Eating Disorders Forum - I Need to Know.......!!!!

First, with my daughter them getting it wrong it was simple, they thought they were god & they knew it all & they chose not to hear anything or consider anything other than anorexia nervosa because she had lost weight & was a teenage girl.

In fact they pushed her to the brink of a breakdown. They refused to believe that she was eating (despite plenty of evidence from various sources, including themselves once she was inhospital!!) they refused to believe that she wasn't purging etc despite their own tests proving she wasn't. They refused to consider any of the numreous & (in her case some were highly probable) causes of sudden weight loss eg medication(later shown to likely be one of hers!)lifestyle changes & especially food changes (eg move from city australia to country -farm area - italy for over 3 months inc major food intake changes -also later shown to be a likely cause for her), parasite & worm infestation etc etc none were considered & in fact the possibility of several of these waas denied outright. Having put her on food supplements they were still unhappy with her weight gain but decided to reduce her actual food intake which they felt was too high but not reduce her food supplementation!!

Second, what's normal & what's not? It really isn't that easy. I know people try & say it is but it's not.

People are different, they have different food needs, like some people can not eat wheat or gluten products, some can not digest certain carbohydrates, some can eat constantly & not gain alot of weight yet not exercise much while others can exercise but can't eat that much because we have different metabolisms (fast slow & in between).

My daughter can eat 5 main courses, & 7-8 desserts at a buffet she walks about 1 - 2 hours a day (that is a 30 min walk at about 6, a walk to the shops & a 30 min walk to pick her brother up - that's it, yet she's a slim as a reed. Her metabolism is fast but now it seems likely that she also has an intestinal problem like irritable bowel so she's changing what she eats to see if that helps.

Some people need alot more sweet stuff than others (i need alot more salt than is considered healthy because I have low blood pressure).

So if you really want to know what is normal how about giving some information, like your height, weight, approx age (growing teens need more energy than a much older preson) how active you are. Some people do alot of sport & exercise (like athletes or people who just enjoy sport & need to eat more to give their body fuel so how active versus what you eat comes into the whole equation of what is normal??

If you think you're overweight at 200 lbs or 80 kgs at height 5ft or 150 cm then you're right but if you're 38 kgs or about 90kgs & 5ft or 150cm then you're slim & may be underweight depending on your body tome etc. So if you want to know what's normal some starting point is neeeded. Over to you, if you want answers you need to give some.