I know.
This topic is a bit more serious than a lot of other things I share on this blog, but I feel very strongly that it needs to be discussed. If you feel like you might be struggling with an eating disorder, please don?t think I am here to shame you. Nope ? I have been there in my own life. For many years I struggled with a combination of eating disorders, and I know this is something I will forever need to keep in mind to help my recovery for the rest of my life.
So, if you are reading this, and you are struggling, please understand I simply don?t want you to hurt like I hurt. I?m here to help you identify if you might need help, or if someone you know does. I?m here to help save you from the painful battle that I endured.
Here are a couple of staggering statistics:
? Up to 24 million people (male and female) of all ages suffer from an eating disorder in the U.S.
? Only 1 in 10 people suffering from an eating disorder receive treatment.
That last statistic is pretty scary, especially since eating disorders can cause major health problems and even death. Maybe you?re one of the millions who needs help, or maybe you know someone who suffers from an eating disorder. Hopefully this discussion will give you some helpful tools in either case.
An eating disorder, to put it plainly, is an illness that stems from unhealthy behaviors associated with food and weight. These unhealthy habits could include overeating, starving, vomiting, and others.
Let?s face it. There?s tremendous pressure in today?s society to be magazine-cover thin. Even though we realize many of these photos are altered and airbrushed, we still see the thin person on the cover, who looks soooo happy, and we want to be that person. And some people are willing to do anything to become that person, including behaviors that lead to eating disorders.
Eating disorders are categorized into three types:
- Anorexia Nervosa: With this illness, a person has a fear of gaining weight and usually becomes dangerously thin. It mostly affects teen and young adult girls. Those who suffer from anorexia are very critical of themselves, obsess over food, exercise excessively, take diet pills, eat too little, and/or see themselves as fat.
- Bulimia Nervosa: This disease is characterized by bingeing, followed by purging (through vomiting and/or laxative abuse), and also affects mostly teen and young adult girls. Those suffering from this disorder are often a normal weight or slightly overweight, feel out of control, exercise excessively, are afraid of gaining weight, experience depression and anxiety, are more susceptible to substance abuse, and/or have a somewhat distorted body image.
- Binge-eating disorder: Unlike anorexia and bulimia, people suffering from this disorder don?t try to exercise or purge to compensate for the excessive amounts of food they eat. Their body weight ranges from normal to obese, and they often eat alone, feel out of control, and/or can experience feelings of guilt, shame, and depression. This disorder affects mostly middle-aged men and women, and can be triggered by stress, anxiety, and/or boredom. Most of the individuals we work with on Extreme Weight Loss struggle with this disorder.
The most common treatment for an eating disorder is therapy ? learning about yourself and how to find balance and control with food. However, other treatments can involve medication, and sometimes even hospitalization.
If you or someone you know is affected by an eating disorder, here are some important things to remember:
- Never compare yourself to others. We all have different bone structures, genes, and cultures. What is a healthy weight for one person is not necessarily a healthy weight for another. I?m quite petite, so a healthy weight for me is not a healthy weight for a person who?s much taller with a not-quite-so-petite bone structure. But I must admit, this was very difficult for me in my teen years, and even into early adulthood. PS ? this is one of the reasons I CrossFit and train for performance. The feeling of ?Skinny? doesn?t hold a candle to the feeling of ?Strong?. I?m hooked ?
- Don?t let the number on the scale define you. It?s just a number that?s affected by all the things listed above. Instead of working toward a certain number on the scale, make being healthy your main goal. I know. Sometimes that number we see on the scale can either make our day or send us into a mini-meltdown. As women, our weight can fluctuate by a few pounds?overnight?depending on what time of the month it is, and also on the types of foods we ate yesterday. Depend, instead, on how your clothes fit and how you truly feel. Once again, strength training and Crossfit helped me get over this number and focus on health.
- Find balance in your life between getting healthy and living life. Fixating too much on one thing is not healthy and in no way leads to a balanced and happy life. While Chris and I love to work out, we also know there are many other things in life that are just as, or more, important. We work together to make sure we create room in our jam-packed schedules for those things we feel passionate about. Let?s face it?you never find time. You must create a time for balance. Allowing ourselves to focus on these other more important things allows us to see fulfillment and happiness in areas outside of ourselves.
- Realize that falling is not failing. Failure happens when we don?t get back up and try again after we fall. Learn from your falls and you?ll become a much stronger person. If you?ve watched our show, you?ve seen our contestants experience this over and over again. How are we supposed to learn how to succeed if we never fall?! Anyone (including myself) that has been down (or is going down) the road to recovery from an eating disorder knows that it isn?t easy. We fall. We mess up. Sometimes we relapse. We are human. For anyone that doesn?t struggle during recovery?all I can say is you must be super-human ?. But remember that falling is okay. It doesn?t mean we fail. Like I said, we only fail when we choose not to get back up.
- Build a support system. Find those whose opinions matter to you and who love you for the person you are right now. They will bend over backwards to help you through this struggle?I promise! My biggest supporters were my late father and my mom (in addition to therapists). Find your supporters ? maybe a best friend, a co-worker, a sibling?
- Get help. There is nothing weak about getting help when you need it. In fact, asking for help is a definite sign of strength! This is such a hard step for most people. There are many organizations that specialize in helping those with eating disorders, and one we?ve featured on our show is Shades of Hope in Dallas, Texas. You can also go to the National Eating Disorders Association?s website for more helpful information.
While eating disorders are very serious illnesses, they can be overcome, and those who suffer from them can go on to lead normal, healthy, and happy lives. It?s all about finding and becoming the best?and healthiest?person you can be!
And please check out this other post on my blog for more information on my journey to overcome my own eating disorder.
*Source of basic information about eating disorders: mayoclinic.com
64 Responses
hi! my name is ilaria, i’m 28 and i come from italy. i write here today ’cause i don’t know what else i can do. I’m always so strict with myself. i let myself eat only those things i think i can eat. like chicken or fish, vegetables. and i weight everything before cooking. but yesterday was one of my best friend’s birthday and she arranged a buffet in a club.. and i tried not to ate but she pressed me and i.. ate.. now i can’t think about anything else.. i just see non-stop in my mind what i ate.. every single piece of food that i put in my mouth and i feel so bad.. so guilty.. i shouldn’t have done.. i shouldn’ t have done.. i shouldn’t have done.. i can’t think about anything else.. i’m just going crazy and i hate myself so much.. i just feel so bad.. i wanna cry.. and i feel so stupid ’cause i understand that i feel so bad about something that shouldn’t be so important.. i mean.. i went through really worst things in my life.. and i thought that all that i went through made me strong.. and this.. how can something so stupid makes me so weak? but i can’t help it.. i feel like i’m losing control.. i wish i could come back in time and didn’t go to the party.. i wish i stayed home.. ate my food.. and felt fine..
Hi Ilaria: Please don’t be so hard on yourself! It’s totally okay to eat treat-type foods from time to time. In fact, in Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program (part of their total weight loss program), you either have a reward day once a week or reward meals throughout the week, where you get to eat those treat-type foods. Check out this other post on this blog: https://heidipowell.net/9209/my-daily-cheat/. Try to think of food as fuel for your body, like your car needs fuel to run, and yesterday your body just got a little extra fuel. 😉 It really won’t make a difference in the scheme of things. You’re doing great!
Thank you Heidi, I also am a recovering anorexic (I am currently 48 and my anorexia started mid 30’s). Your husband just sent me to this page, because of my question to him on Facebook. I just started bawling reading it. I am realizing that i need to get back into therapy. I am currently 130lbs (my doctors say this). But my fear of falling back has kept me from losing weight. Your article allowed me to see that I still work off of black and white thinking . I am not as recovered as I thought and my key to being healthy will have to come from working on my thought process not how many work outs I do in a week. Thank you so much. If you have anymore thoughts, i would live to hear them.
Thank you
Julianne
Heidi,
Thank you so much for opening up about this.I, too, struggled with this for many years and still find myself falling into the trap from time to time. I admire you and Chris so much. Your lifestyle and family is something my husband and I aspire to be. Keep up the awesome work!
My 16 yr old autistic daughter has night time binge eating disorder. She is currently on topamax for it. She has more than just the autism and binge eating going on as well. She sees a psychiatrist, psychologist, family therapist, dietician and eating disorder doctor. She had lost 65 lbs over a year ago to only gain it all back in less than a year. She is fixated on being skinny she uses those words exactly.I told her no you need to be healthy not skinny. Its not all about how much you weigh its how healthy you can be. I told her its not easy I myself have binge usually stress related. Well after talking with her doctor the other day. They are writing a letter to the school and I will bring it to her IEP next Thursday they are requesting and advising that they find a new placement. Due to all the issues is related to school stress. She already been suspended twice this year. No one believes her side of the story they only believe the other person which is why she never reports the bullying or issues she is having outside of the classroom she don’t trust the staff and she comes and tells us I report it via email because time she gets home no one at school. So obviously they don’t listen I was told that I isolate my daughter from her peers well if they are not being a good friend to her and bullying her and taking her things, scribble out her name on them and claiming it is there. She also been pulling out her hair or constantly rubbing the bald spot she created by time school ends she wont have any hair left. She also had some other issues she also has a mood disorder, adhd and ocd. So she has alot going on and being a teenager and hormones its alot to deal with. I just don’t know how to help her even the doctors seem puzzled. I keep saying she is this complicated puzzle with pieces of this complicated puzzle are missing. Which if we can find the triggers and why she does feel the need to do it. She also says she cant control the eating or the pulling her hair. She did saying the rubbing or pulling her hair helps her calm down so it is soothing to her helps her when she is anxious. It hasn’t been to bad upped the zoloft and being on spring break she isn’t doing it so much but she is bingeing at night and she will drink a half gallon of silk almond milk even though it is 60 calories that is alot of calories at one time. So need to find to reach her and help her before she gets over 200 lbs which she is only a few pounds away and that scares me as I use to weigh almost 320 lbs myself.
Thank you. I know this is an old post but I have thought a lot lately about overcoming my eating disorder. I was bulimic in high school and no longer actively vomit. However, I do have a hard time still eating regularly. This gives me hope that I can overcome the eating disorder once and for all.
I seen your blog and was hoping to get some help with my daughter. Is this the right place to turn to? I am desperately needing help
I am 16 and I definitely have problems with food , but I’m trying to train for a spartan race and I’m so afraid that I’m going to totally fail! I have been doing crossfit and cardio and eating clean , but the last part of the week I always ruin my hard work and progress! It’s inevitable. I am a compulsive eater sometimes and sometimes I have other problems , but I want to finally win! I have 40 days left. That’s all.
Just focus on finishing the race! Sounds like you’ll do great!
I started my weightloss journey in december 2013. I haven’t been in it very long but I’m slowly getting there. I lost almost 20 pounds so far and I’m still going. Babystepts!
Thank you for sharing. I am certain to be in the catagory of having an eating disorder. I began at 306 pounds when I began seriously dieting in June of 2013. I had always been a compulsive eater with addiction to sugar and to salty snacks. Also an emotional eater. At first I began in the healthy way but as my weight decreased I was not happy with the results so I eat less and less, obsess more and more about food I can’t eat, and my self esteem is in the gutter. I have lost 125 pounds now and have more to go. I just wanted to share with you. Blessings<3
Hi, I’m 40 and have come to realize that my reasons for yo-yo weight loss always come back to my bad association with food. It’s a taboo subject in my home, my family wants me to loose weight but when I try to open up and explain how I am struggling it is clear how uncomfortable the topic is. So I try to hold it all in and I feel like I can only share when I am successful or having a “good day”. I have read and read how to deal with it but it hasn’t clicked yet for me, I feel like when I have “that moment” when you can triumph over a challenge I keep falling. I know falling isn’t failing, but what do you do when you can’t get back up or as soon as you do your are back down again. I’m almost ready to throw in the towel but that makes me even more mad at myself. So do I just keep struggling and be mad at failing all the time?