Did you know overweight and skinny same root eating disorder

amother

Tue, Mar 26 2024, 11:11 am

I often wonder if overweight women realize that some thinner women with good figure, struggle with eating disorder? While you reach for food when you feel stressed or other emotions, I struggle by being unable to put food in my mouth when emotions are difficult. While you see me in the clothing store looking great in every dress, I struggle with the way I see myself in them.

I often want to ask women irl if they know that we have similar inner struggle but it acts out in opposite ways, but I can't so I'm asking you here.

amother

Milk

Tue, Mar 26 2024, 11:53 am

With all of the information about eating disorders out there I bet they are aware . But anorexia is glamorized and binge-eating is not…. My guess is most people would probably rather have your “problem”.

amother

Sunflower

Tue, Mar 26 2024, 11:58 am

I once read a book about a person with an eating disorder. It described in detail how sick the person was when it came to food. This person was extremely underweight and suffering terribly.
At the time, I was a little overweight. Reading the book and learning how to have a healthy relationship with food really helped me to start losing weight. Even though we were dealing with different issues it all came down to having an unhealthy relationship with food and not being at a healthy weight.

amother

Tue, Mar 26 2024, 12:26 pm

amother Milk wrote:

You made me smile, a sad reality as I can hide my eating disorder.

amother

Tue, Mar 26 2024, 12:30 pm

amother Sunflower wrote:

Well said!

amother

Trillium

Tue, Mar 26 2024, 12:35 pm

As a usually thin person, I hate feeling like I'm under a magnifying glass. After years of people making me feel like my skinniness is the greatest thing about me, now I'm post late miscarriage and have a round stomach that won't go away and there's nowhere to hide it. I can't stop stuffing my face with treats whenever I feel sad. I spend a lot of time eating and crying, then looking in the mirror and crying some more. If people see me they'll probably ask me when I'm due. You might say it's in my head, but the skinny people in my life have this awful habit of telling each other how lucky they are not to gain weight, or how glad they were that so and so was pregnant and hadn't just "let herself go". When you hear these things and then you're not perfectly thin anymore, you know they'll be thinking it.

I've never noticed when an overweight person has put on some extra weight or lost a little weight, only when it's a big change. For me I feel like every tiny bump on my stomach is something people will stare at or comment on, or make assumptions based on.

amother

Opal

Tue, Mar 26 2024, 12:37 pm

amother Trillium wrote:

Trust me most people don't notice it like you do.

Those people in your life sound awful, I'm sorry.

amother

Pistachio

Tue, Mar 26 2024, 12:46 pm

"Overweight" if we mean BMI 26 or so, is a useless concept as these people are just as healthy on average as "normal" BMI people. Once it gets to obesity it is unhealthy.

"Skinny" is not the same as "underweight" which is not the same as "anorexic". Anorexia is an eating disorder. It is unusual for people over 20 years old in developed countries to be underweight (under BMI 18.5) but it can be because they have a non-eating-disorder illness, or they can just be underweight without being sick. "Skinny" means different things to different people, but many would consider a person with BMI 20 to be "skinny", and that's not underweight or unhealthy.

amother

Hotpink

Tue, Mar 26 2024, 12:54 pm

Many overweight people dont have a disorder.

Im overweight due to gentics and hormones from fertility treatments. Once I gained the weight, I cant seem to get rid of it but my eating habits are fine. I eat betweek 1500 and 2000 calories a day, drink water, and dont binge.

Its a very skinny person mentality to talk about this issue as purely about eating more or less. Most people who struggle with being overweight know that eating habits are only part of the picture.

amother

Violet

Tue, Mar 26 2024, 3:03 pm

So many times over the years I wished I could have the will power of an anorexic person. If I'm going to be sick because of an eating disorder why did it have to be binging why couldn't it be anorexia?

amother

Hotpink

Tue, Mar 26 2024, 3:57 pm

amother Violet wrote:

Just saying, being overweight will kill you slower than anorexia.

amother

Trillium

Tue, Mar 26 2024, 4:19 pm

amother Opal wrote:

Trust me most people don't notice it like you do.

Those people in your life sound awful, I'm sorry.

They're the sweetest nicest most eidel people, they just speak like that to people they think also have "skinny privilege", but one never knows how secure anyone is about their own body image.