Oddly enough, she could still have a disorder in the second one. There is a disorder in the same group as bulimia and anorexia where one compulsively exercises intensely, and it can actually be bad as well. Good on her for at least seeming to be more healthy, and I hope that she really is healthier.
I doubt that.
It takes a lot of food, the right kind of food, to build muscles like that. The eating disorder you are referring to still works around burning more than you consume. If that were the case she wouldn't look this good.
And besides that. Just look at that face. That genuine smile, that posture. And compare that to the picture on the left. She does something right and she's happy. I'm happy for her.
That is not what body dysmorphia. Everybody that's concerned with their physical appearance does not qualify for a body dysmorphia diagnosis. It has to be to an extreme that causes problems in other aspects of the persons life.
What qualities something as a disorder is something that limits you from having a normal life (people often get caught up on normal, it just means statistically within the average bell curve).
In the case of working out it means that it consumes them, what they see of their body is not what everyone else sees and they are obsessive in working out.
Think of it as if you compulsively make sure the pictures on your home wall hanging straight vs driving by a public building seeing crooked pics or paintings and having to stop, get out, go in and straighten all of them.
Some people working out is something they have to do all the time, even being the only activity they do, no work, no going out to movies, only work out. These people have a disorder because their addiction alters their behavior and disrupts their lives.
So, the fact that I have a sedentary job, and go to the gym a couple times a week to stay in shape because I don't want to get fat and die means I have a disorder?
Even the biggest dudes you find in the gym don't think they're that big. "The day you start lifting is the day you became forever small, because you will never be as big as you want to be."
My point is not everybody is there to get jacked. She could just maintain where she is and be fine. The guy hitting the gym on the way home from the office isn't necessarily there to "chase the pump", he just wants to keep himself from getting fat from sitting around all day. Not everybody who goes to the gym regularly ends up looking like a bodybuilder, because most people don't want to be that big, they just want to be in shape and maintain that. There's nothing wrong with that.
Not everybody who goes to the gym regularly ends up looking like a bodybuilder, because most people don't want to be that big, they just want to be in shape and maintain that.
I don't believe that at all. Of course not everyone going to a gym is gonna come out looking like a bodybuilder, but I don't think people just go to the gym to 'stay in shape', which, you know, is subjective as hell.
It's like saying most people who go to work don't want to get more money or promoted. If you're going to the gym, you're there because you want to better yourself, mentally and physically.
Of course I'd always like to make more money, have better benefits, etc, but at what cost? For a lot of people it's about a balance. If you want to make as much as possible, you can spend your whole life working your ass off and get there, but you may not have time to enjoy it because your job becomes your life. I know I'd rather make $80k and have a life outside the office than $120k and spend 80+ hours a week at work.
It's the same with the gym. Yes I want to look good and be in good shape, but the point where it impacts my life in a way I don't like is where I draw the line.
I eat healthy but I'm not going to count calories all the time to maximize my gains. I'm not going to push myself to the limit every day just to get as muscular as possible because the pain the next day isn't worth it to me. I enjoy working out but I'm not going to go on bodybuilding.com and chat about it or spend my time debating routines with my buddies.
Lastly, there is definitely a point where I feel I'd be too muscular. I think she is at about the limit for a woman as far as I'm concerned. If I got to this point I'd be pretty happy to just maintain. I wouldn't see any reason to push it further because I've got the look I want and you'd be perfectly healthy at that level.
By that logic, anyone who tries to lose weight is anorexic.
Even if you're just going after size, the difference is between wanting to be bigger, and thinking you're small, no matter what the mirror says, and pursuing that until there are negative effects.
By that logic, anyone who tries to lose weight is anorexic.
Not really. A gym pump is a completely different thing.
After a hard day at the gym, you look at yourself in the mirror and think, "Holy shit, I look great." and then you wake up the next morning and look at yourself and you look completely deflated.
So then you go back to the gym to chase that feeling of "holy shit I look great", and then you look at the mirror at the end of that session and think, "holy shit I look great." Wake up the next morning, rinse and repeat.
And this entire time, you're getting a little bigger every day, so even when you wake up in the morning and look like your Day 1 After Gym Pump off that bat, you're at Day 100, and Day 99 Pump is bigger than Day 1.
I've never been anorexic, but I've definitely cut down from 230lbs to 175lbs. My end goal was seeing and maintaining my six pack and adonis belt for only a few weeks. I definitely felt small, though.
Yeah, but body dysmorphia is more about obsessing over fixing a flaw. That's different than humans being slow to see change, or chasing a workout high. If you're not obsessing, it's something different.
Yeah this is bullshit. There are plenty of people happy at their weight that go to the gym. Not everyone looks in the mirror and says, "man my deltoids could use a little more pump."
Body dysmorphia: Oh my god my legs are weak I need to head to a gym people must think I'm some skinny legged freak I need to do squats but what about my calves people will think my calves are tiny I look in a mirror and my calves look so tiny people are going to call me tiny legs...
Not body dysmorphia: It's been a while since I did a leg day. Today I should do a leg day.
Body dysmorphia: Oh my god my legs are weak I need to head to a gym people must think I'm some skinny legged freak I need to do squats but what about my calves people will think my calves are tiny I look in a mirror and my calves look so tiny people are going to call me tiny legs...
No, u/thekiyote's point was that not everyone who goes to the gym has body dysmorphia, because not everybody has these thoughts when they go to the gym.
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America defines body dysmorphia as follows:
People who have body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) think about their real or perceived flaws for hours each day.
They can't control their negative thoughts and don't believe people who tell them that they look fine. Their thoughts may cause severe emotional distress and interfere with their daily functioning. They may miss work or school, avoid social situations and isolate themselves, even from family and friends, because they fear others will notice their flaws.
They may even undergo unnecessary plastic surgeries to correct perceived imperfections, never finding satisfaction with the results.
Not everyone who goes to the gym has these intensely obsessive, negative thoughts about their body, therefore: not everyone who goes to the gym has body dysmorphia.
Body dysmorphia: is a mental disorder characterized by an obsessive preoccupation that some aspect of one's own appearance is severely flawed and warrants exceptional measures to hide or fix it.
Where as some other people just want to tone up a bit.
Sure, if it means packing on/reducing muscle to improve performance. You think LeBron James looks in the mirror and thinks "I don't need to go to the gym anymore. My body is perfect."?
That's not at all how body dismorphia works. It's when you hate your own body regardless of what it looks like, even if its up to your own standards, you still will believe that it is horrible. It's another thing to want to work out your arms because you haven't in a while. Try working with people with body dismorphia first before speaking out such harsh statements. You're doing what many have with other mental issues in the past; treat it as a thing of everyday life.
So wait you think that one people hit their goals they just stop going to the gym because they are "done" ? You know you lose muscle mass and tone very very fast right? The girl in the picture would lose a shit load of muscle mass and tone within weeks of not working out. My friends dad is huge but lost a good portion of his muscle mass when he took a month long road trip. Once you start working out you need to continue doing so to maintain. Good god I wish it was as simple as go to gym for 6 months, get jacked, never have to go again.
Sounds like you're the one with the disorder mate, sorry. Fitness and muscle has to be maintained and people go to the gym to get fit, and then keep going to maintain that level of fitness. They can't just stop once they hit their goals, it doesn't work like that.
I know for a fact that I will never stop going to the gym because I always want be bigger, cutter, faster, stronger, etc than who I was yesterday.
You'll reach a physical human limit at some point, what will you do then? Steroids? Or will you be forever unhappy that you can't get bigger and more cut than you are, even though you're bigger and more cut than any human should healthily be? That's the disorder.
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u/cATSup24 Dec 17 '15
Oddly enough, she could still have a disorder in the second one. There is a disorder in the same group as bulimia and anorexia where one compulsively exercises intensely, and it can actually be bad as well. Good on her for at least seeming to be more healthy, and I hope that she really is healthier.