I am not sure if I have ever really talked in depth about my battle with an eating disorder so many years ago, and my continual struggle with body dysmorphic disorder, but I saw this documentary the other day that got me to thinking, and made me want to reflect on some of my own experience with the subject. The documentary was called Thin, and it focuses on women that are at a clinic for eating disorders, and shows what they go through trying to beat the disease. What’s weird to me about the movie, is that the film maker definitely doesn’t take sides, and it shows how much blame really exists when people see someone suffering from an eating disorder. There was even one patient that was asked to leave, because she was seen as a bad influence. That actually shocked me.
See, when I was at the height of my eating disorder, which I will refer to as anorexia, but it really wasn’t (I will explain in a second), I knew exactly what I was doing, and knew what effect what I was doing to myself would have. I was literally killing myself to be thinner; but I couldn’t stop myself. This was a typical day in my life back when I was in the height of my illness:
– Go to AM classes.
– Come back to apartment, eat cereal (frosted flakes usually) with skim milk, and maybe a cucumber with fat free sour cream ranch dip.
– Go to afternoon classes. Meet friends on campus at one of the ala carte dining spots, but only have a diet soda, nothing to eat.
– After coming home from final classes, get changed and go to the gym. While at the gym, run 6 miles and do 4-5 weight machines, followed by sit ups.
– Have dinner at the apartment, usually rice with a veggie burger (fat free, of course).
– Do homework/watch TV, go to bed.
I would follow this routine roughly six days a week. On the sixth day, when I obviously didn’t have class, I would work out a little longer, if I had time. My life focused on structure, getting things accomplished, and order. I counted every calorie, and knew (and still know) how many calories are in almost any kind of food. I can still to this day make a pretty approximate guess of how many calories and fat are in just about any kind of food, be it fast food, or food that I prepared. I made sure I never had more than 10 grams of fat a day, and I made sure that I never went over 1200 calories in a day. In fact, that was considered the maximum for me, and I don’t think I ever even got close to consuming that amount. The 6 mile run would burn off at least that much, so that was where the limit came from. I never had a cheat day, and I was always conscious of what was being eaten by anyone around me. This explains why I still have an iron clad will power when it comes to food (even though, I have gotten pretty good at ignoring it lately). I can so no to any kind of food; all because I know what eating it will do. It will make me fat.
This is going to be a long entry, so I will cut it here, and put the rest after the jump. There is also a picture of me from this time after the cut, so if you want to see how truly skinny I was; well, read on!!!