Expert: Ryan Hale - 9/7/2011

Question
QUESTION: I can go 5 days with out eating anything and then when I do eat its a sald, an apple or a banana. I exercise whenever I can, I have pe every other day at school and show choir 2 days a week, I seem to always be something to burn calories, I play my guitar for hours at a time because I learned you burn 100 calories for every 45 min. You play, I know its not normal but is it necessarily bad? I talked to one of my teachers about it and told her I was seeing a counselor and her words were "I'd it for anorexia or just because?" She said I have tendencies and she thinks so because she had an eating disorder and is still fighting everyday... Is this right? Can I just have an opinion about this?

ANSWER: There are some criteria to diagnose an eating disorder that include behaviors and some criteria that thane intentions into account.  It sounds like an eating disorder to me, but there is also the intention of being afraid of gaining weight and refusal to maintain a normal weight.  Your motivation counts in the diagnosis, but it sounds like an eating disorder.  Hopefully the counseling is helping.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: What if I told you I do have a very intense fear of becoming fat and my mom is over weight and unhappy I don't wanna be like her..is there anything you can recommend

Answer
Hannah- you have a problem that is best worked on by a team.  There are many things going on right now: your physical health due to the food restriction, your caloric needs, your relationships with your mom (and maybe others), and your relationship with food.  The most successful approaches include your physician, for your health, a nutritionist for your food needs, and a therapist who has experience with eating disorders.  Often, the therapy includes a team approach that includes a family therapist, a counselor, and others like someone in art therapy or another specialty.  There are many aspects to an eating disorder that it is really important to let a team assist you with each aspect.  Working on one aspect without working on the others does a little good but doesn't help you get past the bigger issue.