Expert: Susan - 6/25/2006

Question
i worry so much about her it breaks my heart to see her care and consumed by weight loss.she rarely even drinks 1 cup a day of water which worries me.. She has become even more so consumed/ worried lately since she was weighed and put on 1kg mind you she was eating more than and her exercise routine increased from 3 hours to 4-5 hours per day and starving along with chewing and spitting and gaging out the last piece to make sure that she didn't digest any calories so that she can that 1 kg that she had put on... she now has a set goal weight in her head and said that she wouldn't eat until she got to that weight>. she is so consumed by this and i think that once she gets to that weight she might feel a little bit better about her self because at the moment she is so low and does not want to be over this weight and has rules which she must follow every day in order to weight loss... She begged me yesterday to buy her laxatives in the supermarket but i refused was this a good idea because she will probably rebel and go and get them anyway? is medamucil a laxative?
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would her body go into survival mode? and store the fat? If she starves does the body eat uo the excess fat? Also she has loose skin is this the result of weight loss? she seems to look about the same when she was at a very low weight but seems to weigh more how is this so? everywhere i seem to read it says you don't lose weight when you starve is this true? and you only lose fluid? what about full blown anorexics (walking skeletons) with not an inch of fat on them and they lose weight so quickly by starving how can there possibly be such thing as "survival mode" Also i am really sorry to bother you but i was wondering what if she didn't chew and spit and only ate chewie and water for a week and kept going would she lose more weight by doing this? recently she has been asking about laxatives because she is so content on weight loss and a certain weight which she hopes to be in this time? If she does use laxatives and starve herself will she lose even more weight by doing this and if so how much? please help me
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she is very active and exercises around 4 hours per day riding,running, walking,skipping,trampoline and when she eats its a chew and a spit out of something or chewie so how much is possible to lose?
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how much weight can she expect to lose? how long should i let this go on for? how much do anorexic people lose from not eating and for how long do they normally starve themselves? i've seen very thin skinny skinny girls how long did it take them to get to such a low weight? i am just asking to think as to whether she will end up like that
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please help me my daughter has been starving herself for 5 days in order to lose weight and pretending to eat in front of me and chewing and spitting it out when i am not looking! i am so worried about her can you please tell me if she will lose any weight from doing this? please tell me is she going to end up sick and anorexic from doing this considering she has all of the symptoms for anorexia apart from the dramatic weight loss is this just the start of this?  

Answer
Dear Kerry,
She seems to becoming more and more obsessed with her weight. You need to talk to her about how looks aren't everything. I'm glad you refused to buy the laxatives. She might be too embarassed to buy them herself so I doubt she will. Medamucil isn't a laxative, it helps people who are aging to keep up a normal metabolic rate or it prevents constipation. I think you really have to have a serious talk to her about eating disorders. If won't, who else will? Tell her she can watch what she eats (eating healthy) but, she actually has to eat rather than spitting out her food. She can exercise as much as she wants as well. The eating is a must.
Susan