Monday, 15 August 2011

  • I Will Never Become Anorexic for a Guy Again


    When I was sixteen, my boyfriend Chris and I broke up. We fought all the time, and it was about the same topic: Joey.

    Chris had rekindled his friendship/love affair with his best friend Joey (whom I left for him). This drove me nuts. Chris knew about all the nasty and untrue rumors Joey had spread around their all-boy school, knew how much Joey and I hated each other, and knew that I would never ever forgive him for lying about a fake vacation, trashing my reputation, and being an all-around terrible person. 

    Apparently none of these horrible actions against his girlfriend seemed to bother Chris. He made up with his stalker, I mean friend, and they hung out like nothing had happened. Boys.

    I voiced my opinion about their friendship on a daily basis, and scowled every time Chris left me to go and see his friends. 

    After a month and a half of constantly fighting over the same thing, I finally tried to call a truce. "I'll come watch you play football today" (the big event of a 16-year-old's life). I thought I was doing him the biggest favor on earth by swallowing my pride and sharing my presence at a game that I knew he would be at.

    "Nah, I don't think that's such a good idea. It's just gonna make everyone tense for no reason and make the other guys feel awkward," he said in a I-Know-Why-You-Want-To-Come tone.

    My jaw dropped three feet. First, I was abandoned for the guy who hated me more than anyone on this site, and now I was banned from his stupid little football games?! What a joke.

    "Who's even gonna see me?" I asked, shocked.

    "Come on. We both know you'd make your presence known, Jen," he said, in that same knowing tone.

    Livid, it took all that I had not to show up at the game in a goddamned cheerleading costume and full marching band.

    After a couple months of torturous fighting, we finally broke up. I was the one who said it, but it was clearly mutual. We had both had enough. Even though our relationship had ended, we did what no broken up couple should do – we continued to talk and hang out.

    I was so upset about losing him that I broke the cardinal rule and kissed him when I saw him. In the two weeks that we were broken up, I started dating another guy. This didn't alleviate any of my pain. Chris knew about it, and said he was fine with it, and that just made me feel worse. Why is he not crying? Why is he not threatening to kill this guy?

    I was so upset about the entire situation that I stopped eating. I didn't really make an actual decision to do it or anything, it just sort of happened. My appetite diminished, and so did my body. I'll never forget the day I sat with him and a girl called his phone. I cried so hard that I thought I would never stop. Even when we got back together, I still found myself shying away from food, my most beloved thing in the world.

    I remember sitting in a restaurant with all my friends one evening, eating one baked clam and feeling full. I looked emaciated and bony. My face lost it's fullness and my cheeks started to look hollow.

    My best friend and cousin finally sat me down one day after I had declined going to lunch with them. "Listen, we all know you don't eat anymore, and it's starting to scare us. if you don't start eating again, we will be forced to tell your mother. Don't test us, Jennifer."

    I figured it was serious if they were pulling the full name and mom card in one slick action. I forced myself to eat salad until my stomach stretched out enough to handle real food again. To this day, I can't eat the way I used to, and I blame him for it. Ever since then, whenever I break up with a guy, I don't care how depressed or "unhungry" I am, I sit down with my family and make myself cut, chew, and swallow. I'll never do that for another guy ever again.

    Have you ever stopped eating over a guy? Was it on purpose or involuntary? How did you get back on track with your life?

Comments (13)

  • Lordv16@xanga

    Can't say I have. Or over a girl for that matter.

  • Mnemosyne_speaks@xanga

    I'm in therapy for this same problem. ^^;; I'm in love with my best friend and when he first rejected me, I quit eating. I dropped thirty pounds in a summer. When I kept losing more weight over the school year, he told me I had to tell my parents... Now, six months into therapy and about to graduate from it, I still have eating problems. Therapy's helped a lot, but I don't have the same relationship with food, and it's hard to even begin to like eating again.


    I know just how this feels! :(
  • akatiegirl
    I did, actually. My first boyfriend and I broke up on awful terms. I was depressed and in pain and began consciously starving myself. I'd get hungry, but decide it felt better not to eat...like I had more control over things. And as I lost weight, and felt more confident, I did it more and more. This lasted about six months before I finally stopped. I lost about 60-75lbs. I wasn't emaciated because I had the weight to lose, but still. It wasn't healthy. I miss the confidence it gave me, but I don't think I would do it again. It's just not a good way to do things, and no matter how depressed I get, it just isn't worth it.

    -Katie
  • ScarletMoth@xanga

    " To this day, I can't eat the way I used to, and I blame him for it."
    Well, kudos for getting better (although I think people on xanga need to be a little better about using trigger warnings), but I hope you realize that this isn't anyone's fault- anorexia is a disease caused by anxiety and by a lot of messages you subconsciously absorb, and to just blame one person who never even implied you should diet, much less starve yourself, is... just misleading yourself.

    Unfortunately I have "starved myself for someone," way back when I was in the 8th grade, but it really wasn't his fault, or my fault even, it was something underlying that happened to manifest itself in that particular instant.   I wanted him to like me so bad (pathetic, but hey, I was 13!  It seemed so important at that age), and the problem was that starving yourself becomes everything you do.   I acted more confident, because I felt more pretty when I wasn't eating.   So then he DID start talking to me more, and we became friends, and I would tell myself it was because I was thinner.   And then everyone around me would constantly tell me how thin I was, and that made me feel good and want to eat less/exercise more, so the circumstance began to feed in on itself.   I got over that particular instance because it was eventually the end of the school year, it turned out he didn't like me, and I dealt with that depression by eating way too much, but it took me about 8 years until I was really, completely able to get off the binge/purge cycle that started then.   

    But again, it wasn't really about him, it was about my desires to feel wanted, to feel in control of my life, and to feel like other people thought I was beautiful.   It's funny how you can convince yourself you're not absorbing subconscious cues from the world around you, because I remember it had been the first season of ANTM and the thinnest girl on the show- on a show about MODELS- was I think, 3 inches taller than me, and 10 pounds lighter than me, and I was fixated on it.   It made me so upset because to me it was like, "If you were thin and not chubby, you would weigh less than her, not more than her, because she looks normal and is taller than you."   I'm glad they don't tell the models' weight as much, anymore.

  • willjogforicecream@xanga

    Seriously. Is it really necessary for every single -ish site to repost this? YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO CREATE MORE DRAMA. STOP IT.

  • kor_girl@xanga

    I never stopped eating for a guy because of a breakup. Although, I did try to gain weight because back when I was 15 and my crush said he liked girls with rounded faces (I do not have that) or pinchable cheeks (again, I'm slender, lean and high metabolism, these are the things I lacked), I tried to force the weight gain by eating.


    Safe to say, age at 15, I was about eating 4 full meals a day and only weighed about 100 lbs soaking wet and a little over 5ft 5. High metabolism does that to you...


    Grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side. You can't BLAME for the guy for losing weight, YOU made the choice of not eating, whether from too much crying and dehydration or you lacked the appetite, he didn't make you not eat. I think if anyone ever felt that not taking care of your health is not a big deal because of a breakup, you need to remind yourself that IF YOU don't take care of yourself, no one else will.

  • P0RCELA1N_D0LL@xanga

    I just yell expletives when I think about him and have a very disgusted look on my face after the anger, then I cry it all out. I let myself feel all of whatever emotions I have so it doesn't bottle up and then gradually forget about that stupid bitchass, which is what I refer to exes as instead of their name:D because they are so despicable that they don't deserve a human name. after that bitterness wears off, I move on and have found a new and improved guy

  • Itinvolvedwhippedcream@xanga

    my ex got me into drinking.  :/ I stopped eventually, but I don't think I'll ever really be able to feel comfortable drinking again.  same thing... kinda. :(

  • LoveeLikeASunset@xanga

    Yeah I guess I have stopped eating for a guy before. During this depressing month long breakup between me and my first love (we got back together after a month) I had no appetite and it was terrible. My stomach told me to eat and I was in pain but I pretty much had to force myself to eat. Even putting food an inch to my mouth was torture and I didn't want that at all. As much as I want to lose weight, I would never want to go through that again.

  • lforletty@xanga

    I can very much relate to this.. when my recent ex cheated on me, trashtalked me to his 2 best friends, deleted then blocked me, returned all my presents for him (from during our relationship), closed all the sites he made for me, deleted all our stuff and found out he lied about many things during the entire course of our half year relationship.. I was ill for a few months. The worst part was the 5 weeks that he disappeared from my life without a proper break-up nor closure and went out with that skank~_~'' I stopped eating, sleeping and studying. Yes I did eat and sleep but it was so little that I turned pale and bony, my marks also suffered. Many of my friends and family helped to lift me up from this and using my own strength, I walked away from this. I haven't gotten over him yet but I'm a lot better than how I was when it first happened. I will never forget how he made me feel, it still upsets me whenever I think back to the way he ended things.

  • stringbeann@xanga

    when i have a lot of things going on in my life, or just a lot of stress, i stop eating. my appetite just fades away. it takes a long time for it to come back too. its not something that happens often but when it does it hits quick and hard.

    is your lack of appetite intentional? or is it you just dont feel hungry?

    when my ex and i broke up, i was a workaholic. i worked all the time and didnt do anything else. i mean i lost friends over how much i focused on just working. thats how i dealt with my emotions besides crying when i was at home sitting and thinking about it.

  • emiliahhhx7@xanga

    I stopped eating kind of for the same reason as you, because I was really really sad when my ex and I broke up, and just so heartbroken I didn't feel like doing anything. It never got so bad that I lost a significant amount of weight though. But yea I totally get the feeling

  • dreamchaser66

    Please read my story  "The skinny on eating disorders" ...congratulations on staying strong :)

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About the Author

  • Jenn
    • From: Jenn
    • About Me: I have been on more bad dates than I have fingers and toes to count on -- and I'm only in my early twenties! I laugh when I watch 'Sex & the City,' because I've had so many dysfunctional relationships that they might as well as made me their 5th friend. Even so, I used to love going on dates with different guys (now I only let one guy take me out on dates), eating great food, and talking on the phone until 3AM. I never did get over the idea that a guy should treat a girl like a princess -- even if I've encountered one too many frogs.
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