First, I tried the usual dieting. I ate fat-free lunch meat and chicken noodle soup. I even tried my Granny Ruth's "buttermilk and cornbread diet," which, naturally, was more tasty than effective. Nothing worked. I needed something more drastic. I needed to be inspired. I needed major motivation to transform myself into a svelte Southern belle. My answer came in the form of a premier, all-girls boarding school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
It was home to some of the South's most prized debutantes—upper-class Scarlett O'Hara look-alikes who officially enter society like little ladies in lavish coming-out balls.
I'd never thought of myself as debutante material, all dressed up in satin and lace, dancing with my daddy before being presented to society at a fancy ball.
But when I enrolled in this school at age 15, my thinking began to change. Tenth grade was a whole new world, full of late-night gab sessions with my roommate and new best friend.
I started to feel less alone. One day, after listening to me whine about my weight for the hundredth time, my roommate suggested a solution: a little pink pill—a laxative. Later that night, a miracle happened. My muscles burned, my stomach cramped, and what felt like half my weight in water ran down the toilet. When I looked in the bathroom mirror, I was astonished. My stomach looked distinctly flatter. For a second, the fat girl inside me felt almost After that, I started taking laxatives every day.
The pills felt like Excalibur in my hands. With their help, I began waging war against the fat. Yes, I had to run to the toilet constantly, necessitating all kinds of fibs to get out of class. I'm sure my teachers were suspicious, but nobody ever called my parents or mentioned my frequent bathroom breaks to the dean. Instead, as the weeks went by and the pounds slipped off, everyone complimented me. My grades were improving, I was feeling more confident, and boys on the street were starting to notice me.
Feeling inspired, I decided to take my mission to a new level—by restricting the food I ate. I started skipping breakfast; for lunch I'd eat only a cup of bran cereal, topped with the smallest amount of skim milk possible. Dinner wasn't allowed because I couldn't burn off the calories before bed.
My new circle of friends also advised me to down laxatives with black coffee—a diuretic that would force excess water out of my body and help make me lean. Of course, coffee plus laxatives made bathroom visits more necessary than ever. My stomach rumbled all the time, so my pals told me to chew peppermint candies. Chewing on them tricks your stomach into registering the sugar as food, so your muscles stop churning, or so I was told.
Over the months, I watched my weight drop on the scale— pounds, then , , I was thrilled. Yet somehow it was never enough. When a couple of girls in my AP English class taught me another trick to keep my body laced with laxatives, I embraced the idea wholeheartedly. They showed me how to steam open a little blue packet of Equal sweetener and fill it with finely ground laxatives.
The thinking was this: I could keep a stash of these Equal packets in my purse and sprinkle the contents on my cereal, coffee, or tea anytime—right in front of my teachers' eyes. My friends and I thought we were incredibly clever. Yes, we could've just popped a pill in private in a bathroom stall, but this was real subterfuge.
Believe it or not, eventually I got myself down to about calories a day. I'd count the calories in my head in class: grapefruit juice, 32 calories; skim milk, 20 calories; bran cereal, calories.
If I started fantasizing about chocolate, I'd dig an Equal out of my pocket and swallow its contents dry. When the powder kicked in, my stomach muscles would suddenly clench, and I'd feel nauseous, but also relieved.
And powerful. And hungry. Always hungry, as I watched the bran flakes—which my body hadn't had time to digest—dip and swirl and disappear down the toilet. A few months later, I upped the ante yet again: I started sprinting four miles uphill, five times a week. I suspected that my parents knew something was terribly wrong, but we never discussed it.
Ipecac syrup makes you throw up soon after you drink it. It is used if someone eats or swallows something that is poisonous or toxic. For certain kinds of poisons, throwing up is useful. It may stop the poison from being absorbed into the stomach and causing damage to the body. Some people with eating disorders abuse ipecac by using it for the wrong reason.
They drink it to make themselves throw up after eating. Ipecac syrup can be extremely harmful to your health and even lead to death. Some symptoms of regular use of ipecac syrup include:muscle weakness, dehydration, heart problems, seizures, and internal bleeding. The good news is the medical problems that come from ipecac abuse often disappear once the person stops drinking it.
Like with other types of self-induced vomiting, using ipecac to make yourself throw up is not effective in getting rid of all the calories consumed, as digestion begins in the mouth. Inducing vomiting tends to make binge-eating episodes more likely to happen.
Laxative abuse can do other damage to your health. It can result in the loss of important minerals and electrolytes like sodium, potassium or magnesium. As a result, your muscles, nerves and organs may not work properly. Laxative abuse can also damage your intestine, and increase your risk of getting colon cancer. People with an eating disorder sometimes misuse diuretics in order to try to lose weight. They believe these pills will help them get rid of extra pounds. The truth is that they are just getting rid of water, and so any weight loss is temporary.
The weight will return as soon as they drink anything. In the long run, diuretics can actually cause you to gain water weight. Your body will start holding on to water to offset the effects of the diuretic. Diuretic abuse can cause a lot of medical problems. For example, it can cause very low blood pressure. This can make you feel weak and dizzy, or cause fainting. Also, the water that is lost when you use diuretics has important minerals and electrolytes.
Your organs may not work properly. Some other side effects of diuretic abuse are kidney damage, dehydration, abnormal heart beat, dizziness and constipation. Compulsive Exercising Some people with an eating disorder use exercise as a way to control their weight. They may feel that they can only eat if they have finished their exercises. These people over-exercise, or do more physical activity than they need to stay healthy or fit.
They may not feel happy or satisfied, but their exercise schedule becomes very important to them. They may begin to feel driven or compelled to exercise, and choose exercise over almost all other activities.
You can damage your body with over-exercising, especially if that is combined with poor eating. The body is under a lot of stress because it is not getting the energy it needs to be so active. There is also no time for the body to rest, heal and recharge between workouts. Female athletes who take part in sports such as dance, gymnastics, or marathons are at high risk of over-exercising.
Compulsive exercise is a sign of a serious eating disorder. If you, or someone you know, is exercising compulsively to lose weight, you should get help from a medical professional immediately. They recommend some very dangerous behaviours. They talk as if anorexia nervosa or bulimia are lifestyle choices rather than disorders. The sites have chat rooms and blogs where people support each other in staying anorexic or bulimic and refusing treatment.
According to the NIDDK , you should only use stimulant laxatives if your constipation is severe or other laxatives have not helped.
Prolonged laxative use can irritate the lining of your bowel and cause all sorts of gastrointestinal issues, Dr. Leavey says. It can also cause dehydration and electrolyte and mineral imbalances, Dr. Wider says. Since electrolytes such as calcium and sodium are crucial to several body functions, an imbalance can cause dizziness, fainting, blurry vision, and even death, Dr.
Wider explains. These imbalances can also cause symptoms like abnormal heart rhythms, weakness, confusion and seizures, per the Mayo Clinic. Leavey adds. Bottom line: This is not a weight-loss method you want to try. SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Any information published on this website or by this brand is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional.
First things first: What are laxatives? Long-term use of laxatives can actually perpetuate your constipation issues. Korin is a former New Yorker who now lives at the beach.
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