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I’m Overweight as a Result of My ED: Should I Be Concerned About My Health
Eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, involve abnormal eating behaviors around food that can result in damaging physical, emotional, and mental health consequences.
One of the common side effects experienced with eating disorders includes weight fluctuations, where weight may drastically change, either with loss or gain, as a result of inconsistent and abnormal eating habits. Contrarily to what may be believed about eating disorders, weight fluctuations can occur with any of these mental illnesses, regardless of previous size or shape.
Dealing With Weight Fluctuations
The observation of constant weight fluctuations can be both overwhelming and triggering to deal with, especially as a person who is struggling with an eating disorder. Seeing weight escalate upwards can be particularly alarming, often triggering a person to further engage in eating disorder behaviors.
Some individuals may develop ritualistic behaviors with their scale and weighing themselves, where a weight must be recorded daily, after every meal, or even several times throughout the day.
A person dealing with an eating disorder might decide whether or not they should engage in an eating disorder behavior depending on what their weight is. For example, if a weight increase is observed, this might trigger a person to restrict their next meal, purge after eating, or even engage in bingeing as a result of stress and overwhelm that is felt.
The difficulty is that eating disorder behaviors create biological and physiological changes in the body that make it challenging to sustain a normal weight range.
With normal eating behaviors, a person’s weight will typically stay within a certain weight range, as the body maintains a level of homeostasis, with normal weight fluctuations occurring within two to four pounds on a daily basis [1].
However, when eating disorder behaviors disrupt the body’s normal mechanisms, weight fluctuations are common, as nutrients, biochemicals, hormones, and more are disrupted. With bulimia, for example, the behavior of bingeing and purging can lead to electrolyte and chemical imbalances, digestive disturbances, and more, all which may result in drastic shifts in weight [2].
Muscle deterioration, bone loss, dehydration, fluid shifting, slowed metabolism and more can also contribute to weight fluctuations observed in eating disorders.
Seeking Out Holistic Care and Treatment
Many individuals with eating disorders who observe any type of weight gain may legitimately be afraid that this is detrimental to their health, but it is crucial to refrain this type of thinking and understand the root issues that are involved.
There are many factors that can contribute to a fear of being “fat” or overweight, but this often stems from a deeper fear of being unloved, unwanted, undesirable, etc. It is important to remember that weight alone cannot determine a person’s overall health and in fact, tells very little about well-being.
A person can be severely sick and malnourished at any weight, and conversely, can be healthy and well and various weights too.
If you are preoccupied with your weight and weight yourself obsessively, these are red flags that should not be overlooked. Talk with a professional about these behaviors and to further explore any problematic issues that may be related to the concerns you have.
More concerning that weight gain is having unresolved eating disorder behaviors that are contributing to weight fluctuations in the first place. Addressing the eating disorder should be the priority for care and treatment, rather than attempting to focus on weight loss.
Another important thing to be aware of is weight changes that may occur once a person begins their recovery and learning how to eat normally again.
It is not uncommon for an individual to experience bloating, fluid retention, and rapid weight gain in the first days or weeks of eating even a small amount, as the body is being replenished [3]. This can be discouraging for those in eating disorder recovery, even triggering for some to fall back into eating disorder patterns as a means for compensating.
However, working through these symptoms are necessary in order to get to a physical place of stability in the body. Having a support team through these recovery stages will be helpful to work through the triggers of this experience.
Understanding Health at Every Size
As you continue in your recovery, it is important to re-negotiate weight and size through therapy, counseling and support. As you begin to stabilize your eating habits and replenish your body, you will naturally fall into a weight range that is appropriate for your body as you eat normally. These are the factors that will help you establish health and wellness, regardless of weight might be.
About the Author: Crystal is a Masters-level Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) with a specialty focus in eating disorders, maternal/child health and wellness, and intuitive eating. Combining clinical experience with a love of social media and writing, Crystal serves as the Director of Content and Social Media for Eating Disorder Hope/Addiction Hope, where her passion to help others find recovery and healing is integrated into each part of her work.
As a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, Crystal has dedicated her career to helping others establish a healthy relationship with food and body through her work with EDH/AH and nutrition private practice.
References:
[1]: National Eating Disorder Association, “Health Consequences of Eating Disorders”, https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/health-consequences-eating-disorders[2]: Gingras, Jacqui ,, Vicki Harber, Catherine Field, and Linda McCargar. “Metabolic Assessment of Female Chronic Dieters with Either Normal or Low Resting Energy Expenditures.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 71, no. 6 (2000): 1413-420. Accessed 2015. doi:June 2000
[3]: Emily T. Troscianko, “The Physical Effects of Weight Gain After Starvation”, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hunger-artist/201110/the-physical-effects-weight-gain-after-starvation
The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of eating disorders. These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope, but an effort to offer discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.
We at Eating Disorder Hope understand that eating disorders result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.
Last Updated & Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on April 11, 2017
Published on EatingDisorderHope.com
The EatingDisorderHope.com editorial team comprises experienced writers, editors, and medical reviewers specializing in eating disorders, treatment, and mental and behavioral health.
