u/Responsible-Tie-2570

Up until a few months ago I was 5’6, which in the grand scheme of things isn’t all too short but it did still get me made fun of. I started semi-recovery for anorexia and gained almost 30 pounds. I thought my growth plates had fused completely due to my ED but eating more was enough to make me get to 5’8.5, which is only half an inch below average for my area

I am essentially average height now but I still feel like the shortest and fattest guy in the room. I know I’m not. I know it’s body dysmorphia but knowing that doesn’t help. I still get made fun of for my height, especially by people who knew me when I was shorter but now they make fun of my weight too. I’m not even properly fat but I’ve gained a lot since my lowest.

I felt bad about my height when I was shorter and I still feel bad about it now, I’ll always feel bad about it but I’m beginning to realize that how I feel does not necessarily mirror reality. Same with my weight

I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this, ik some people get annoyed (and rightly so) when guys over 5’7 post here but I feel it’s at least a bit relevant since I used to be properly short and still have that mindset

I (17m) had not tasted mammal meat until I was about 12 due to my mom having severe alphagal syndrome.

Alphagal is a tick borne disease that causes the infected to develop an allergy to mammal meat and sometimes other mammal products. The symptoms can vary widely depending on the person, some are able to still eat mammals if they take an antihistamine beforehand but others, like my mom, will go into anaphylaxis if they ingest even a small amount.

Growing up I had never eaten pork, beef, lamb, etc. We only ever eat out at vegan places because even if her food is prepared in the same area as meat there is a chance she will have a reaction. A lot of people have assumed that it was for religious, cultural or moral reasons that I don’t eat mammals but in reality it’s just because I don’t want my mom to get sick or die

My mom is also allergic, though much less severely to dairy products. We have always had dairy in our house but if she eats it her digestive system is wrecked for days. She also cannot have white sugar due to this allergy because it is processed with bone char from cows. I’ve become quite the good baker because she can’t eat most pastries from the store, even ones labeled vegan can have bone char processed sugar in them (we use raw sugar at home).

We still eat poultry/eggs and fish so we do get enough protein but it can be a bit challenging when looking for recipes in cookbooks as there isn’t really a name for our diet as there is for vegans/pescatarians/celiacs etc

I am now allowed to eat mammal meat when I am at friend’s houses for overnights because I am responsible enough to clean up well so I don’t accidentally contaminate her

This AMA is mostly about my experience growing up with a parent that has a severe food allergy but my mom is also on board to answer questions about what it’s like to live with her condition

I (17m) am on the lower end of healthy bmi wise. I’ve been lying to all of my doctors about how bad I am mentally but they know I’ve lost a lot of weight and they know it’s due to disordered eating.

I haven’t been doing too well recently and I’ll probably end up underweight within the next few months. How bad does it have to get for me to get forced inpatient? I really don’t want to go. Ik there probably isn’t a hard set rule for when people get hospitalized but there’s probably some guidelines at least…

Ik it’s really hard for an adult to get hospitalized involuntarily so I might have to try to hold on until my birthday :/

My mom has a myriad of health issues and I honestly don’t expect her to live another 10 years if something doesn’t change. She had anorexia in her 20’s but is now obese, which is not helping her condition.

She wants to lose weight and eat healthier but is worried that if she starts monitoring her weight/counting calories, she will end up relapsing into anorexia. I have my own issues with food that have led me to learn extensively about nutrition and I want to help her reverse the prediabetes.

She’s about 5’4 and 280 or so pounds. I’ve offered to cook for her and count all of that calories for her. It worked for about a week but I found out that she was buying excess food, mostly pastries and I got upset. I was cooking all of her meals and counting all of the calories for them which I made sure to equal about 1300 a day. All of the excess she was eating would put her at about 1800-2500 a day, which I don’t think she would lose weight on.

I’m not a doctor or anything but I think she might have a food addiction. She knows she could die if she doesn’t lose weight but she is still unable to eat less.

She has a lot of severe allergies so I’m worried that she will be allergic to insulin (she has alphagal and I’ve heard it comes from horses) she is also very against using GLP-1’s. I’m feeling very lost, what do I do?

First thing’s first, I do not want this post to be a pity party. I am fine with questions about the grieving process but I will not be responding to comments that are purely offering condolences. I am hosting this AMA because it is mental health awareness month and more people need to understand suicide bereavement more. No question is too personal

My best friend committed suicide when he was 17 and I was 9 days away from turning 16. I knew he was suicidal and very depressed but he was very private about his mental health and I did not know that he was actively planning on committing suicide. He did it in the middle of the night, miles away from his home in a public nature reserve. The police did not look for him so his neighbors, mom and my family went out looking for him. His body was found by his neighbor two days after he had died and he was carried off by the police shortly after. I did not get to see the body and he has never had a funeral despite being cremated after he was found.

It was really hard for me after his death. Two weeks after he was found I overdosed in an attempt on my own life. I was in the hospital for 5 days and then sent to a YBH for another 12. I live with some liver damage from my own attempt and take meds to keep myself healthy now.

After I got out of the hospital I was forced to drop out of school by my parents. They thought going back to school would be too stressful for me. My school failed me in all of my classes for that semester because I could not return.

I started a new school for kids with severe enough mental health issues the prevent them from going to a normal school that fall. I finished my sophomore year and am now nearly done with my junior year.

This has affected me deeply and I mark his death as the end of my childhood. I am unable to maintain meaningful connections with people my age due to the trauma of losing him. I do not have any friends out of fear that they will meet the same fate. My personality has changed drastically since his passing. I have gotten my life together because I want to make something of myself now that I know he will never be able to. I want to either go into political science or pediatric psychology so that I can make the most impact on people like him.

I am not going bald. It’s in my genes so I probably will in the future but I legitimately haven’t started balding yet and have a fairly average hairline for someone my age.

I get bullied a lot by other students who play it off as a joke and just friendly banter so they don’t get in trouble. They poke fun mostly at my appearance (usually the clothes I wear, my facial hair when it starts to grow, my acne, my pale skin, and my hair) I’m very introverted and I try not to engage with them most of the time but it seems to only make me an easier target.

Today after a student compared me to a middle aged dad my teacher said “and he’s balding like one too”

I try not to let the other kids get to me, I’m used to it and I know that they’re just trying to get a quick laugh out of it but it makes me feel like I really am ugly when a teacher says it. I’m thinking of telling the office staff about it because it’s really not appropriate for a teacher to be making that kind of comment but I don’t want him to get fired or anything, what should I do?

Edit: he made another comment about my hair so I pulled him aside and told him it was inappropriate for him to make that kind of comment about a student, he apologized. I think I’ll hold off on telling administrators unless he does something else but I will tell my parents

This is a really gross topic that I’m very insecure about, I haven’t told anybody I eat my skin because I know it’s nasty and I’m worried people will think I’m gross

I have really bad cystic acne as well as normal acne on my face and back. My skin is very oily but also dry and flaky. I spend hours sitting in front of the mirror popping my pimples, scratching off my skin flakes and then eating whatever comes off.

I want to stop but I’ve been doing it for years and I can’t. I’m on 0.05% Tretinoin cream as well as a 10% Benzoyl Peroxide wash, both of which I use daily. They have helped reduce my acne but not my skin picking and eating.

My therapist suspects I have OCD due to frequent intrusive thoughts when I’m stressed, disordered eating habits as well as my skin picking. I’m not officially diagnosed though.

How do I stop doing this? I’ve been trying to stop since I started but I can never go more than 2-3 days without doing it :/

I have restrictive and disordered eating habits, so much so that I’ve lost 10kg(22lb) since the beginning of the year, 7ish(15.5lb) of those have been lost in the past 2 months or so. I am still a healthy bmi which is why I hesitate to call it a proper eating disorder

My parents have noticed my weightloss recently and sometimes encourage me or even outright tell me to take an edible so that I’ll binge and stop losing weight. I have been using occasionally for about a year now but I’ve been really trying to quit completely because of brain development and all. I’ve been doing really well recently and have cut down from using 1-2 times a week to maybe once a month but it’s really hard when my parents are telling me it’s okay to use and even that I should.

I don’t want to keep getting high anymore, especially because when I binge from it I often make myself throw up which I know is dangerous and bad for my teeth.

I know that somebody in the comments is going to tell me to “just eat” or something along those lines, don’t bother. I’m not going to stop losing weight until things in my life start going better, it helps me cope and frankly it’s the least destructive coping mechanism I’ve been through.

I (17m) have a restrictive ED and it’s hard for me to eat anything other people prepare. It’s hard to eat at all sometimes.

My dad made tacos tonight and they look delicious but I gained a few pounds and I can’t bring myself to eat them so I made myself a protein shake. My dad got so mad at me because I won’t eat what he made.

It’s hard enough to sit down with them while they eat and I really wish they wouldn’t get mad at me when I do sit with them. I know it’s hard for them to see me like this but I just want to hide when they get mad

I am a man who takes after my mom so to speak. Small waist, shortish, large thighs and rear. It’s frustrating to find pants that fit me well and I mostly just resort to sweatpants or anything with a drawstring, jeans especially are difficult.

I don’t know my exact measurements but I wear the smallest size of pants I can find (28 x 30 in most places) and the waist is too big so I’d guess my waist is about 26’-27’. The length is fine at 30 but it’s always a bit tight at my thighs and very loose at the waist. I don’t have problems with keeping my pants up most of the time because my hips fill out the rest of the pants but it does annoy me and never looks good, any brand/store recommendations that cater to smaller guys?

I would shop in the women’s section but none of that fits right either, sometimes I go to thrift stores to try and find smaller sizes but they’re really hit or miss

I’m 5’8 and wear a size 8.5-9 in US sizes, I grew very recently and used to be 5’7 with 7.5 size shoes.

I can find shoes somewhat easily now but it was almost IMPOSSIBLE when I was a 7.5. I would imagine it is much much harder for guys who are in the 5’0-5’5 range unless they have disproportionately large feet. Do you buy from the women’s section? Order online? Kids/teen sizes? Custom shoes? Just deal with a small amount of choices?

(Not trying to be offensive or anything to guys with small feet, this is just information I wish I had 6 months ago lol)

I hate burning but I’m out of sharp shit so I did it a few days ago. I honestly don’t even really remember why I did it, probably feeling stressed about my weight.

My ED is getting worse and I’ve lost >!22!< pounds in the past couple months. I still feel fat. Every time I gain, even just a little bit I want to hurt myself. I’m almost back in the body I had at my worst but I feel almost the same as I did >!22!< pounds ago.

Everything fits now but I still feel like a failure. My life is crumbling around me and all of it is my fault. I feel like such a failure for relapsing. My scars are so ugly and disgusting. They’re bad enough that they’ll never look like normal skin again and I wish I had never gone that deep. I wish I had stuck with cat scratches. My body is disfigured now and I worry that nobody will ever be able to love me like I’m a normal person again.

I wish that little voice telling me to hurt myself would go away, I don’t want to be like this anymore. The deeper you go down this hole the harder it is to turn back