Expert: Melissa - 3/12/2009

Question
hi, a couple of years ago I felt that i was too heavy and lost weight. I'm 5'4 and started just with a goal of being 125, but then when i hit it, i kept losing and eventually got down to 112. I'm pretty sure that this is technically still within healthy range for my height, but i did lose my period for a few months. My friends and family were giving me a hard time so i did go to see a counselor for a while and gained some weight back and even tried to stop counting calories. (i originally lost the weight by doing 800-900 calories a day and a lot of exercise). Well I gained back a lot over the past year and a half and ended up at 128, so now i'm dieting again (trying to keep calories under 1000 a day) and exercising every morning. I'm still around 124/125ish and would like to lose 5-10lb more. Since my weight is still high up in the healthy range, I don't know if this would really qualify as any sort of real problem. I definitely still feel fat now, but I doubt I would feel that way if I got back down to the weight I used to be at. I tried calling an eating disorder center in my area just to see if they could help me assess if I should be concerned, but never heard back from them. All I really want to know is whether or not I should be seeking help, or if this qualifies as normal dieting.

Answer
Well this question is sort of tricky. Yeah, the dieting you are describing qualifies as "normal" dieting. But that's only because the norm typically consists of some form of crash dieting with extreme calorie restriction that doesn't keep your weight off in the long run.
While this isn't healthy, and probably leaves you feeling like crap, it isn't technically an eating disorder.
Melissa