I dont think I have an eating disorder .....can you give me your opinion please )-:

[skinnymouse]

Ok everyone in my family thinks I have a problem and that Im anorexic. To me someone who has a problem, either doesnt eat, or vomits after meals, and I do netiher of these.

I am about 8 stone, 5'7 (yes my BMI is underweight), I eat 3 meals a day, sometimes binge in the evenings but am never sick just feel guilty and exercise more.
I do exercise about 4 times a week. I think my main problem is that when I look in the mirror I still see a fat person even though I'm an 8/10, sometimes I cant bear to look at myself.

Some advice would be great

[beckybrastraps]

I think if you see a fat person when you clearly are not fat, then you have some issues with your body shape. And the bingeing and feeling guilty bit sounds slightly worrying. I mena, you can't be bingeing that much if you're underweight.

Do you think you have a healthy attitude to your body?

[beckybrastraps]

When you say you still see a fat person - were you overweight in the past?

[skinnymouse]

well I was bigger than I would have liked, not fat to a lot of people but I was a size 12 which was upsetting when I had been an 8 all my life up to that point.

No i dont think I have a healthy attitude towards my body, if I could afford surgery I would definately have some stuff done

[Cappuccino]

I'm a 12/14 and I don't see a fat person

it's all about self esteem and body image

if you can't bear to look at yourself at size 8/10 that's a problem imo

[skinnymouse]

but its not an eating problem though is it? Its more of a body image problem right?

I dont have the ability to see myself compared to other people either, i will look at someone on tv and say to dp god shes thin I want to look like her, and will look at me in horror and say that I'm thinner than her, but I cant see it, maybe because i think I'm fatter than I am, but my wobbly thighs and tummy are not in my inagination

[WigWamBam]

You may not be anorexic but I do think you have a problem. To see yourself as fat when you are a size 8 is worrying.

You sound as if you are over-exercising to compensate for binge-eating, and you also sound as if you have issues with both food and body image.

Have you heard of Body Dysmorphic Disorder ?

[beckybrastraps]

Then I think you need to see someone. Is your GP approachable for this sort of thing? A counsellor?

[DaveOHara]

You 5'7 and you are 8 stone and you think you're fat.. I really think you should see your GP. You are below the 'healthy' range.

Size 12 is not fat and certainly not fat for someone who is 5'7. I am over 11st and size 12, I am around the 5'7 mark.

You are describing slightly obsessive tendencies wrt your weight/body image etc

It would be worth seeing somebody even if it is just to put your mind at rest that you are 'ok'.

Your family must be very worried if they've raised such a sensitive issue with you

[skinnymouse]

i dont think a size 8 is fat, i just think i still look fat. thank you for your advice i will look at the link now

[ernest]

i read somewhere that bulimia is binging and purging (and guilt). The purging is usually, but not always vomitting, Purging sometimes takes the form of laxatives or too much exercise. I guess only you can answer that one, but absolutely 5'7" and 8 stones must be very underweight, so to think you look fat is worrying.

[lulumama]

could be disordered eating as opposed to an eating disorder..certainly not a healthy relationship with food

binging, guilt, ,more excercise....

a size 8 /10 is slender and i guess if you see something different, need to understand why

[isaidno]

What sort of things do you eat for your 3 meals, and what do you binge on?

Do you make restrictive choices because you don't want to put on weight?

[motherinferior]

I think you do have a rather disturbing attitude towards your body and also towards food. I'm not saying this is your fault, but I do think it's something that you should consider doing something about, because I think you'll be happier quite apart from healthier if you do so.

[ruty]

i have suffered from anorexia in the past. I too ate three meals a day at the time, but i restricted my calories hugely and was permanently hungry. When you say you binge in the evenings and then you exercise more, this could sound like something verging on obsessive behaviour, or it might not. It entirely depends on if you really 'binge' or just eat a bit more, and if you exercise a bit excessively or not. And do you restrict your calories a lot? I used to eat, maybe one bowl of cereal with skimmed milk for breakfast, maybe one slice of toast with some beans for lunch, and then maybe a boiled egg with one slice of toast and a diet yoghurt. I convinced myself i was eating three meals a day, and yet managed, with excessive exercise too, to go down to 6 stone. i am 5'7''. I was 8 stone for a long time whilst i recovered, but was still underweight for me, still hungry and still had not periods. Some people are naturally think, some naturally have a bit more flesh on them. If you are menstruating, and your lifestyle is not controlled by your eating or exercise habits, you are probably not anorexic.

[ruty]

naturally think? thin i mean.

[Hulababy]

I think that you do have some issues over your self image/weight and eating. You have admitted to using extra exercise to rid yourself of guilt for eating what you believe is too much.

Your BMI states that you are outside of the healthy zone.

The fact that your family are expressing concern over this is telling IMO. They tend to see more than we do ourselves.

I think that you should go and chat with your GP, even if it is to alievate your worries.

[ruty]

[GPs don't do jack sh*t by the way]

[Hulababy]

ruty - that is not always the case. I know someone who has reently been through this kind of thing - not aneroxia but some form of eating issues. Her GP was very useful to her and helped in many ways.

[ruty]

i'm glad her gp was helpful hulababy. I guess they vary a lot.

[Hulababy]

Cheers; she is much better right now.

[dinny]

do you exercise excessively when you do it?

[skinnymouse]

I dont want to go to my GP, they are good but I dont want to be 'labelled' and I dont think i have a problem.

No i do not restrict my calories at all and eat what I want, yesterday I had two pieces of toast for breakfast (with real anchor butter yumm), then had a big pannini for lunch, and for dinner me and dp had an indian takeaway. Eating like that doesnt make me feel guilty and I dont not eat something because its fatty or unhealthy, I only feel guilty when at 9pm I start raiding the cupboard for crisps and biscuits which is just piggy when Ive eaten a bloody takeaway

[twoisplenty]

I think I am in a similar situation. I am very underweight (hectic lifestyle and many family problems, or challenges shall we say). I eat but not enough, but don't have an issue with dieting, its just lack of time to eat enough. And I feel guilty if I don't eat healthy food because we are constantly told to avoid fat/salt etc etc.

But I also forget that I am thinner than most, and its only when someone tells me so that I remember what everyone must see.

If you are quite honestly sure that you are mentally healthy, then so be it. But you must be really honest with yourself. If there are any doubts about food issues, its much much better to get sorted now than leave it. A stitch in time as they say.

[WigWamBam]

You don't think you have a problem ... but that's true of most people with eating disorders or body dysmorphic disorder. These are problems which affect a person's perception of themselves to the extent that they truly can't see what the problem is.

But I have to say that if you really, truly, genuinely didn't believe you had a problem, you wouldn't be posting here. You would be secure and confident in yourself to the extent that you wouldn't need our reassurance that you were right and your family were wrong.

I don't think you have an eating disorder, but I really do think that you have a problem with body image which, even if it isn't already causing you a problem, is likely to do so in the future. I also think that the guilt you feel over eating is worrying, and is something that is likely to escalate over time if you don't try and get to the root of your body image problem.

Your GP won't label you, and will be able to refer you for counselling to help you understand your feelings and overcome them. But the first thing you need to do is be completely honest with yourself, because if you're not then there's a limit to what anyone can do to help you.

[lissielou]

ime there is a huge difference between having an eating disorder and having an unhealthy attitude to food. i am now 5'2" and a size 8 but am still an anorexic, i hate my body, obsess about food, use it as a weapon and get a buzz out of starving myself. when you say you eat 3 meals, what are those meals like? do you eat them to keep everyone off your back? do you ENJOY eating? do you notice peoples weight 1st?