Am I anorexic???

Question

I'm 14 and have problems with my weight. I'm 5'3" (156 cm) and I'm 84 pounds (6 stone 39 kg) Does this mean I'm fat??? I really want to loose some weight and I can't stand to look at myself in the mirror.. I skip breakfast and lunch everyday.. but I still haven't lost any weight.. of course my mum doesn't know I skip these meals.. but my dad's always saying I'm too skinny.. is he right or just saying it??? Please help!!! .. oo .. and.. whether relevant or not I'm a veggie..

No horrible answers please!

I don't want help from a councellor!!! But.. if you think I have a disorder do you think I should eat more meals???

Jenn: omg.. I am tired like 24/7!!! Even when I've had a FINE night's sleep!

Starr: I have already started my period.. but I don't get it every month about every 3/4 or even 5 months.. :S

Answer 1

You're 14 and obviously scared, why else have you asked on here? This suggests to me that you realise that your dad is right (and 6 stone makes you no weight at all, hence why you don't lose any, your bones have to weigh something!).

You may not be annorexic, but I would suggest you should seek help. If you can't go to a councillor then at least try to eat regularly. I would suggest someone of your height should be nearer 8 stone.

Answer 2

OK I am going to be very gentle with this answer. Teenagers don't always have a great self image. Sometimes their esteems are low. Kids get picked on for some of the stupidest things. Like wearing glasses, or being too fat. A person your age and your height should weigh at least 105lbs on the low side and 125lbs on the high side. This is the average weight. Seeing how you are 20lbs less than the average I would not diet. You need to find out what your underlying problems are. Is your mom fat and you don't want to be? Have you been a victim of some sort of abuse that has distorted your self image? Do you look at pictures in the magazines and think to yourself I want to be just like that when I grow up? Seeing that you are a vegetarian, I am not a true Vegan but I don't eat meat, there is still proteins that your body needs. Dietary supplements is a great recommendation. This is not a game or anything to joke about. Anorexia will kill you. I know this because my best friend was anorexic and she ended up dying because she wouldn't eat. She looked like a skeleton and still she thought she was fat. There is therapy to help you through this and your parents should know how you are feeling right now. If you don't feel that your parents understand then you need to find some adult person you trust so they can help you. Good Luck. Food is not the enemy.

Answer 3

one of my best mates when i was at school was a severe anorexic. She is 5 foot 4" and at her lightest weighed in at 6 1/2 stone. You are way too skinny & probably in danger of doing long term damage to yourself. Are you still having periods? If you lose much more weight they will probably stop which might stop you from having kids in the future. If you don't have enough protein in your diet your hair may also start to fall out & this is not attractive.

Please go eat! Don't eat chocolate if you don't want to (although that would be the best thing you could do). Just have 3 sensible balanced meals a day which along with exercise will ensure you are healthy.

Men don't fancy really skinny women, they would rather be with a girl with a nice bum & boobs who is toned but healthy. My mate who is anorexic has people turn & stare at her everywhere she goes because everyone is so appalled by how thin she is. She also has dreadful acne as a result of being so unhealthy from anorexia.

Please don't get like this.

Answer 4

Dear - if you only weight 84 lbs and you are 5'3" you are far too skinny. I am 5'0" tall and I weight 98 lbs and people tell me that I am to skinny. I am shorter than you and I weight more than you but I wear a size 0 and I know I am skinny - I know you are skinny, too. It is not healthy for you to skip meals and deprive yourself of food. I am glad you realize that you may have a problem but the next step is fixing the problem. You also need to understand that your body needs food, including fats to function. Good vitamins like vitamin C can only be used if there is fat somewhere on the body to process it because most vitamins are fat soluble, not water soluble. This means they have to have fat to process.

I had a friend who is the (seriously) the prettiest person I know who was anorexic and bulemic for a long time and no one knew about it. It is very unhealthy for you to live this way. You will become fragile and weak, bones will break easily, and you will be more tired all the time. Your body needs food for energy. Your skin needs certain foods to be healthy and glow.

What needs to be done is you need to tell an adult you trust, whether it be your mom, dad, friend's parent, councelor, anyone about your problem and get some help.

There are healthy choices you can make and remain thin. I see that you said you are a vegetarian and that is your choice but there are meat alternatives like beans you should include in your diet to ensure that you get all of the nutrients you need. I suggest you see a nutritionist as well to help you plan a healthy diet.

Answer 5

Yikes, baby girl! You are 23 lbs underweight!! Normal weight for a 5'3" female is 107-141...with 107 lbs already on the extra-skinny side! Are you trying to get down to your birth weight? Nothing wrong with being a vegetarian. I just switched over to the V side 3 weeks ago, myself. But you still need to eat! You don't want your hair falling out, bone problems or other unnecessary health problems all because you can't see how utterly & supremely thin you really are. You should also have the issues checked out as to why you have this body image distortion and why you've become anorexic in the first place. Please eat! I'm sure your parents would like to see you around for the rest of their lives.

Answer 6

1/ Chill Out - you're 14, it's normal for you to be freaked out about how your body is looking, you're growing and often some parts grow faster than others so you think you look weird. the answer is, you probably do, but there's nothing you can do about it, and there's nothing to worry about - you're normal, even if you think your friends in school look different/better - just don't sweat it.
2/ being a veggie is totally relevant, unless you have read lots of good books on nutrition chances are you're missing some things and eat too much of others, so no wonder you feel like your diet has something to do with how you look - my advice: go back to eating fish and chicken at least, plus fresh fruit and vegetable, keep your portions small and eat regular meals
3/ the most important factor is your posture and your physical activity - work on both of these with a good diet and you'll see the difference within 6 weeks.

good luck

Answer 7

Please seek help.

At 5' 3" and 84 lbs you maybe at a weight that can become very detrimental to your health. Your body needs a certain amount of body fat to work properly. You have a potential to harm your kidneys, heart and liver. These are all organs that you can not see and many times do not find a problem with until it is too late and permanent damage has occured. I know you probably feel that it will never happen to you, but it happens to somebody everyday and they all said the same thing the day before it happened.

Please talk to your mother and father, If you find it hard to talk to them find an adult friend or family member to speak to and ask them to help to talk to your parents. There are many dietitians that can help maintain a healthy weight and can also recommend exercises that will help keep you lean.

Good Luck

Answer 8

If you skip meals, you are unhealthy.

If your dad says you are too skinny...you probably are.

5' 3" and 84lbs sounds like you are too thin. And, I am guessing that if you are not eating 2 meals....then not only are you skinny, but you are probably weak and generally unhealthy on top of being skinny. Its a pretty bad combination.

Most fit girls i know with 5'3" height are around 110 to 125lbs. And, I will tell you right now...they don't have more than 14% body fat. They can run like the wind and do sub 45 10k, bike faster than most guys, and swim like dolphins...finishing 1500m in less than 25minutes in open water. They look great and are really really healthy.

I think you need to talk to a doctor about what you consider "healthy"....because your definition of "healthy" seems to be "skinny".

If you don't like how your body looks, I am guessing its cause you have almost no muscle tone cause you are too weak to work out. Also...I am guessing that if you put ON 20lbs and worked out more...you'd look a hell of alot better than you do now and you'd probably like your body.

Answer 9

No, you are not fat. You are skinny. When I was your age and size, I weighed 95 pounds and was desperately trying to gain weight so folks couldn't see my bones when I put on a bathing suit. My daughter is also not fat, and although she's considerably taller than you, she weighs almost 130 pounds at 13 and has model proportions.

Starving yourself is a wonderful way to screw up your natural metabolism. When you don't eat, your body goes into starvation mode and then when you do eat it rushes to store as much as you can which amounts to fat. If you want to diet, diet, but don't starve yourself. The key word in diet is DIET. Which means, what you eat, not what you don't eat.

Not eating will make your skin look bad, ruin your nails and hair, foul your breath and make your teeth and bones brittle. If you'd rather be skinny with nasty hair, missing teeth and discolored skin, that's your business, but beauty is about alot more than skinny.

You're too skinny. Get yourself a veggie burger piled high with fixins and wash it down with a fruit smoothie. Eat breakfast EVERY DAY. No skipping. Breakfast straightens out your metabolism and brings your body out of the fast mode it goes into while sleeping, but do it gently. No bacon and eggs. You want fiber and protein. Have a soy fruit smoothie or a bowl of high fiber cereal like Uncle Sams or Kashi. Breakfast sets your body up for the rest of the day.

Eat a piece of fruit halfway through the morning, or some trail mix, a light lunch, something with some protein, another small snack after school, my daughter likes a bowl of cold rice and milk but I go for toast and peanut butter and a big glass of milk, and then have dinner with your family.

You need to eat healthy, but you need to eat. If you're going to obsess about eating, obsess about eating healthy! If you can't stand to look in the mirror, go to a shrink. What you are doing is unrealistic and unreasonable.

Answer 10

It seems like you have some kind of body dismorphic disorder where you perceive yourself to be too fat even though you are obviously below a healthy weight. Your period may be delayed and there are other health complications heading your way. You should not skip meals, just eat moderately to maintain your metabalism and you should be fine. Seems like you need to gain another 15 pounds to be at a healtlhy weight for your height. Good luck.