To think obesity is an eating disorder? *POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING*

[pinkliquorice]

I don't want this to be triggering or offensive in anyway. If you are stuggleing with your weight or an eating disorder and are likely to be triggered by these discussions please dont read on.

Do you consider obesity to be an eating disorder in the same way as anorexia for example? AIBU to suggest this? Me and my partner have been discussing it all evening

Extra info:
(Being out of the healthy BMI range on either sides is obviously really dangerous and can have numerous negative effects on health and can even result in death.
But why as a society do we view being dangerously overweight any different to being dangerously underweight?
I have struggled with anorexia and bulimia on and off since I was 13 and when I have been severly underweight I have been given support and sympathy not judgement and that is the only reason why I am now better.
When my weight has fallen below a certain mark I have been hospitalised and given treatment to help me return to a healthy BMI, but for someone over the healthy BMI range they are not given the same treatment.
Body positivity is extremely important to me, and everyone no matter their weight deserves to be happy and respected but is there not an opposite to the Pro-Ana movement?
If someone commented on me being underweight and told me I needed to eat, I would go into panic and restict even more as controlling and reducing my weight and food consumption was my comfort, I was addicted to not eating and that took my pain away.
Surely obesity is the exact opposite of this, is it not the case that often when someone is overweight, they eat for comfort and if someone tells them they are overweight and they need to eat less that they eat more to take the pain away.)

Again, I know this is a really sensitive subject and I dont want to upset or cause offence to anyone.

Obesity itself can't be considered comparable with anorexia, as anorexia is an illness whereas obesity is a state or a symptom. Just as being underweight is not in itself an eating disorder.

Obesity can be the result of mental illness or eating disorder, but I wouldn't think it always is. Lots of people are overweight because food is very pleasurable and very easily available. Humans want to eat tasy and caloric food and aren't very good at resisting it when it's available. I guess the disordered element is when people's insecurities/traumas/problems /poor self-esteem make them particularly incapable of stopping their overeating before it does them serious harm.

Obesity, especially being super morbidly obese, is tge opposite end of the spectrum to anorexia, whereby tge sufferer is addicted to eating. In the same way as Anorexia or Bulemia, can be triggered by mental health diskrders.

Eating so much that you weigh 25 plus stone is not normal. One woukd think someone who eats so much, either has an under.ying medical problem or mental health disorder.

My obesity wasn’t due to an eating disorder. It was from being poorly from my fibromyalgia and not being well enough to cook properly. I would eat crisps because I had no energy to make something. My BMI was 44. It’s now 31.6. Still obese but not as bad.

I now have home cooked meals in the freezer along with soups. I can defrost one of those to be able to eat healthily without reaching for crisps or crackers. DH cuts up fruit for me to eat as well now.

I needed a kick up the arse and I got it. But I do have days where it feels impossible but I get there. I don’t just send DH to the chippy either.

I watched the documentary last night and there was so much screwed up thinking that I too indulge in. I too am a complete martyr with so many things and will only buy stuff for me that's second hand (I don't deserve anything new) will eat scraps and limit what I'm allowed to eat (no sugary stuff). Will buy steak for DP but not for myself, I make do with a bite of his.

DP knows what I'm like, when we met I lived on carrots. That was all I'd eaten for 2 weeks, I was turning orange. Luckily I don't have anorexia. I have a binge eating condition that I have had in control for about six years but occasionally reappears when traumatic things have happened. Again luckily I only binge, no purging.

I am a normal weight but could relate so much to the documentary simply because I too have an ED. Just a different one.

Having been at both ends of the weight spectrum-was a mildly anorexic teenager now obese in middle age and mental health issues- I feel anorexia ie looking thin is much more socially acceptable and garners a lot more sympathy and treatment than being obese. I feel constantly judged and hate myself- although I also hated myself when thin.
I use food to punish myself- have never been offered any treatment for this but a fantastic Slimming World consultant did help me loads.

A few things

• Firstly, I'm sorry you've had these struggles in your life. It must be very difficult.
• I think obesity can be connected to an eating disorder. I know and have known many overweight and obese people in my life. Some of them have truly messed-up relationships with food, their over-eating is connected to mental health issues, abuse, etc
• Some people just enjoy their food, don't do enough exercise and it runs away with them (in a manner of speaking) or they don't care - and of course some people have health issues
• It is such a sensitive issue because overweight people are subject to such prejudice in society. People should not be judged for being overweight and I understand the body positive fightback. That does not mean it is physically healthy.
• And finally, no, it's not unhealthy to be in the 'overweight' BMI range, just the 'obese' range. In fact recent research suggests that slightly overweight people live longer and have fewer health issues than people with a 'healthy' BMI.