TO THE BONE

I was scrolling through Netflix to find a not-so-ordinary movie to watch with my dad late in the evening. As per usual, I would go for the ‘young adult’ movies category and a poster actually caught my eye after a good 15 minutes of exploring! “To The Bone”, starring Lily Collins. The trailer shows a girl, along with a few other people are suffering from eating disorder and they are trying to recover. My dad, being a protective father, asked me to hunt for other movie as he is afraid I might be influenced by them. (Dad, don’t worry, I’m still rational) Well, at least I think I am.

But of course, we sticked to the movie and watched until the end together. I have to admit it was an eye opener. Honestly, I’ve been reading some articles regarding eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, but this movie gives a clearer picture on the life of individuals suffering from this illness. 

Lily Collins in the movie To The Bone

Physical appearance of a person will not tell us whether he or she is experiencing eating disorder. They can be underweight, normal weight and overweight; hence, it is impossible to diagnose just by judging their body. In this movie, Lily, the star of the show, is already in a critical stage where her body loses all the fats until her bones are clearing showing. You can even count her rib cages with naked eyes. Yes, I am totally not kidding. Even with this body, she still does sit ups every single night without failing that bruises started to appear at the back of her body! Scary? Definitely. But that is the effect of eating disorder.

However, there are few symptoms of eating disorder which can be detected so an early treatment can be given to sufferers before this illness become fatal. The most obvious symptom would be changes in food behaviour. If perhaps a friend of yours is purposely skipping meals, takes only tiny portions, or chew mouthfuls of food but spits them out immediately, YOU GOT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. They might be one of the sufferers! Also, anorexic usually spends lots of time in front of mirror, judging themselves from head to toe, and will always detects a part of body to criticise. Even worst, they tend to self-harm as their feelings are overwhelming. Hurting helps them to cope, to release the pain and act as a distraction from the ‘overwhelmed’ feelings. 

As I was watching the movie, it reminded me of my days when I was obsessed with skinny body. This happened to me years back when a person (I still remember whom by the way) called me fat. What triggers me even more to start ‘dieting’ was because, I could not fit in a skirt that I bought a year before. Imagine how many kilograms I gain in a short period of time! I stopped taking carbs, counted my calories intake every day, and never once I missed to jog. It lasted for two years; however, I was still not satisfied with my appearance. Fats here, fats there was in my mind every time I look in the mirror. Little did I know that I already lost 10 kilograms. 

It took me awhile to realise what I doing was wrong. Luckily, I was too caught up with exams and homework that it took my mind away from ‘dieting’. (Explains why I am a lot healthier now!) I believe society plays a huge role in the increasing number of eating disorders. We have to always be careful with our choice of word as we don’t know how these words might give impact to some people. Another factor would be the media. Media portrays beautiful women as skinny, tall, flawless and fair. Most models have these features and even beautiful girls on Instagram match these characteristics. Some girls feel the pressure to fit in the stereotype, thus leading to eating disorder as this is the easiest way according to them. (Is it…?) 

All in all, eating disorder is a serious matter which should not be taken lightly. It is absolutely not our duty to meet the expectation of others when it comes to weight, body shape and what not. It is important to love your body the way it is as there is no turning back once you get yourself into this issue. Anyways, you can always reach me at the comment section below if you require any help regarding this matter. I would love to be able to lend a hand :)

Till then,

Aqmar ♡