Is it possible to have a binge eating disorder but still be skinny?

It might be possible to be skinny, depending on the individual and their specific binge eating pattern; however it is NOT possible to have a binge eat disorder and maintain good health.

Absolutely. There’s a common misconception that anybody with anorexia nervous must be very skinny and anybody with a binge eating disorder must be overweight. This isn’t true at all. These disorders don’t discriminate and any person of any size or shape can struggle with them. Sadly, eight million people in the U.S struggle with an eating disorder of some type. Every person struggling is worthy of love and support in order to recover, bi matter their weight.

Yes. And you can be plus-size and still have anorexia. It doesn't matter what your current state is, you can have any disorder.

Yes, it is possible to have a binge eating disorder and still be skinny. Some people have a very fast metabolism, and no matter how much they eat, they don’t put on any weight.

Yes. I mean, it's possible to have an eating disorder while your overweight. Everyone believes that you have to fit a certain stereotype have a certain eating disorder. It's what pressures people into starving themselves, or to binge and purge, or binge. It's not right. If you are "fat" (and to whoever is reading this, no, you are not fat) and you have an eating disorder, people may congratulate you on trying to "eat better" (this is not eating better, this is hurting you in the worst way possible). But what people don't also understand is that "skinny" people can also have an eating disorder. Whether it's binge eating, restricting food, or forcing yourself to throw up. Often we aren't given the help we're needed because people mistake it as trying to be a "healthier" us.

Of course it is possible. Eating disorders are about your mind, not about your body, your weight etc. your metabolism may be really fast, so you’ll stay skinny at any situation, but it is still about your feelings, your mind, your mental health. It is the reason why we are visiting psychiatrists with eating disorders, not order doctors to make as just a right diet. Recovering from eating disorder is, first of all, about living in harmony with your body. Your weight index can not tell you that you do or do not have an eating disorder or your disorder is “wrong”. So, answering the question after all. It’s possible to have a binge eating disorder with any weight, any body type. It does not make your disorder “fake”.

Yes, this is possible, and is usually Bulimia. If you binge eat and then throw up everything you have just eaten, you won't gain any weight because you are throwing up everything before you get any time to digest it. It will also rid you of things you might've eaten earlier and therefore you might see a decrease in your weight. If you are suffering from Bulimia or any other eating disorder, visit the doctors and they will be able to help you get better and begin to eat properly again. It is very unhealthy and therefore try to ensure you seek help soon.

Absolutely. This would take excercise which would help keep your body healthy and keep you slim. Depending on what you eat this could be easier or more difficult. If you are eating to satisfy an emotional need then perhaps exploring that with a counsellor would be helpful. Food is to fuel us, it is so common for us to eat more or less to fill an emotional need. This can be soothed in other ways. If binge eating is hard to stop or you don't want to stop excercise is a good way to keep healthy and silm. Good luck.

Yes. Eating disorders are a mental illness which sometimes have physical symptoms. Just like you can be at a healthy weight/overweight to have anorexia, you can be 'skinny' and have BED. It's about the mind not the body. Your weight doesn't define the eating disorder that you may have, or show anyone what is going on inside of your brain. There's a common misconception that anorexia = underweight, bulimia = overweight and binge eating disorder = obese. There needs to be more awareness around eating disorders so that people who are struggling don't feel like they are faking it due to their BMI and weight.

It totally is possible to have a binge eating disorder and be skinny. Binge eating can include possible purging after, but a person can binge eat at time but may not gain the weight. But it is totally possible for a skinny person to have a binge eating disorder. For certain people, their metabolisms work really fast and can process the food that it is taking in. Binge eating is a disorder that can occur to all people no matter what weight they are and it is still a disorder no matter the weight or person. So, in short yes it is.

Yes, you can have a binge eating disorder and be skinny if you have a fast metabolism and/or, stay active. This really depends on the person. Not everyone has a fast metabolism, but everyone can be active in some way. You can not tell if someone has an eating disorder based off of weight and body type. Eating disorders are identified by behavioral characteristics. Eating disorders can affect anyone with any body type. If you do binge eat, have any other eating disorder or, feel as if you may have one, please go seek professional help.

yes!! eating disorders don't discriminate; it's impossible to tell whether or not someone has an eating disorder by their body type. binge eating disorder is defined as having periods where you eat large quantities of food in a short amount of time, and often involve feelings of self-hatred. Anybody, at any weight, can showcase symptoms of binge eating disorder, as the disordered part of that illness is the mental state of the sufferer, never their outward appearance. No matter your body type (or anything, for that matter), if you struggle with binge eating disorder, you are valid and deserve support. stay save

Well, eating disorders aren't about weight, rather they are about relationship with food. Besides, unhealthy eating behaviors are just a coping mechanism used to deal with much deeper issues. So yeah, if you feel like your relationship with food is not healthy and that you can't quite control it, you can have an eating disorder at any weight. I'm not saying that you sure have one, but you're right to be concerned if you feel something is not right. Recognizing that an issue is there is essential to start the process of healing, getting better, solve the issue, improve. And ignoring the problem just because a number on a scale is not high or low enough can be harmful and doesn't make much logic sense. Numbers don't define pain, nor people or mental health. It's not the number that matters. You can really have an eating disorder at any weight. Mind your feelings, not numbers :) good luck

Of course! Some people have fast metabolisms, and no matter how much they eat, don't seem to gain any weight. You could also be in the early days of the binge disorder, before any effects are visible to others. It's the same with the other end of the spectrum, too. You can appear overweight but still be anorexic or bulimic. People could be starving themselves, purging or bingeing, but their body type and general appearance is not always a reliable way of identifying these issues, especially early on in the person's experience with the disorder. Never assume someone has an eating disorder based on their body type, and equally never disregard their diagnosis because you think their body type doesn't match it.

Definitely. Eating disorders are what they say - EATING disorders, not weight disorders. There are people who are anorexic/bulimic yet very over weight, just like there are very underweight people with binge eating disorders. There is so size requirement or specific boxes you need to tick to have the disorder, and it's a very toxic view that society imposes on us that anorexic people can only be anorexic if they're dangerously skinny or the other way around. Your disorder and your issues are just as valid as anyone elses no matter what you look like or whether people think you're not skinny/big enough.

Yes, it is possible to have a binge eating disorder and still be skinny. There might be excessive excel use or vomiting involved to help the body get rid of the extra calories. Co-occurring disorder isn’t what they call it I believe. There are questionnaires available all over the internet to help “self diagnose” but in the long run I believe that speaking with a therapist about these issues to get the help that you need. Sometimes there is a medical reason why the person is not overweight after binging, sometimes it is just that the body has been starved for so long before that it can’t gain weight if you only binge once a week but burn 1000 calories a day or only consume (insert unhealthy amount of calories here) calories the other days. Sometimes the person who binges also purges, there are a few reasons why I skinny person could have a binge disorder.

Absolutely. Gaining and losing weight is affected by how and what we eat, for sure, but our metabolism plays a crucial role here too. People with slow metabolisms may gain weight much faster than those with a faster metabolism. And the same goes for losing weight! if your metabolism is really fast you'll have no problem with weight loss. Why? Well, a faster metabolism means that more calories are burned in a day. This is all fantastic, I know, but don't let it fool you. Being skinny doesn't mean you are healthy, and being fat doesn't mean you are about to have a heart attack. We should always pay close attention to our eating habits. Remember that weight is not always related to health.

yes! eating disorders are not body types, so a person can suffer from binge eating disorder and still look "skinny", in the same way a person can suffer from a restrictive eating disorder like anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa and not look "skinny". All eating disorders can take on any shape or size, so often suffers are told that they "don't look like they have X". You do not need to be a certain size or weight to have an eating disorder, so please do not think your struggles are fake or invalid. I promise they aren't. I have a lot of experience with eating disorders and disordered eating, so feel free to reach out to me! Look after yourself, Emi.

It is absolutely possibly to have a binge eating disorder but still be thin. I used to have a binge eating disorder when I was in high school, but I only weighed 120 pounds at 5 '5 because I ran cross country. I definitely do not advocate for purging behaviors or excessive exercise, but I just wanted to shed light on the fact that it is possible for someone who is thin to have the disorder. I knew I had the disorder because I would go through bouts of eating 2000+ calories in one sitting, then proceed to feel guilty about it and try to "compensate". But my therapist absolutely helped!

Well yes it is completely possible, I can say for sure from my personal experience and from friends who have gone thru the same thing, the more you eat the skinnier you get it seems, so you eat more, personally I have to deal with stress but until confronted nothing changed, one should then reach for help, I did(to a friend not here) and realized eating was a coping mechanism, it isn't eazy to get out of, and it is not hard aswell, it is conflicting if one is stressing about not being round enough but there are other fizical factors to take into account too like, smoking, sport, sleep. So yes it can happen to anyone

Absolutely. Many people, especially younger people, have fast metabolisms which will cause them to digest food and essentially "throw away" calories before the body can use them. Your metabolism will slow down with age, which is why many adults tend to gain weight despite eating healthy and exercising consistently. While it is possible to have a binge eating disorder and still be skinny, if your daily caloric intake continuously exceeds how many calories your body burns in a day, you will inevitably gain weight. In addition to this, many binge eating disorders also come with purging, which would prevent your body from absorbing the calories and other nutrients it would normally get from food. This could also prevent weight gain because you would be depriving the body of the calories it needs.

In medicine everything is possible. If you have got untreated celiac disease your intestinal villi is damaged and absorption of nutrients is poor and it means that you can binge eat without becoming overweight or obese. It therefore means that it is possible to have a binge eating disorder but still be skinny. Also other conditions can cause that someone binge eats (due to binge eating disorder) and is still skinny. There are also mixed eating disorders where someone with for example binge eating disorder has some symptoms of another eating disorder, purging for example. If someone purges after binge eating, they can still be skinny.

Yes, people with eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes people with binge eating disorder go through a phase of "purge" during which they eat little or nothing at all, to balance out the binge eating episode or to punish themselves. BMI is under no circumstances indicative of whether you have an eating disorder or not. It has more to do with your relationship with food than your actual body weight and it's a shame these stereotypes are the reason many people don't seek treatment or are not taken seriously. Binge eating disorder is kinda new to the game compared to anorexia nervosa and bulimia and it needs to be taken into consideration very seriously

Yes it is possible. But mostly not in a healthy way. But if you binge eat healthy food and exercise in proper way, it is possible. Better to stay healthy than skinny though. But if you are referring to bulimia nervosa, most people suffering from it don’t maintain it in a healthy. They sometimes eat a lot and out of guilt force themselves to throw up. Or sometimes they exercise in a obsessive manner which is not healthy at all. Being skinny should not be the goal. Rather people should be comfortable in their own skin and take care of them properly. They need to focus on healthy diet instead.

Yes, this is very possible and often times the case. Mant time people have binge eating disorders and couple that with bulimia. If you have bulimia and a binge eating disorder then it is more than likely that you will remain skinny. I can speak on this out of personal experience as I used to be a binge eater and I would eat large amounts of food all at once, whether it was because I was hungry or not. However, because I was also bulimic I managed to remain skinny. I have learned that neither a binge eating disorder nor bulimia is healthy and if you have it, it is highly recommended that you seek professional help.

Yes ! Having an eating disorder has nothing to do with your physical size. An eating disorder has more to do with wanting to gain or obtain control when you are feeling out of control in other areas of your life. Control what you eat. ,how you eat or purge what you have eaten creates a false sense of control for people Who have a eating disorder. People who have eating disorders can be any size , shape, race or sex or even age ! It has nothing to do with being skinny or not skinny. It usually is a symptom of something else that is going wrong for the person

Yes it is. Metabolism will play a big part in all of this. Everyone's body will process food in different ways. When you combine this with the emotional state that someone might be in, it makes it very possible. When you have these two pieces in conjunction with each other it can make for a very scary situation. We as active listeners need to understand that these situations are not something that people get into voluntarily. I just encourage that we take people for who they are and not judge by things like this that they may be going through.

Yes, it is absolutely to suffer from binge eating while having a thin body. While eating disorders could potentially affect one's visible physique, people of all sizes suffer from all types of eating disorders. I used to ritualistically binge eat through middle school despite appearing healthy, and it turned out to be a coping mechanism for stress. If anything, appearing thin made my binge eating worse, as I felt like it would have no adverse effects on my health. As soon as I identified that binge eating was an outlet for my stress, I attempted to find another focus, in my case gardening, to channel energy into. Still, it is important to know that there are a multitude of causes for eating disorders, and not everyone will find the same way to cope with binge eating.

Yes of course! There are no specifics or requirements in terms of physical size to have a binge eating disorder. Those with binge eating disorders are not just “overweight” or “skinny,” as anyone can have an eating disorder regardless of their physical body or appearance! The binge eating disorder has an effect on the body as well as the mind, but it is certainly not just classified as those who are “larger” in size, or those who are “smaller” in size. It’s like saying an apple is only an apple if it’s red! Disorders can be seen in many different ways whether it be more or less common. Remember, stay positive! :)

Yes! 100% yes. You can be underweight, normal weight, or overweight and have a binge eating disorder. Just like you can be underweight, normal weight and overweight and have a restrictive type of eating disorder too. Eating disorders are mental health issues and they take place in the brain and can develop overtime no matter what shape you are. I've delt with a binge eating disorder and I am big. I've also delt with restricting, purging, fasting, and over exercising and again, I'm big. Any person no matter what shape, color, height or race can suffer with a binge eating disorder.