Expert: Meg - 3/1/2008

Question
Hi i'm lucy. I'm 20.
I have always ate normal and i have always conrolled my weight with exercise. so i did have a slim body, but over the last few weeks i have been thinking much bigger. so now i'm obsessing with exercise, i'm really worried now because when i'm hungry i cant eat..i would rather exercise to get rid of the excess weight.
3 weeks ago i was 9stone now i'm 8sone 2..and i still feel big and i'm still exercising like crazy, i cant even put fruit to my mouth. and when my stomach rubbles, it dont hurt now..it makes me feel thinner. and i'm always cold. people tell me i'm thin but i don't think so. help me please i'm really worried. thankyou lucy x

Answer
Hi Lucy,

Thanks for your question and I'm really sorry that you're dealing with this and hope that I can be of some help.

Its good that you're aware of what is going on and that its probably not all that healthy.  And, its good that you're catching this early, when its going to be easier to turn things around.  

It sounds to me like you are displaying a lot of the characteristics and behaviors of anorexia.  I'm going to send you a few self quizzes so that you can evaluate yourself and see if you agree.  However, I'm guessing since you wrote me that at least a part of you knows what is going on and that its probably not a good thing.

Here are the tests:

http://psychcentral.com/eatingquiz.htm

http://www.poppink.com/quiz/index.html  
(the above link has a lot of different ones to choose from)

In terms of stopping the behaviors and feelings about eating and your body that you have mentioned, it is usually necessary for someone who is suffering from an eating disorder to get some type of help.  Now, I understand that this may seem daunting at first, but there are a lot of resources out there and it can be easier than you think.  Almost always, eating disorders are not just about food or weight but are developed as a means to cope with other difficult feelings/events in one's life.  So, often the key in getting past them and being healthy and feeling good again comes by understanding what feelings are behind  your urge to control your weight and body in this way.  This can be somewhat difficult to unearth and for most people is a lot easier with the help of a trained professional who can make the process a lot quicker and easier.  If you are in school or university right now, then you might want to try talking with someone in the school's counseling center.  Eating disorders are unfortunately not that uncommon in your age range and so your school probably has a lot of experience in helping people get better from them.  I'm going to give you some other links as well that might help you out:

http://www.caringonline.com/  

(this site has a lot of information as well as links for treatment)

http://www.edreferral.com/

(lots of treatment links)

http://www.something-fishy.org/treatmentfinder/

(again, this site has a treatment finder-see above- as well as an abundance of helpful info)

and finally, the peer support bulletin board on the Something's Fishy Site is excellent and helped me (and others I've known) tremendously:

http://fishyvb.something-fishy.org/

I hope this helps some and that you can continue to reach out and take some steps to stop this before it gets any worse.  Please feel free to write me again if there is anything else that I can help with.

Best regards,
Meg