Expert: Joanne - 7/26/2006

Question
Hey im 15 but my weight is average! but i have big thighs and face! i tried going to the gym to get my highs smaller but they just turn into musele and my friends and parents just tell me its from dancing beucae i have been dancing for 11 years!! But i looked on the web and researched how to loose weight in the face but all it ends up to is pills. But i cant take any kind of diet pill! so i just bight the inside of my mouth like the sides of my cheek to make my face look smaller! But it doesnt work when i smile for liek pictures. So i look at like lindsey loham and nicole richie wanting to be like them and there anorxic or bilimic! so im liking abotu going anorxic for a while to loose the weight in the face beucase it seams its the only way! but im just consernced that i will gain weight back after all of this not eatting stuff! So do you gain weight?.. idk what to do! HELP!!

Answer
After starving yourself or eating very little, it is impossible to not gain weight when you start eating again.  Many recovering anorexics have to have their diets monitored by nutritionists in order to make sure that once they reach a normal weight again, they are eating enough to help them maintain the weight without it increasing again in case of relapse.  It takes time for their metabolism to stablise, and in that time, as it can be very slow, weight can go on very easily.

Eating disorders are not something to play with!  Nicole Ritchie and Lindsay Lohan most likely know that they are very unhealthy!  Nicole Ritchie was receiving help the last I heard!  These illnesses can be lethal!  In fact 5-20% of anorexics will die from their anorexia.  That is like 1 in every 5 anorexics could die!  Bulimics are at risks of cardiac arrest!

I recommend losing weight by eating no less than 1500 calories and exercising!  Believe it or not, to lose weight and keep it off, you do have to eat enough!

Holly