I'm not having any difficulties

[Greyhoundredux]

I've heard these horror stories about how lives are turned upside down when people start doing things like starving themselves, and all the negative experiences they've had, how it takes over, they get caught, etc, etc.

I don't think I have an eating disorder. Obviously, I haven't been diagnosed, but I've been accused of falling under a certain criteria, with which I disagree. I don't have an "intense fear of gaining weight", or anything like that. I haven't lost control. I have complete control over everything I do. And once I've reached my goal, that'll be it. I'll be done, and will ease my self back to a regular diet.

It's like, I'm choosing this for myself, yeah sure it may be a poor decision to some people, but it's working for me. My only problem is the feeling of guilt! God, it's killing me. I'm not even entirely sure why I feel so terrible; I guess I feel guilty that I'd choose this for myself, where it's such a huge problem for some people. What's so different from me and other people that it's not difficult from me. I just need some general advice.so uh, thanks.

[Leah-Marie]

A lot of eating disorders begin that way. It's still a disorder itself because you feel like you should be starving or whatever it is you do. You'll feel guilty, and it will get harder.
You aren't different, but you're in a place where you can still get out without too much trouble. You could stop if you had to - you won't suffer physical illness because of it, so I urge you to consider it.
Personally, I'm a diagnosed anorexic. I gain weight as soon as I eat because it's slowed my metabolism so much. I can't stop because I feel like I'm fat no matter what as soon as I gain.
It's not a good thing to get into. Please try to get help.

[Kate*]

No one here can say whether you have an eating disorder or not, but I can say that a lot of times they start this way. You might not be having difficulties yet, but these things can easily spiral to the point where you lose control and even if you tell yourself now that you will stop it may get to a point where you can't stop and those things can start to happen for you. If you fit the criteria, whether you agree or not, you still fit it and that's a reason to be concerned. Agreeing with a diagnosis isn't part of dianosing someone with anything, but it makes disorders like this (if you do in fact have one) a lot harder to treat because you're convinced you're fine, even if you really aren't.

[Agoraphobia♥]

You're not really that different from almost anyone else who has had an eating disorder. At first you don't think it's a problem, you're happy to not eat, you don't have any health problems with it and you can stop when you want. It's after you've been at it for a while that you get caught in it, you think you can get out just like you could the week you started but you can't. It's become a natural habit and now you want to eat normal and physically you can't. And then comes the self-hatred, thinking you don't deserve to eat, so you don't and you get pissed at yourself if you do and do whatever you can to get rid of it, then come the health problems.

I know this because that's how I was, I started having disordered eating when I was 8 years old, I didn't think anything was wrong with being thrilled that you didn't eat all day, it was fun and made me feel better. Then when I was 13 I was called fat by everyone, and I was overweight but that's because I would also have binging sessions as well. Well I decided to stop eating on purpose, not realizing I already had eating issues, so I made it worse then when I was 14 I realized that this was a problem and a disorder and I needed to stop so I wouldn't have the health problems you can get, I couldn't eat though. I wanted to so bad and I couldn't at all. Now, I'm 15 and struggle with almost weekly relapses and health problems caused by it. I have ulcer after ulcer after ulcer now. I have acid reflux too and I'm lucky that's all I have, others have it worse.

My point in telling you this is that at first it seems like no big deal and you really can stop when you want, but by the time you want to stop, usually it's gone on too long for you to. You're not having health problems yet because it apparently hasn't been going on long enough for you to really have too many problems and any you may have aren't really obvious and small right now. But you need to stop while you can before you do get caught.

[Revolution]

Hey Gabrielle,

Because I'm not a professional, I cannot diagnose you with any type of eating disorder, only a professional can. But I am going to tell you that no person suffering with an eating disorder woke up saying "Hey, today seems like a good day to develop Anorexia". It always starts as "just a diet" or "just going to reach this goal". Eating disorders develop overtime. Very often, you hear people saying that they've had their eating disorder ever since they were a very young age, such as 8 or 9, and that does not mean that they were doing the same ED behaviors at that age, but these kind of thoughts began taking over their head. Although I do not know what kind of diet you are following (and you do not need to post it, since some of the amounts may be triggering to other users) I can point out the fact that you are worried about it by posting in this forum, and know this amount may be too little.

If you are worried about your weight, I would recommend talking to a medical professional about it, such as a doctor, nutritionist, or dietitian. Only a professional can tell you whether or not you need to lose weight. Online sites can often be skewed, and BMI is a very inaccurate way to measure weight. I would recommend getting the advice of a medical professional. I will also remind you not to care so much about that number on the scale. You might be eating a healthy diet and working out and your weight goes up, because you are building muscle. The number on the scale does not define your health, and certainly doesn't define you.

To give you an idea of a healthy way to eat, I'm going to leave you with The TeenHelp Guide to Healthy Eating. Here, you can get an idea what is healthy to be eating to maintain or lose weight. I will also remind you to feel free to post in the ED forum we're always here if you need help, and you're always welcome to message me, via PM or VM, as well.