Expert: Joanne - 7/19/2008

Question
I am 16, i am not longer an out patient, because of my weight gain due to stress of my exam's. My mum think's i am ok. Recently i have been eating i normal person amount but it is hard because i am trying to restrict to about 300cals,it feels like i am bingeing, about 1-2 days a week i fast, but it doesn't help lose weight, i think. I was wondering if chewing and spitting would help lose weight i have done it before and i think i losted a lot. Well i am going to try it anyway.My ultimate goal weight is 40kg,then i will be happy, i am currently 58kg at my largest and i need to do something because i don't like to squeeze into my size 8 jeans, and people comment on how pretty i once looked ect!I get myself really stressed out about this and i don't go out sometime's, so i need some thing thats easy and fast so i can go out. I know you think i am over reacting or that i am anorexic in my way of thinking, but it's better than starving and i am sure that anyone else who weighed this much from 44kg last December would do so too!I also used to purge but i don't because i don't want my teeth to go all bad because i swear they are getting worse, so that also why i could have gained so much.I wish i wasn't in this situation, but if you can think of something else i could do that would be as affective than I'd like to hear it.

Answer
Kimberley

I'm not going to give you any tips on how to lose weight quickly, it is not healthy weight loss, and it is unlikely to last, resulting in a constant cycle of eating disorders and crash diets.

Instead I would recommend eating a well-balanced diet of 1800-2000 calories a day, with moderate exercise most days of the week.  Your exercise should be focused on looking after your body, and helping to tone muscles rather than just to get 'thin'  Toned healthy looking girls definitely look a lot better than 'thin' girls!  I know that if I could start again, I would rather have looked fit, toned and healthy rather than sick, pale and tired.

As for chewing and spitting, I don't know all that much about it, but as far as I'm aware, you are unlikely to lose a lot of weight with this method!  Your weight may remain steady, and ultimately increase in the longer term, just as starving yourself does.  Your body adapts to survive on less, so burns less, stores more, and when you try to eat 'normally' again, you risk gaining a lot more than you lost, panic, don't give your body time to recover properly, and start a vicious cycle of crash diets!

Joanne