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Immediately after graduating from college I married Paul and we moved to Texas. Throughout our time in Texas I would say my weight was not really a focus of mine until becoming pregnant about 3 years in to our marriage. I put on a massive amount of weight for my small frame due to "justified" overeating in the form of root beer floats and burgers from Sonic, sometimes twice a day. I eased the financial stress and fear of the future with food. Which felt good until our baby was born and I had to deal with all the weight I chose to gain during my pregnancy. Cue the eating disorder - my familiar way of dealing with my weight was not eating at all. So there I was extremely overweight, nursing a brand new baby and eating a lean pocket once a day. One Lean Pocket a day. This is when my dental issues became really severe. I had to have a root canal within 2 months of giving birth. What happened? I started losing weight. While simultaneously ruining my teeth (long term consequence I was not fully aware of until much later in life) and refusing to deal with all the other emotional stresses of my marriage and financial issues. My marriage was in trouble, we literally had less than no money, a new baby and no direction for our future. Food was the only thing I felt "in control" of when actually I was out of control with that too. We made a big move back home to Florida, moved in with my parents for a few months, started working and saving money. While this started to help in the marriage and financial areas of life I still wasn’t eating. I was still eating a lean pocket only once a day. This was my choice. No one noticed. Well actually, my husband did and he begged me to eat, but the truth is there wasn’t anything he could do about it. I was determined. In defense of my other friends and family, even if they had noticed and said something chances are I would have gone further into "hiding" what I was doing and avoiding the real issues. Remember eating disorders are not just about food... Obviously I lost weight which resulted the praise and attention we as a society give to someone who loses weight. I felt "better" about myself and time marched on. My relationship with food seemed to improve in an on again off again sort of way. Until our 2nd baby was on the way - to me being pregnant was an excuse to pile on the pounds...in a way I suppose this was a form of binging. Except I didn't actually purge, I would starve myself, destroy my teeth and mentally beat myself up through it all. Photo Credit: Gellinger on Pixabay
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I often refer to the years following High School as "no man's land". It's a strange time after graduating from High School, trying to find your way in the world. Feeling grown up because you live away from your parents 9 months out of the year but dependent on your parents funding your life and education. Kind of a transition period. You are old enough to be completely independent but few people I know really jump out of the nest during the 18 - 22 year age range. Mostly due to financial ties. I went to college because it was expected of me. My parents drove me six hours north to Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia - sight unseen - and left me there in my dorm room. I didn't know a soul. I was excited. I thought I could finally break free from myself. Start over. Reinvent myself. Stop being so insecure, weak and needy. Finally reach my full potential. I tried - but failed. It is futile to try to run away from yourself seeing how you are always with you... I started eating. I actually gained the "freshman 15" or in my case the "freshman 20". With the help of Krystal Burgers I went the other extreme and shifted from not eating to overeating. I found it interesting that gaining this "freshman 15" didn't keep me from being able to hook up with willing college boys. Of course none of this helped my self esteem and the extra pounds quickly became a problem for me. I started skipping meals, working out and trying to find some balance in life. I never returned to weights in the 90's or low 100's but mentally and emotionally I was a wreck. Eating disorders are not just about eating. I keep repeating this because it is an important truth. No one in my close family or friend circles in high school or college realized I had a problem at all. The mental, emotional and physical challenges I faced, I faced them on my own. The warning signs of eating disorders were present in my life but are considered "normal" for teens or young adults. Things like being concerned with looks/weight, moodiness, boy trouble, friend issues, withdrawing...these are all things expected of teens and accepted as normal in the culture of raising American teenagers. Even though there are multiple resources available educating parents, teachers and friends about signs and red flags in the life of the teens we know and love, unless the signs are drastically extreme it is my theory most friends and family members miss the signs. I am guilty of missing signs with my own daughter, history will repeat itself if we choose to ignore it , which is one reason I am telling my story, stripped of pride, with all the embarrassing details. This journey with eating disorders comes with many layers - some I haven't even touched on yet. For starters I actually saw psychologists off and on while growing up and none of them ever knew about my real issues. Another layer includes being in an emotionally abusive relationship in high school with a boyfriend who would have me get on a bathroom scale to check my weight. Yet another layer includes being drawn in to emotionally and psychologically abusive relationships and situations without knowing how to set healthy boundaries. Layers and layers with many unhealthy years physically, mentally and emotionally. My college years wrapped up with my weight fluctuating and my emotional state improving but still extremely fragile. I made real friends who are still my friends today. I met my husband and ended my promiscuous life when we started dating. My college years were full of ups and downs emotionally and in the weight category. When I started telling my story I knew it was deeply rooted but didn't realize there were so many layers - the telling has started this peeling process. When will all the layers be peeled back? What will actually be there? Where will the telling of this story end? I don't know. I am still walking out this journey. Thanks for joining me in the process... Photo Credit: Google Images / Harvard Stock Photo
Coming up to the finish line in high school I hit some real social lows which brought me to emotional and mental lows like I had never experienced before. Thankfully a good friend from childhood, who never gave up our friendship even when I distanced myself and pulled away, was still there for me. She stepped in at one of my lowest points and invited me to a youth rally with her church youth group. She sat me on the front row and that night my life forever changed. My faith became real to me.
My faith walk is connected to my journey with eating disorders but is not the main focus of my story. Some in my Christian circles would be appalled at that statement. The reality here is my faith walk is a part of me in every way but I did not have a magical experience with God that erased all my issues, struggles and problems. My eating disorder journey lasted over 30 years and at this point, graduating from high school, we are only about 6 years in to that journey. I have come to realize an eating disorder, much like alcoholism, is something you may become free from but is something you must always remain aware of in order to keep your freedom. After the youth rally with my friend my life did start to change. I started to eat more and wasn't drinking as much; I was still seeking attention from guys, still sexually active. I completely separated myself from all the friends I had during my high school years - keep in mind I was still in high school. I think this was an attempt to run away from my own issues rather than face myself. With all of these changes, even with starting to eat more its important to note, eating disorders are not just about eating. On to college... Abandonment issues combined with a destructive self-image prove to be a lethal combination for anyone and even more so for a young girl navigating puberty, teenage years, high school social pressures and the uncertainty of life as high school graduation approaches. Combine all of that with eating disorders and you get a picture of me throughout Jr. High and High School. A real mess mentally and emotionally - perfectly put together from the outside. After the bus I was determined to stay skinny at all costs. What are those costs? At the time I didn't even consider any "cost", I was only interested in the immediate result - skinny. The consequence at the time was being hungry, very hungry but to me the pay off was better than being hungry. Staying skinny was worth more to me than eating. The long term costs were something I knew nothing about. These long term costs didn't materialize until many years later, after it was too late to prevent the damage that was done (more about this later in my journey). To put it in perspective I am 5'3" tall and have been this height since 7th grade (remember the Bus Ride) this was my height then and it is now. As I began drastically dropping weight my lowest weight was in the 90's; 95-97 pounds never going above 105 pounds in high school. This was all well and "good" I felt "good" about the way I looked. This was very skinny but still a weight that to others looked "ok" and didn't cause alarm. No one had any concern about how extremely thin I was becoming. After all I was just being a teenage girl, every teenage girl is "thin" or wants to be right? According to an Anorexic BMI calculator a 17 year old, 5'3" girl weighing 102 pounds is at an "anorexic weight". So as I continued with my weight loss and dropped to the mid 90 pound weight range I was becoming dangerously thin. More problems began when being skinny all of a sudden didn't seem to be enough to keep people around. Dealing with my abandonment issues I ventured into destructive, unhealthy behavior and relationships as a way of connecting with people and keeping their "love" and attention. This is when the drinking and sexual activity started in high school. A November 2015 article on Very Well states: "Teens who are struggling with their own sense of self-worth are the most prone to unwise decisions about sex." This is very true, it’s alarming and based on the date of this article this issue is still a concern today, not just something we dealt with in the 80's. Keeping the focus on eating disorders I will only briefly discuss underage drinking and promiscuity. Some will think "all high school kids experiment with drinking and sexual activity". While this may be the case for many teenagers in America it is my belief that when someone is dealing with serious psychological issues such as abandonment and eating disorders this "experimentation" becomes increasingly damaging. You end up with a young person incapable of saying no, someone who continues to retreat into a hole of self loathing and self destructive behavior. Someone ripe for abuse physically, mentally and emotionally. This is something to seriously consider as adults raising teens today. We need to pay attention. Back to my journey... Photo Credit: tlparadis, pixabay Thank you to EverythingMom for promoting this post June 5, 2016 on their EverythingMom Facebook page and Twitter account! The months and years following that bus ride proved to be the best (depending on how you view it) and the worst of times for me. The best if you view Jr. High and High School years through the common rose colored glasses showing popularity, cheerleading and boyfriends as the ticket to a great adolescent experience. The worst if you know the behind the scenes personal turmoil of someone with an eating disorder. Psychology Today states the following: "Eating disorders are very complex, and despite scientific research to understand them, the biological, behavioral and social underpinnings of these illnesses remain elusive. Eating disorders frequently develop during adolescence or early adulthood, but some reports indicate their onset can occur during childhood or later in adulthood. Many adolescents are able to hide these behaviors from their family for months or years." This is very true. Many of my friends and family still, to this day, do not realize this is a very real issue that was lived right in front of them.
After the bus ride, I went home and spoke with my mom about my weight. Many moms want to help their chubby children lose weight because in our society being thin or "fit" is acceptable and being large is not. This is proven true when a larger person starts losing weight and is praised and celebrated for that reason - losing weight. This is what happened to me, I lost weight with my 1/2 a sandwich and apple diet and was praised, celebrated, accepted, no longer teased, became more popular and attracted more boys. All of this helped me deal with my abandonment issues although not in a healthy way. I was controlling my circumstances (becoming thin) to have people (friends, boys even family) stick around and give me approval. I decided to stay thin at any cost. Photo Credit: Robert J. La Verghetta Chubby, but no longer the tallest, feeling less like a freak, still chasing boys but overall not too miserable about my body image. This was me in 7th grade until one day on the bus. Typical Florida day, hot, windows down (we had no AC on the buses back then) it was a crowded, rowdy, loud bus full of kids. I remember it so clearly. It was one of those moments in life when everything slowed around me and all the noise became a low mumbled humming. I felt like a magnifying glass zoomed in on me and the surrounding activity blurred. At that moment one thing became clear to me - "Big Fat White Albino".
A boy on the bus stood up and held up a piece of notebook paper. On that paper was a hand drawn picture of a round, very round, person and written above the round person were the words "Heidi is a Big Fat White Albino". Not only did he hold up this paper he shouted out the words as he held it up. Laughter burst out. I said nothing. We were coming to a stop, thankfully it was my stop, and I got off the bus and went home in a daze. My guess is, this boy and the kids on the bus probably don't even remember this moment, this pivotal moment in my life. That night I spoke with my mom about my weight. I don't remember if it was the first time we spoke about it or not. It probably went something like this. "Mom, I want to lose weight." There was no discussion about the bus or what happened. I knew my mom would be thrilled because she is very weight conscious and always has been. She was very willing to help me. So from that day forward I started militantly watching what I ate. I went to school with a 1/2 a sandwich and an apple in a brown paper bag. Stopped afterschool snacking. No more desserts. What were the results? I lost weight. Lots of it. I lost weight but gained a low self esteem. My self-worth became tied to my weight. I lost weight but gained decades of struggle physically, emotionally, relationally and with my health. This was the catapult that quickly thrust me into a lifestyle of eating, or not eating, to control my life. “Big, Fat, White, Albino” was, for me, the beginning of a sick cycle that those of us who suffer from or have suffered from eating disorders know all too well. Photo Credit: JasonPinaster, Pixabay |
I'm Heidi & I am so happy you are here...If this is your first time visiting this page and reading my story first let me say thank you for reading! This is a story with layers and layers of history and details that have lived in my brain and heart but only now are being shared "out loud" . I truly believe I am free now, keeping in mind having an eating disorder is really something that never fully goes away, it is something that is with me to this day but I am free because it no longer controls me.
If you are struggling with an eating disorder or suspect you are, please get help! There is no shame and stigma's are being broken! AuthorWife, mother, psychology major, writer, dreamer, God chaser, book revolutionist, passionate about people and society past, present and future... Archives
March 2018
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