Dear Forum.. Do I Have Body Dismorphic Disorder?

[Redyam]

How do you tell simply by looking at a picture of someone whether they have Body Dismorphic Disorder or not?

 

Easy, most people can judge a person and say if they are fat or not. If we all say she is not fat by looking at a picture, and she says she is, then thats a sure sign of altered perception of oneself.

 

If we all say she looks fat, then she is right about herself, and has accurate judgement. Hence no body dismorphic disorder.

 

If this Dr Christian Jessen says he is a fat ugly weakling, then we all know that is not true by looking at his picture, and he has an altered perception of himself.

[Loubbe]

I would go and see your GP. They can be objective, weigh and measure you, and assess whether you are in the healthy range of weight. If you are on the top side of BMI, they can advise you what changes to make to your lifestyle, but from what you have said occasionally having a cakey bun or packet of crisps should not make you obese!

[ukstudent]

I would go and see your GP. They can be objective, weigh and measure you, and assess whether you are in the healthy range of weight. If you are on the top side of BMI, they can advise you what changes to make to your lifestyle, but from what you have said occasionally having a cakey bun or packet of crisps should not make you obese!

 

BMI is a load of rubbish really as it doesn't take into account muscle mass.

 

This is why so many parents of schoolchildren have been getting letters saying their children are overweight.

[Loubbe]

BMI is a load of rubbish really as it doesn't take into account muscle mass.

 

This is why so many parents of schoolchildren have been getting letters saying their children are overweight.

 

Yes, but I would hope a doctor would be able to differentiate between someone with high muscle mass, and someone overweight! BMI is not hard and fast, but it is a guideline as to what is considered healthy. The OP is worrying that she is either physically overweight, or else has a distorted view of her own body, if she is within the normal BMI then the issue is more likely to be with her view of herself, rather than something that can be solved with diet and exercise.

[Loubbe]

This is why so many parents of schoolchildren have been getting letters saying their children are overweight.

 

 

 

Plus, I bet some of these children ARE overweight, you see some little chubby ones these days.

[warrior8]

Dear Forum...

 

For the last few years I have been constantly on a diet but nothing ever works - in fact it feels like I actually put on weight (and no, its not muscle mass). I wouldn't say I am obese but I am quite small and I think it would really benefit me confidence wise and health wise just to up to a stone but seem to really struggle.

 

Everybody says I have nothing to worry about including my family and my partner but I know they're just being polite and I bet when he is honest my partner would rather me be the weight I was when we met (about a stone lighter, but still not skinny with curves in the right places). When I look in the mirror all I see is a discusting fat whale.

 

Ideally i'd like to be about 9 stone and at the moment I am pushing 10 - but i'm only small so it shows. I am the biggest out of all of my social group and I am so self concious when I have my arms and legs out or if I wear a fitted dress - I feel like everybody is looking at me even though I know i'm not hugely overweight!

 

The thing that makes me think that I am not healthy is that I feel really guilty when I eat some foods. I try to eat fairly healthily and I get excercise two or three times a week for about an hour (but nothing too intense, health problems stop me doing intense excercise, just walking, swimming etc) so I should be able to have a treat every now and then, but if I eat say a bag of crisps, or a sandwich with cheese in, I feel really guilty about it for the next couple of days- even if I have eaten well in the few days running up to it.

 

As you can tell I really do have some issues about food - im not a binge eater and I don't eat rubbish all the time, but when I do I feel awful. I actually sometimes don't want to leave the house because i'm having a "fat" day and people will look at me. It's even worse because out of all my friends I eat the least, and they eat absolutely loads, but stay skinny. I just look at chips and put on weight.

 

Any advice about how to get over my body confidence issues would be hugely appreciated, also any tips as to loose this horrible weight would be really helpful because I am obviously doing something wrong and it is really really starting to bother me.

 

How tall are you?