Or is the competitive under eating on mumsnet harmful?

[foreverlobsters]

Full disclaimer- I have a history of eating disorders myself so am possibly over sensitive to this.

Have been reading through another currently active thread as well as what we eat in a day etc (which I occasionally post on and do find interesting). Why do people feel the need to post about their extremely low calorie days on here, or give potentially harmful advice? What's the incentive exactly- and are these people lying about how much they really eat or is most of the mumsnet population in an extreme calorie deficit? Do these people not see how selfish and damaging these posts can be?

@Mynameismargot

Yanbu. There was a thread the other day where someone said they have a bmi of 18 and regularly don't eat for 24hrs and lots of posters chimed in with the usual people just don't know what healthy bodies look like anymore, people are just jealous because you are slim, you sound perfectly healthy to me

Given the rate of disordered eating amongst women, I don't think that it is particularly surprising though that it rears it head a lot on mumsnet. I think a lot of them don't even recognise(or perhaps want to?) that they have disordered eating so don't actually understand how harmful their posts are.

God I'm under weight have a BMI of 17/18 and if I didn't eat for 24 hours I'd pass out! I can't cope with missing breakfast let alone not eating all day!

Anyone who has any idea how many calories there are in their home cooked meals has a problem. You would have go to a lot of trouble to work out, for example, how many calories in a serving of the aubergine parmigiano I made for dinner.

A lot of the posters will have eating issues etc and their posts are a reflection of that.

Some will be not telling the truth but enjoying the potential upset their posts cause other women.

The very peculiar ideas about what should not be eaten expose that they're not being rational.

There's also the fact that the recommendations always seem so joyless. You can diet without living on gruel and air. I love food and I did it.

And the omg 2 breakfasts thing is irrational.

But 1200 calories isn’t that few for a smallish woman who wants to lose weight? I’m 5’8” so not small and my TDEE is approx 1,650, so if I wanted to lose weight without exercising I’d need to stick to 1200 calories. As it is, I like food too much, so I do plenty of exercise instead, but could still only eat 1500 calories if I wanted to lose weight rather than maintain. Most people do eat too much. Quite a lot of people eat a lot too much.

Everybody burns at least 1500 calories even if they're in a bloody coma.

This is the kind of blatant misinformation that is damaging. My DM is 5ft3, 8st and mid 60s. If she doesn't make a conscious effort to work out for 30mins+, say on a weekend where she might have a lazy day, her fitbit will barely clear 1000 calories burned for the whole day.

I'm 30 years younger, 3inches taller and 2st heavier, and after a recent duvet day this week when I did less than 200 steps, I'd burned 1350.

And before anyone tries to say fitbits aren't that accurate or whatever, I'd argue they're more accurate than a stranger spouting "facts" on the Internet.

@Yogsgirl

Anyone who has any idea how many calories there are in their home cooked meals has a problem. You would have go to a lot of trouble to work out, for example, how many calories in a serving of the aubergine parmigiano I made for dinner.

On my fitness Pal you can choose home cooked and portion size.. No it won't be accurate but prob ball park.

The only way to do it to the nth degree without spending loads of time totting up ingredients would be to buy pre packaged which is not a good result!

I have read with interest.

My personal views is that 90% are w load of bollocks.

I could sit here right now and tell you I’m a size 6 and subsist on Coke Zero and 20 cigs a day and you’d have no choice but to believe it because this is completely anonymous.

I don’t know anybody in real life who eats so little / is so thin and I have lots of friends and acquaintances. It’s a load of rubbish.

Kanaloa don't forget that your body goes into starvation mode if you have a few days of cutting out the snacking.
That was lways my favourite.

This thread wasn't intended to be about whether 1200 calories or however many is enough or not. It's about whether some posts are damaging and should be moderated- and me taking issue with people posting days of eating far, far fewer calories than that.

People coming on this thread to post that 'yes but some people do need to eat less' are both missing the point and probably adding to the problem on other threads.

Lolol

Someone said smoothie made from kale cucumber and ginger or something.

(Not my idea of fun).

Someone else said no no that's terrible it breaks down the fibre when you make it.

So a kale smoothie is not hair shirt enough it seems.

Yes of course. Although that’s not just on mumsnet, I’ve actually heard this from real life slimming world leaders who are supposed to support those trying to lose weight.

I think if you have a history of disordered eating than yes they can be extremely triggering.
However my bmi is in the low level of the obese range, I’ve lost over 12 stone of weight in the past 2 years already and I have to stick to a diet of 1200-1500 calories. I know other posters when they put into my fitness pal have similar goals to either maintain or lose weight so I think for a lot of people low calorie eating is just a way of life unfortunately.

@StevieNix

I think if you have a history of disordered eating than yes they can be extremely triggering. However my bmi is in the low level of the obese range, I’ve lost over 12 stone of weight in the past 2 years already and I have to stick to a diet of 1200-1500 calories. I know other posters when they put into my fitness pal have similar goals to either maintain or lose weight so I think for a lot of people low calorie eating is just a way of life unfortunately.

Don't get me started on the MyFitnessPal 1200 calorie quota. Trying really, really hard not to comment on that every time it's appeared in this thread.

My basal metabolic rate (calculated by my body composition scales) is 1380 cal/day. On an inactive day (i.e. not leaving the house) my daily calorie requirements (Fitbit calculated) get to around 1,682. I try to get it over 2,000 most days with exercise.

A cut of 1,000 calories a day leads to a 1 to 2lb a week loss - hardly a crazy amount and borne out by my personal experience, so I generally need to eat no more than 1,000 calories a day, whilst doing a good amount of exercising, to see any real weight loss. I lost 9 kg earlier this year doing that and have maintained it since by eating more normally.

OP maybe the way forward is to play them at their own game.

Mention that you are an airtarian or whatever it's called and get everything you need from sunlight.

If someone says I dunno. They only eat raw carrots and sunflower seeds as all other foods are toxic. Say omg carrots! There's no guarantee the soil grown in was pure. Also Fung Shui principles place orange foods in the zone for toxicity of thought and katra blockage.

I mean that's how seriously all that stuff should be taken.

I stopped reading those threads, full of infuriating, terrible “advice”

@NiceGerbil

OP maybe the way forward is to play them at their own game.

Mention that you are an airtarian or whatever it's called and get everything you need from sunlight.

If someone says I dunno. They only eat raw carrots and sunflower seeds as all other foods are toxic. Say omg carrots! There's no guarantee the soil grown in was pure. Also Fung Shui principles place orange foods in the zone for toxicity of thought and katra blockage.

I mean that's how seriously all that stuff should be taken.

You might be right there's a poster on another currently active thread who sounds rather similar to that (and I'm promptly going to hide it now).

@NiceGerbil

OP maybe the way forward is to play them at their own game.

Mention that you are an airtarian or whatever it's called and get everything you need from sunlight.

If someone says I dunno. They only eat raw carrots and sunflower seeds as all other foods are toxic. Say omg carrots! There's no guarantee the soil grown in was pure. Also Fung Shui principles place orange foods in the zone for toxicity of thought and katra blockage.

I mean that's how seriously all that stuff should be taken.

There was a thread (can’t remember what the main topic was), where someone said all veg was bad because it had too many carbs.

I wasn’t entirely sure if they were joking or not.

Everybody burns at least 1500 calories even if they're in a bloody coma.

This simply isn't true either. Women come in many different sizes, many of us are completely normal women, but are under 5 foot. We arnt 'teeny tiny'. Just short.

I find MN fascinating for people spouting utter crap about food and diet. The competitive under eating, over eating, cutting out food groups and those wanting to win the award for eating the most crap.

I have no idea what I weigh
I have no idea how many calories I consume
I know I'm a bit overweight. I'd like to be slimmer but I don't care so much to do anything about it. I'm quite pretty...my dh doesn't seem to find me grotesque. I've always had plenty of boyfriends! I have many more problems in my life to worry about than my weight.

Most importantly, my weight doesn't determine my self worth. I'm over weight but I don't hate myself for it. Some women seem to get really upset by that.

@Sparklfairy just LOL!

I think some of the comments on this thread describe perfectly the obsessive unhealthy need to talk about their own intake and weight in some posters who are so absolutely defined by it they can't help themselves. It's almost a desperate need to post and be damned if it hurts anyone else, they need their validation.

I mean look at this , you specifically posted that you have had ED and some posters are so compulsive they start posting weights and figures despite it being well known these are triggers. Consider the level of mindset that thinks that's OK. When I say avoid the threads, it's not because you shouldn't, it's because they are filled with these compulsive posters.

It's never good to be around people with this level of compulsion and the absolute self orientation that it is more important for them to post their weight and calorie intake in a post like this than to care whether it harms anyone else. Personally I avoid this level of borderline sinister compulsion because that's more than ED that's trying to actively hurt someone else. So whilst I agree MNHQ should intervene, it's not that I'm suggesting staying away from those threads it's that the people on them an borderline sinister as you can se form some of the behaviours on this thread. Stay away from toxic people , so pretty much anyone that really thought it was remotely appropriate to post their stats and weight on this thread. There is no way that motivation was not about a need to hurt someone else to validate their own needs.

Haven't RTFT but avoid any intermittent fasting threads. Users will love to tell you about their 48 hour and 72 hour fasts:/

@Mindyourbusiness22

@Nietzschethehiker

I think some of the comments on this thread describe perfectly the obsessive unhealthy need to talk about their own intake and weight in some posters who are so absolutely defined by it they can't help themselves. It's almost a desperate need to post and be damned if it hurts anyone else, they need their validation.

I mean look at this , you specifically posted that you have had ED and some posters are so compulsive they start posting weights and figures despite it being well known these are triggers. Consider the level of mindset that thinks that's OK. When I say avoid the threads, it's not because you shouldn't, it's because they are filled with these compulsive posters.

It's never good to be around people with this level of compulsion and the absolute self orientation that it is more important for them to post their weight and calorie intake in a post like this than to care whether it harms anyone else. Personally I avoid this level of borderline sinister compulsion because that's more than ED that's trying to actively hurt someone else. So whilst I agree MNHQ should intervene, it's not that I'm suggesting staying away from those threads it's that the people on them an borderline sinister as you can se form some of the behaviours on this thread. Stay away from toxic people , so pretty much anyone that really thought it was remotely appropriate to post their stats and weight on this thread. There is no way that motivation was not about a need to hurt someone else to validate their own needs.

Thank for saying this. Starting to feel like I need to hide my own thread.