[daisy81]

Hi, I'm somewhat new here. I've posted once before and I read a lot of the posts here.

Is an eating disorder only related to being anorexic or bulemic? I'm wondering because I'm not either but I do have body image issues and I obssess over my food. I hate the way I look and I feel like no matter what I do I'll always be fat. I obssess about how I look every day and I'm always worried that I look fat. From the moment I wake up to when I go to sleep, I'm worried about how I look or if what I'm wearing makes me fat. Right now I don't have a full length mirror b/c I obsessed about my outfits every morning that it would make me late for work. I also feel that my body image holds me back from doing this. I won't go out with my friends sometimes b/c I feel fat and don't want to be out with a bunch of girls that are thinner than me. If I do go out I'm worried all night that I look fat and I'm the fat girl.

When I'm trying to lose weight I read every label and count all my calories. Something will discourage me like a picture of myself then I mindlessly eat everything in sight. I feel that if you aren't very thin then there's no way you can have some type of eating disorder.

[Pup]

It may be just your self esteem that is causing this. Don't develop an ED though, sounds like you haven't yet, you seem to have very low self esteem and image issues that need to be worked through in therapy and such.

No, you don't have to be very thin to have an eating disorder.
There are many types of eating disorders.
Anorexia, anorexia binging/purging type, anorexia restricting type, bulimia, bulimia purging type, bulimia non purging type, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Overeating Disorder, Compulsive Overeating Disorder, other ones too. It's very varied and not specific to each individual.

For instance, I have both bulimia and anorexia, however, I'm not severely underweight. You can be any weight and suffer from an eating disorder. It is not about weight, it is about the mindset.

Take care.

[daisy81]

Sometimes I think about developing an ED. I figure if I have that kind of control over my eating I will feel better about myself. I won't overeat when I get upset. In high school I would make myself throw up if I ate too much or felt bad about myself. I stopped doing it when I started dating my boyfriend at that time. A few years after I gained some weight so I began dieting and exercising nonstop. I would not go out or do anything unless I worked out. I would eat meal replacement bars all day. I actually felt good about myself and loved that I was so strict and dedicated. It made me feel good. Then I found out my friends were talking about me behind my back saying I had an eating disorder and that's the only way I lost weight. It made me so upset that I stopped but now I feel even worse.

[last_stanza]

You have absolutely, totally just sumarized the way I am right now. I keep binging and binging and diet sometimes but i'm not thin (really, I checked my bmi, this isn't body image distortion too much i mean i'm underweight but only by like 1.03). I have no control, no willpower whatsoever and wish i could hate food. I hate food but I love it. GRAAg
That is exactly the way I feel.
Unfortunately I have no answers

[selkiegurl]

There are so many ways to have disordered eating, they do beyond just being anorexic, bulimic or a binger like myself. Eating while highly pleasurable, it really intended to nourish you, and when anyone ( myself included ! ) is eating for any reason on a consistant basis for reasons other than nourishment, then we are looking for something that food will never give us. I have no real answers, as I am in the trenches with BED for 27 years, and am beginning to do a lot of work with Intuitive Eating, Breaking Free from compulsive eating and Paul McKenna's cds.
You can be disordered even if you do not binge, starve or throw up- being obessed with every label, calorie, fat gram or your appearance after eating a meal are all signs.