Studies have shown that you’re in a healthier position, and have a longer life expectancy being slightly overweight than underweight…and now I know why..
Well as the majority of you know I’ve been doing really well over the last few months…continuously gaining weight, challenging anorexic thoughts/fears etc and generally just being a happier person.
If you’re offended by TMI i suggest you close the page now.
A couple of weeks ago I started to get pretty mild flu-like symptoms which were more of a nuisance than anything else, but 4 days ago things took a sudden turn for the worse and I’ve got what appears to be some sort of awful virus (or bacterial infection we don’t know yet) which has given me severe D&V, abdominal cramps to the point I can’t move, chest pain, fatigue and a complete inability to stay hydrated. Also a result of this, any food I manage to eat is coming straight back out of me (along with blood and all other sorts) making me lose half a stone in as little as 3 days. Half a stone thats taken me 21 weeks (just over 4months) to gain.
The past 2 nights I ended up back in hospital which for a start brought back a whole host of god awful memories, and resulted in them giving me some medication to help deal with the pain but other than trying to test the actual cause, there isnt an awful lot they can do except wait for it to pass. The concern obviously is how much more damage will be done in this time? And due to my initial low weight-how much leeway do I realistically have before things get seriously dangerous?
This brings me back to my initial point of how dangerous being underweight can actually be…even if you’re functioning well on a day to day basis and can convince yourself you’re absolutely fine – sure in that moment you ARE fine but you are also vunerable. You are able to catch things more easily as you’re immune system is weaker than the average individual, also meaning you are more badly affected by that illness and less capable of fighting it off. And secondly you don’t have the energy reserves in your body during this brief period of malnutrition where you are unable to absorb any of the food you provide yourself with and by this point there is nothing you can do except cross your fingers and hope for the best! – which is my current method of choice
I knew all this before and wasn’t purposefully keeping myself at a less than ideal weight-I was just still working towards my goal but if anyone out there is keeping themselves slightly underweight or ‘border-line’ healthy which i know many people do (especially young girls) purely for the sake of ‘looking good’ – really think of the consequences this could have on your health! Because trust me when I say it’s not worth it..
P.S everyone go and get a flu jab
Emma xo
FindingEmma 