Friday Faves: Just Because I’m Thin, Doesn’t Mean I Have an Eating Disorder

October 28, 2011 12:00 pm     Posted in Body, Health  Candy -- NYU g+ page


By Candy

I always hated the day when we would watch movies involving a girl with an eating disorder in middle school and high school. Suddenly people would be leaning back in their chairs and furrowing their brows at me. I could never escape their concerned glances, the way they watched me eat my salad I had packed that day. Sometimes I’d even hear them whisper to each other about how I was unhealthy. Usually I would react by rolling my eyes and getting the greasiest pizza slice the cafeteria had to offer. This wouldn’t stop them from shaking their heads when I headed to the bathroom after lunch.

In middle school I weighed around seventy pounds so people assumed I had an eating disorder. They didn’t realize I was a year younger than most kids in my grade (I’m a September baby) and hadn’t developed as much as the other girls. They also didn’t consider the fact that I had been doing ballet since I was around four years old every day after school. I didn’t have an eating disorder, I just wasn’t growing yet.

As a freshman in high school, I was a size zero and weighed around ninety eight pounds. I had no hips and no boobs to speak of, so I thought I looked normal. Apparently that still wasn’t enough for people. My classmates didn’t understand that I was suffering from low self-esteem, but not enough to make me starve myself or throw up after eating.

To say I have never had low self-esteem would be a lie; I did struggle with my body. When I finally grew from a size zero to a size five in two years because my body finally developed was hard on me. I was only (and still am) one hundred and fifteen pounds, but that was a difficult adjustment for me. No, I was no longer the small girl, and many girls are smaller than me. So for a few years in high school I no longer had people monitoring my every move in the school cafeteria after videos shown in P.E.

Then I got to college, and when I began to work out both in between classes and at night some of my friends became concerned. They watched me eating smaller meals and there came that look again. I wasn’t starving myself; I was just trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Yes, I admittedly went through a period my senior year in high school where I would skip some meals because I felt fat, but my mother quickly noticed and got me back on the right track. It never developed into an eating disorder, and when I told my friends not to worry – that it was a short-lived (as in two weeks) phase – they just wouldn’t let it go. Finally, after my friends in college spent more and more time around me, they began to realize that I didn’t have an eating disorder just because I’m thin.

A thin woman can be just as healthy as a woman with a little meat on her bones, and just because I’m skinny doesn’t mean I have an eating disorder. I am five foot four. I weigh one hundred and fifteen pounds. I eat more than three times a day and I wear extra small tops. I am very confident with my body image. I never count calories, I eat meat, and I will take a bucket of fried chicken and a large sweet tea over salad and water any day. It would be a lie to say I have never had a problem with my body image – what woman doesn’t? – but I’ve never been anorexic or bulimic.

Just as some women naturally have curves, some are just born thin. Both ends of the spectrum are judged constantly. You are either too skinny or too fat, and in both cases everyone watches you while you eat. So my question is: what makes a woman “healthy”? What is it going to take for people to stop worrying about you just because of your weight? Without knowing my lifestyle, it isn’t really fair to make an assumption about my health. Just because I’m thin doesn’t mean I’m not healthy, either, because I do eat healthy for the most part, and I work out every week. This is just who I am and I’m sick of being the subject of whispers between girls.

You may not realize it, but sometimes the “skinny” girls feel just as uncomfortable as those women shunned for their curves. Let’s do everyone a favor and stop focusing so much on weight and let everyone, regardless of their size, just be.

[We're all about celebrating a positive body image here at CollegeCandy and many of our readers claim the same thing. However we've noticed that while many commentors are quick to jump to the defense of curvy women, they're even quicker to accuse skinny women of having an eating disorder. This is one (skinny) CollegeCandy writer's reaction.]

[This post was originally written by Christie- NC State]

16 Comments on "Friday Faves: Just Because I’m Thin, Doesn’t Mean I Have an Eating Disorder"

  1. Ashley L. Coates says:
    Fri, 28th Oct 201112:40 pm 

    I used to have a friend exactly like that- at 19, she was less than 100 pounds. What people weren't taking into consideration was that she was barely five feet and had a very tiny build. If she had been much bigger, it would have been awkward looking and unhealthy for her.

    People take any excuse to claim that someone has an eating disorder- personally, my friends tried to stage an intervention when I went vegetarian!
    http://textbooksandtofu.blogspot.com/

  2. softsnack says:
    Fri, 28th Oct 201112:57 pm 

    lol screw you, i'd take skinny problems over fat ones any day.

  3. Hybrid says:
    Fri, 28th Oct 20113:24 pm 

    Wow, insensitive much?

  4. Allison says:
    Fri, 28th Oct 20114:01 pm 

    I can relate to this. I'm a 00 (double zero, seriously; try finding clothes in that size!), 5'5, around 100lbs, and have been this small all my life. My body is really shapely though so most of the comments I get are from girls just trying to be catty, but it's still pretty annoying when I hear 'omg, do you like not eat?' or 'you're like anorexic!'. No, no I'm not. I'm super healthy, I take care of myself, I work out a lot, and I eat A LOT but I have a good metabolism too so my answer is usually 'if I was anorexic, would I have boobs this big?'. That shuts them up fast.

  5. Ang says:
    Fri, 28th Oct 20114:33 pm 

    i am SO thankful you posted this. it really struck a chord with me. all through high school i weighed 100lbs or so and i was a size 00. I'm 5'8", but i've always been thin and tiny. I had no curves whatsoever and people constantly spread rumors about me having an eating disorder. Only my close friends knew me well enough to laugh it off and tell people that they should see me eat. I danced from the time I was five years old, through high school, which also helped me stay thin. I was always uncomfortable though and people constantly talked about me. It definitely messes with your self esteem.

    Now that I am in college I weigh about 115 to 120lbs. I can still pretty much eat whatever I want, as long as I am keeping up with exercise. I still notice that people give me looks, or whisper about me when I'm getting food. It really is just as uncomfortable for skinny girls to be labeled anorexic, eating disorder, or anything along those terms. If overweight people don't like being judged, then people don't just the skinny girls either!

  6. Maxy says:
    Fri, 28th Oct 20114:43 pm 

    I kind of know how this feels. I'm 5'0 and about 113 pounds. People go "Oh, how much do you weigh? 90 pounds?" I hide any fat that I by dressing myself well so that might add to the problem but it does hurt to have people comment on how thin you are.

  7. Pam says:
    Fri, 28th Oct 20118:49 pm 

    I get this all the time. I'm 5'2 and weight 105lbs give or take. However, I have DD boobs and some hips- yet people still tell me I'm too skinny..and 'do I eat?'. One of my mom's friends was over and when I left the room she said 'that girl should eat a sandwhich – shes way too small.' But, i eat ALL the time.

  8. JanJan says:
    Fri, 28th Oct 20119:24 pm 

    This is pretty much my life story. I'm 5'6, 105 pounds, and a size 2, but I eat more than all of my friends (including most of the guy ones). I work out when I can, eat healthy food, and have never had an eatting disorder problem. But in high school and, especialy, in elementary school, I always got those "looks" too. People like to think they know something about others just by looking at them, but that just isn't the case.

  9. anna says:
    Sat, 29th Oct 201112:11 am 

    Just a question… how are you a year younger than most kids in your grade if you're born in september?!?

  10. Megan says:
    Sat, 29th Oct 20114:37 am 

    I'm 5'1 and at 20 years old I weighed 86 lbs, it took me having two kids to finally weigh over 100. I'm now at 105. The doctor even asked me if I was anorexic….but I've never been anything close. I had serious body image issues because I was so small and people would always comment about how I was too tiny. It's just as hard for skinny girls to find clothes as it is for big girls….and can be just as painful when you're being bullied and insulted.

  11. Ashley M. says:
    Sat, 29th Oct 20119:50 pm 

    I'm 5'3, 105 lbs and hate when people comment on how small I am. I realize they probably don't mean to be insulting, but sometimes they are. You wouldn't go up to overweight people and say "stop eating" or "wow, you're so big"! Don't comment to me about how I need to eat something or how small I am!

  12. Ashley says:
    Wed, 2nd Nov 201112:30 am 

    I wish people would tell me I’m too thin! I’m only 90 lbs at 5’1, which I think is pretty small, but literally no one outside my family says I’m skinny. I know that it seems so pathetic, but I do have low self-esteem and I wish people would tell me I’m skinny so I don’t worry so much about if I’m fat or not.

  13. Sien says:
    Thu, 3rd Nov 201110:26 am 

    erm…. just to say that people go to overweight people to tell them they are fat, and to stop eating, even to the not really overwieghted ones… Thing is, people like to judge, whatever your size, some will like to put their fingers in the bruise

  14. xsn says:
    Fri, 2nd Mar 201212:34 am 

    Each of our problems is our reality. Just like your problems may not seem like a big deal to others, their problems may not seem to be a big deal to you. Empathize with others as you would want them to emphatize with you. Follow the golden rule…

  15. Steph says:
    Fri, 2nd Mar 201212:51 am 

    I've been both underweight and overweight. Trust me, underweight feels much MUCH better. Underweight, people are concerned about you. Overweight, people just look at you in disgust. Or, they don't look at all.

  16. Whang says:
    Thu, 15th Mar 201212:24 am 

    Also the author of purge rehab daeriis has a blog and one her posts explains how doctors are trying to change the dam criteria for anorexia and bulimia so weight isn’t a determining factor to being sick enough and insurances would have less of a leg to stand on with the vanity issue

Tell us what you're thinking...