Everything you never wanted to know.
All about eating disorders
Important note:
If you want to learn how to have an eating disorder, then please read on. This page should tell you everything you need to know. If you want to learn the truth about eating disorders, then by all means, please continue.
Eating disorders are NOT glamorous.
Ed's are not about losing weight, or trying to attract a boy/girlfriend. Some start out that way, but the second you take a few steps down the ed-path, you're walking that path for life. What may start out as a simple goal, turns into blind obsession.
For example, Jane Doe is 5'4. Her healthy weight range would be about 110-145lbs. She decides that her current weight, 160, should really be about 130. A perfectly healthy goal weight. So, she starts fasting. She's dropping weight like mad, and a few weeks later, the compliments begin.
"Have you lost weight?"
"Wow, you look great!"
"What's your secret?"
And indeed, it is a secret by now. She's reached that goal of 130, but instead of a feeling of accomplishment, she simply feels inadequate. Her secret is that it's all she can think about. She weighs herself constantly, the numbers reflecting what kind of day she'll have. She knows the exact calorie content of everything she eats, and even in most of what you eat.
She hates her period, because it makes her gain water weight, and all the diuretics in the world can't help that. Oh, did I forget to mention? Now she takes diuretics, laxatives, cold pills- anything she can get her hands on. Cold pills have pseudoephedrine in them, and she's heard that it's ephedra- now illegal because it can easily and frequently did cause death. She even read the medical report saying that no, pseudoephedrine, though safe, does not aid in weight loss. She doesn't care. Just in case, she thinks.
Now she's down to 95lbs. You can see her bones. Her friends have begun to worry, and finally she's hospitalized. Even after she recovers, she will still think about it. Every mirror, window- anything reflective- she passes, she will look into and view any sign of body fat as failure. Except now she's gotten help, she can ignore the thoughts- most of the time.
She's better now- almost up to her original goal of 130. Except for one problem- she relapses. There is a promotion at work, and someone thinner (and more qualified) receives it. She's worked harder than anyone, and she decides that she did not get promoted because she's too fat.
So she starts fasting again. Everything comes back to her, almost instantaneously. The hunger pangs, the headaches. She can no longer focus at work. Whenever she stands up, her head starts to swim, her heart starts pounding and sometimes her vision blacks out for a few seconds. Her performance at work falters.
She is fired, but nothing matters anymore except losing weight. She doesn't go out with her friends any more, because she doesn't want to run the risk of stopping for a snack at some place with outrageous calories. She used to love starbucks- but their drinks hover around 200 calories, and that's more than she can stand to take in for one day.
The thought of food makes her stomach turn. She would rather die than gain ten pounds back. She's now down to 90- lower than before. Some days she's too weak to get out of bed, and she knows she's killing herself, but somehow she doesn't care any more. All that matters is that the numbers on the scale go down.
That is an eating disorder.