Not okay on any level

Filmmaker starves himself for three months

Is not okay on any level.

That this man confuses extreme weight loss with eating disorders is sad. I'm guessing it is also pathological.

But that even one person would share his thoughts on this, let alone publish it, is horrifying.

Comments

  1. Wow.

    I have to deal with this stupid attitude all the time. Everybody thinks that somehow the physical aspect is more powerful than the mental one--just lose some weight and that BED will go away!

    Already tried that, thanks. Lots.

    As if we don't know it's unhealthy. We're not idiots. We figured that out long ago--we live in our bodies, you know? There's no need to go mansplaining our daily pain to us. Especially while getting such an important part--physical vs mental--wrong.

    Also, how is him doing the disordered behavior helpful? I don't buy that it will somehow get others to not do that behavior. All it does is make me jealous and want to beat him. Here I am with a bonafide ED and this guy is 'winning' at weight loss. Talk about a trigger.

    Counterproductive.

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  2. I thought it was OK.

    He was not trying to give himself an ED but to showcase the health risks of unhealthy weight loss. In no way was he insinuating than one can get an ED simply by losing weight. . .

    What he did is foolish, yes, but I think he made his point. He was attempting to demonstrate for the women (models I believe) that he worked with that ED's and weight loss ARE harmful and not just simply about looking better. There are health repercussions.

    A:)

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  3. Make up your mind, Laura. I thought this would be something you would like, as it showed the physiological aspects of starvation, kind of like the Minnesota semi-starvation study. It showed that many of the symptoms that show up with EDs are actually real, physical results of starvation (the food obsessions, depression, etc.) and not just symptoms of "wanting to look like the thin models." He in no way tried to say what he was doing was healthy, quite the opposite.

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  4. I just don't see the point to his endeavour... I haven't read his blog (I'm really not that interested...), but it's unclear what he was trying to achieve thropugh semi-starvation.

    Everyone knows that extreme energy (calorie) restriction is dangerous. The metabolic/physiological consequences are well documented. The danger is known by most people with AN as well.

    What he did bears no relaton to skinny actresses, or to AN. For a start off, AN is NOT a 'choice'; it's a mental illness, wherein the individual feels they have no choice other than to comply with their distorted thinking. Mr Mann (LOL) clearly doesn't have AN; he's pulling some silly stunt. It's as silly as the stunt that David Blaine performed in 2003 when he asked to be suspended for 40-something days above London and to consume nothing but water.

    Verdict (IMO): P.O.I.N.T.L.E.S.S

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  5. Hi Cathy.

    I am going to respectfully disagree.

    I don't think everyone is aware of the dangers of weight loss. Because of our dieting/weight loss culture it is often seen as a positive thing and the idea of taking it to an extreme can seem ridiculous to some individuals.

    By losing the weight, he was not trying to become anorexic or make a point than AN is a choice, but simply to demonstrate that there are profound and devastating effects to taking dieting and weight loss to an extreme.

    I think the "stunt" is made more powerful by the fact that he is psychologically healthy and does NOT have AN. It demonstrates similar to the Minnesota Starvation Experiment that many medical issues manifested in AN are a consequence of the starvation and NOT the disorder itself. Anyone can be vulnerable to the dangers of malnutrition, not just individuals with AN.

    I think this was an important point to prove to the women he works with, regardless of whether or not they suffer from AN. Women can take diets to harmful extremes even without developing a clinical ED.

    Also, he was the first to admit it WAS a stunt -- similar to the guy who made "supersize me" to demonstrate the harm of eating a fast food diet.

    Was it foolish? Yes.

    Was it pointless? Not exactly.

    I think sometimes we need to analyze our knee jerk ED reactions and attempt to see things from a different perspective.

    Just my opinion and certainly not an attack.

    A:)

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  6. Zounds!

    Here and I thought this would be something that would be common ground for us in the ED world. I am, actually, quite surprised. (Silly rabbit.)

    Knowing what I know about dietary restriction I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy and would consider it medically wrong for ANYONE. It's like semi-drowning as an asthma awareness stunt, to my mind.

    This guy's interest in and ability to do this makes me wonder if he is himself mentally ill.

    But more to the point, that anyone would confuse this with anorexia or think that it is helpful to patients or the public to see the physical effects of malnourishment is just absurd. Extreme weight loss doesn't tell us much about eating disorders. And scare tactics and logic have nothing to do with eating disorders awareness - or shouldn't.

    Eating disorders are a MENTAL illness that can result in weight change if left untreated. Until we get that straight in our minds we will continue to think patients are vain and the cure is to not be too thin.

    Sorry to be disagreeable but I could NOT disagree more.

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  7. well if you'd read the blog before judging it, you'd see it's targeted at people who do extreme dieting - the info about anorexia and other EDs is supplemental.

    But no, you chose to proclaim your opinion WITHOUT the info - exactly what you accuse the project of doing. Hypocrite.

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  8. "I’ve decided to put myself on a 100 day starvation diet to show the hazards of poor nutrition on the body, and hopefully dissuade any would-be anorexics out there."

    This guy confuses extreme dieting with anorexia. That's an "opinion" that is incorrect and damaging.

    People don't choose anorexia nor can they be "dissuaded" from it.

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  9. These are direct quotes from his blog:

    Day 7:

    "On my facebook page about this blog I referred to taking on this insane diet as ‘going manorexic’ "

    Day 27:

    "Starving yourself for 100 days (or more, if you’re actually anorexic) carries with it all sorts of health risks"

    Saying that people with anorexia starve themselves is sterotype.
    Not everyone with anorexia starves themselves.

    My best friend was in denial about my anorexia (I weighed 90 pounds) because she saw me eat.

    Hasn't he heard of anorexia, purge type?

    Day 31:

    "So the other day someone asked me “how many people are anorexic, anyhow?”

    "A new study says as many as 1 to 2 of American teenage girls are anorexic"

    Really, Where are his sources?


    Day 32:

    "My dining companion said “he’s sort of anorexic”

    Why didn't he correct his friend? Does he only "raise awareness" if the media is around?


    **
    Honestly, I don't know how he raised awareness for ED's. But he started the next phase of his project,"recovery."


    However, what really disturbs me is that there are college age film students who copy cat projects just like this.

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  10. I just want to say thankyou for not being in support of this guy and his insane pursuit.
    He came to a site I use (I am in recovery, it is a recovery site) and told us all about how he's been fasting and how much weight he's lost and for some reason kept proffessing he could help and we could learn from his experience.
    Why don't people like him realise we are all too acutely aware of the terrible crippling effects of starvation and just knowing more about them doesn't change anything?
    It amazes me how few people realise that sometimes the eating disordered desire the physical side effects of starvation and yes that is screwed up and it is sick, it is disordered and a view we hopefully all try to tackle, but it is however a fact of this disorder. Writing disclaimers and stressing how sick you are will not discourage anyone in the depths of an ED or in the beginnings of one. After all pro-ana sites are full of disclaimers and they are used by thousands of people all over the world.
    What we need to see is examples of people eating healthily and enjoying their life beccause they eat healthily and without concern. Positive role models are what we need.
    It is intensely triggering to hear about someone who did this as a publicity stunt and ever so tragic that someone really thinks this would help anyone.
    The most tragic thing is I can imagine this ending up on a pro-ana site as a new fast diet plan...
    I did check his site out in the end, I still wish I hadn't, it was as triggering as I imagined and he barely touches on the emotional and psychological side effects. It reads like a diet plan to starvation with a weight loss count every day and constant "ED bashing" and complete missunderstanding of eating disorders.

    So.. thankyou for speaking out against this. It's good to see those that don't have eating disorders also disagree with what this guy has done as I was beginning to think perhaps I'm more disordered than I thought I was.

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  11. SO glad you told me this! Thank you!

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  12. half sentences are hardly proof of anything. Reading the whole paragraph puts a different spin on it.

    Also, a quick google search shows only one recovery forum talking about this, and I don't see 'offering help' anywhere. Just "Hi, I'm here for info on recovery" followed by "you're in the film industry, so you must be here to exploit us! Go away!"

    ReplyDelete

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