Expert: Joanne - 2/8/2006

Question
hey my name is tasha i weigh 187 pounds and i'm 18 i've been throwing up everything i eat. will this help me lose weight?

Answer
Hi Tasha!

This will not help you lose weight I'm afraid to tell you!  When you purge, although you think that you have gotten rid of everything that you have eaten, it is reckoned that your body holds up to half of it, which means that you are still holding onto about half of the calories.

You may sometimes seem to lose weight!  But usually this is not true body weight that you are losing and is just water weight.  If you are purging a lot or not eating anything other than what you are purging, your body may go into starvation mode and will store everything that you do allow your body to digest as fat stores in preparation in case the body goes into starvation mode again, so it is possible that you can actually put weight on rather than lose it.

Your may also appear sometimes to get 'fatter' (not my choice of word!) and this is because of water retention.  This can cause your face and stomach to temporarily swell, maybe even your hands and ankles.

How long has this been going on for?

I think that you should get yourself to your Dr and ask him to do blood tests in order to ensure that your blood chemistry is still ok as vomiting can have negative effects on this.

I would also considering asking for an appointment with a nutritionist.  If you confess of you eating behaviours to the Dr, this may be arranged as standard, but if not please ask for one.  They will be able to give you advice on what to eat in order to lose weight, but this can only be done effectively by them.

Even if you were to lose weight through this, it is likely that when you were to eat 'normally' again, you would put all the weight back on, so it is better to speak to a specialist in nutrition as they will be able to give you advice on what to do for long lasting weight loss.

I am very concerned for you!  Have you spoken to anyone about this?  If not I do urge that you consider confiding in someone, even if it is your Dr.  You really need to get help soon as the longer this goes on, the more dangerous it becomes, and it also becomes harder to recover from disordered eating patterns the longer they go on.

Please if you don't feel that this has answered your question, or you have any more, come back!

I'm now going to go and attempt to learn all about the Brachial Plexus before my clinical class tomorrow, but I will be around if you need to get back to me tonight, and again probably most days!

Hugs Holly