You're a brave woman, and a fighter. And entirely right.

x

A terrifying illness.

X

It frightens the hell out of me in the same way that I can be told that my healthy weight is 8st yet I feel comfortable at 11st whereas at 8 I look ill!

Still have some way to go to get to 11 and will still be classed as Obese, but I am healthy. When I see young children/adults trying to get into clothes so small my heart breaks - it is a terryfying illness, yet I know how easy it can be to go down that slippery slope.

This is seriously scarey stuff. I did not have this problem myself as I was a naturally skinny size 8 till I was 20 and then a size 10 till I had the Moff and then a 12 till about 3 years ago. I am now middleaged and yes a size 14 - shock horror - so what? Ok yes I do wish I was slim again, but I have no intention of starving myself to get back to what I was at 20. But I do try to limit my consumption of crisps, chocolate, biscuits and icecream and try to take regular excercise in an attempt to keep my body fitter and healthier which is quite a different matter.

Even being slim society puts a lot of pressure onto young women. I always enjoyed my food and I remember people always telling me I shouldn't eat this and that as I would get fat with ill disguised horror in their voices. Even though I KNEW I didn't need to worry there was always a nagging suspicion at the back of my mind and I can still remember feeling distressed each time I went up a dress size. So many girls I knew at school and college had eating disorders and some of them died. I suspect many of my daughters friends have it now and I am worried about them. What worries me is that in some cases the people who should be supporting them and encouraging them to fight this disease are actively encouraging them believe that they need to work at staying nice and slim or worse to slim down yet further.

I think it would help if clothes shop for young women stocked a good range of sizes from 6 -18 rather than just 6-12. Then nice normally healthy curvy girls might be able to feel good about themselves again.

Glad you were strong enough to fight and survive.

X

I agree with you totally. I hate very skinney women, but society is always on at us to fit into what we see on the adverts.

And you are a great and inspirational fighter.
x

I have written and re-written this comment about five times now and the best thing I can say is that I don't actually know what to say.

What a damn shame that our little babies, our children, believe they need to sacrifice their health to look good for society.

I hate to lay blame for this terrible situation so many people are facing now, but I think it really took off when gay designers came to the fore and began to remove the femininity in their models to fit their clothes' designs. Androgenous models began to become the in thing, and the young began to believe that's what being perfect meant. The healthily covered began to see themselves as fat when in fact they were ideal weights for their body build and height. At least the problem is at last being recognized by the fashion industry, but, sadly, far too late for many beautiful people who have died trying to achieve the impossible. Unfortunately, there are still some designers out there refusing to accept the recommendations for raising the size ratio and insist on their models remaining unhealthily skinny...how that is going to be combatted apart from making it illegal to hire a model below a certain height and weight, I don't know, but it desperately needs doing and now, not later. Big hugs to you for introducing this subject...I've known people with it, but fortunately they did recover, but I know many don't.

Second pic down. . . you know, the really sad thing is, she actually thinks she's still overweight.