Bulemia - Why Purging Is So Ineffective In Controlling Your Weight 

Most people who suffer from Bulemia are not underweight, in fact most are average to over weight.

This is because it is a false belief that we can get rid of most of the calories we have eaten through laxative abuse, vomiting or taking diuretics.

People with Bulemia Nervosa often follow such methods of purging themselves (as well as for the very complex emotional reasons involved) to rid themselves of the excess calories they have taken in during an episode of comfort, or binge eating.

In fact, research shows that we retain AT LEAST 50% of calories even if we induce vomiting straight afterwards. This is because the digestive process starts straight away and calories begin to be absorbed from the gastric tract as soon as we start to eat.

picture by Helios on Flickr.com

Laxative abuse is even more ineffective, for the obvious reason that the food has already had to pass through the entire digestive system. And even though laxatives will speed up that process, only approximately 10% of calories can be lost this way.

And diuretics, if used as a means to reduce weight, only dehydrate the body. This means that it is only water content that the body has lost - which is a risk to health in itself. Furthermore, as soon as fluids are taken in again in the form of drinks, then the weight is regained. No actual calories are lost by taking diuretics.

This is not to suggest that people with Bulemia are necessarily unaware of this already, or that weight loss is the ONLY reason why such purging methods are employed. Far from it, very often it is the sense of emotional release that purging provides that leads a sufferer to continue in the practice.

But it is important to know, that if you are using laxative abuse, vomiting, taking diuretics or other purging method to compensate for binge eating, that not only is it a potential risk to your health but extremely INEFFECTIVE at getting rid of the calories anyway.

The practice of extreme dieting or fasting is counterproductive as well. If the body goes for long periods of low energy intake such as during a fast or very low calorie diet, then the bodies' metabolic rate will drop.

This is because the body is trying to conserve energy in response to the lack of food. Some people call this going into 'starvation mode', as the body is trying to hold onto its reserves of energy (in other words, the fat).

So as the body slows down the rate at which it burns energy (metabolism) it becomes MORE DIFFICULT to lose weight.

So if you do have Bulemia, I hope that in learning WHY purging is so inefficient at controlling your weight, that this understanding might help you break the repeating cycle of binging and purging, and find your way back to a healthy relationship with your body and with food.