To think extreme weight loss is not taken as seriously in overweight people

[Weightloss88]

I have a friend who’s lost 8 stone started off at almost 24 stone. She’s lost the weight by not eating only chicken and apples sometimes and living off no sugar fizzy drinks and energy drinks. This has been done in about 9 months. Aibu to think if it was smaller person doing this the fact it’s an eating disorder wouldn’t be ignored but because she’s overweight people are telling her how well she’s doing

For reference not saying she didn’t need to lose weight as obviously she did but this isn’t healthy

Weight comes off much quicker when there is more to spare. This loss will improve her mobility, granted she needs to take a healthier approach, a calorie deficit is a deficit, if it’s less broccoli or less chocolate.

Yes but surely puts her at risk of vitamin issues?

She needs to lose weight so what’s the issue?

You need a large calorie deficit to lose weight significantly; more than people realise.

Why are you bothered?

It's not going to do her any great harm to be in a large calorie deficit for a while. It's far from ideal but the harm caused by being 14 stone overweight will be much greater. She would do well to improve her diet and increase exercise but let's hope she can do that now she's lost a good chunk of body fat.

She's probably better off eating chicken and apples and energy drinks and being eight stone lighter though overall. Perhaps people don't say anything because it's none of their business.

You probably get sufficient vitamins, fibre and protein from chicken and apples to be fair.

If she's previously been very overweight, then the diet that made her that way probably was worse.

I know MN thinks you'll die of vitamin deficiency if you don't have a bucket of blueberries every day but plenty of people seem to function well enough with ketchup, pizza sauce and chips as the only fruit and veg in their diet.

I wouldn't worry OP, unfortunately we don't need that many calories to get by, especially if overweight, you can eat pretty much nothing for quite a while and be fine or actually healthier. You might say she had an eating disorder before, as her diet caused her to become overweight. (Not saying this to judge, I'm fat myself and I'd say it about myself too).

Do you really not see the difference between someone hugely overweight losing a lot of weight, and someone who is of an average size?

Is she taking a good multivitamin/ mineral supplement? If so she will be ok till she hits a certain weight but she needs to be mindful of messing up her metabolism with crash dieting as that could lead to issues trying g to maintain a healthy bmi when she reaches it

I’ve recently lost 4 stone, dropping from 19 to 14 and everyone is so happy for me, willing me on to keep going. That’s great.

But for the first time in my life I have an eating disorder, and even if anyone knew I don’t think they would care, because all that matters is the weight loss.

I sort of get it - I need to lose the weight ASAP so the means by which I’m doing it don’t seem that relevant. Except that clearly if I ever do reach a decent weight I will be left with some major MH issues to unpick.

As other posters have said, once you are obese the only thing that matters is losing weight. I doubt that any ED will be as harmful as being 8 stone overweight.

This happened to me in my pregnancy. I had hyperemesis. I was sick daily for 9 months. Sometimes I kept nothing down for over 24 hours. Sometimes I vomited blood. I was losing weight, not gaining. I had ketones in my urine, not from gestational diabetes, but because I couldn’t eat.

yet the response from the medical team was surprisingly blase. I had iv hydration and anti-emetics when it got to the vomiting blood stage, but mostly they just left me to deal with it. It definitely seemed like the thought was I could afford to lose weight and the baby was still growing so what did it really matter.

I've done a similar weight loss... I've also made sure I maintain vitamin intake, nutrition, protein and all that positive stuff. The loss IS dramatic - but it was from a dramatic starting point - and since I work in an office full of nurses and dieticians - I'd get no end of shite if I was doing anything stupid.

Such judgement my goodness thats amazing what she has achieved, if you are judging her after her weightloss how on earth did you judge her before, maybe you are a teeny bit jealous that she is getting the attention now, and chicken and apples are much better than stomache surgery and jabbing yourself with a needle, your friend sounds amazing good for her

Well no I’m just worried she has mental health issues and a history of being tubed at 15. She’s now got blood sugars of 3.1 and refusing treatment so maybe don’t judge

Was she tubed for anorexia when she was 15? Maybe you should have added it to your OP and the answers would have been different.

Does she feel like she is slipping into ED behaviours and mindset?

Well you are judging!!

She must be so much healthier now. You aren’t coming across as a supportive friend.

Your friend’s not the first! Have a look at this…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Barbieri%27s_fast

Being concerned now equals judging okay…did you not read the other information I provided

Yes and has intention not to stop even when she reaches a healthy weighr

You have to hope she is just doing this to quickly get down to a reasonable weight. Hopefully she will think of healthier ways to maintain once she is there. Though from your post it sounds unlikely.

Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, and unless you are on the verge of death the drs won't care. This is a dangerous way to eat and i hope you get the help you need

If you have fat to lose, you're not eating disordered by eating smaller amounts, even significantly smaller amounts, because you have excess nutrients as well as calories.

This has been confirmed by Dr Now and Dr Fung and others.

Also, experience. I went from a size 24 to a size 6/8 and I didn't die or have any ill effects. I'm not the only one with these results and experience.

Surely the weightloss isn’t the first sign of an eating disorder. Getting to the weight she was was also a sure sign of disordered eating. Why being concerned only when she’s losing and not gaining?

Who are these doctors?! What do they know about ED? It is quite possible to have atypical anorexia and be overweight.