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2004/10/16, 11:59 PM
I am a 22 year old mother of a wonderful two year boy. I have lost close to 40 lbs since he has been born. I now weigh 104 lbs and am 5'4". The problem is that everyone tells me that I have gotten too skinny. I don't see it. I think that I look like I could still lose a little weight especially since I have a lot of loose skin from the pregnancy. My father and my mother-in-law fear that I am anorexic even though I average about 1000 calories a day. I don't know if I should be concerned with the way that I look or not because I seem to be the only one who thinks that I don't look to skinny. Does anyone have any advice for me???
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2004/10/17, 09:01 AM
Your weight seems low for your height and the loose skin won't go away from fat loss. Your skin just lost some elasticity from pregnancy.
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2004/10/17, 10:11 AM
the loose skin on my lower stomach has firmed a little with time and exercise but it is still loose. How do I get it to tighten up and look smooth?
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2004/10/17, 04:36 PM
I do not hink it is anexiora, but at 5'4" 104 and eating 1000 cals and you think you need to still loose weight i think you are on your way to many health problems. I would suggest to see your doc and get some advice. I know that 1000 is way to low for anyone to live on with out losing muscle and damaing your joints organs and your body in general!
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LIFT HEAVY! BECOME STRONG, LIKE BULL!
7707mutt@freetrainers.com
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2004/10/18, 12:15 PM
B- your stomach firmed with time yes, and exersize yes, but loosing more weight will not make it firm up more. Try rubbing cocoa butter or vitamin e lotions onto it, and see how that helps to tighten up the skin. 1000 calories is not enough to be eating hun, but if you are exersizing you can add some more calories and still stay thin. I wouldn't advise any more weight loss though. If you want, send me a message and we can talk about it some more.
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2004/10/19, 12:39 PM
Saw this in todays paper and thought it was pertinant. I read these types of articles because my wife fought and won a battle with bulemia. The 500 to 1000 calories a day thing in the article caught my eye.
Posted on Mon, Oct. 18, 2004
Experts aghast over anorexia advocates
Web sites run by supporters of eating disorders claim they are 'lifestyle choices'
JANUARY W. PAYNE
Washington Post
For three years, when Alison Devenny wanted weight loss tips, she turned to the Internet. But she didn't look for typical dieting Web sites. The George Washington University sophomore visited Web sites that encourage visitors to embrace anorexia and bulimia as "lifestyle choices" and provide instruction on how to do so.
The sites provide "thinspirational" pictures of extremely underweight women, menu suggestions, discussion boards and tips on topics including ways to overcome hunger pangs, such as doing household chores and drinking lemon water.
Despite attempts to encourage Internet service providers to close down such sites, many continue to exist. A recent Google search using the term "pro-anorexia" yielded 30,000-plus results. Many were links to pages by health authorities warning about the pro-anorexia movement, while others were links to sites no longer in operation. But many linked to live sites. Carol Day, director of health education services at Georgetown University and a member of the school's eating disorder treatment team, called the sites "dangerous and disturbing." Experts say the sites can reinforce unhealthy behaviors, slow the recovery process and discourage people from seeking help.
"I think anyone who is working in the field of eating disorders realizes how unhealthy" the sites are, Day said.
"I always kind of knew that what I was doing was stupid," said Devenny, now 19, who has since begun treatment for multiple eating disorders. She used to visit the sites about twice a week, she said, picking up tips on how to avoid eating and how to keep her illness a secret from her family.
The terms "Ana" and "Mia" -- short for anorexia (a condition characterized by eating so little that one's health and life are at risk) and bulimia (overeating and then purging by vomiting or taking laxatives) -- are often used by those with eating disorders who don't want treatment.
Frequent visitors to these sites refer to themselves as "anas" and "mias" and say the sites offer a safe haven where they can talk, share advice and commiserate away from the criticism of family, friends and other "outsiders."
The sites' creators are typically teenagers and young adults who have eating disorders. Many are directed at women, who experience eating disorders more often than men.
Treatable medical illnesses
About 0.5 to 3.7 percent of women suffer from anorexia in their lifetimes, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. About 1 to 4 percent are bulimic. NIMH estimates that about 2 to 5 percent of Americans experience binge eating disorder (characterized by excessive eating that occurs, on average, at least two days a week in a six-month period).Those with eating disorders exhibit serious disturbances in eating behavior and feelings of extreme concern about body shape or weight, the NIMH says. Researchers are investigating how voluntary behaviors, such as eating different sizes of food portions, at some point develop into an eating disorder. Experts agree that eating disorders are not because of a failure of will but are treatable medical illnesses.
Eating disorders are often accompanied by depression, substance abuse and anxiety disorders. Common personality characteristics include excessive anxiety, perfectionism and low self-esteem. Treatments include hospitalization or outpatient treatment, as well as psychotherapy, nutritional counseling, cognitive therapy, behavioral therapy and antidepressant medication, according to the Harvard Eating Disorders Center.
About half of people with anorexia or bulimia recover completely through treatment, according to the Harvard center. About 30 percent make a partial recovery, and 20 percent have no substantial improvement. The mortality rate for anorexia is about 5.6 percent per decade, according to NIMH. Cardiac arrest and suicide are common causes of death for anorexics.
But "Anas" and "Mias" say they are not sick, don't need to be "fixed" and don't want sympathy. They develop creeds and post poetry and online diaries reciting their beliefs. They applaud one other for reaching low weights. Their message board conversations often turn to statistics: height, weight, measurements.
Sites survive crackdown
Some Internet service providers shut the sites down in 2001 after the nonprofit National Eating Disorders Association and other groups complained that the sites contained content that could harm minors. Many sites disappeared briefly, only to re-emerge later under different names and on different Internet domains.
Seattle-based NEDA has since changed strategies, opting to create increased awareness and education about eating disorders on the Web and elsewhere.
"There's the whole free-speech issue" in trying to have sites removed from the Web, said NEDA chief executive officer Lynn Grefe. Unless sites encourage or reflect specific crimes, most Internet service providers are reluctant to shut them down.
America Online, which has about 23 million U.S. subscribers, has removed several pro-eating disorder Web sites in the past few years under its policy prohibiting "material that defames, abuses, threatens, promotes or instigates physical harm or death to others, or oneself," according to company spokesman Andrew Weinstein. "Encouraging an eating disorder would fall into the category of promoting physical harm to others," Weinstein said.
Grefe said NEDA realized that its time was better spent getting the word out about eating disorders and treatments, rather than pushing to eliminate the sites. "We can't rid the world of these sites . . . but we can be more proactive in trying to get real information out to the public," Grefe said.
NEDA sets up booths at schools to educate students about eating disorders and available treatments, and it runs a confidential telephone help line. It also offers eating disorder information on its Web site.
Health professionals said people who think they may have eating disorders should seek medical treatment, rather than surf the Web for advice.
"I would prefer that individuals not access that particular door (pro-eating disorder sites) because I think there are dangers involved," said David Herzog, president of the Harvard Eating Disorders Center.
Most sites offer a disclaimer on their home pages: "If you are currently in recovery from an eating disorder or if you are offended or otherwise disturbed by the existence of pro-ana, I suggest you go no further," warns a site called The Thin Files. Others discourage visits by those under 18.
Some site visitors are harshly critical of former anas and mias who have sought treatment. The creator of a site called Help Me Ana explains on her home page that she has gotten treatment and will no longer be maintaining the site. Some visitors signed her site's guest book and wished her well, but others accused her of turning against them.
"HAH recovery, u r jus like the rest of them, u tune in & cop out wen it gets tough, i hope ur happy wen u get fat & hideous. Ana loved u & ur rejecting her 2 join the obesians," read a message signed by someone using the screen name "witchyfingers."
"I feel kind of bad for girls who go into it with a little less maturity and buy into everything they read," said Devenny, an international studies major from New Jersey who is now in therapy and on medication for anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating disorder.
"I think it's dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. . . . This is a life-and-death matter for a lot of people."
Dieting Gone Wrong
Anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder commonly associated with teen girls and young women, is seen in kids as young as 10.
Characteristics of anorexia
• Eating as few as 500 to 1,000 calories a day.
• Excessive excising.
• Body weight 15 percent below healthy minimum weight based on age, height. Recommended calories per day for children ages 9-13 is 2,790; for children 14-18 it is 2,665.
Warning signs
• Prolonging mealtimes; cutting food in tiny pieces; moving it around the plate.
• Secretive eating.
• Avoiding certain foods, such as meat, desserts, fats, bread.
• Choosing foods that have few calories.
Dangers
• Weakness, severe malnutrition; can be fatal. The mortality rate for anorexia is about 5.6 percent per decade, officials say. Cardiac arrest and suicide are common causes of death.
What can parents do?
• Get professional help for the child.
• Be good role models; avoid obsessive dieting themselves.
• Emphasize health and fitness, rather than size.
SOURCES: "Overcoming Childhood Obesity" by Colleen Thompson and Ellen Shanley
RESOURCES
• To reach the National Eating Disorders Association's confidential help line, call (800) 931-2237.
• For more information about eating disorders and treatments, visit: www.nationaleatingdisorders.orgwww.hedc.org or www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/eatingdisorders.cfm.
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I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol
Charlie
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2004/10/19, 01:11 PM
I do not believe that anorexia or bulimia is a lifestyle. I believe that it is a serious health problem and those who are truly anorexic or bulimic do not choose to be that way. I don't think that I am anorexic. I just have family members who think that I am. I used to binge and purge from when I was seventeen up to a year ago. It was hard to stop but I no longer even think about doing it now. When I did purge it had nothing to do with my weight or how I looked. That never crossed my mind. It had to do with the way that I was feeling that day and how depressed I was. I didn't even worry about my weight until I came across some personal problems with my husband that were too much for me to handle and I have had a problem with food and eating ever since then which has been close to two years now.
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2004/10/19, 01:31 PM
b_, I'm sorry . I never meant to imply that all of this applied to you. Just read your 1000 cals per day comment and it kind of clicked with the article. I also thought this was good info for the eating disorder board.I think several other reply suggested you may be eating to little and it struck me as being that way as well.
Building muscle by using good diet and exercise can help fill in under the loose skin but neither will completely eliminate the lose skin. Like Cristal said, there are creams that work temporarily but surgery is the only sure fire remedy.
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I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol
Charlie
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2004/10/19, 03:11 PM
I think 1000 calories a day is not enough food for anyone. Maybe a young little child, but not an adult
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2004/10/19, 04:32 PM
at your weight of 104, the minimum safe reqirement to reduce is 1248 based on 12 cal per pound. It all depends what you eat.
You can take in 1400 cal of better quality and the right portions, and still reach your goals. Just eat , becuse if you don't, you our not helping yourself, as the others stated, and will not be strong enough to even help your child.:big_smile:
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"A will finds a way, failure is not an option"
Ivan
carivan@freetrainers.com
Montreal Canada
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2004/10/20, 09:35 AM
I am up to 1100 calories a day now. but the thing is I eat when I am hungry and stop when I am full. It is really hard for me to eat when I am not hungrey. I feel like I am in really good health and I am stronder now than I was when I was 40 lbs heavier. If it sounds like I am too defensive or yelling at anyone then I am sorry. I don't mean to be like that. I am just confused about my weight and if I doing the right thing or not because I feel healthy and I have so many people tell me that I am not.
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2004/10/20, 10:28 AM
B, everybody who's been here a while has proper eating habits so down it must sound to you like there is a loud echo in the room. I don't see your posts as defensive. Remember that the eating guidelines here are based on getting the lifting and cardio in. The best way to deal with undereating as well as proper eating for exercise is to eat 5 or 6 smaller meals per day. This will boost your metabolism and help build muscle. Build and jeep the muscle and maintain the lifestyle and you'll see the rewards for a long time.
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I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol
Charlie
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2004/10/21, 08:23 AM
I found that article very interesting Charlie, but the one other major feature of anorexia not included in it is menstrual irregularities - this should be a major alarm bell if it happens.
B-wilcox, anorexia and bulimia can be as much about feelings of depression or loss of control and as they can be about body image. Binging and purging is not a normal thing to be doing and if you have stopped now well done :)
I have found that this site has been very helpful to me in sorting out some of my eating habits, and my relationship with food and my body image is a lot healthier than it used to be.
All I say is give us a go, follow our advice for a few weeks and see what happens, what have you got to lose?
One note of warning - when you first increase your calories after eating a very low calorie diet, you will have a sudden gain of probably 2 or 3 pounds as your glycogen stores are replenished. This is water weight, not fat, and you will NOT continue to gain weight at this rate. It is important to realise this so as not to be discouraged.
Good luck :)
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