Expert: Nafeesah - 3/24/2009

Question
Hi, I'm a 15 year old girl, and I have been thinking that I'm fat since the age of 13. I am 5'1 and 115 pounds. I play a lot of sports, so I do have quite a bit of muscle. I work out everyday, and I have lost 15 pounds in the last couple months. I used to starve myself, a lot, but then I was always feeling cold, tired, and got horrible head aches. I realized that that was really stupid, and I stoped starving myself, now I only eat little portions and it HAS to be healthy. People tell me that I'm skinny all the time, but I still think I'm fat. My boyfriend, parents, and friends have even told me that I've lost weight, but I still think I'm fat. I want to starve myself, cause that seems like the only thing that will work, but it's stupid. I just want to be skinny. I'm always looking at other girls, and I judge them, (without knowing them) if they're fat or not. I do it all the time, I'm obssessed with my weight, and have a fear of gaining weight. I just want to know if you think I have a problem. Thanks,

Answer
Brettney,

Part of puberty is that you will gain weight and that's because your body is changing hormonally. Actually starving yourself can induce rapid weight gain and you're maintaining your weight by exercising normally through working out and playing sports. If you lost some weight let it be naturally not through induced starvation. Eating super small meals can actually make you more hungry and eating a normal meal will nourish your body and not leave you feeling hungry. This is the gate way to other eating disorders and you don't want force yourself to be skinny because if its not in your genetics don't do that. Anorexics also have issues of their hair falling out and skipping or stalled periods due to the lack of nutrients and this can also put you at risk for other things like osteoporosis(thinning of the bones due to a lack of calcium). You're almost done with puberty so don't starve yourself your body needs all the nutrients it can get at 15 because you're at the prime of physical maturity. The first part to recovery is to stop telling yourself that you're fat when people around you see you as normal. Society has this horrible way of telling women and teen girls that they're fat when they're actually healthy and normal. I think you should sit down and talk to someone who can help you get out of the pattern of thinking you're fat because what you're telling me points to a potential problem that could spiral out of control over time. Go to Something-fishy.org and locate a trained counselor who can help you with your issue of self-esteem and eating disorder issues.