# Dieting and eating disorders.



## MelissaW (Jun 18, 2003)

I struggled with an eating disorder for quite a few years, and now I find that I have to be very careful when I need to cut back and regulate my weight so that I don't relapse. If anyone else has confronted the same problem and feels comfortable talking about it, what tips can you share for striking a healthy balance? Thanks.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

I was anorexic in 7th grade....my parents ignored it...and I recovered because the principal at my school took the time to help me everyday....

I have never relapsed...don't think I ever will....it was a control/attn game I was playing with my parents....

My lowest wt was 89#....my ideal wt is about 115....I weigh 129....I've grown to like food very much!!


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## MelissaW (Jun 18, 2003)

I'm so glad you got better mpillow! Mine probably also stemmed from control issues and stress during college. I've always been a control freak, but going away to university and feeling like everything in my life was barely under control was probably the straw that broke the camels back. Unfortunately, mine lasted (on and off, mostly on) for 6 years, and my skin, hair, and immune system will never be the same. Thank goodness my organs survived it. Getting pregnant "cured" me, because now someone elses well being rides on my health. Like anyone, I still have to look after my weight, but now I find that I have to ease very gently into cutting calories and very slowly increase my excercise (in addition to anorexia, I was a compulsive excerciser) so that my brain can keep up with the changes in my body.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I find that I have to be very careful in times of extreme stress and like Melissa, I think it's about control so I'll stop eating altogether. I've just been through a period of extreme stress and found the same old pattern showed up so I had to make a very conscious effort to force myself onto an eating schedule. Thankfully, I have great kids and great friends that were more than willing to encourage a healthy eating schedule.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

I was a compulsive exerciser too....

As a young girl I was big...not fat big for my age...I stopped growing in 5th grade....actually 4th because I skipped 2nd grade....I was 5'2" and 110# in 5th grade....very athletic and self-conscious....I had every test known to man run by the time I was skipped from 1st to 3rd because I was fully developed and menstruating irregularly from age 6.5yrs!

Being anorexic and athletic took away the menstration thing for 2 years....but also caused future fertility issues....I have 3 kids now and promise not to be so disconected like my parents were....so they have no need to mistreat themselves in any way. 

I have a sister who was also anorexic in high school and now is morbidly obese and that scares me too!!


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## MOJILL (Aug 27, 2002)

Wow

I'm about to confess something that few people know about. My brother who comes into HT may read it --- oh well if he wants to talk to me about it he can.  

Anyway - I was bulemic, on and off, for almost 10 years....from my late teens until my late 20s (I"m 46 now). 

It was never severe. I didn't BINGE and purge........I just purged. Never gained much weight during those years.

I have a picture of myself on the refrige that I love to look at because I was so thin and at times think I should use it as a "reminder" of how I used to look. A motivation picture. But then I think "wait. I was CHEATING back then. So it doesn't really count."

Now I'm healthy, a runner, do karate, and am a bit overweight.

Last winter I did a fast and the weight dropped fast (prayer juice fast). I know my best bud Nance (hummingbird) who knows of my past was a little worried. I thought also that I felt the stirrings of the drive to "retain" the feeling of control. But thankfully I recognized that feeling for what it was and got control of IT. 

Now -- if the thought ever occurs to me -- I look at my young son. My health is too important to me now - because of him.

That, and my knowledge that God loves me the way I am, are the two main things that keeps me on the right path.

Jill


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

You know....

I think these are really prevalent problems for any of the "Hollywood" types...as well as high school and college aged women...

I think its become almost the norm among super models and actresses' so no one feels the urge to 'fess up unless someone confronts them....like Paula Abdul whom I think seriously teeters....really their success is determined by their looks so its got to be all consuming (no pun intended) to maintain the "look"....


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## Merri (Nov 7, 2002)

I try to concentrate on the fact that I am eating to be healthy, not to try to be a certain weight or size. I don't own a scale. I do pay attention to how my clothes fit, and how I feel. I try to think of my fitness level in terms of strength, and being able to keep up with the kids when we are playing, instead of thinness. I don't count calories. Every time I've tried to do that, I slip back into being obsessive. (We've got those calorie counts memorized anyway, don't we?) It is hard, though. I have about 10 lbs. that I genuinely would like to lose, but it is hard to try to do something, when you are trying so hard not to think _too_ much about trying to do it. (Does that make sense? :~)


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