Do I have an ED?
Hi! I'm Hailey, 17 yrs old, 5'8", and around 110 pounds (which puts me at a bmi of around 16.7...). Two summers ago, in an attempt to lose 20 pounds (from 140), I ate around 1500 calories a day while exercising 2-3x a week and got down to my goal weight of 120 that fall. I am also a dancer at a preprofessional boarding school and so I was ecstatic about actually being as slim as some of them. So, I maintained this weight for about a year (eating around 2000 calories and dancing ~2 1/2 hours 5 days a week.
How this past school year, things kind of went downhill. I didn't necessarily want to lose weight; I just was terrified of gaining. Because I was dancing even more (around 4 hours a day, 5 days a week) and was eating around 2200 calories (which is probably rounding up), I slowly lost weight, week by week. I also felt the compulsive need to exercise on days where I wasn't dancing or dancing a lot. My nutritionist was getting worried and even pulled me out of dance once, but I was secretly happy about seeing the number drop and had no desire to make my weight increase. I didn't see anything wrong with me either physically, and just brushed off the fact that I haven't had my period for 1 1/2 years and was constantly injuring my foot.
Right now, I am not dancing (or exercising because I'm not allowed and its exam week :O) but I still feel very controlling over what I eating and NEVER eat above 2000 calories (although I've been told I need to gain weight) and still obsessively count them. I've gone to a counseler to see why I cant mentally make myself gain, but that really hasn't been much help.
Anyway, do I have an eating disorder, even though I usually eat 2000 calories (which is relatively a lot)? I feel like I don't really classify considering I don't eat less than 1000 calories even though I am underweight and feel like there's a mental block preventing me from gaining weight...
Thanks in advance!
You have an eating disorder when you are disordered about eating. Whether it's binge eating at a normal body weight to cope with stress, grief, loss, or anger it's a disease. If you are eating too little whether you are exercising or not, it's an eating disorder.
If you are mixture a bunch of things with symptoms of obsession, control, fear, etc. regarding eating and weight maintenance, it is an eating disorder.
Hey .. yes you do have an eating disorder. Your BMI is really low which means you are putting your body through serious stress and risk by being that underweight. I was looking through your pics and you look super slim even at your highest weight of 129lbs!, also don't take this the wrong way!!, but you look so much more prettier on the pics where your heavier and I seriously mean that!. By gaining weight you are going to benefit massively, here's just a few things you'll gain; you'll more than likely get your periods back, you will gain the strength you need to continue with your dancing, your hair will be shiner, you'll be happier and feel alive, you'll look a hell of a lot better and you'll feel a million times better!. By staying the weight you are what is that going to do for you .. nothing that's what hun. I know its hard to come to terms with needing to gain weight, as a recovered anorexic I know its extremely challenging but you need to come to terms with this and accept that you need to get yourself healthy. You want to live a long, happy, healthy life don't you?, being super skinny will only cause you to be miserable and tormented every single day by horrible eating disorder thoughts.
I hope your able to realise that gaining weight is 110% the correct thing to do!! .. good luck :)
Yes, yes you do.
If you have to ask? yes. There's a reason you're asking; people who have healthy relationships with their body/food, never consider the idea that they have an eating disorder, why would they!? But if you realize you're too thin, and you're finding it difficult to eat....hmm...that certainly sounds like disordered eating doesn't it?
You don't have to eat very little to have an ED.
You have a BMI under 17.5; you haven't had a period in 1.5 years; you have a terror of going over a certain number of calories a day; you got pleasure from seing your weight drop, and have a fear of gaining; all are sure signs of an ED. the question is, what are you going to DO about it?
Ultimately, you will be too weak and ill to be a dancer (or pretty much anything else,) at your current weight and calorie intake. I would suggest seeing a sports nutritionist/dietician (a properly qualified one), and probably a doctor for a medically qualified opinion on whether you have an ED and the state of your bones, which might well be showing signs of suffering since you say you injure your feet a lot.
This CAN be got through, but you have to gain some weight. There are too many would-be dancers/cheerleaders/athletes on these boards who have ruined their chances by starving themselves. Don't let it happen to you.
Yes.
