Monitoring one's weight and body shape can be part of a healthy diet and exercise plan -- but excessive self-monitoring may indicate the presence of a problem such as an eating disorder. The link between excessive self-checking and eating disorders was explored in a June 5 article on the Medical News Today website:

"Sometimes body and weight checking becomes second nature and many individuals with eating disorders don't even realize they're doing it," said Dena Cabrera, PsyD, psychologist at Remuda Programs for Eating and Anxiety Disorders. "Commonly, they check to feel for fatness, bones and any physical change in their body to subconsciously or consciously motivate their eating disorder behavior."

Many individuals with eating disorders weigh themselves at frequent intervals, sometimes many times a day. As a result they become obsessed with the daily weight fluctuations that are a normal part of the body and would otherwise pass unnoticed. The movements on the scale then determine their mood and eating patterns.

Body checking is influential in maintaining dissatisfaction with shape and appearance. Other common behaviors associated with body checking include: looking in the mirror (or at reflective surfaces); measuring body parts with tape measures or hands; pinching or touching body parts; assessing the tightness of particular items of clothing or accessories; looking down at one's body and touching collar bones to check for boniness.

Parents who notice that their children are engaging in excessive self-monitoring -- or who are showing other eating disorder symptoms -- should intervene immediately and make arrangements for their child to be evaluated by a health care professional.

Labels: signs_of_eating_disorders, self-image_issues, eating disorders

Posted By: Aspen/CRC