Harrogate woman told she "wasn't skinny enough" to have an eating disorder
Doctors said Emerald Boyd's BMI was too high to be classed as having an eating disorder
Last updated 9th Apr 2021
A Harrogate woman is backing calls for Body Mass Index (BMI) measurements to be scrapped, after she was told she wasn’t skinny enough to have an eating disorder.
BMI is used to determine if an individual's weight is healthy, but MPs are saying the measurement should be scrapped due to concerns it contributes to eating disorders.
Emerald Boyd (28) didn't realise she had an eating disorder until her boyfriend pointed out her unhealthy relationship with food and exercise, but when she approached a doctor they said her BMI was too high to have one.
She told Greatest Hits it felt like she "wasn't being taken seriously".
She said: "It took me a lot of courage to finally go and speak about my problems and how I was feeling mentally, but the doctors told me my BMI was too high.
"I just thought, because I don't look underweight, I don't look sick, I don't look like a bag of bones, they're completely disregarding my feelings towards food and exercise.
"I was so upset that I almost felt like how I was feeling was wrong. It was a trigger for me. I thought I needed to lose more weight so I looked visibly ill just so I could get some help.
"Because they can't see it they think it's not there. I cried and I cried about it thinking I need to lose weight and I need to be skinnier just so I fit the criteria to be put on a waiting list.
"I had people saying to me 'Oh no you're alright, your BMI is fine, you've got nothing wrong with you.' I felt like a joke."
The report warns that BMI, used as a health risk indicator in individual patients who are then put on weight loss or weight gain programmes prompted by their score, contributes to issues such as eating disorders and poor mental health.
It recommended that Public Health England stops using BMI as a measure of individual health and instead focuses on a "Health at Every Size'' approach.
This honours differences in factors such as age, ethnicity and gender, and prioritises healthy lifestyle choices over correcting weight, according to the report.
Emerald added: "I think asking questions in regards to how people think about food and exercise would help more. I had an addiction and it wasn't until my boyfriend stared asking me why I was doing those things that I realised.
"Doctors need to ask more triggering questions to get people to think about why they do a certain thing, not asking them what they weigh now and how it matches with their height and age.
"People need to be asked about their habits and routines. I don't think weighing someone is the sole way to decide if someone has an eating disorder.
"If it was the other way round and someone was told they're overweight and that was it, they were offered no help, there'd be uproar."
MPs also called on the Government to bring forward legislation restricting or banning the use of altered images in adverts, over concerns this is contributing to poor body image.
Chair Caroline Nokes said: "Over the past 10 years, there has been a wealth of research and recommendations on how to tackle negative body image but Government action in this area is limited - we need to see urgent action.
"The pressure will intensify as gyms and beauty salons reopen on Monday,'' the Conservative MP added.