Thousands of girls playing deadly game to lose weight
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SEATTLE -- Thousands of young women think they hold the key to miracle weight loss.
But they keep it to themselves. They don't want to share their secret, because they know it could be deadly.
Erin Akers thought she alone held the secret when she was in high school.
"I dropped a significant amount of weight to the point when I came back, everyone at school said something," Erin said. "'You look great, wow, what have you done?' Well, diet and exercise of course. That's the only way to lose weight."
But that wasn't really how Erin did it.
She won't reveal how much she lost. But it turns out many other young women have the same "get skinny" secret.
"I realized it made me lose weight, and I just kept on doing it," said Patience Hollinden. "By the time I was 14, I was hooked."
Their secret has a name. It's an eating disorder called diabulimia.
The women are type 1 diabetics. They control their disease with insulin shots. But they discovered that by withholding their insulin, their bodies couldn't process food.
"It got to the point where injecting insulin felt like taking a shot of fat to me," Patience said. "In my mind I didn't understand that insulin was good for me. It became the enemy."
They felt lousy, but they lost weight.
"Your nerves are dying and your organs are starting to shut down slowly," Erin described. "It's what's known as diabetic ketoacidosis. It's the big bad in the diabetes world."
Erin thought she could manage it, taking herself to the brink, until during one of her many trips to the hospital, her heart stopped beating.
A nurse revived her and she truly woke up.
"Dying. Dying was the big thing for me," she said. "Physical pain, I could deal with. But the idea of hurting the people I loved most finally clicked."
Erin's mother Dawn did her research and already pinpointed the name diabulimia. But finding help was a challenge.
"When I first went to look for treatment for Erin, there were no programs in the United States for diabulimia. A lot of the treatment centers I contacted wouldn't even take her because she had type 1 diabetes," Dawn said.
There were few options for an eating disorder that turned out to be incredibly common. Dr. Mehri Moore of the Moore Center in Bellevue treats diabulimics.
While the patient population is low, Moore said studies find the eating disorder is rampant.
"Preteen diabetic patients we see somewhere around 10 to 15 percent, teenagers up to 25 percent, late teens and young adult somewhere around 40 percent," she said.
Erin finally found treatment and wanted it to be easier for other girls. She started a Facebook support group that now has more than 600 members.
And at 23-years old, she is the CEO of the nationally recognized Diabulimia Helpline.
Staff meetings include Erin, her parents, and Patience. It might look small, but what they've accomplished is huge.
They've helped establish diabulimia treatment programs. They host conferences around the country.
And Erin's biggest accomplishment is the ability to look in the mirror, and know that while there are days she doesn't like what she sees, she still loves who she is.
"It's a reflection of my skin and my body. Not my heart and my soul," she said.
But they keep it to themselves. They don't want to share their secret, because they know it could be deadly.
Erin Akers thought she alone held the secret when she was in high school.
"I dropped a significant amount of weight to the point when I came back, everyone at school said something," Erin said. "'You look great, wow, what have you done?' Well, diet and exercise of course. That's the only way to lose weight."
But that wasn't really how Erin did it.
She won't reveal how much she lost. But it turns out many other young women have the same "get skinny" secret.
"I realized it made me lose weight, and I just kept on doing it," said Patience Hollinden. "By the time I was 14, I was hooked."
Their secret has a name. It's an eating disorder called diabulimia.
The women are type 1 diabetics. They control their disease with insulin shots. But they discovered that by withholding their insulin, their bodies couldn't process food.
"It got to the point where injecting insulin felt like taking a shot of fat to me," Patience said. "In my mind I didn't understand that insulin was good for me. It became the enemy."
They felt lousy, but they lost weight.
"Your nerves are dying and your organs are starting to shut down slowly," Erin described. "It's what's known as diabetic ketoacidosis. It's the big bad in the diabetes world."
Erin thought she could manage it, taking herself to the brink, until during one of her many trips to the hospital, her heart stopped beating.
A nurse revived her and she truly woke up.
"Dying. Dying was the big thing for me," she said. "Physical pain, I could deal with. But the idea of hurting the people I loved most finally clicked."
Erin's mother Dawn did her research and already pinpointed the name diabulimia. But finding help was a challenge.
"When I first went to look for treatment for Erin, there were no programs in the United States for diabulimia. A lot of the treatment centers I contacted wouldn't even take her because she had type 1 diabetes," Dawn said.
There were few options for an eating disorder that turned out to be incredibly common. Dr. Mehri Moore of the Moore Center in Bellevue treats diabulimics.
While the patient population is low, Moore said studies find the eating disorder is rampant.
"Preteen diabetic patients we see somewhere around 10 to 15 percent, teenagers up to 25 percent, late teens and young adult somewhere around 40 percent," she said.
Erin finally found treatment and wanted it to be easier for other girls. She started a Facebook support group that now has more than 600 members.
And at 23-years old, she is the CEO of the nationally recognized Diabulimia Helpline.
Staff meetings include Erin, her parents, and Patience. It might look small, but what they've accomplished is huge.
They've helped establish diabulimia treatment programs. They host conferences around the country.
And Erin's biggest accomplishment is the ability to look in the mirror, and know that while there are days she doesn't like what she sees, she still loves who she is.
"It's a reflection of my skin and my body. Not my heart and my soul," she said.
A lot of you have a lot of opinions on how you could be doing a better job here; it's the parents faults, it's the girls faults. It's NO ONE's "fault." This is a mental disease caused by MANY complex and intertwined factors. Here is a girl who is trying to spread awareness and help for a group of under-served populace. For some, reading this might be the first step in their journey to recovery so wish them well and move on. Your hateful ignorance is not needed on this board.
@MustangEverything's a mental disease right? Sounds like you drunk all the complementary koolaid they are handing out with the new DSM-V. Should be called the DUMB-V.
A lot of the comments seem to assume that the people struggling with diabulimia are young girls. Â This is a common misconception about eating disorders. Â I am a volunteer for Diabulimia Helpline. Â About 75%-80% of the people we help are adults; their ages range from 19 to 62.
@dawnlake50Â HUGZ! To you brave lady!
I have had diabulimia since I was diagnosed 20 years ago when I was 22. So, of course I still have diabulimia and I am 44. So there, dear readers, an example of the fact that not all of us are teens.Â
In my mind I will always have diabulimia, the thinking pattern was a huge part of my life (since age 5, my family has the gene for obsessive compulsion and eating disorders), but I will fight that pattern of thinking to my dying day with every ounce of willpower I have.
It is LONG past time that the medical establishment world-wide gets woken up, educated and come up with a plan to end this horribly serious disorder. I have personally begun the fight in my local area with an eye toward increasing awareness and educating wherever I can. I suffered needlessly for 20 years, lost between the diabetes clinic and the eating disorder clinic, mostly because the complexity of this disorder prevented a lot of the more traditional therapies from working as well as they might have.
Folks, I did NOT choose to have T1 diabetes, I did not CHOOSE to end up with Diabulimia. PLEASE watch the video and read the article more carefully, and open your mind a little. Personally I would LOVE it if folks would just be happy that we are increasing awareness, and that many of us ARE struggling to get our lives back. Just wish us well, and for heaven's sakes, have some compassion for the parents and supporters. They have a hell road to cover. This mental illness is devastating to friends, families, and to those of us who have it, I couldn't see it in the throes of my illness, but I sure can now, and sorry doesn't even begin to cover how I feel about it.
That said, my family is now educated and supporting me successfully in my recovery, and we did so even while flying blind (so to speak). There is HOPE, and THAT is ultimately what these brave folks are trying to share.
I had a dietician years ago - lovely, tall, beautifully thin young woman and in the course of our discussions, I learned she had been anorexic as a teen. She said the anorexia for her wasn't about being thin to impress or to keep with with Hollywood but as a source of control as she felt most of her young life was out of her own control. She nearly died many times, was hospitalized many times and eventually she came out of it with help and she went on to become a registered dietician to help others use food in the right way. She told me that she would always have a much higher risk of sudden death due to the starvation as it had damaged muscles in her body as well as her heart and she would probably always be infertile because of the starvation. It sure is a sad sad thing to see all this with so many young women throughout the years. We've lost so many because of this type of 'disease' - remember Karen Carpenter? Her heart attack was caused by her years of anorexia. :(
I've lost 105 pounds at this point, over the course of a year and three months.
I'll never say it's easy, but it's been slow, gradual and most importantly HEALTHY for me due to taking it slowly and simply changing my portions, eating a little fresher/healthier and almost totally avoiding fried food. I was getting to the point of being borderline diabetic and had very high blood pressure along with an insanely fast heart rate; those issues are completely gone now.
These 'shortcuts' to losing weight or keeping what you think is your ideal weight (bulimia, anorexia, diabulimia) are far more terrible on your body over the course of time than carrying some (note SOME, say 5-10 pounds) extra weight ever could be.
We can thank terrible examples of body images (did you know the average store mannequin used to be about a woman's 12-14 and now is a size 0-2?) and fat shamers that help destroy people's body images for this.
I chose to lose weight, but it's no one else's place to dictate how someone should look or how they should feel in thier own skin.
@WAbornnraisedÂ
 "fat shamers"
Why should people who destroy their bodies through sloth and gluttony feel anything but shame?
Why should people who reward themselves with food like one would a dog or farm animal feel anything but shame?
Why should people who have limbs amputated because they cannot stop eating french fries and cupcakes feel anything but shame?
Why should -I- be expected to feel bad because I had the audacity to make positive changes to my life and wish others to follow suit?
I'm down just over 100 myself. I have long since accepted responsibility for what I'd done to myself over the years. But the whole "fat shame" and "fat acceptance" movement is an abomination.
The last thing this country's ballooning obese population needs is another sugar-coated reason to not change anything.@burton @WAbornnraised WOW Burton... just wow.The self righteousness, the preening, the strutting ego you have! The vast hatred you are expressing is really disturbing, and rather sad and pathetic.
"Why should people who have limbs amputated because they cannot stop eating french fries and cupcakes feel anything but shame?"Â
Really? You actually think that ANYONE deserves to have limbs amputated? You DO realise that just because someone has type 1 diabetes, NO MATTER HOW WELL CONTROLLED, does NOT guarantee that limbs might not become infected and need amputation, right? Oh yes, and not everyone with this disorder sits and eats 24/7 - as perhaps YOU did before you wnt on your holier-than-thou mission to lose 100 pounds so you could hold it over your head like some kind of badge of honour? SHAME on YOU!
I like to think humanity has the capacity to have compassion, but you are really making it clear you want no part of that.Â
You obviously have NO idea what type 1 diabetes and diabulimia are like, nor by your comments do you seem to have an interest. I call TROLL. Kindly get your head out of your posterior and leave the comments to those who are actually interested in being educated. Thank you. Have a nice life.
@Mustang @NW-Economist @Amy Marie HearnLike I said, in this world life is cheap. I've volunteered across sub-Saharan Africa and in southeast Asia, I've witnessed starvation first-hand on a scale of MILLIONS. This mental illness is a joke.Â
@Mustang @burton @Amy Marie Hearn @WAbornnraised Â
Â
I don't hate myself anymore. I simply hate who I used to be. There's a distinct difference. According to your other posts, you seemed to have experimented on withholding your insulin.
How often do you look back and think "Gosh, I love the kind of person I was when I was slowly killing myself."
 The people who voluntarily subject themselves to obesity, type -2- diabetes, and refuse to change their ways even in the face of their own, rapidly approaching death deserve to feel shame as much as they deserve their amputations.
@NW-Economist @Amy Marie Hearn Do you think it's fair that people coming to this page looking for a small shed of hope from the disease that's been killing them has to read your dribble from someone who barely passes as a human being. People are hurting, they want help, a girl out there wants to help them. Why are you so angry at that notion? Although, I guess thousands of men and women dying every year is OK to you, anything's better than them being fat right.Â
@Amy Marie HearnDo you think its fair that a hardworking, single mother who doesn't have the money or time to pay for all the food required to become fat should have to pay taxes and higher premiums for socialized healthcare and free ER trips for people who are literally eating themselves to death at the Hostess Factory outlet? I guess economic slavery is OK to you.Â
@burton @Amy Marie Hearn @WAbornnraised The self hatred you have for yourself is saddening. And it is clear that's all it is. SELF hatred that you project onto other people. I'm sorry for that.Â
NO ONE, no matter the circumstance, deserves to have a limb amputated. As a Type ONE diabetic who has to face this fear constantly I wouldn't wish it on a single human being (not even a troller like you!!)Â
Some people MAY reward themselves with a cupcake, other with a glass of wine or pint of beer after work. We are all just people. Albeit some kinder than others. No one deserves shame. NO ONE. Not even a self righteous, loathsome creature such as yourself. Maybe spend a little less time on your six pack, and a little more time on your soul.Â
@Amy Marie Hearn @burton @WAbornnraised Â
My fault, I should have specified. I was referring to type 2 diabetes. You know, the voluntary kind. A person willfully spikes their insulin levels so often and so hard that their pancreas no longer functions.  Mostly (but, admittedly, not always) contracted by overweight people with poor diets, it can be sent into remission by simple dietary changes. I.E. less grain-based carbohydrates and less sugar.
The people who are diagnosed with Type -2- diabetes who refuse to change their diet absolutely deserve their amputations.  If you cannot stop eating certain kinds of food just to save your own life - you don't deserve it.
And I don't hold any of the changes I made as honorable. They were simply necessary.
@burton @WAbornnraised Â
You obviously were there at one point too, just as I was.
You can't remember or never had to endure teasing, the dirty looks, the namecalling, the 'eww' stares?
 You never wanted a piece of clothing really badly, only to discover it was only available up to a size 10?
I remember it all too vividly, and saying that people who 'destroy thier bodies through sloth and gluttony should feel anything but shame' sure as heck belies the mental issues and constant teasing/self-loathing I was going through. In my case food was my comfort blanket, my escape from the world.
Yes, I learned to turn to more positive things, but I feel nothing but sympathy and almost a kindred relation to those who are where I was once. They should NOT have to endure the teasing, name calling and rejection that follows them around simply because they don't look like a supermodel.
 And I won't even get to people that have genuine medical issues or medicines that render them UNABLE to shed the extra weight...
@burton @WAbornnraisedLets be real here, and look at demographics in Africa and India and China. How many people in impoverished areas there who suffer from lack of access to food have medical issues with gaining weight? Almost none.Â
@WAbornnraised @burton Â
The genuine medical issues and medicines are just that - genuine. That's a rough situation (but not altogether impossible to overcome). Fortunately, the number of people that have them (versus claim to have them) are few enough in number that it may as well not be an issue. Hell, even the worst case of thyroid disorders only account for roughly 15lbs of body weight.
Sadly, even under the best of future care for young ladies afflicted with diabulimia and type 1 diabetes, there may already be organ, nerve and circulatory damage such that, down the road, they may find themselves on hemodialysis and having to undergo progressive amputations of toes, feet and portions of their legs. Â
Unfortunately there is so much chatter all the time about obesity and it's even an issue in our schools. The problem is you have people out there who are vulnerable to all the chatter and they think that the only way they are acceptable is to be thin. In grade school one of my kids was singled out by a nurse to set an example for others who needed to loose some weight. The nurse even sent home a special diet for her to prove a point. I promptly went to the school and put a stop to her little game, but unfortunately my daughter decided that starving herself into thin was the way to go. The seed had been planted. Fortunately we were able to turn it around, but it just goes to show what can happen.
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@burton @Jatok I.... I am so beyond offended. I can't even... There are no words to react to this kind of hateful stupidity and ignorance. I pray to god you have no daughters, and if so I can't wait to see how big the therapy bill is when they tell someone that there daddy didn't think they deserved a boyfriend, parties, or lasting friendships because they were too big.
I was a really fat kid in Elementary school but thankfully the kids in my classed intervened and made sure I knew how fat I was. && then thankfully I developed an diabulimia and by the time I was halfway through high school I was thin enough to have a boyfriend. ALthough there wasn't much kissing or parties because I was in and our of hospitals. But hey at least I wasn't fat right... Â
@Mustang @NW-EconomistTypical foaming-at-the-mouth libtard demands PC-type "acceptance" but slanders anyone who disagrees.Â
@NW-Economist NO! I don't... I'm NOT a type 2 diabetic. I'm not fighting for their rights, or campaigning for equality for them from jackars's like you.Â
@Mustang @NW-Economist @burton @JatokEven at 10%% that's still 90%% of people who are stuffing themselves to the point of ACQUIRED DIABETES. You just brush off facts like nothing, don't you?
@NW-Economist @Mustang @burton @Jatok Type 1 diabetics account for TEN percent (NOT less than 5!) And WHY are you sooo angry and intent on hurting the feelings of people you've never met?! Just, GO AWAY!! Cause I'm calling troll && it's getting sad!Â
@Mustang @NW-Economist @burton @Jatok Â
Underweight is a serious psychological problem resulting from severe body dysmorphia.
Overweight -can- be a serious psychological problem, but the vast majority are simply gluttons that are afraid of broccoli, jogging and squats.
@NW-Economist @Mustang @burton @Jatok You're aware that MILLIONS of people in the US have eating disorders right!? Literally 10 million people. And only a small fraction of those people can't "push away from the table." Some of them are deathly underweight. Are they to suffer also? Or is it ONLY fat people that are allowed to be in pain, I just want to make sure I fully understand your asinine comment!Â
@Mustang @burton @JatokOh god, spare me the tears over inability to push away from the table. There's a few billion starving people in Africa and Asia right now who would laugh at your absurdity.Â
@burton What an interesting perspective - only thin girls get to have boyfriends and friendships while larger girls have to stay home. I believe it is this attitude in our culture that plants a seed for an eating disorder.
@Jatok I find what the nurse did totally unacceptable. Especially a school nurse. Very dangerous and not thought out/ignorant. I am sorry your daughter had to come into contact with someone who's overzealous bad choice affected your daughter so dangerously. I'm glad she's OK!
Unless you have lived with type one diabetes 24/7 every hour of every day of every year....you need to shut the heck up and stop making ridiculous comments about these young women. Eating disorders of any kind are serious business and have the highest mortality rate of any mental health disorder. They have nothing to do with dieting and food is not the real issue, usually a coping mechanism. Saying lousy things about people does nothing to help and actually causes harm. As for the parents taking control...you have to allow your children to grow up and type one children grow up very quickly. You have no idea of what these kids go through but if you want to find out I suggest you contact Children's hospital and see if you can try it. Of course you wouldn't be injecting insulin, it would be saline, but I imagine it would get old very quickly. My daughter estimated that after 8 years she has given herself over 10,000 injections and checked her blood sugars nearly twice that. So fun. Becoming the "diabetes nazi" in the home doesn't exactly make for an ideal situation. Again, if you don't live it, don't comment on it.
@dentalgirl57 My son is diabetic. I know exactly what you are talking about. It's a classic case of people not having a clue unless you walk a mile in someone's shoes. And in their case it's not just a mile, but their entire lives, every second of every day. He is a tall, strapping, healthy, athletic 15 year old who does very well, but you are right, it is so hard to watch them not always be as careful as you think they should be! I'm right there with you. :)
Diet and exercise does work folks | problem is everyone wants a quick fix... I had to work for eight months to drop the excess weight I wanted off... and I have even more work maintaining that by not going back to old habits... diet is not a on again off again thing.. it is a lifestyle change... sooner you accept it the sooner you can get to where you want to be... I still have another 10 lbs I want to lose as I still on the high end of my ideal weight but I am doing it through exercise and diet as you should!
@Freespeech EATING DISORDERS ARE NOT ABOUT WEIGHT LOSSS!!!! OH MY GOD, you people need to do just like 10 minutes, 10 minutes of research before you open your gosh darn mouths and let the stupid spill out. Maybe spend a little LESS time in the gym working on your 6 pack, and a little more time in a library working on your brain! Eating disorders are about control, first about gaining it and then about being powerless against the eating disorder. Seriously, how do you explain girls with eating disorders who are vastly underweight and still choosing not to take their insulin? It's clearly not about being thin then... Seriously, an article. just read like 1, maybe 2.Â
@Mustang I feel your frustration. You have to remember that it is almost always the case with MOST people, that if they have not been touched by something FIRST HAND, they have no understanding or empathy. But they are quick to THINK they know. Do not let it get to you. There are many out there that do understand first hand. You will most likely not find them here though. Many people are more interested in talking than listening (learning).Â
@NW-Economist @Mustang @Thunder OMG. Read carefully! I'm not saying pain tolerance is a disease I'm saying that doctors, ALL doctors use empirical evidence to diagnose disease, ALL diseases. A doctor pushes on your abdomen to see if it hurts, if it does they suspect appendicitis, THAT is empirical evidence. And YOUR ARGUMENT IS FLAWED AND ILLOGICAL.Â
@NW-Economist @Mustang @Thunder Pain tolerance, I kick you in the balls for instance and you'd probably cry like a little girl, but another man might barely flinch. The amount of diseases diagnosed based on empirical evidence counts in the hundreds. You're argument is flawed and illogical.Â
@Mustang @NW-Economist @ThunderI'm not angry, I am enlightened. And drugs or no drugs, the root cause of the absurdity of giving people chemicals with no sure knowledge of what they do, is rooted and based on the fact that the disorders themselves aren't objectively observable or diagnosable by two different doctors. Being able to tell on a blood test a sugar level is a lot different from someone asking someone if they "feel sad." Ridiculous.Â
@NW-Economist @Mustang @Thunder ALL drugs come with consequences and risks... And you didn't mention drugs your earlier post... I am truly sorry for your loss, but mainly I'm sorry that you're SO angry.
@Mustang @NW-Economist @ThunderNo, I watched psychiatry kill 2 friends of mine with their fake drugs and fake treatments. Thus I began researching it to discover what a true pseudo-science it is. I noticed you did not try to argue that the drugs operate on a completely unknown basis, that's why the FDA warning on them says that.Â
@NW-Economist @Thunder @Mustang Is that why you're such a stubborn jackarss? Because therapy didn't work for you...?Â
@Thunder @MustangThen there are those who know first-hand and they or their loved ones have been victimized by the pseudo-science of psychiatry.Â
1. People with type 1 diabetes have a much more difficult time losing weight than others. Insulin is a hormone that helps your body utilize and store glucose. The synthetic insulins used today has been shown to promote fat storage at a cellular level.
2. Eating disorders are a mental health illness that may start as a means to lose weight but progress to a full blown illness that takes serious treatment to overcome. By the time a person is that sick they no longer want the disorder but are powerless against it.Â
@Freespeech Move more eat less!
I don't understand how the parents cannot take responsibility. You should be monitoring their insulin. Who orders their refills...obviously not the parent if they have no clue. WAKE UP and take some responsibility. It is the parents fault for not noticing but way to many people now don't have time for their kids....Sad but true. But when something dramatic happens you hear "why did this happen to me"....because you don't pay attention!
@WhocaresYou may want to walk a mile in my shoes before you blame the parents. Â My daughter developed diabulimia in high school. Â She had many tricks (which I won't outline here in case any young diabetics read this). Â When her A1c did not match her meter readings, the doctor said she was being non-compliant. Â Not once did he mention eating disorders or insulin omission, but he did commend her on all the weight she lost. Â We tried many parenting techniques for rebellious teenagers, none of which worked because she wasn't rebellious, she had a mental health disorder. Â When I started to suspect what was going on, I took her to a therapist and asked him directly if she had an eating disorder. Â He said no. Â I was a Scout leader, involved in PTA and youth group, worked every fund raiser for the senior class party. Â I was paying attention, but when you ask for help again and again and no-one comes forward, there is only so much you can do. Â I am grateful that this disorder is finally getting some awareness and that there is an organization people can turn to for help.
@Whocares You poor self righteous creature!
The thing is, ironically its this very kind of attitude that triggers the disorder in most of us! Having the 'diabetes police' around oggling every result, monitoring every bite of food - and it is SO easy to feed the mental illness!Â
A teen will easily dupe parents: using control solution in their testing machine, vomiting up the meal, sneaking food behind their backs... Â that teen will feel shame and remourse but it spirals out of control so easily!
Like Thunder says: you have NO idea of what the sufferers and their families go through, so cut them some slack!
@Whocares Without going into great detail (which, trust me, I could), you have NO idea what you are talking about. None.
What if these kids self inject and they decide to just throw it away instead. They could then tell the parents they needed a refill and no one would be the wiser. I don't believe all these parents are irresponsible. If they have a small child then yes, but with teen-agers one could assume they are old enough to take on the responsibibility and since it is difficult to be with a teen 24/7 I doubt the parents are around for every dose.
@Jatok There is a blood test that the MD will check on a regular basis to see if the  numbers have been running high in the previous months.  Sick kids can be crafty, and my favorite one was a teen girl who pulled a stunt every time her parents left town, and Mom had to fly home from Europe once. Â
Instead of just individually replying to the dozen angry misunderstanding responses to my original post, I'll elaborate. This will be a long one.
At no point was my comment meant to be construed as a way to treat type 1 diabetes. Counting calories does not treat Type 1 Diabetes. It's definitely a serious condition and I pity anyone who is diagnosed. (Type 2 is another story, but hey, on topic)
Yes, not all calories require the same amount of effort on the body to digest . But if your only concern is *weight,* then it's a moot point. All calories are used as energy.  If you burn more calories than you eat, your body weight will drop - period. What that weight comes from (muscle tissue or fat tissue) is dictated by your diet and physical activity.
By lifting (perspectively) heavy weights, you ensure that your body uses the calories you -do- consume as well as the excess calories that have been stored as fat to repair the damaged muscle tissue caused from heavy lifting.
Regarding the extreme methods for weight management - blame capitalism. And before someone jumps on me for being a pinko commie leftist, weight management is not something that can be solved with a temporary plan that is boxed, priced, and sold. It's a lifestyle. No one will advertise methods that involve permanent changes because there is zero money in it. You've got a product that works 100% and eventually the market dries up. Bad for business.
As for the whole media glorification of thin/fitness, it's a non-issue. Everyone should desire to be fit, lean and athletic. There is nothing unrealistic about that. Even the ever-cited Marilyn went to the gym. She wasn't fat by any means. She wasn't incredibly lean, but she was not fat.
@burtonIf all calories are the same, then getting them all from alcohol would be fine, right? Well, no, of course not. Same with fructose in a low-fiber diet (which is most modern processed foods.) Similar to alcohol, it can only be digested in the liver, along a similar metabolic pathway. Your body can handle 500 calories of low-fiber glucose MUCH better than 500 calories of low-fiber fructose - it's the difference between a fifth of whiskey over the course of a month, versus all in one night. Massive loads of excess fiber-free fructose triggers fat deposition, even if you are relatively calorie-starved. A change of diet, even if the total calories consumed are the same, can have a huge impact on health and appearance. if you are a science geek, it's laid out in Sugar, the bitter truth : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
@RN1 @burton
So when all those sugar and alcohol based calories get stored as fat tissue and the body starts catabolizing muscle tissue to continue maintaining itself, it sure seems logical that - given the difference in density between the two tissues - one's weight would...decrease.
I really didn't want to continue into details about macronutrients because my post was long enough as it was. It is important to source the majorityof one's calories from protein. Carbohydrates should be obtained from vegetables. Fat is also necessary and should ve consumed in similar amounts as carbohydrates. You would lose weight drinking nothing but booze. You would also die in short order.
@burton @RN1Thanks for posting this.Â
@burton I wouldn't blame capitalism, burton, I would put the blame on peoples' laziness and short-sightedness. They want the immediate gratification without having to work for it.Â
Secondly, I wonder how many girls would be so hard on themselves without the public school system. School seems to be where we all learn how badly we do not measure up to "perfect."
@Willow @burton so home schooled and private school children don't develop eating disorders. I would like to see the studies to back that claim up...