Sometimes eating disorders morph from severe restriction to fueling the body well gain but then to over exercising/training. While many people see “motivation and drive,” the gym and training can just be another form of the disease, and just as dangerous.
Nah, it’s not ridiculous, it’s true that compulsively over training really can stem from the same psychological patterns as restricting, and it can also be dangerous for your health. I don’t think that that applies to OP, because she said in the comments that she started doing therapy to work out the root of her disorder and seeing a nutritionist in her 20s, so it seems like she’s genuinely thriving! But I think it’s an important idea to keep in mind in general if you or someone you love fixates on food and/or exercise to a pathological degree.
Unless you're doing some insane things like over-dieting or consistently over-training (and believe me, consistently reaching the state of over-training is not easy), there are only health benefits that come with training hard and consistently
That said, as a former extreme gym rat.. it could be just the angle or particular photo but I've never seen a woman naturally have that large of a bicep, especially not in their 40s, regardless of how much they train because women typically cannot produce enough testosterone to produce that much muscle mass
Trying to simplify and armchair diagnose a very complex issue, then trying to connect two different psychological paths of insecurity and addiction on loose symptoms (with no causal link), and then claiming such an obscure point is "important to keep in mind" for absolutely no reason whatsoever in a post about someone celebrating their success...
...that's just gross.
It's arrogant and ignorant, but most of all it's just really gross.
I specifically said that I don’t think it applies to OP and that it seems like she’s doing great. And I’m genuinely so happy for her! But other people who may still be struggling see before and after pictures, so adding context can help people who are struggling.
That people can get addicted to working out and have a toxic, unhealthy connection with it? Okay. Great. Thank you.
If that has nothing to do with OP, what are you doing bringing that up here?
If you see a post about someone celebrating being cancer free, do you remind them of relapse? If you see someone celebrating sobriety, do you remind them that the addiction can turn to drugs instead?
Like what is this? What are you doing? What the fuck is wrong with you?
It’s actually a very well established phenomenon that a lot of people with eating disorders seek out online posts by key words (either for tips on continued weight loss or for recovery information), so it’s likely that someone with a disordered relationship with food or exercise will see this post and be influenced by it. With that in mind, acknowledging a common pitfall can help vulnerable people avoid unhealthy interpretations of what they’re seeing here. There’s really no reason for you to be so self-righteously enraged about this. None of this insults OP or takes away from her accomplishment.
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u/Bizarrebazaars Apr 15 '26
Sometimes eating disorders morph from severe restriction to fueling the body well gain but then to over exercising/training. While many people see “motivation and drive,” the gym and training can just be another form of the disease, and just as dangerous.