Given the environment (and given that I’d been taking class there for several years) I made a reasoned, but unfortunate judgment. I wish I hadn’t. (Granted I’ll stay with the new place because 1. I’d been going there for donkey’s years
anyway 2) the classes are smaller 3) they have an “unlimited for a year option” and 4) I never have to confront Wendy Whelan or Veronkia Part tying her pointe shoes in the lobby on the way to class)

Sounds great, where do I sign?

*raises hand* Yes please!

Also, Tea B, wow, I am so so sorry for everything you went through. It’s ridiculous but I’m so glad you’re suing him at least. I hope they take away his license to practice. That’s awful and totally unacceptable.

I apologise for responding to something halfway up the page, but I only read every couple of days and you all move so fast :)

RE: the “abnormal psych” and Obesity as a “disease” thing…

I just had a baby, had preeclampsia & my son was growth restricted as a result… so he wasn’t getting the nutrients he needed that made me have to deliver him early. Yes, logical brain says “not my fault”.

But how’s thing for triggering, for a person who barely survived severe sepsis after a botched lap banding… and who has been PROVEN to not “binge eat” or any of those other associated evil behaviours.

On my discharge papers, it listed “medical conditions: Nutrition Issue – Obesity”. It pissed me off no end, and when I read it I laughed, but the more I think about it, the more I am thinking of wanting it removed from my record.

I DON’T have a nutrition issue — when I was nearly killed with the band, I was drip fed for a MONTH and GAINED 7kg. My surgeon coud not believe it, and referred me to an endo who dismissed me and said to diet. Sigh.

So to see myself pathologised like that, after I have battled for so long to prove that I am not a binge eater of donuts & cake… it means nothing when those words are sitting there on your record.

Anyway, I apologise for the slightly off-topic comment, but the discussion reminded me of that. I tell you, having been the victim of medical mistreatment because I am overweight… its abhorrent and nearly killed me AND my son. Anyone who wants the story can email me… my doctor actually didnt treat me for gestational hypertension and I am suing him.

That’s right. No matter how malnourished and close to death you are from self-starvation, no matter if you meet every single symptom (what you report) and sign (what the diagnoser observes) of anorexia nervosa, if your BMI is 81% or more of the lowest “healthy” BMI, you can’t be diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa. My local inpatient hospitals take patients off behavioral plans and starvation precautions the second they hit 81% of “Ideal weight” – 82 lbs for someone my height (5’2′) and 116 for a woman a foot taller than me. Needless to say, this is less than helpful to my patients.

Did you notice that even at starvation level, we’re only allowed a THIRTY FOUR POUND difference over a foot of height? That’s less than four pounds per inch of (usually) torso.

GROSS OUT WARNING! SKIP the next paragraph if you are squeamish!

Anyone who has ever seen the “human steak” cross sections at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (or anywhere else) can appreciate that this is kind of ridiculous. If I had 32″ circumference steak that weighed four pounds for my St. Patrick’s Day party, people would think I’m a skinflint because I can guarantee it wouldn’t be an inch thick.

Not to mention, putting a *weight* requirement in a psychiatric diagnosis would seem bizarre to anyone not bred in our fucked up culture. I mean, there’s no requirement that we withhold the bipolar diagnoses from everyone not in the TOP 20% of BMI measures because everybody knows only REALLY fat people are “jolly.” (Yes, I’m aware that mania isn’t a bit jolly to live through – but it makes as much sense as labeling only REALLY thin people “starving.”)

People can be dangerously malnourished at ANY weight – indeed, about half of the “10 fattest people” in a Dimensions article had died of malnutrition/starvation trying to lose weight. Even when the DSM was originally assembled, there were actual medical tests to diagnose malnutrition that were far more accurate than body weight, for crying out loud. Electrolyte levels. Anemia. Micro and macro nutrient deficiencies. Chronic dehydration. You know, all the problems bariatric surgery survivors (I say survivors both because this surgery is often fatal, and because it is deliberate amputation and mutilation of healthy organs.) encounter down the line.

Malnutrition, not weight, needs to be the basis of determining whether dieting has turned into self-starvation.

Of course, that would force psychiatrists and psychologists to acknowledge that the medical framing of self-starvation as pathological behavior for the thin and a “healthy lifestyle” for the fat is unscientific, superstitious and based on hatred rather than reason.

I could have written this. Once I realized that the (fortunately) brief period of my life where I did this to my body combined with about 3-5 hours of exercise a day was anorectic behavior I realized that that was why I had an issue with assuming all rail thin women had eating disorders (aside from the fact that, you know, that’s akin to prejudging fat people). I lived about 5 months of this. And it took all of that just to get me in the “normal” BMI weight range, so since I didn’t “look” anorexic, I couldn’t possibly be anorexic, even though it was pretty obvious I was skipping meals.

Also, Jenny, I’m sorry you feel the way you do, but no-one’s said “your life is filled with fuzzy bunnies and happy kitties who fart rainbows and poop sunshine!” because you’re thin. Thin women still don’t necessarily always have it easy, but as a thin person you’re a lot less likely to have a hard time finding cute clothing that fits well, be told by your doctor who doesn’t even first ask about your lifestyle that you live an unhealthy one, and you’re less likely to receive a smug look from the cashier who sells you that chocolate bar and bag of chips at the convenience store. You’re less likely to be accused (either directly or indirectly) of being a lazy, gluttonous slob. Having been fat, thinnish, and mostly hovering around inbetweenie most of my life, I can say that the above all applied to me in varying degrees at my various states. It was never to the extreme, and no, being thin didn’t make my life magically delicious (mostly because I was still convinced I was fat and was still torturing myself even when I was considered “normal”) but shopping for clothing was easier, I felt less self-conscious eating a burger in public, and I got less hints and accusations from my doctor (and family).

Also, if you’re thin now after being fatter, you actually might be getting much less in the way of negative public attention. (Unless you were one of the luckier fat people who didn’t often get called names on the street.) You might have an easier time buying clothes in straight-sized clothing stores. You might be generally regarded as more socially “acceptable” in your body now. Those things ARE privileges. It doesn’t mean everything actually DOES become happy-go-lucky when you lose weight (the FoBT is a fantasy). But at the moment, you might have it socially easier than a fat person overall.

My life is glorious because I’m thin, ok? Fine.

Also totally agreed with Lori on the health=religion for a secular nation concept. How else do you get things like, in the other post, people expressing shock over the idea that butter is used in cooking by chefs who know how to make things taste good? And then there’s the quasi-religious tone that a lot of diet plans talk in, and the wierd reverence with which people talk about diet gurus. It’s all very “deliver me from my sins”, you know? And then there’s diet talk as a substitute for confession.