Interesting view of Anorexia/Bulimia vs WLS

[Sleeve Pixie]

I was listening to a video today of a woman who went to an OA meeting last night and at this meeting a woman suffering from anorexia spoke up and asked, "Why is it socially acceptable for people who have had WLS to be anorexic? Even on my worst anorexic days I consumed more than a weight loss surgery patient!" It really got me thinking... Are we socially acceptable anorexics?

Thoughts please!

[sandyfromoz]

UMMM in one word..........................NO!
Nothing to do with it. Sorry to be so blunt but Just NO!
HUGS Sandy

[GoofySpice]

Thats a load of hot air... she is talking out her arse!!!
If she consumed what the average post op peeps did - she would be thin and healthy.

[sandyfromoz]

Just for starters. I can't begin to say how many ways she is wrong but she just is.

[Sleeve Pixie]

Forgive me friends... but I wasn't trying to rile anyone up... Just an interesting topic for discussions. Other then telling me she is wrong... can anyone tell me why they feel that why??

[sandyfromoz]

No Rachel, forgive me if i sounded uptight.HUGS (please)
For a start what we have done or are going to have done is to enhance our health not destroy it. It is a conscious decision most or all of us hopefully have made after much research and ongoing diets of all sorts.
Having suffered an un-specified eating disorder since I was 14, I can assure you, I am not thinking about how I look when I eat or not eat in public and could care less about my social status, when the "gremlins' ( head games) are running loose.
I'm not sure of where I am going with this at 1.40am but I just know that, No we aren't socially accepted anorexics, we are surviviors of eating disorders of all kinds.
We chose to better our health by using a tool we are lucky to have.If this person was a chronic sufferer of Anorexia, I can't see her eating more than we can and talking about it. For a start, she wouldn't be being an anorexic if she were. ok shut up now Sandy and gets some sleep.
BUT Please don't take offence to my uppityness ( is there such a word?) It just kinda made me bite is all. At 45 with an eating disorder, I have survived and will eat as little or as much as I like in public or any where else without a label.

[JOSIE]

that is great Sandy tell it like it is sista! am proud of my sleeve.

[MoreFitDiane]

Eating disorder? Nope, not here. However, where I used to live to eat, now I eat to live...and only to live. I eat consciously, not subconsciously. Portion control and knowledge of nutritional values is my friend. I'm not ashamed of anything I eat, either private or publicly, and I don't try to hide it or rationalize it. Nor am I ashamed of how little I eat. Let people think what they want. My life, my body, and I'm finally in charge.

[This is it]

Yep, this is a good topic. I was bulimic on and off for 20 years. I ate, then threw up or was a gym junkie or just didn't eat. Anorexia and bulimia and totally illnesses of the mind - food is the outlet that is used. One of my friend's daughters is anorexia and can't even go to school she is so sick. There is no way she could put nearly 1000 calories in her mouth every day. No way. And with my bulimia, the end result in calories was probably 1200 a day to keep me slim.

To have this surgery, I think you need to be mentally stable. And from the comments that the girl on the video made, I don't think she is (can't be if she is anorexic). Why does she think WLS people are anorexic. Just because we have 1000 calories per day? I haven't seen one person on this site yet who is anorexic because of the surgery. And I don't believe her when she says she eats more than us. Sorry if I sound like a doubter, but from one who has had an eating disorder and has spent years trying to deal with it, I think she was just talking for the sake of it.

I think we are socially acceptable people trying to get to a healthy weight and lifestyle, Sheryl xx

[jane_vsg_ayla]

I worked in a hospital once, and a 16 year old girl was brought in for a test who had suffered many years of anorexia and bulemia. She was also a bit of a cutter. The cuts never healed because she was so malnourished and both her legs had been amputated below the knee. She still refused to eat, and was on a feeding tube to keep her alive. She was there for a test of her stomach function to see if it had "died" essentially from lack of use I guess!

During the time she was there she was very chatty. Talked about prom and graduation and having kids. All I could do was nod and smile but inside I was thinking there is no way she lives that long.

Anorexia and bullemia are diseases with a specific goal. They dont care about their health at all - they just want to be skinny (or have control... different coping mechanisms I guess). Most anorectics consume UNDER 400 calories per day. And those calories come mainly from licking postage stamps (seriously!!!), vitamins, etc. They dont care about protein intake, etc. It is possible to exist on under 1000 calories a day and be healthy - that is what we are doing. They dont... So regardless of the number of calories, our focus is healthful eating and nutritional value of foods, theirs is SOLELY on caloric value and making it the smallest possible.

Also people who are truly anorexic look in the mirror and see a completely distorted view of themself - they think they are fat and cannot see the bones sticking out. It doesnt matter how skinny they are or how much weight they have lost - they will never be satisfied with what they see. We look in the mirror and celebrate the changes in our body and are proud of the weight we have lost and look forward to buying clothes, etc. We know what weight we are aiming for. There is a huge mental difference between people with WLS and those suffering from anorexia.

[splendaaa]

We will get all our nutrients through food, protein supplemments, and vitamins, not to mention we will eventually be eating meals throughout the day while still enjoying them and not force feeding ourselves or puking. I think we are using the technology available to us to live healthier lives and stop our cycle of abuse to ourselves.

[Dana]

Since yall have explained it so well, all I have to add is, (and this is not directed at you Sleeve Pixie, its a reasonable question and Im glad you gave us a chance to defend ourselves instead of just accepting that info as true) Ditto on the protein and calories and vitamins and state of mind, but I dont care what they call me, its certainly no worse than what I get called now.

Go to you tube and look at before and after videos of wls patients, they are very healthy. and im super jealous! lol!

[lizbeth]

Strangest thing this topic...in the past two days I've had three people ask me how am I going to stop losing weight when I get to my goal and not become anorexic? OMG the only answer I can give them is that I have to make smart choices and eat to live, not live to eat. Seriously, I can't actually believe people think we are just going to wilt away to nothing and die. I have enough sense to eat sensibly, and will do so from this point on!!
I have an anorexic friend who once told me she knew she could survive on 2 Tbs. of peanut butter a day, I know I couldn't!! Thank God she got the help she needed and she's fine now.

[accordingtome]

I just had someone ask me the same thing. I wasn't sure what the answer was. There is someone on this site who seems to know a lot about the body. I think she's a nurse or trained to be a nurse. Maybe she will see this and answer or maybe one of the Doctor's will answer.

Strangest thing this topic...in the past two days I've had three people ask me how am I going to stop losing weight when I get to my goal and not become anorexic? OMG the only answer I can give them is that I have to make smart choices and eat to live, not live to eat. Seriously, I can't actually believe people think we are just going to wilt away to nothing and die. I have enough sense to eat sensibly, and will do so from this point on!!
I have an anorexic friend who once told me she knew she could survive on 2 Tbs. of peanut butter a day, I know I couldn't!! Thank God she got the help she needed and she's fine now.

[oliviafoster2008]

While Anorexic men and women are starving to death, the WLS people are trying to only lose the excess weight. I don’t see any similarity. But treated Anorexic, while they are trying to gain weight, we on the other hand we are trying to lose weight is injustice to me. Why can’t we just transplant weight to those who need?