I know that some of this is quite hard to hear, and I am concious that I don't want to say something that might stop you posting.
But it does concern me that you are aiming for something that is below a healthy weight. Just because your mum has been it and maintains it, does not mean that it is right for you as well. there are lots of things that could be different.
Whether you have a proper defined ED or not is only something that a trained person could assess however here are some of the criteria that they would use to do it.
Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent binge eating, followed by compensatory behaviors, referred to as "purging" The most common form—practiced more than 75% of people with bulimia nervosa—is self-induced vomiting; fasting, the use of laxatives, enemas, diuretics, and over exercising are also common
The criteria are as follows
Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following:
Eating, in a fixed period of time, an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat under similar circumstances.
A lack of control over eating during the episode: a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating.
Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain, such as: self-induced vomiting; misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other medications; fasting; excessive exercise.
Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight.
There are two sub-types of Bulimia Nervosa: purging and non-purging.
Purging Type: the patient uses self-induced vomiting (which may include use of emetics such as syrup of ipecac) and other ways to rapidly remove food from the body before it can be digested, such as laxatives, diuretics, and enemas.
Non-purging Type: occurring in approximately 6%-8% of cases, in which the patient uses excessive exercise or fasting after a binge to offset the caloric intake after eating. Purging-type bulimics may also exercise or fast, but as a secondary form of weight control.
The onset of Bulimia Nervosa is often during adolescence (between 13 and 20 years of age), with many sufferers relapsing in adulthood into episodic binging and purging even after initially successful treatment and remission.[5]
Bulimia Nervosa can be difficult to detect, compared to Anorexia Nervosa , because bulimics tend to be of average or slightly above or below average weight. Many bulimics may also engage in significantly disordered eating and exercising patterns without meeting the full diagnostic criteria for Bulimia Nervosa.
I have put alot of ifomation down here. Not because I am judging you and saying that you are bulimic, but so that you can look at it. Please take the time to do this honestly and then you can decide for yourself if you feel that it is more like you than maybe you realised or if it is not really like you at all.
If you feel it is you, then it isn't the end of the world.
I am also keeping my fingers crossed for you re Oxford.
Jacqui
