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1/22/12 9:04 P

Thank you, TEXASREDFERN! I did not know there was a team for underweight people! I will go see if I can find it.

I'm similar to you in that if I get sick or am stressed out (or if I have days that it's not possible to eat 6-8 times) I start to lose weight again.

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1/22/12 8:37 P

Yes, DiscoQueen, I too an underweight. I joined this group because I am celiac and I also cannot eat dairy, soy. Did you know there is a Spark Team specifically for people who need to gain weight?? It is a small group, about 350 members, so there is not a lot of activity on it but it is there when you need it. I have always been thin but everytime I would put on some weight, I would get sick or have some stress and then would lose it all. I fight to keep weight on and, yes, I get REALLY tired of having people discount my problem !! Unless you have fought this problem personlly, I don't think they can truly comprehend that it IS just as much of a problem as being overweight. Please realize that you are NOT alone with this.
Blessings

Posts: 1,445
1/22/12 12:13 A

As team leader and a member of Sparkpeople for 7 years, I must remind ALL that this is a support group and no one has the right to define what Spark People is. If someone is having struggles with a problem, they are welcome to express it.

Before I was older and before my intestines healed, I was underweight. Others simply have different metabolisms. A friend is almost scary skinny but she eats a ton of food. There are ideal weights which most of us struggle to reach whether it is up or down on the scale. The main thing is to be eating a healthy balanced diet.

Barb (gf 31 yrs)
Team Leader

Edited by: GFNOMAD at: 1/22/2012 (00:14)

current weight: 144.5

151 144.5 138 131.5

125

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1/21/12 11:32 P

Sassy_Cat - THAT is exactly what I'm talking about. I'm sure your intention isn't to be insensitive, but that's the type of thing I hear all the time, and it makes me feel like my struggles are insignificant. They're not, they are real, genuine, struggles for me.

And unless I'm mistaken, I thought SparkPeople was about leading fit and healthy lives - not just about weight loss. I want to be fit and healthy too.

Posts: 57
1/21/12 11:15 P

I apologize to anyone that I may have offended.

Edited by: SASSY_CAT at: 1/22/2012 (00:25)

Posts: 4,586
1/21/12 11:02 P

Yeah and it is tough how we see ourselves too, and not being able to buy clothes is both for the big and small also! I can't buy a dress to save my life because I am in between petitie and normal and nothing ever fits. Jeans make me want to vomit, my butt is too big and then the waist doesn't fit if it fits my butt! It is exasperating, whether big or small! I also don't like what I see and my belly really makes me uncomfortable sometimes it gets in the way. It is tough no matter what if we are nto where we want to be!

current weight: 190.0

194 180.5 167 153.5

140

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1/21/12 10:49 P

Thanks for replying, Cindy.

I don't really think it was so much how others saw me, but how I saw me (and still do).
People always say with sarcasm "Oh how tough it must be to be so skinny" or "what a terrible problem to have"........but clothes shopping often makes me so frustrated, or even brings me to tears, and the image I see in the mirror disturbs me.
For the longest time, my husband wouldn't even let me snuggle up to him at bedtime because I was too bony and it hurt. :(

I'm doing a little better now, I've gained about 6# in the last few months, and now that I'm cleared to work out again (recent surgery had me sidelined) my goal is to add more muscle weight.

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1/21/12 10:35 P

Certainly NOT me!! But I wanted to reply anyway I had a work friend who sounds just like you...It is tough either way whether you are over or under. We all strugle in our ways, and with how people see us.

current weight: 190.0

194 180.5 167 153.5

140

SparkPoints: (3,041)
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Posts: 60
1/21/12 10:24 P

One of my biggest symptoms before being diagnosed was losing a significant amount of weight in a relatively short period of time - due to malabsorption and chronic diarrhea.

I'm 5'2" and at one point saw the scale dip below 100#. I stopped weighing myself for a very long time after that, and hated looking at myself in the mirror.

Now, even having been gluten free for 3.5 years, I still struggle with putting weight on and keeping it on.

Just wondering if there's anyone else here like me.

PS. Don't hate on me. Being underweight is tough too. Clothes don't fit me right unless I shop in the junior's section - and have you SEEN those fashions lately?! Oh and my doctor actually asked me if I was anorexic, and when I answered no, he asked if I was bulimic. I said no, and he just looked at me funny. :(