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?

@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.

With so many online databases and calculators, it's not much trouble at all. Takes a couple of minutes to plug everything in when you're know what sites/apps to use.

Implying that it's inherently, problematicly obsessive is as much of a distortion as pretending there are never any issues with people doing so.

I honestly haven’t seen any competitive under-eating on MN.
Yes there are food and diet/exercise threads. Yes bad advice too but we see that in ALL threads. Yes it can be a triggering subject, but so are the threads about alcoholism, domestic abuse and rape. So, I really don’t see the eating threads as a problem.

@Sparklfairy it’s a load of shite! 😂

@Mindyourbusiness22 okay, ill take your word over the £££ of research and science then

Christ even on this thread people just can't help themselves can they!

@Sparklfairy if they were accurate they would use them in medicine/hospitals over the machines that cost thousands. I thought it was well known not to pay attention to calories burned on those smart watches.

I have read quite a lot of different sections of threads on MN, but one area I never visit is the dieting bit. In the other threads eg Style and Beauty I have never noticed under eating.

Agree OP

Someone: I had omelette for breakfast

Oh wow a whole omelette I’d never eat all that , I’d be full allll day from that

Sure you would . Do one

@Mindyourbusiness22 I would say they're more accurate than a keyboard self proclaimed "expert". But its fine, derail the thread some more with your misinformation.

It’s not irrelevant to say 1,200 isn’t that few calories - it’s making the point that saying you eat 1200 calories isn’t “competitive undereating” - it can be perfectly reasonable.

[quote Redgeraniums]@Breastfeedingworries
You forgot to add you’re only 8st and never eat veg, and drive everywhere. And can’t understand why everyone isn’t like you[/quote]
Haha apart from the fact I’m not! I’m almost 11.4 stone and should be about 9 for my height

Are you talking about the thread I created called “what did you eat today?”. No one states how big their or small their portions are. Someone could be eating salad with high calorie ingredients such as avocado and oil and they could be having a big portion. That thread doesn’t actually reflect exactly how many calories one is consuming.

Good luck OP! Avoid the topic like the plague.

And remember plenty of posters are lying, have issues, or are on the wind up.

So no-one should post because it bothers O.P.
several million people on here. Someone is always going to be upset (or "triggered" )by something.
Ban / "moderate" diets/spending/sex/TTC/Property/Work etc etc because it's "triggering" - and hey ho we don't have a site any more.

@Hope54321

There’s lots of threads similar. There’s a whole thread at the moment where people are analysing whether or not op has eaten ‘low calorie.’

In my experience if you go onto an online forum and post extremely detailed lists of what you’ve eaten all day including what each thing was cooked in and ask strangers to validate that it is/isn’t low calorie, that is problematic.

The competitive eating threads on MN are frequent and really awful.

I don't think OP said threads about diets/ food etc should be banned?!

I avoid those threads.

'Help, to lose weight I need to eat 1200 calories, but I'm struggling as I keep eating over this'

'What do you mean OP? I eat tonnes of lettuce and barely make it to 300 calories a day, I could never in a million years eat 1200 calories!'

'I struggle to eat 200 calories a day, at a real push if I really stuffed myself, could manage 300, but 1200 is just insane!'

I don’t think it’s good self care to start a thread about competitive under eating or an unhealthy relationship with food if you’re eating disordered.

op

I don’t think this thread has been very productive at all my own posts included. I apologise.

I think you should ask for the thread to be deleted.

I’ve just read that thread and I’m disgusted, even when the OP posted how it made her feel they carried on. I agree with you that the competitive under eating is awful on here. 1200 calories may be fine for a very small proportion of the population but for the majority it is not enough food and a lot of the time someone is genuinely trying to lose weight or eat better and are trying to stick to unachievable calorie targets because of what they are reading on mumsnet.
I’d definitely try and avoid those threads OP as I don’t think they make anyone feel better- it’s starts a weird competition that only those claiming to live on lettuce and air every 48 hours could win.

I've just had a bottle of wine in front of a horror film and now I'm eating cheese on toast in bed if anyone wants to join me.

[quote Kanaloa]@Hope54321

There’s lots of threads similar. There’s a whole thread at the moment where people are analysing whether or not op has eaten ‘low calorie.’

In my experience if you go onto an online forum and post extremely detailed lists of what you’ve eaten all day including what each thing was cooked in and ask strangers to validate that it is/isn’t low calorie, that is problematic.[/quote]
I don’t think I’ve come across such threads as I don’t usually go to that section of the forum.

OP, I hope my thread hasn’t offended you in anyway. I thought it’ll just be interesting to see what other people eat as I get bored of eating the same thing.

@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.

It may be a well known trigger amoungst those who have an eating disorder. But not so much for people who aren't immersed in that. OP posted in a general forum, known for being full of strong opinions, and did so in a combative way. People taking up that challenge aren't necessarily desperate, compulsive or obsessive. They may just be pissed off that someone is posting a "my way or the high way" opinion that doesn't mesh with their own experience.

People come to information on their own food needs through many different paths - maybe because they have an eating disorder, maybe because they have had medical issues that require some attention to diet for other reasons, maybe because they are fitness enthusiasts or just curious.

It's not reasonable to pretend that everyone else must be troubled because you don't want to or aren't able to consider what they have to say.

@foreverlobsters

I think if you’ve had an eating disorder you should recognise that there is disordered eating at both ends of the spectrum - over and under. But that there are far, far more people in this country overweight and obese than underweight.

The women here who have low cal days may be overweight.

I see loads of boring threads about dieting which I don’t read. You could just avoid them.

The response to the competitive under-eating on here is competitive over-eating. That’s just as bad and “triggering” for people with EDs.

[quote Sparklfairy]@Mindyourbusiness22 I would say they're more accurate than a keyboard self proclaimed "expert". But its fine, derail the thread some more with your misinformation.[/quote]
Bad data in means bad data out.