Last week, I wrote about some surprising findings on women's eating behaviors based on a poll conducted by Self Magazine. This poll found that the majority of women, 75 percent in fact, have "disordered eating behaviors," or basically a troubled relationship with food. I admit I was a little shocked. On the other hand, I have seen so many troubling food behaviors in my time.
So I thought I would do a very unscientific poll and pose this question to you . . .
6ixty 8ight
L'Wren Scott
Killah
For me, it really varies. Sometimes when I'm stressed, I overeat without being hungry. At other times, I skip meals, and when my stress level is very high or if I am feeling depressed, I lose my appetite and have to force myself to eat.
1It vacillates for me, due largely in part to the fact that I am in recovery for an eating disorder. I don't purge, but I am definitely guilty of those other things.
2I have been overweight my whole life, and have always struggled with understanding when my body is actually hungry and when it is not. Thankfully, I have been able to successfully take off about 40 lbs in the last year or so but only through strict dieting that was not really maintainable over the long term. I recently became pregnant, and have transitioned out of the diet into more normal eating habits.
The funny thing for me is that, while pregnant, it has become much easier for me to recognize my hunger and my fullness, and eat appropriately. (This was true with my first pregnancy as well.) Of course the consequences of overeating have become much more dire (I immediately get a majorly upset stomach), as have the consequences for not eating when I'm hungry (nausea).
Hopefully, this awareness will last beyond the pregnancy!
3I most definitely eat if I'm not hungry, mostly because once I fixate on something I can't rest until I do whatever it is I told myself I was going to do. So if I decide I'm making something for dinner but I'm not hungry when it comes time to eat it, I will anyway. I don't feel that that's rooted too deeply in emotion, though.
4I'm not so much an emotional eater as a eat to do something eater. I sit at computer all day and snack non stop. I try to make it things that aren't so bad for me, like popcorn with no butter, but I still have way more than I know I should. Its like I can't stop myself sometimes, I know I should be full but I don't feel it.
5I'm also trying to drink more water to keep me from eating all the cookies and candies in the office.
Ditto @ BloodyFuFu.
I just eat when i'm bored on the computer or fidgety at work. No emotions tied to it.
6I am a social eater and all my healthy conscious planning goes out the window when I'm socializing! I'm very good about eating at work and weeknights for the most part.
7I'm definitely a social eater. I often eat a lot when I'm around other people, but when I'm alone I rarely eat at all. I'll just have a no-calorie drink if I'm hungry. When I'm depressed or stressed, I don't eat at all and will go days without eating anything. I never used to think about weight in relation to what I ate, as I've always been thin, until I went through a terrible 3-yr relationship that changed my body image negatively. Hopefully my thinking will return to its prior state one day
8I suffer from EDNOS, and many if not all of these have and or do apply to me. At times, my BF has to force me to eat and convince me that one little bit of something won't equate to gaining weight.
9I dont often talk about it.
10And I certainly don't tell anyone about it.
I'll often eat a normal meal (Breakfast, dinner, whatever) and purge it.
I'll consistently stay below 900 cals to lose lbs.
Been know to abuse laxatives once upon a time.
Its scary and it makes me upset. But I'll do anything to be skinny. And you can all call me stupid and irrational, but I already know that. Yet I cant help it.
But I am getting better
11Eat when not hungry.Other than that I think Im pretty healthy.
12Since I'm recovering from an eating disorder, I really try not to skip meals, but I do still count calories and am considerably under 1,000 a day. I also used to "purge," though not in the traditional sense - I was addicted to laxatives. But I've never been a binge- or emotional eater.
13For weight/thin issues I do want to say that most guys have told me that a girl's attractiveness is 80% face, 20% body.
I have been told by several boys that i have a "perfect body" but my "nose ruins it". So being thin isn't all it's cracked up to be.
//i am healthy and never had an eating problem
14Tidal, that's f'ed up! I'm sure you have a LOVELY nose.
15I definitely have a troubled relationship with food, but its a wide range of feelings. On some days I can't stop eating, no matter how much I put in my mouth and how full I feel, I just want more. The only way to stop eating is to actually get myself out of the house!
Then on some other days I'm under 1000 calories. But, thankfully on most days I eat very healthy, balanced diet.
16I don't think I have ever had an eating disorder but I have pretty much tried every and anything to lose weight. I am not proud of some of the things I have done but when you don't quite know what makes you happy you tend to try to hard to make others happy and body image plays a huge part in that. My biggest problem is eating (even when I am not hungry) just because there is food in front of my face. If I see it, I tend to think I HAVE to eat it. But, I am trying my hardest at eating only when I am hungry. I finally lost all of my college weight and I definitley think keeping it off has been a bigger struggle then trying to first lose it! All I can say is being healthy and skinny can be two completely different things...just because you see a skinny person doesn't mean they are healthy and I bet they too have insecurities about being skinny! Just make yourself happy! Oh! And I agree with TidalWave's comment about boys...my boyfriend fell in love with my face first (picture) and I met him at my heaviest weight! He thought I was beautiful
When I finally started to lose my weight he told me to stop because he loved me the way I was! But, I just had to do it for myself! THere are PLENTY of guys out there who
LOVE junk in the trunk!!
17I have an obsession with "thin perfection". I can't help it. I used to be a severe binger/over eater (all the same I was never overweight). Right now I am back to restricting. I have an eating disorder, I am convinced of that.
18In college I was bulimic for about a year and a half. I have also, in other periods of my life, eaten less than 800 cals per day for days on end. I've gone the laxatives route, the diet pills route. Abused adderall to up my metabolism and curb my hunger, skip meals. I def still suffer from disordered eating/an eating disorder.
19It shifts for me. For years I was anorexic and purged as well but only when i was forced to eat in front of other people, and I went through treatment and recovery and honestly never felt the desire to starve again, you know, after recovery that addiction to hunger and terrible extreme fear of food did not return, but a few years later I became more and more of an emotional eater and the comfort that I felt from purging returned and I became a binge eater and purger, something I had not been before. I am constantly struggling to work this out and my binging definitely has decreased but I am still in therapy and I hope one day I can have a more tempered relationship with food. It is so distressing and sad how negative relationships with food haunt you and follow you forever, even when you think things are going ok, and youre comfortable with yourself and your body image. For me, it is a control issue. If something happens in my life that I feel I can't control, that becomes reflected in my eating habits. I wish to overcome this more than I have ever wished for anything else.
20I currently do not have a troubled relationship with food. In high school and part of college I was bulimic to maintain weight for track. It took a good deal of working with body image issues to get past that. I would say that up until a 18 months ago I was an emotional eater but have also worked through that by working with my emotional triggers. My only food issue now is not indulging too much when I hang out with my hubby when he makes a piggy of himself
21I definitely am an emotional eater. I eat when i'm bored, not hungry, sad, excited...I just love to eat I guess!
22there are a lot of women here who have opened up and I commend all of you and wish you the best if your recoveries.
23sorry, IN your recoveries I meant to say
24I'm also recovering from an ED and have done all of these things (and more). Occasionally, I still do these things, but I'm definitely better than my lowpoint 4 years ago.
25I started my recovery from anorexia about 5 years ago. I live a healthy lifestyle now and my anxieties with food are at bay for the most part. But when I started a college away from home and there began to be strains in my serious relationship, I found that I hated eating in front of anyone, I kept my calories below 1,200, and had OCD like always eating the same thing each meal... It varies.
26I could write pages about this topic lol. I don't even know where I fit in. I was overweight growing up and now I think I'm kind of a tweener - not skinny but not fat either. There is not a day that goes by where I don't obsess about my weight. I don't think I've ever taken my obsessions to a dangerous level, but just one day it would be so nice not to worry about my body! I kind of have an opposite deal - I will eat the same meals for weeks at a time (albeit healthy) b/c I am scared that eating anything else will make me gain weight. I try to eat very healthy and work out on a regular basis, but I never seem to get anywhere! I am trying harder to vary my meals so my body doesn't get so used to getting the same amount of calories, etc. everyday...hopefully this will make a difference...
27Wierd how alot of us on here are recovering or living with an Eating Disorder
I too have a EDNOS.
28I eat when not hungry all the time. I was a vegetarian then vegan for several years than back to vegetarian trying to be vegan again 'cause I think that's when I had the least issues with my weight. Last year I did the south beach diet as a vegetarian and completely restructured my body. I have been able to stay the same since doing it but don't think I could do it again. Right now I binge and then have the three ballerina tea I was doing this almost everyday for a couple of weeks but promised myself I wouldn't do it more than two or three times a week. The last time I had it was on Thursday of last week after eating a breakfast burrito and green chili cheese fries...
29What's "ballerina tea"?
30It's one of those diet teas that pretty much works as a laxative
31I am your classic binge eater, which is something I am struggling with as we speak. I eat healthy 90% of the time, the problem lies with the one or two cheat meals that I allow myself to indulge in each week. Instead of them being "calorie-controlled" cheat meals, if there is such a thing, I end up abandoning myself to gluttoney more often than not. The cheat meals are ALWAYS decandent and replete with superfluous calories. For example,I just polished off an entire box of protein bars just for kicks. Over 2000 calories at one sitting. Eck! If I could rein in my proclivity for pizza and other confections as cheat meals, I would have it made in the shade! Fortunatly I have single digit body fat, but will not for much longer if I can't come to grips with this! Difficulty controlling one's appetite doesn't discriminate by gender, age or body fat level. Suffice it to say, portion control is something ALL of us need to pay attention to at all times! That more than anything else, needs to be your priority IF you are hoping to pare down. When I got down to 6% body fat, it was by ALWAYS practicing portion control. Now more than ever, I need to take my own advice!
32wow I didn't realize how widespread and common EDs are!
I was friends with a girl who was obviously anorexic, but she never admitted it, and whenever people brought it up, she would deny it. We never were sure how to deal with it, because we were in high school and didn't want to be snitchers, but now I see it would have been the right thing to do.
personally, I just eat when I'm emotional, bored, etc.
33I eat when bored and when I'm not hungry. Not great for the figure. I'm working on keeping my hands busy in other ways like reading or knitting.
34this will be the first time i have opened up about this. and have considered doing it for a while but just can't. i have a horrible track record with binging and purging. it started about 2 years ago and i reached my lowest weight (105 at 5'6") last decemeber. i was put in the hospital with chest complications and other issues. i guess that i can't simply can't get a grip on my relationship with not only my body but with food as well. i'll agree with scottdavis0676 in that i eat healthy most of the time and then for instance, my roommate baked a cake on sunday. a delicious red velvet cake - we had a slice on sunday. well i got home yesterday extremely early and knew it was there. seriously it was calling my name. i polished the entire thing off and was "getting rid of it" within minutes of eating it. i'm terribly unhappy when i do it but it's as though i can't stop. i have zero control and i assume all of it ties back with my emotions. i'm super stressed at work and in life. i've been addicted to laxatives for a while and have also done the whole "coating my stomach" in order to assist in the binging. i know i need help. and in a way i think that this post was a step for me.
i'd also like to say that i applaud everyone who has posted. it takes a lot to do it.
35I have EDNOS.
36not emotional eater, but eater
but everyone says i eat to little in comperisson to
them, and they are like 120lbs, i'm 160lbs and not losing weight. guess my metabolism is slow.
37all of the above!!!
38all of the above, in recovery from anoreixa nervosa
39I definitely eat out of boredom on occasion. I try to eat healthy things like grapes during these times. Lately, though, I've been doing pretty good! Chewing gum helps. =)
40i think i have a balanced relationship with food--i love it, and it loves me.
big ups to all of you who are posting here about EDs today. it takes a lot of courage.
41Wow so many girls have a problem! I wish all of you well.
I certainly had problem with food in the past but i'm learning to get over it, everyday i learn to appreciate my body how it is and not losing my time torturing myself with diets and sh*ts like that, wishing i was different.
I mean,it's crazy you look up to a girl wishing you were as skinny as her or whatever and eventually you learn that this girl is not happy with her weight,her body and wishes she was skinnier herself.It's like a vicious circle, nobody is happy with what they have,so at one point i got EXTREMELY tired of that and decided to get over it.
I now try to stay healthy by eating as much organic food as possible.I eat lot of veggies,fruits whole grain stuffs and yeah sweets,pastries too,EVRYTHING in moderation i also work out regularly.These days people think that being healthy means restricting onself and i strongly disagree,i believe in balance and moderation.I no longer lose my mind when i eat too much during big family dinner etc...I no longer feel like killing myself when i skip a work out session.In the grand scheme of things that's not that bad.Yeah it's ok.Of course sometimes i don't feel that great about myself but i know that i'll get over it eventually.
I've realised that dieting or over exercising is a "side effect" the real problem is the lack of self esteem,confidence,self worth.I think that if people put all their energy working on their mind instead of their diets, things would be completely different,but of course it's not that easy.
42Not at all...I can honestly say I've always had a very healthy relationship with food.
I'm sure it's mostly because I'm naturally very thin and never had to worry about my weight, but I think part of it is because my parents always encouraged healthy eating habits, but never in an obsessive, crazy way that made me worry about my weight.
43I've done some drastic dieting things before but when I was a lot younger.
44i'm so messed up with food right now. i restricted for a year, and now i've binged for a month. but there are always other issues; it's never just the food.
ahhhhh.
45i wonder how many people were honest in this poll...
46I also wish everyone well in their recoveries.
I have issues with eating but not in the way listed above. I am also someone who eats when they're bored. I also feel guilty if I ate too much. I don't actually do anything about it like purging, but I do feel like I need to go for a run or something to burn off the extra pounds I figure I added by eating that extra helping of macaroni and cheese.
47I have no willpower and eat whatever I want. I am not emotional about it, I just do it 90% of the time because i am bored.
48Kinda of it comes and goes in spurts. I have willpower its just sometimes I really want things and I will have them no matter what. Overall I eat really well, but every once in a while when we go out I have the chocolate cake
49@kiddylnd: Aw, thank you!
To all: Keep on fighting, girls. Being able to post about it is a good sign. Good luck to everyone.
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