This just came across my dash and it seemed relevant to a post that’s been sitting in my drafts, so I figure it is time.

I have a confession. 

Before I started frequenting Tumblr, it never occurred to me that an overweight girl could/would be anorexic or bulimic. I don’t know why. I guess I just always thought of people with that type of eating disorder as being the bone-thin ones.

I have known a few girls in my life who I know have been anorexic/bulimic. They have been the type to look more like thinspo on Tumblr with their collarbones and thigh gaps and beachy tans. And peach fuzz-covered bodies and hairy arms and tired eyes and fast talking and slow minds and orange-only lunches. 

It makes me wonder how many other girls I’ve known who were struggling the same way, but were not starting from this point I think of - the type of girl who is already thin and attractive but feels the need to force “perfection”. It’s odd to think about because I am still surprised when I read an “ate 250 calories today” post and then see that the person weights 190lbs.

I’m not sure what it is. I’ve heard talk about the social stereotype of fat people as happy, jolly (like Santa Claus). Is it the line of thought that they must not care or they wouldn’t be that way? It reminds me of the Margaret Cho lines, “‘Funny, sexy, zaftig Margaret Cho…’ What is ‘zaftig?’ Isn’t that German for ‘big fat pig?’” though that’s not really it. 

The heart of it is, though, that it is easy to take for granted that others struggle, especially if you have a preconceived bias of “who they are.” It is not fair of me to not realize this and that, yes, fat people can be anorexic, bulimic or even orthorexic.

At the end of the day… respect to anyone who is trying to be healthy. Whether you’re big or tiny or in between. I don’t really support the “every body is beautiful” concept as I mentioned before (not that I support self-hate, but I don’t support acceptance of an unhealthy body), but if you are healthy, then yes, I think this is true. I know people who are naturally skinny and would be unhealthy over 100lbs (sans bodybuilding at least) and I know people who look absolutely sickly when they get down to a size 6.