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"Miracle" Weight Loss Pitfalls for a Bulimic

Dangers in Sudden Bulimic Weight Loss

By Nancie HolmesPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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An eating disorder is defined as developing an obsessive and unhealthy relationship with food—which often leads to an obsession about weight. Although bulimia is primarily to do with binge eating and purging, weight loss is easily intertwined with these stressful times.

As a bulimic, I am not afraid of food. I do not have the ability to ignore hunger nor do I have a phobia of gaining weight necessarily. Of course, every disorder is very different, and I am not making absolute definitions when I say bulimia vs anorexia—I know they are equally complicated and can interact. Bulimia is mostly connected to guilt—and sometimes when a binge goes too far, or you are prevented from being able to purge, you feel like you need to drop that intake fast. This usually means fast weight loss as you become increasingly paranoid.

Purging is an immediate, physical reversal of all the calories you just consumed—so when you can't purge, you want just as fast and easy a solution, which often does not mean a sustained and healthy weight loss plan. I'm going to summarise some fast-acting, seemingly miracle weight loss solutions that you need to avoid—identifying these hallmarks of dangerous weight loss could save your future health dramatically.

Too Much Caffeine

Caffeine isn't necessarily a bad guy—of course you can still enjoy hot beverages in your normal day. The issue here is when you discover that it can conveniently curb hunger allowing you to skip a meal and avoid the bloat. I'm sure you're no stranger to the concept of skipping meals disrupting your metabolism, but constant coffee-based meal replacements can also feed a caffeine addiction. Headaches, shakes, and dehydration are only going to add on to the dangerous side effects of purging—this is not a solution or an ideal replacement of food.

Laxatives

Sadly, due to my disorder completely halting my bowel movements, I was prescribed laxatives. My doctor and parents (in medical professions) did not know of my mental state, and so I was trusted with a month's worth. This resulted in me dropping seven pounds in weight—and I felt so relieved from my lack of bloating, I even stopped purging for a lot of the month. As a biophysicist, I knew far too well the massive dangers of dehydration from exploiting laxative use. Luckily, mine were quite low dosage, but some pharmacy laxatives can hospitalise someone if they take the maximum dose for as little as five days. At best, completely avoid laxatives if possible—you'll only replace an addiction to purging with an addiction to these. Both are equally dehydrating and dangerous.

Cold-turkey Restrictions

When feeling extremely guilty, it's easy to suddenly say "Fuck it" and empty your cupboards of all food to stop yourself from being able to purge again. Although it's good to lower temptation, cutting yourself off from a food supply is only going to aggravate you—trust me. When hungry, you'll start looking for fast easy food because you'll be desperate for anything, this means you are probably going to eat something unhealthy that's easy to get your hands on like a takeout or instant microwave food. This will just promote a cycle, and when you go out to the shops to buy food because you have none at home, hungry you will be starving in a supermarket full of binge-y foods. Even if you only buy a little, you'll still feel guilty because you caved. Moderation is key, have little things at home that you can snack on that you can't binge, like cereal bars that have syrup or chocolate in that you won't eat loads of but still like.

Alcohol/Weed

This is a bit of a mix between the cold turkey and the caffeine sections. There are two aspects to drinking alcohol/smoking and hunger:

  1. Alcohol and weed can be used as a bit of an escape, if you're not really with it whilst drinking/smoking you're less likely to eat lots of food and will get distracted by other people/media to keep you entertained. If you find yourself using these drugs to keep your mind off your disorder, you really need to talk to someone. I'm not being patronising, we all need an escape from time to time, but falling deeper into another addiction will only make you unhappier—you need a distraction that does not influence your mind or body in an unhealthy way.
  2. Munchies. Both alcohol and weed can inflict sudden senseless hunger at the end of a session, and you are very unlikely to care about any weight loss or gain in this state of mind. You will feel terrible in the morning and once again, even more dehydrated. Alcohol is also an impressive amount of calories on its own—so keeping it moderated is having its own benefit as well as preventing midnight food hunts. Similarly to cold turkey, don't cut all alcohol/weed out if you like them, otherwise in the next big event you rock up to and allow yourself to smoke/drink "just this once"—you'll go the whole-hog and get yourself into a state. Be nice to yourself, you're allowed a small treat.

With most of these "pitfalls" I've pointed out, you can avoid over-consumption if you do/have these things with someone else. If you don't have anyone in your life that knows about your disorder, then just choose someone to drink coffee with, drink alcohol with, or eat with. When you're with someone else, you're less likely to feel guilty, and it's easier to moderate as you probably won't consume more than them—i.e. if you and your flatmate make coffees together, you probably won't make another five across the day when they're sat there with you.

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About the Creator

Nancie Holmes

20 UK

<3 Sexual pride, body positivity and endless love and support <3

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