Anorexia

[Nautilus]

Why do you think starving women (or men) are sexy?
Being anorexic does not mean you are so thin that you must go to the hospital, as some believe. It means you are so low fat that your internal organs atrophy, which can be anywhere from just 10-20 pounds underweight for women.
There's nothing wrong with being thin, even underweight, but when everyone wants that sort of thing people whose bodies are not naturally supposed to be that way are forced to hurt their health.
Why do we encourage this kind of self abuse in our culture, while we discourage obesity (which ironically has many of the same consequences as anorexia, like heart disease)?

[TheQuietPlace]

We encourage the Thin because society see it as beautiful. Thats what we've come to. If its "ugly" its un acceptable. If its "sexy" we accept it.

[Amelia G]

Funny thing for me is that I read certain gentlemen's magazines at a formative age and I didn't develop a lot of that obsession with being thin to the point of illness that other chicks I hung out with did. But they read magazines which are supposedly for women. Kind of ironic. My rationale was that my big ass was just right if that's what guys were paying to see in magazines. Plus the sensuality and comfort of food is pretty much my favorite thing in the world, so no contest.

Not that I couldn't be in much better shape right now, after spending a summer sitting in front of the computer with an injured ankle and tendon.

[Nautilus]

PS. Please don't think I am saying thin people suck, I am a little underweight myself, but I am curious about how attracted to skinnies our culture has gotten. I personally like pretty average weight girls and guys.

[Nautilus]

Here is a way to find out if you or someone you know might be dangerously underweight (anorexic). Calculate your BMI , I believe below 18.5 is underweight, below 16.5 is anorexic for women, and below 14.5 is anorexic for men. If you find you are underweight, but you have not experienced any of the symptoms of anorexia (exhaustion, sickness, stress, decreased mental acuity, hair or fingernail brittleness/waves/discoloration, sleepiness, insomnia, ask if want to know more...) then you might just be naturally a very thin person and don't worry too much.

[Amelia G]

What does it mean if you have fingernail waves and are not underweight?

[Nautilus]

Example:
5'4" woman: 108-145 pounds is healthy, 97-108 pounds is underweight, below 97 pounds is dangerously underweight (anorexic)

[Nautilus]

What does it mean if you have fingernail waves and are not underweight?

Are they horizontal waves? That's protein deficiency, have some eggs

[franziska]

Yay! I'm normal.

But I don't quite get the "thin" thing either. Much as I hate to admit it, I worry about my weight as much as any other kid. Not so much my weight, but my appearance. It's the media, I think. No matter how much you ignore it, it will somehow find a way into your system and pollute you.

[ForrestBlack]

In my opinion it has a lot to do with cultural ideals for men. They are supposed to be big and strong. So, there is an underlying pressure that their ideal mate should be tiny and perhaps frail. Big girls can present a challenge to the dominant male role model and are therefore less likely to be desirable. Now, the world is evolving and perhaps these sorts of things will correct themselves over time as the roles for men and women evolve, but for now, I think this is a big contributing factor for the potentially less than healthy ideals many people strive for.

[Amelia G]

Are they horizontal waves? That's protein deficiency, have some eggs

I'm mildly allergic to eggs and my father is violently allergic to them, so I steer clear of anything made with a lot of them, but I eat A LOT of protein. I know that when I lived in group house, it always weirded out my housemates how much protein I had to consume to not be cranky.

I've got waves on just two of my fingers. Had them becoming more extensive on the middle finger of my left hand and they just started creeping across my left thumbnail. They don't seem particularly vertical or horizontal, though, just sort of random. I did a web search a while ago and only came up with anorexia and I'm definitely not anorexic. I know that is what all the anorexics say, but I'm really not.

I'll be going to the doctor later this month, but I figured so long as we were talking about it . . .

[Nautilus]

I'm mildly allergic to eggs and my father is violently allergic to them, so I steer clear of anything made with a lot of them, but I eat A LOT of protein. I know that when I lived in group house, it always weirded out my housemates how much protein I had to consume to not be cranky.

I've got waves on just two of my fingers. Had them becoming more extensive on the middle finger of my left hand and they just started creeping across my left thumbnail. They don't seem particularly vertical or horizontal, though, just sort of random. I did a web search a while ago and only came up with anorexia and I'm definitely not anorexic. I know that is what all the anorexics say, but I'm really not.

I'll be going to the doctor later this month, but I figured so long as we were talking about it . . .

Strange, maybe it's something else? With protein deficency they are usually deep, horizontal waves like the ocean on your fingertips heehee.

[macabrette]

My weight tends to fluctuate dramaticly from month to month. It's always irritating to hear people talking about it. Most people don't realize that it's extremely bad for me to be underweight; they think I don't have anything to worry about because I'm not fat..... Society seems to think thinner is better, but it's really just as difficult for some people such as myself to maintain a healthy weight as people who are overweight.
It's actually irritating for me to listen to people who are close to a normal weight complain about needing to diet..... People don't really pay much attention to their BMI. My advice to people who needlessly complain about their weight: I lost 40 pounds in three months, and I owe it all to kidney failure! You should try it!!!

[Amelia G]

My weight tends to fluctuate dramaticly from month to month. It's always irritating to hear people talking about it. Most people don't realize that it's extremely bad for me to be underweight; they think I don't have anything to worry about because I'm not fat..... Society seems to think thinner is better, but it's really just as difficult for some people such as myself to maintain a healthy weight as people who are overweight.
It's actually irritating for me to listen to people who are close to a normal weight complain about needing to diet..... People don't really pay much attention to their BMI. My advice to people who needlessly complain about their weight: I lost 40 pounds in three months, and I owe it all to kidney failure! You should try it!!!

I'm laughing, but only because I have a morbid sense of humor. When I lived in Atlanta, I didn't have the best time of it. Basically, I was starving for my art and I don't recommend that for a good time. I told a friend on the phone that my weight had fallen below a hundred pounds for the first time since like junior high. I was freaking out because this was really NOT a good thing. And my friend was like "wow, that's great." But, hey, at least it wasn't kidney failure.

[killerkat]

damn im underweight , thats sucks cuz i pretty much live off the food from work (pretty much nothing but breads and pastries) i can't afford food ,haha damn

[TheQuietPlace]

hahahaha Im over weight... O_O

[devilmutt]

in high school i was on the wrestling team and we did some pretty evil stuff to our body's to make weight for matches...not very healthy


and for the record a girl as skinny as we're talking about on here doesn't look good at all.

[macabrette]

Ooooo, I used to know a lot of wrestlers. The stuff they did to themselves was completely uncalled for, considering they were just kids. They would pile on loads of overcoats and run laps to sweat down to the desired weight class. I can't understand why a high school coach would condone that sort of thing. I thought that was the purpose of having a team; if one kid isn't at the right weight to compete, the others would make up for them.

[CPRB]

okay about strong agressive women I think I aprreciate them..especially intellectually strong women..they can type for me because I suck. as for skinney I never dug it, and I alwasy liked healthy girls. Nothing funner thane a girl who's pissed of angry and you take her out for a bite to eat and she eats half you meal....that's saying one thing..i am storing up energy to kick the person ass that piss me off...and I am not comming back till they are dead.

[keiko]

Being thin and being fit are not the smae thing. I like my girls fit, lil hard bodies. Most anorexic girls (models) I know are actually incredibly obese because of the way their body stores up "fat" and other nutrients against the famine they induce upon their bodies. I know girls who have dropped dead on treadmills of heart attacks because they had more fat contnent to their bodies than muscle and the systems were eating away at the muscle for nutrition that it wasn't getting from the food one would normally intake. The trick is moderation.

I was once told I was anorexic by a doctor because I didn't eat much and I was under weight. It wasn't a conscious decision, I just hardly ever felt like eating. I like being "thin" or "skinny". When I was much younger my family would amke fun of "Skinny Mini" me, so I actually got quite fat, but because of my small frame I was still under weight. It wasn't untill about a year ago that I dropped that now I'm 110 and a little soft, 'casue I'm lazy, which according to the western medical profession is about 25-30 lbs under weight. Can't please anybody.
K

[macabrette]

110 lbs. at what height? You'd have to be quite tall for 110 to be underweight....
If I'm 110 at 5'5", I consider myself to be a bit thin. I like to be around 118lbs, but that's just a personal preference. I don't start worrying until I get to about 105. But then again, I'd be quite happy if I could be just a bit taller....

[keiko]

110 lbs. at what height? You'd have to be quite tall for 110 to be underweight....
If I'm 110 at 5'5", I consider myself to be a bit thin. I like to be around 118lbs, but that's just a personal preference. I don't start worrying until I get to about 105. But then again, I'd be quite happy if I could be just a bit taller....

Five feet four and a quarter inches. According to my doctor though I was under weight at 125 but I didn't look healthy, it was all belly bulge.
K

[Nautilus]

Five feet four and a quarter inches. According to my doctor though I was under weight at 125 but I didn't look healthy, it was all belly bulge.
K

110 is ay ok for 5'4", so is 125. No worries. I used your height (which is the same as mine, actually. I'm a small one.) for an example earlier in the thread. Just stay above 105 (where I'm at) and you'll be fine
You seem to have a good idea of what's healthy, way to go!
-Nate

[PaulCat]

Being anorexic isn't always a conscious desision, it took me ten years before i realised something wasn't right.

i saw a documentary about it on TV, and it went through a whole list of things that these people did to avoid eating, or eating stupid stuff, and i just sat there getting more and more "Oh Shit, Thats fucking ME" as it went on...

And just so's people out there dont get worried and stuff, i'm getting a lot better about it now! i've gained almost a stone in the past 18 moths so i'm now up to 8 stone 2.

i was 7 stone 3, and at 5" 10' yup i looked like a skeleton.
i can still fit my watch around my bicep, not good.

i put it down to being treated like shit, possibly my way of dealing with it.
either way i have no apetite, but my watch has two alarms on it as reminders.

Paul Cat.

[Nudemuse]

As a disease I believe anorexia and other eating disorders are vastly misunderstood. I've known more than a few people with eating disorders and it's not always about what other people think is attractive. Quite the opposite in many cases.

For me personally I've spent a lot of years struggling with my weight and can say with confidence that it's not about looks all the time for me. Or about some 'ideal' put forth by the popular media. Your milage may vary.

As far as culturally America for instance is ripe for cultivating eating disorders. There are few places a person can go where the message isn't broadcast loud and clear that being fat is wrong and bad. From Hollywood to suburban nowhere, our culture does not make room for accepting a body that isn't ideal or at least working towards ideal. If you aren't within a 'normal' size range try finding clothing that is stylish to your mind and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Economically I can say from personal experience that wanting to be healthy is a great goal but, when you don't have the money to eat well you don't have a lot of choice.

A persons weight is one of those things I don't think can the why's and how's can be judged just from a look. You might see someone and think to yourself that they must be fat and lazy and, that person could be in better shape than you are. The inverse is also true, you could look at that person who seems to be fit and thin and all that and that person could drop dead in front of your eyes.

In my ideal world there would be more room for beauty in whatever form it comes in with people.

And that's my five cents.

[Sceptic_Messiah]

im very thin for what i should be and i dont know why people think it looks sexy on guys, i have scarily bony hips and u can see my ribs and it sucks coz i eat and eat and eat and im still like this.

but i guess different people have different views on whats hot or not but i prefer a little something not just a twig like skeleton on my g/f

[Nautilus]

Economically I can say from personal experience that wanting to be healthy is a great goal but, when you don't have the money to eat well you don't have a lot of choice.

That's a really good point, Nudemuse. When I volunteered at the food bank in Spokane I got to see how fat starving people can be and why. These people barely get enough to eat and all we have for them is daughy bread products and processed food, so their metabolism bottoms out and they get fat despite being hungry. It broke my heart.

[keiko]

As far as culturally America for instance is ripe for cultivating eating disorders. There are few places a person can go where the message isn't broadcast loud and clear that being fat is wrong and bad. From Hollywood to suburban nowhere, our culture does not make room for accepting a body that isn't ideal or at least working towards ideal. If you aren't within a 'normal' size range try finding clothing that is stylish to your mind and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Economically I can say from personal experience that wanting to be healthy is a great goal but, when you don't have the money to eat well you don't have a lot of choice.

I agree that it's definitly the "accepted" thing in the US to be super model thin. However finding clothes that fit the girl sized two is harder to do than it sounds unless you happen to be Paris Hilton. You go to the average retail clothing store and get a thong in a sized sixteen but finding anything smaller than a size five you better have a Victoria's Secret in your back pocket and a bank roll to match.

Eating healthy is a choice, just like deciding to have a twinkie rather than having a banana. I've been so broke I couldn't buy ramen noodles and I still managed to eat healthy. Three bucks at Burger King is one meal. Three bucks at the grocery store is a loaf of bread and some peanut butter and jelly, which is way better for you than a Whopper and you can eat for four days on that. Moderation and choices, it's all up to you.

As far as being so disgustingly overweight that no one can get past you in the aisle at the grocery store I feel that it's right to tell those people that they have a problem. Overeating and Obesity is like Alcoholism, when it get so disturbingly obviouse there needs to be an intervention. You don't necessatily need to be cruel but this walking on egg shells to be PC is bullshit. I really feel that if more people were told that they need to lose weight or suffer hundreds od things that could concivibly kill them slowly and painfully they might try walking father than the laps between the couch and the fridge.

I don't mean to offend , just my two cents.
K

[CPRB]

you like fione to me and your as sharp a a whip so I say your doctor needs fixin'!

[Amethyst]

im very thin for what i should be and i dont know why people think it looks sexy on guys, i have scarily bony hips and u can see my ribs and it sucks coz i eat and eat and eat and im still like this.

Sceptic, I am just the same. I can eat as much as I want and still I don't get any weight. My BMI was about 18,3. It isn't that bad but I look very thing, thought I can be happy that I have been very much into sports when younger so I have two or three muscles too. But the food isn't the only choice, you should try working out if you want to hide your ribs etc. Your apetite crows and you get healthier. I am not the best guy to say that because I haven't done any sports for about 3 years. Or then physical work is one good way too. Personally I don't think that men must be masculine and strong or girls should be skeletons, you know I like flesh

[Krissy Lin]

I'm 5'8'' and 110lbs, but I'm far from anorexic (even though my BMI is 16.7) however, that doesn't stop some people from trying to shove food down my throat. In high school I was called Ethopia cause I looked like I was starving (gangly teenage years were the worst)

Honestly, having a "perfect body" is not all sunshine and roses. It's hard to find clothes that fit right, you get dirty looks and snide comments whenever a conversation such as this starts up in real life, and I'm bony as hell and just don't see what's so attractive about the fact that you can count my ribs through my skin.

Overall though, I'm happy how I am. It's just my natural body shape, same as a lot of other women in my family. That's all that really matters in the end anyway. As long as you're happy with yourself, forget what anyone else thinks.

[Nautilus]

I'm 5'8'' and 110lbs, but I'm far from anorexic (even though my BMI is 16.7) however, that doesn't stop some people from trying to shove food down my throat. In high school I was called Ethopia cause I looked like I was starving (gangly teenage years were the worst)

Honestly, having a "perfect body" is not all sunshine and roses. It's hard to find clothes that fit right, you get dirty looks and snide comments whenever a conversation such as this starts up in real life, and I'm bony as hell and just don't see what's so attractive about the fact that you can count my ribs through my skin.

Overall though, I'm happy how I am. It's just my natural body shape, same as a lot of other women in my family. That's all that really matters in the end anyway. As long as you're happy with yourself, forget what anyone else thinks.

True, some people are just naturally skinny (and the BMI scale isn't like the end-all truth). It's too bad society accepts the naturally skinny people more than the naturally heavy, but as in your case it's not always that simple. I'm sure you could get a sweet paying job as a model, but at the same time people still give you crap because of your physical appearance. Maybe we just need to be more accepting all around.

[GasmaskGirl]

Hm, I was about 90 lbs (at 5'5" or however tall I am, I don't know for sure) but that was because I had a couple drug addictions at the time and I was spending all my money on drugs. I'd go days without eating anything.

Thankfully I've kicked a few habits and made some better life decisions and gained some weight. I'm a normal weight now. I looked like a bag of bones, before. Seriously. I looked like a haggard, sick little zombie. Blech.

[keiko]

I know a girl, we'll call her Lain for the sake of argument, who is tall and very thin. incredibly malnourished and very weak. For the longest time we thought she was this way becasue she couldn't afford to eat. When we found out WHY she couldn't afford to eat we were pissed. She was blowing all her money on several diff kinds of drugs and eating only candy and popsicles. Still owes a friend of mine like $1000 in back rent.
K

[KilLAtomiK]

i like my women with a lil "junk in the trunk"

[keiko]

i like my women with a lil "junk in the trunk"

Yeah a nice round bottom looks good on a girl.
"A good piece of music, like a fine woman, should have a solid end" ~ crap can't remember who I'm quoting.
K

[LECHUZA]

Being a Latina girl I come with hips and big butt but I love it!!! I don't think I could live without my curves..........Since earlier Amelia was talking about her nails appearance....what does it mean if you have vertical lines on your nails? I have had them for years and don't know why?

[GasmaskGirl]

what does it mean if you have vertical lines on your nails? I have had them for years and don't know why?

something to do with malnutrition, but i'm not sure. I've heard this before, too. I don't think it's that uncommon though, because I know I get it from time to time and so do a lot of other people I know.

[keiko]

something to do with malnutrition, but i'm not sure. I've heard this before, too. I don't think it's that uncommon though, because I know I get it from time to time and so do a lot of other people I know.

Happens to my pinkies all the time, but just to them, wonder what that means.
K

[Belladonna]

As far as being so disgustingly overweight that no one can get past you in the aisle at the grocery store I feel that it's right to tell those people that they have a problem. Overeating and Obesity is like Alcoholism, when it get so disturbingly obviouse there needs to be an intervention. You don't necessatily need to be cruel but this walking on egg shells to be PC is bullshit. I really feel that if more people were told that they need to lose weight or suffer hundreds od things that could concivibly kill them slowly and painfully they might try walking father than the laps between the couch and the fridge.

I don't mean to offend , just my two cents.
K

sometimes it's not a lazy person you see in the store that you can't get past. it's me. i have a problem with eating. i forget to eat and i get sick. i happen to be fat. not from eating to much my 5 year old eats more than i do. my body remembers when i was 85 or 90 pounds and did'nt eat. i store fat and have'nt been able to keep it off. i'm one big girl with an eating disorder. it sucks that you assume all fat people eat to much. also fat people who overeat know they do. but sometimes food helps fill a void. it dose'nt make it right it just is. food is not my friend. all it does is make me feel like a pig.