Search Weight Loss Topics:

Home » Lose Weight » Sorry, Kim Kardashian, But Losing Weight From the Flu Is Nothing to … – SELF

Kim Kardashian recently came under fire for a tweet she shared about the flu being great for weight loss. "The flu can be an amazing diet," she wrote in a post she later took down. "So happy it came in time for the Met lol #6lbsdown." She later shared two photos of her in a killer outfit with the caption, "Flu got me like."

Though Kardashian's comments were meant in jestshe did say "lol," after allpeople didn't take too kindly to them. For starters, the flu is no joking matterthousands of people die from it each year, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Not to mention, joking about rapid and unhealthy weight loss being "amazing" isn't funny. In fact, it's potentially triggering for Kardashian's followers who have struggled with disordered eating .

The flu may not seem like a big deal. You get a flu shot , you see a doctor if you get sick, and everything is fineright? While that's the case for many people, the truth is, somewhere between 12,000 and 56,000 die from the flu annually ( CDC estimates vary from year to year).

"Healthy kids and healtyh adults die of influenza ," David Beuther , M.D., a pulmonologist at National Jewish Health, tells SELF. "And younger people or healthy people tend not to recognize their own vulnerability. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands are hospitalized from it each year." (Note: A lot of people use the word flu when they're talking about stomach bugs and other viruses. While we're not sure what kind of flu Kardashian had, we're talking about influenza.)

And while you can expect to lose a little weight during an illness, losing too much isn't a good sign, Dr. Beuther says. "Whether you're talking about the influenza or a gastrointestinal virus, you're usually losing a lot of fluid and not eating as much," he says. "Most of that weight loss is dehydration." If you're able to compensate for all the fluids you're losing by drinking enough, you shouldn't lose more than a few pounds, Dr. Beuther says.

Losing more than that is a sign that your illness has gotten severeand extreme dehydration can lower your blood pressure or complicate existing medical problems, he says. So you should either drink more fluids or head to the hospital for an IV. "I would not encourage anyone to see how much weight they can lose during an illness," Dr. Beuther says. "If anything, they should be trying to put on weight."

"It's important to think about comments that you're making when you have that kind of a platform and that amount of followers," Claire Mysko, CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), tells SELF in response to Kardashian's joke. Mysko explains that eating disorders and disordered eating are at "epidemic numbers" in our country, so it's likely that a portion of Kardashian's followers are currently struggling with (or are at risk of struggling with) these behaviors.

"It also generally emphasizes the obsession around weight losswhen you're talking about losing weight from being sick," Mysko says. "It really, really emphasizes how skewed our thoughts and mindset around weight are in this cultureand that can be particularly dangerous for people who are struggling with eating disorders and disordered eating."

If you find yourself feeling triggered after reading a comment like this or seeing anything on social media, Mysko encourages you to reach out for help. "If you see a comment like that from a celeb (or anywhere) and you find yourself making a lot of comparisons or getting into obsessive thoughts about food, weight, exercise, or body imagereach out," Mysko says. "It can be tough to distinguish when it's a problem, and I think comments like that from celebs really reinforce that by kind of making light of the fact that there's this general obsession in our culture around weight."

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder or disordered eating behaviors, you can visit the NEDA website for more resources. You can call the NEDA Helpline at (800) 931-2237 or chat with a representative by clicking here . Volunteers will be there to offer further resources or provide general support.

Related:

You might also like: What Everyone Gets Wrong About Eating Disorders

Go here to see the original:
Sorry, Kim Kardashian, But Losing Weight From the Flu Is Nothing to ... - SELF

Your Full Name
Your Email
Your Phone Number
Select your age (30+ only)	30313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120
Select Your US State	Select Your StateAlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWashington,DCWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming
Program Choice	Select Your ProgramInjectable HGHInjectable TestoteroneInjectable SermorelinInjectable Weight LossInjectable HCG DietInjectable Vitamins
Confirm over 30 years old	Yes
Confirm that you resident in USA	Yes
This is a Serious Inquiry	Yes
Message:

Home » Lose Weight » Sorry, Kim Kardashian, But Losing Weight From the Flu Is Nothing to … – SELF