to supply its own energetic content. The flow of chemical energy and nutrients is restricted throughout the body, weakening and slowly deteriorating everything within, including all major and minor organs, even the heart and brain.
All the while, the digestive system enters a specialized state in which anything that enters it is digested more quickly and thoroughly than usual, so that once you do begin eating again, the body gets straight to work repairing all the damage it had to do to itself to perpetuate basic life functions (although in bad enough cases, some damage is legitimately irreparable).

The reason the above question is so important is because, due to the processes I've just described, once you start treatment, you will start gaining weight. It's going to happen and it can't be avoided, so no matter what, you have to decide: which do you value more, meeting your weight goal or preventing damage to the brain and every other part of your body?
You say it sounds "terrible," but in my opinion, that's too easy to say without truly considering what it means. You are literally choosing to induce a state in which your body is, at this very moment, destroying itself in a desperate attempt to survive.
It is your choice, so don't take this as me going out of my way to be a d**k. I just want you to understand the decision you're making here.

Noob

I don't think I've had an eating disorder per se, but I have habitually fasted. I also just sometimes found it hard to eat; I'd get sick and feel overfull and queasy after a nornal meal. I was very underweight for a long time. Now I am just s little underweight. I just have a small appetite.

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British Tourettes
abrasivecow
I am no expert, but if you excercise and work your muscles, I believe your metabolism goes up. In other words, your body will burn more calories. Therefore you can eat and not gain weight. Sorry if I am pointing out the obvious or just being annoying, as I don't have an eating disorder I can't relate too much.
I think most of them know this. I know I did but when my mother said I had to lose 10 pounds in one week to get my computer back, which was my main source of communication at the time, I exercised my a** off and starved myself (and managed to lose enough within the deadline). Most the people I knew with eating disorders exercised too. It just wasn't fast enough for them to just exercise and have a regular diet

That's terrible parenting.
Raven Winter
British Tourettes
abrasivecow
I am no expert, but if you excercise and work your muscles, I believe your metabolism goes up. In other words, your body will burn more calories. Therefore you can eat and not gain weight. Sorry if I am pointing out the obvious or just being annoying, as I don't have an eating disorder I can't relate too much.
I think most of them know this. I know I did but when my mother said I had to lose 10 pounds in one week to get my computer back, which was my main source of communication at the time, I exercised my a** off and starved myself (and managed to lose enough within the deadline). Most the people I knew with eating disorders exercised too. It just wasn't fast enough for them to just exercise and have a regular diet

That's terrible parenting.
yeah, she did a lot of shitty things and was the main cause of my body issues and eating disorder as a teen and even young childhood. She never planned on having a fat daughter and was quite upset about it.
If you're writing a short story they say to write about what you know, so... something mostly based of your own experiences even loosely based is probably best.

That being said as a psychology major I wrote a bunch of term papers on eating disorders and body image, plus sexism... there's a lot of really helpful videos, research and stories out there. But you're looking for the experience not so much the science facts. I'd see if there were any collections perhaps or forums online where people can post... there's a ton of pro-ana and other eating disorders websites (though it's not really a good thing).

I see it largely as a problem influenced by culture and society, I don't think it's something hard-wired into a person genetically speaking-- I think it develops in layers over time through experience with other people and their feedback.

I don't have problems myself but I know it's about my relationship with food and exercise too, not just how I and others perceive me. I'm not comfortable in my body just yet but I'm slowly gaining confidence.
Just cause you love eating lots of d**k, doesn't make it a disorder. (inb4 eating disorders mean you don't eat)

Dainty Doll

I don't and never have, but my husband struggled with an eating disorder related to body image issues and self-esteem for years.

It wasn't just about food, he used to over-exercise; push-ups and a run every morning, run again on his lunch break, then more push-ups and a run again after he got home from work every evening. But I realised I'd never actually seen him eat more than a nibble of fruit or salad here and there- like our group of friends would all go out for lunch, and he'd say he wasn't hungry, or if pushed to get something he'd get an apple, and then he'd only eat half of it.
I now know that this was down to obsessive calorie counting (he'd keep himself WAY below his recommended intake) but he also binged back then, usually at work- when he felt especially low he'd buy a load of junk food like mini pork pies and crisps, lock himself in the bathroom and eat it all. Then he'd punish himself by allotting himself even less calories for the next few days.

He's mostly past it now, it's taken a long time and lot of persistence. But I still see him slipping sometimes, and I need to build him up again- remind him of who he is now. There's little warning signs and red flags to look out for.
I don't know if you can ever be really "over" that kind of thing. It can certainly get better, but I don't know if it ever completely goes away.

Dedicated Squatter

i dont think i have an eating disorder, but i do do a lot of disordered eating, ahaha. mostly ill go throughout the day with no food whatsoever and not much water either. ill have an appetite but i have literally no interest in food. im pretty sure its just a result of clinical depression. then in the evening i eat a ton, and i always feel awful afterward.

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