Expert: Joanne - 4/29/2007

Question
Im 18 years old am 154 cms and weigh 47. i used to weigh 44. I am studing to become a Dietary Aid at TAFE i spend hours of time each day researching Nutrition and i dont know why but i feel compelled to lose weight.
I have always been interested in low fat,low calorie  ever since i was a  young girl i always annoyed everyone
because i could  not stop talking about it. I had very few friends because i was not interested in things they talked about i was a one track mind.
I want to know if im just doing this because i actually WANT to get sick. My goal is to help people lose weight but how can i make these people well if i dont want to stay healthy myself i feel that im being a hypocrit.

Answer
Have you ever considered that you may have chosen the course due to an obsession with nutrition?  I know that before I was accepted to medical school, my eating disorder was dragging me towards doing dietetics and nutrition, but seriously, how many people would have taken me seriously?!

I think you realise that you have a problem that you are here!  I think that you need to consider speaking to your Dr or a professional about this before this is a full-blown eating disorder!  Is there anyone that runs your course that you feel you could talk to?  It is most likely that many of your tutors may have experience with eating disorders and disordered eating patterns and be able to advise you, or help you look for someone that can help.

Until you have a healthy attitude towards food, it is going to be hard to sit and give other people advice, especially advice which can often come across as slightly patronising, and that won't be helped by it coming from someone that is underweight!

Please consider speaking to someone in real time about this, and the meantime, if you have any other questions, please feel free to come back!

Good luck with your course
Holly