Bulimia

May 1st, 2010
hello,
I am bulimic and have been for 7+ years. I have gained some weight (4-5 kgs) recently and want to lose it, therefore i started doing Weight Watchers 3 days ago. However, I find myself bingeing on WW food and then purging. Will i lose weight like this? or is this the same than b/ping with regular food? i just dont know how to stop purging, it will never happen for me... is it just pointless to do WW if i will still b/p everyting?

thanks




Matt C replies:


Hi there – I do believe you will find it very difficult to achieve weight control without dealing with your Bulimia first. You say you have been bulimic for at least seven years – have you ever sought help with this specifically?
I have known people who have been attending weight watchers and similar meetings for many, many years and never found satisfaction with their weight – not because there is anything wrong with WW, but because they had kept their compulsive and binge eating problems secret and so their underlying problems had never been tackled.
It is also important to remember that vomiting (if that is your chosen method of purging) is not only very damaging to your health in the long run, but it is also a very inefficient means of calorie control because so much of the calories are absorbed even if you vomit straight after eating.
Rather than choosing low calorie foods to binge on, it would clearly be better to seek some help to deal with the need to binge /purge in the first place.
Even if you have sought help before and found that the problem has persisted – please don’t let this put you off trying again – it might just have been that you weren’t ready to change at the time. People do recover from Bulimia, and manage to maintain their recovery, so it is possible – so yes, it can and it will happen for you.
So please speak to your doctor about your Bulimia and ask for a referral to see a specialist who can help you.

Good luck and good health

Matt C