Customer Reviews

Lying in Weight: The Hidden Epidemic of Eating Disorders in Adult Women

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This is one of several new books on eating disorders in adult women (as opposed to children and teenagers). The author speaks with an authentic voice and gives real examples of women who have come face-to-face with eating disorders. She makes no false promises about recovery, but gives suggestion on what someone who has one of these terrible diseases can do to improve their life. Gura also looks at the husbands/partners in an eating disordered woman's life and differentiates them by personality type.

Perhaps the most chilling statistic is the "rule of thirds": one third of women with eating disorders will recover completely, one third will never recover, and one third will achieve partial recovery. That's either two-to-one for improvement, or two-to-one against recovery. Take your pick.

Even so, her writing is eloquent, and she speaks from a place of knowledge. She doesn't sugar coat the facts.

Lying in Weight exposes the myth that eating disorders are time-limited ones that resolve themselves when a woman leaves the battleground of adolescence. Although eating disorders tend to have their roots in adolescence, the author convincingly argues how "An eating disorder can fit into any part of development and slowly but powerfully disrupt proper development of the whole."

A main theme of this book is that when the key psychosocial developmental milestones have not been achieved, women are more vulnerable to eating disorders during stressful life transitions. In particular, the adolescent who does not develop a solid identity is at increased risk for an eating disorder when life stresses arise during her young adulthood, pregnancy, parenting, and older adulthood phases of life. This book provides a wealth of information, understanding, and insight as to how the "latent beast" of eating disorders can surface throughout the lifespan. And, equally as important, Lying in Weight provides hope that with therapy, commitment, and resiliency, recovery is possible: for the 16 year-old struggling with anorexia, for the 65 year-old battling bulimia, and for everyone else in between.

Finally! a beautiful, well written book about eating disorders that effect adult women, the author did not sugar coat a thing. This book is a honest inside look of adult women suffering in silence. I have read several books on the subject of eating disorders, They are always teenagers or younger. The books all say the same in how anorexics/eds are very hard to treat/usually go untreated/and the sucess rate of recovered anorexics is low. All these teenagers they are writting about obviously grow up. I dont understand why there is no mention of Adults who are still dealing with eating disorders. So when i came across this book i took a deep breath and said Finally! a book that calls out the TRUTH! adults suffer with EDS not just young people. I highly recommend this book!

This is a well written book that covers a topic not often seen in this spectrum - adult women with eating disorders. The author is thorough and covers important life events (marriage, divorce, pregnancy, child rearing, aging.)

However, the introduction foreshadows a lot of what is to come. First, she reveals that she herself suffered from anorexia and considers herself to currently suffer from a "sub-threshold" eating disorder. She also reveals that she does not believe one can be "fully recovered" from an eating disorder -- something i vehemently disagree with. (However, I still found the book helpful).

The life events covered in the book were events she struggled with. It didn't cover others such as, say, dating, disease, death of loved ones, etc. I also felt that it labeled "adult" as "one who is married with a child." In the eating disorder world, i would classify 'adult' or 'sub-threshold' age as post-college. But this is yet another example of her bias.

I read this in one weekend, as it was a very compelling read. Though I disagreed with some of the content and the message that one can only go as far as being in "remission" from an eating disorder, I'm glad that the curtain has been drawn from the lie that one is miraculously healed from an eating disorder once graduated from college.

"Lying In Weight" is a well written book about eating disorders in adult women. I was thrilled to find this book as most books on eating disorders refer to children, teenagers and college age women. Finally, a book I can relate to. It breaks the adult years down into stages and tells how eating disorders affect each stage. I've read a lot of books on eating disorders. I came away with new information and advice. This book is very insightful. I highly recommend it to other adults suffering with eating disorders as well as family members who are trying to understand.

From: www.BasilAndSpice.com

Author & Book Views On A Healthy Life!

Book Review: Lying In Weight by Trisha Gura, Ph.D.

In the United States, binge eating is estimated at 4 million people. It is a type of emotional eating, having to do with feeling bad. Of those who binge, 40% are men and 60% are women. Being an eating disorder practiced in secret, it is linked to obesity and subjects are difficult to locate for interviews.

Trisha Gura, Ph.D., the author of Lying In Weight, explains that bingeing is eating within a two-hour period, "an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat during a similar period and under similar circumstances." Often feelings of uncontrolled eating regarding amount of food or type of food accompany the binge. Ms. Gura goes on to state that these episodes can be identified with three or more of the following markers:

1. Eating much more rapidly than normal

2. Eating until feeling uncomfortable full

3. Eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry

4. Eating alone because of being embarrassed by how much one is eating

5. Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty after overeating

Practiced over time, the disorder becomes addictive. Binge eating often is found hand-in-hand with depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders. Find treatment.

Lying In Weight explores anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders as well as bingeing.

5 Stars