BetyLouWho,
I don't see how that is an eating disorder at all.

Lets go over what I did to lose and maintain weight.
To lose I ate near 1100 cals toward the end. This is not unhealthful low and I did not feel extremely hungry or deprived on it since I choose intelligently. In fact that is a pretty standard cal-reduced plan for weight reduction. Seeing as you're still very heavy it's a long time until you need to go that low to lose at a nice clip, and judging by your goal weight it's highly unlikely your metabolism will ever get that slow. For the 5'5 woman with a lower weight goal this is not an unreasonable amount of food.

Then there is my dividing foods. This is a good habit I made, and you'll notice a lot of "naturally thin" people either make it a habit too, OR they naturally (unconsciously) never finish anything. It's not something I do consciously, so it's not stressful, I have just conditioned myself to know that a standard "serving" of junk food is actually way too many calories, so I reduce portions appropriately. 250 calories is very high for a junk food item when your plan allows for 1500ish max. Those cals are better spent on meat or veg you know?

Again, eating low carb and selecting from reduced fat foods is also a good habit, and it makes maintaining weight a lot easier.



If to you, and others, think these habits are "too extreme" and "disordered"... well that's your prerogative. Like I said earlier, some people are not aware of the lifestyle change and commitments to it that an extreme weight reduction really TAKES. So they start out on a weight loss diet, and soon they find it takes a lot more changes and sacrifices (in some ways) than they thought. At this point it is only fair that you either say "you know, I don't want to lose more weight more than I want to eat less" or "you know, I do want to lose a bit more weight and I am prepared to cut back as needed to get there".
It is not fair or valid to sit back and poke at people who used to be your weight or higher, people who decided it was a priority to make goal so they DID commit and lose more, all the while bleating about how tough you have it and how they had a "very easy weight loss" (or when you explain to them that you are more strict than they are, don't do an about face and resort to accusing them of being "eating disordered" )

All I'm saying is this.
If you do find yourself stalling out in the 200s, because you think all the behaviors I have chosen are, in your opinion, too extreme for your lifestyle... don't say I have it easy.


Welcome to the war zone

Hmmm... Woo, I wasn't even quoting you in my post, not sure why you reacted to it as if I were.

But having said that there is something you just posted that kind of strikes me wrong.



Again, you have absolutely no idea what that person has or hasn't sacrificed, and neither do they of course, and I think you're in danger of coming off sounding sort of "Holier than thou" when you make these assumptions. And how do you rank sacrifices anyway? Maybe someone has given up 9 hours of time they spent with their loved ones to work out in a smelly gym. How many calories worth of dieting does that sort of sacrifice equal?

In my unworthy opinion when one starts couching things in terms of moral fiber like sacrifice and effort and such, those are value judgements about people that we don't really have enough information to make. That's why I think it is important to couch these things in terms of one's own experience. (Hey, wasn't that another thread?) "I didn't start to lose weight until I substantially cut back on the number of calories I was eating in addition to keeping my carbs low. Sucks to have such a crappy metabolism."

Then to have someone come along and claim I'm doing something wrong because they don't have to cut calories and they manage to lose weigh... argh!

Excellent, excellent post finally someone who gets it.

Anorexia and eating disorders are compulsive obsessions. It's all you think about, and it is irrational.

It is wholly different from deciding a rational, weight-reducing behavior is too inconvenient for your lifestyle so anyone who does that must certainly be unhealthily obsessed and extremely eating disordered.

You know I admit maybe I worry too much about weight and maybe the extent of my concern about regain is justified. I admit I had problems initially in maintenance with maintaining my weight because I was too afraid to leave the comfort zone of steady weight reduction. But that's all background noise, it is not my reality. This isn't an eating disorder at all because my concern for weight is justified and rational, and it is not a compulsion to continue to lose.

The things I do to maintain weight are reasonable considering reality, and I do them to MAINTAIN my size. Here's a fact you're going to discover sooner or later (either when you get to maintenance, or when you're back on a weight loss diet to recover the rebound gain). Weight control does not get any lower priority once you are at goal. People don't get it, it really does not get any different once the weight is gone... the only thing is different is how and what you eat, but the mindset (in the respect of commitment anyway) must not change at all. YOu need to have it a top priority just the same as when you were losing and in a lot of ways it's harder because you don't have a constant motivation (goals) and it's harder to stay in a steady balance than it is to eat less.
If you think staying vigilant of is "too extreme", then accept a goal weight that requires minimal vigilance if you want, by all means this is your personal life choice... but please don't go and judge others by saying everyone who prioritizes thinness is eating disordered.

I was very clear when I specified that my assumptions are justified if investigation into the lifestyle habits of supposed "slow losers" reveals they are either cheating often, or eating a lot (and not exercising as appropriate).
I'm not making stuff up hear. When someone succinctly writes in their journal (or a post or whatever) that they're eating 2000 calories, not exercising much, and is pissed they aren't losing as fast as their husband who does the same thing (or as fast as women eating much less than they are)...
I don't see how my conclusion is a self-righteous unjustifiable assumption. Just because it's harsh doesn't make it not true, it doesn't make me wrong. After all, it's pretty harsh to always be b*tched about for being "lucky" (if not lucky, then "anorexic", often paradoxically said in concert)...

Maybe she did eat at White Castle on occassion, or maybe she just loved the way plain yogurt and cauliflower taste or maybe, just maybe she has extensive food allergies and that was all she could eat from the menu! Gosh, I am allergic to peanuts, chicken, and oranges so there are places I am stuck eating at that I can only have an egg...does that mean I have an eating disorder? No! It seems to be a huge problem around here...judging folks by their stats, their words, and their actions as percieved by certain individuals. So, what does this forum do to get beyond the arguing and get back to being the supportive place it used to be? Do we remove the feature that shows our stats? Maybe...but it is also nice to be able to change it to reflect where we are at and then the popularity of the tickers...so folks will still list their weights. Then there is the issue of folks leaving their present stat where they were before they gained that ten pounds back.

I guess the argument this thread is degenerating into kind of proves my original point that basing judgement SOLELY on the numbers isn't a reliable indicator of a person's experience or knowledge.

Everyone's story is different, and to assume that someone with a small loss number-wise isn't worth listening to is JUST as wrong as assuming that someone with a low bodyweight is anorexic.

Potatofree, at least you wisely placed your original post in the war zone!

Yeah, Diane... I had a feeling.

Did ya steal my life story or what? I, too, have gained back 100 pounds and now that I have lost it and some more...well I am not going back there. Well said Butterfly.

Gee, you were fine with the direction of the thread until some came in here to defend themselves! One thing I have noticed about you over the year I have been around here, Potato, is that you only think you are right and have to have the last word and when you don't have it your way you resort to comments such as the one in the quote. I don't like to even argue with you because I have seen how ugly it can get. But, I think you are completely wrong and are just keeping a topic alive that just needs to die around here. The division between the camps is only growing larger and unless we all do something to put this silly argument behind us then more and more folks are going to leave this forum that used to be such a wonderfully supportive place...well back when we all were in about the same place with our goals...now that some have actually achieved or are close to achieving...the stats issue being what folks look at first, well this board has really begun to divide in those that have and those who don't have it "easy" or should I be saying those that have actually achieved great losses and those that are in the same place or pretty darn close to it. Maybe we are all spending too much time on here...time that can be focused on exercise and planning and preparing foods that will make us healthier and slimmer. I have gotten to where I spend less and less time around here simply because it us becoming a hostile place to be...but out of habit I still come here, maybe hoping that things will turn around and it will become the supportive place it used to be.

I know I will be a little off subject (what was the original subject? ), but
I have noticed this too! I change mine, so it shows negative progress and I have not seen a single other one like this yet?! I thought maybe I was the only one with gains, it never occured to me that others don't change their stats. What's up with that?

I'm still "fine" with the direction of the thread, for what it's worth. I was merely making an observation that it's just as wrong to judge one was as the other regarding numbers. I guess I don't see why that angers you so much, but you're entitled to your opinion. <shrug>

It goes on all around here! Just the other day I was reading part of a thread where the owner of the journal was going on about not being able to get past 172 pounds and yet her present stats state she weighs 150! Going further back in her journal I found where she said, when she hit 160 pounds that she was going to leave her stats at 150 because she will get back down to that. It's something I have seen over the year I have been here. I don't like the habit, but it is up to the individual person if they want to keep their stats accurate. I like to keep mine accurate as well...it was so very hard for me to put it at 150 when I gained that weight...and when I hit 155 I was in denial and left it at 150, but I am back down to 145 and if I am still here when I lose more or even gain then it (the stats) will change with me. I find being honest with myself just as important as being honest with others.

I am not angry so why do you feel you have to try and label the emotions behind my posts? I am not assuming to say you are angry or jealous or anything...it is, of course, not my place. To me, anger is a wasted energy...at least directing anger at something like this thread. Now, it wouldn't be a far stretch to say I am disappointed in how things are going on this forum as a whole. I just want to see it get back to where it once was...a place of support and encouragement. You have, in the past gotten ugly with me over my opinions in other threads and I have respected your right to have an opinion and also left in order for it to not get uglier...so why don't you show the same respect by not trying to label my emotion behind a post?

Well I am glad to know that I am not the only one this happens to. I was soooo embarrassed to change my stats so that I had negative progress. I feel so much better about it now that I know it happens to others, they just don't change their stats.