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Q: a Healthy Bulimic?
asked by: Nehwey on July 12th, 2005
New User
Is there any such thing as a "healthy" bulimic? Or at least, someone for whom bulimia is not bad enough to qualify as a disease?

I am not obsessed with losing weight, though I wouldn't mind to lose around 15 lbs. The reason I can't lose these 15 lbs I gained my freshmen year is lack of exercise and binge eating. And, (not helping), I work at a fast food joint where I get a free (checkit im a broke college girl) meal a day.

I am aware that I have a lack of self-control when it comes to eating and a lack of self discipline when it comes to excercise.

I think it would solve a lot of problems if I were to purge the meals I eat that are grossly unhealthy or over-indulged in.

I realize that vomiting isn't healthy for your body, teeth and throat and stomach/metabolism and all....But what if I were to say.....

Let myself just indulge like I normally do and purge it...And only allow healthy juice and water to stay with me all day. And then for my last meal of the day (like a couple of hours before I go to bed) eat one healthy, small meal that i'll keep.

Brush my teeth, take a vitaminny, and stop purging when I get to a decent weight (im not aiming for skin and bones here) and then try to ease my way into a healthy eating lifestyle (ease so as not to mess with my metabolism) ... ?

Is this temporary plan really any unhealthier for me then if I were to continue eating fries and fat etc. All day?
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damsel
replied on July 12th, 2005
Experienced User
No Way!
Thats what I thought at first, when I started 2 years ago. I was doing really healthy stuff, excersising and eating good foods, and I had this goal of loosing like 10 pounds...Then I started purging the unhealthy meals, then healthy meals that put me over the amount of calories I wanted, then just purging all the time. Babe, its not a healhty way to go. I would never, ever, ever, ever try and rationalise purging because it takes on a life of its own. Also, dont brush your teeth if you do purge, it rubs the acids even more into the teeth.
You sound like your not particularly bulimic or annorexic, so if someone were to diagnose you they would probably say you were ednos (eating disorder not otherwise specified) because you dont binge/purge which is what most bulimics do, and your not annorexic yet...
Anyways, an eating disorder like annorexia and bulimia is not always about loosing weight, while superficially it might seem that way, there are alot of underlying emotions like lack of controll, self respect, self esteem, feelings of worthlessness, often its away to release negative emotions you dont wanna deal with normally.
So in answer to your question, I dont think there is any way in hell you could be physically or mentally healthy while purging your food. Sorry, but please talk to someone about your urges and catch this disease before it takes controll of you, ok? Keep me posted! :) xoxo
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mshanson
replied on July 17th, 2005
Experienced User
Bulimia = Illness
Bulimia is a mental & physical illness, as diagnosed in the official guide (the dsm iii) that doctors use to diagnose. So you can't be both bulimic & healthy!

Beware that bulimia is very, very addictive. You sound like you are not yet very sick or weight obsessed, so you could easily get on track with a little exercise or a bit healthier (but not neurotic) eating. If you start purging, you may end up like I did ~ spending years of your life with your head hanging over a toilet, looking like a skeleton, wasting lots of time & money on treatment.

Once you start, you may find yourself falling down that deep dark hole. Don't start! That's my advice.
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irishamethyst
replied on July 18th, 2005
Experienced User
I would strongly advice against it. Using food in any destructive way is not healthy. I used to think, i'll never let it get out of control - i'll control the behaviours. As if??? It doesn't take long before the behaviours take control. I haven't purged in nearly a year, but that doesn't mean i'm recovered. As moya hornbacher said in one of her books "it's ever so easy to go, harder to find your way back". People can die just from purging once. I hate to sound harsh, but bulimia isn't a conscious choice, and yet, to me that sounds like what you are trying to be. If you really feel you need to lose weight, look honestly at your diet. Behaviours do slow down your metabolism as well. I felt heavier as a consequence of behaviours than I did once I stopped the behavours (water retention etc). Please be careful. I am sorry if I sounded harsh or anything, but any ed kind of life is hell
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pinkpisces
replied on July 19th, 2005
New User
No, there is no such thing as a healthy anything when you’re life is at stake. Eating disorders are deadly and really dangerous. I am still recovering and I still have a long way to go.
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bianca
replied on July 31st, 2005
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I used to think the same thing. Man was I wrong... It spiralled into a purging 3 times a day problem vicious cycle monster that had a mind on its own. But now I do it only once twice tops a day but I doubt I will since I just recently came out to my mom today about my bulimic tendencies.
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playwish24
replied on June 27th, 2008
New User
same boat
since october of last year i have been what I call a "healthy bulimic". I havent lost ant weight at all. I am at a healthy weight for my body. I usually eat really healthy and I am very hard core at working out and going to the gym, but the urges to eat junk food that we all have come to health nuts as well. I will eat junk food and will throw up. i do not want that junk going through my body. I do allow all the good food i eat to go threw my body. there is such thing as a healthy bulimic.
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damsel
replied on June 28th, 2008
Experienced User
no...
throwing up food, no matter how infrequent does not reflect "health"

I would also like to point out that bulimia is an uncontrollable disease, not a diet technique. Perhaps Bulimia isn't the word to be using in your case, perhaps disordered eating covers it.
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Abrahet
replied on January 19th, 2009
New User
Bulimic
Being bulimic isn't just something that you just do. I have been doing it for about a year in a half now and can't stop. I thought it would have been something that I could have just done to lose the weight,but it is far worse then that. I throw up about 10 times a day if not more. I got in to far. I do not recamend it for or to anyone. There is no healthy way around it. Once you do it, it later messes with your mind. I have been on the feeding tube and put in the hospital many times. Still I can't not do it. Girls or guys that are trying this just to lose weight are making a huge mistake. I use to weigh 160 lbs and now wiegh 83lbs, but mentally and physically I am tore up. If I could stop I would,but it is to late. The doctors say that it will soon lead to my death and I am not ok with that, but no matter what I am unable to stop. Please people do not get mixed up in being bulimic. Losing weight the right way is much easier, healthier,and you look better that way too.
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