Expert: Leigh-Anne - 8/23/2004

Question
I'm not overweight, 5'2, 120 lbs. but the people I'm around all the time are skinnier than me, and I feel bad about myself.  I've tried to not eat, but I get hungry and it's too hard.  I've tried to throw up, but I can't make myself do it.  I think about starving myself to get skinnier every day.  Nothing I do to lose weight helps.  I jog 5 miles a day, but I don't want to restrict my eating habits.  I'm afraid that when I go off to college this fall, the stressful environment will make me have an eating disorder.  I don't want one, but I don't know how to get over these feelings.  Help.  S

Answer
S,

It's good that you recognize that there could be a potential problem when you move into a new environment. Your weight is fine where you are at. You are still within the normal range for your height. This society puts too much emphasis on being thin for women. It's great that you are jogging 5 miles a day. Have you tried adding weight lifting or some other cardio or aerobic exercise to that? (i.e. biking, elliptical machine, stairmaster, etc.) When going to college it is hard to eat healthy. Many times as a freshmen you don't have your own kitchen, and you are required to enroll in the school's meal plan. But you can still eat healthy at the cafeteria. Eat lots of salads (minus all of the fattening dressings). Use a variety of lettuce leafs topped with seeds, maybe a few croutons, and fat free dressing or low-fat dressing. Fruits and veggies are key in a healthy diet as well as eating whole grain and whole wheat foods instead of processed foods containing enriched flours and white flours. Stay away from the all too common college student meals of McDonalds, and ordering out for pizza and chinese all the time, and eating potato chips just because they are cheap and convenient.

While fasting is a common and easy way to lose weight and body fat quickly, it is not a healthy practice for those who are at risk for developing an eating disorder or who have had an eating disorder before.

Eat smart, and don't restrict. 3 small meals a day is better than starving yourself all day and then pigging out because you are so hungry that you can't take the hunger pangs anymore.

If you have any more questions or want to talk about this further please contact me again.

Leigh-Anne