Pro-Anorexia Websites

[DeLarla 22]

I'm watching morning news. An anorexic girl is on TV that's a single mother with 4 children and only eats 500 calories a day. She's crying and saying "I may as well have cancer." But at the same time, she runs a pro-anorexic website. Apparently, there are hundreds out there that encourage girls to be anorexic. She gives them tips and training tools. Many sites get 200,000 hits.

[vinesqueen 2]

I have friends that told me about them. They thought they were awesome, and said something like "no one knows how to lose weight like an Ana!"

I konw that many want to ligitimize anorexia as a "lifestyle" and not a disease.

I was horrified.

[NJChick 3]

My heart breaks for those Ana girls and boys...sigh.

[the best me 6]

I posted a pic on here one time that seems to be the kind of pic these girls find inspiring...let me find the link...

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=7999

I'm horrified by this! I would love to look up some of these sites but don't want to encourage them with hits, ya know? I think they are as sad as they think I am, being fat. I just don't get it though.

[HunnyBun 2]

I've been through my share of eating disorders, from purging, to starving, to overeating.

It started with a boy who said he likes when a girl is really skinny and he can see her ribs. I don't know why I cared so much because I didn't like him so much. I just knew I was not pretty enough for him so I went on a diet. I ate next to nothing, worked out 14 hours a week and took diet pills. At some point I was taking 36 diet pills a day.

After this boy broke up with me because I was too fat, I stopped completely. I didnt work out, I didn't starve, and I didn't take my diet pills. I piled on so much weight that I became depressed.

Later on I met the wonderful loving boyfriend of mine who is with me for the past 5 years. I was fat and so embarassed of it in front of him that I never wanted to see him. Our relationship was mostly on the phone. I kept promising him that I will see him soon, I just want to lose some more weight first. That's when I became anorexic. 600 calories a day is all I ate, plus phentermine. I worked out too. I loved the quick weight loss and continued for months. Sometimes I would give in to temptation and grab a baked potatoe chip and run home to take exlax. It was sad but I felt good because I was losing and I love how controlling I was over my body. Unfortunately my boyfriend and I broke up due to the stress of my weight and I went off my 600 calorie diet and gained 80 pounds within a few months and slowely 5 lbs a month since then.

We are together again, my honey and I.. but I still feel ashamed of my weight. I cant handle being naked with him so I ask himt o keep his eyes closed when we make love. I make him wear a blindfold or just refuse to go see him.

I get so hot in the summer that I cant wear big clothing, so for the whole summer I hide in the airconditioned house in long sleeves. It's a distructive lifestyle, but unfortunately for me it is exactly that. It's a lifestyle.

I hate that I am fat and that is why I want the band. I told my boyfriend that I am gettign it and he isnt sure if it's a good idea, but I insisted. I can't see him and can't make love to him without feeling so bad I cry after he goes home. I don't understand why he loves me so much if we can't have a normal relationship. Maybe he is just waiting for me to lose the weight and be normal. That is what I keep promising him... when I lose weight everything will be nice.

He is buying a house and wants me to live with him. I told him that I wont move in with him until I weight 150lbs. So that is my goal, get the band and slowely lose the weight. I don't want anorexia to be a part of my life anymore. I want to be healthy and weigh 150lbs. I can live with 150.

Something most people don't consider is that having anorexia doesn't mean to be skinny, it means to starve yourself in order to lose weight. I've been there, and no one ever knew because I was fat.

[DeLarla 22]

Maggie, I think most of us (at least me) feel the same way about our bodies. Girl, I've been through decades of therapy over the exact same destructive behavior as you, including being addicted to speed, in many forms, many times in my life. I was hospitized countless times. You have to come to terms with your body though and realize you will never, ever have an 18 year old's rock hard body with perfect hips and boobs. You are a woman now, so instead of hiding, begin to embrace your sexuality. Look at the world around you - who is perfect? Should we be sentenced to a life of imprisonment because we were plagued by unexplainable disorders? Would you hide a cancer victum in long sleeves in the summer? Love yourself now, and amazing things will start happening. The world can F off if they don't like my bare arms!

[Marimaru 7]

There is a lot of the Pro "ana-mia" stuff going on. I'm sure most of you have heard of myspace by now, and there are just tons and tons of groups and forum posts about how cool it is to be anorexic or bulimic. I've browsed some of the forums on suggested diets, and this one girl posted her 'diet' of 300 calories a day. I couldn't believe it..

Maggie, Lisa is right, you really need to learn to love yourself now. I don't mean this to sound as negative as it is going to, but how do you know you are going to be happy at 150 lbs? I see so many people who are determined that losing weight is going to make them happy, and when they are skinny a couple of things happen; 1. they don't think they are thin enough because they aren't happy yet 2. they don't understand why they are unhappy when they are so skinny, because losing weight was supposed to 'fix everything'. Again, I'm not trying to be negative, but I really think that you should explore this. Firstly, what does your fat do for you? A good number of us find some kind of security from being fat; we avoid unwanted attention from the opposite sex, or we have a built in excuse for things we don't want to do (ie: I can't go to the party this weekend because I don't have anything that fits that looks good), etc.

I think you are very strong to have gone through what you have and come out of it able to look back and know that it was unhealthy. And even stronger that you are taking steps to avoid it happening again in the future. You love yourself enough to do that, right? Love yourself MORE!

(Sorry for the hijack, Lisa).

[HunnyBun 2]

I'm not the anorexic 17 year old girl anymore, and I realize that losing weight isn't going to fix my problems. Actually, my only problem with my weight is that I feel ugly. I don't expect it to fix other things, maybe give me more energy to work more. I'm self employed and a lot of the time I just feel too tired to work. So other than looking nice, feeling healthy is the onyl thing I expect.

I'm realistic and this is exactly why I chose a healthy goal weight. 150 is a goal I can accomplish if I eat healthy and dont cheat.

Thank you for your concern ladies, I agree with everything you're saying.

I do need to love myself more, and this is exactly why I am getting the band. I am tired of falling into bad eating disorders and feeling like a failure when it doesn't work.

I'm happy with my decision and best part of it all, I am in no rush to lose.

One problem with being anorexic was that I ALWAYS wanted it to happen NOW NOW NOW, never had the patience.. which is why I ate so little. I am soooo ready for this band, but I understand and accept that it will take well over a year to lose all my weight.

Maggie

[vinesqueen 2]

One of the supervised diets I was on when I was 20 the doctor wanted me to be on 300 calories a day. I was a size 12 -14 at the time, with probably 165 pounds of muscle on me, and I weighed 190 pounds.

There are lots of these pro-ana sites out there.

Maggie, I need to think about what you posted. It's important.

[HunnyBun 2]

Maggie, I need to think about what you posted. It's important.

What's important, why?

[kimalicious 5]

The past two weeks I have felt anorexic. With my band so tight I am loving the restriction and upset with myself if I eat more than 500 calories a day. I am an extremeist. I binge or I purge. I can binge for months at a time and vice versa. Unfortunately I tried to eat everything in sight on Sunday and just kept pukin it back up, goin back for more and pukin more. I felt like the band was making me bulemic. Like it is the bands fault or something. That just goes to show the band doesn't get rid of the bad habits and you can hurt your body even more with these habits + the band. Why can't I be in love with my body no matter what the size or shape? THose Ana web sites are so sad, thank god I'm a fat girl, and will always be in my head no matter how much weight I lose. My temporary Anorexia always goes away when I crave something bad enough and my chub inside gives in. Maggie, I know you know all of this and think the band will help everything, but unfortunately it doesn't. Please don't take that to mean it won't help you to get to your healthy feeling because it will if used correctly. Just a short rant. Good luck with your band sweetie.

[vinesqueen 2]

I don't know what it is, or why it is important. That's why I have to think about it.

[HunnyBun 2]

I don't think I follow what you're saying. Or trying to say?

[the best me 6]

Maggie, go back and read your first post. You had some pretty profound and telling comments in there and it's alot to absorb. VQ is smart and kind and you should listen to what she says...just let her find her words of wisdom for you. She sees something in your post she wants to comment on...a feeling, an impression, some type of insight that her feedback will help you and give you something to think about. I don't know what she senses, but she does this so give her a sec...she's really good, be patient.

[HunnyBun 2]

I read my post several times and I see something too.

Let's see what Vines says and we'll compare our thoughts.