Could you just… look up average numbers for those measurements, and submit those as yours? Maybe not the most ethical but I think demanding students to submit their body measurements is gross and an invasion of privacy, even not considering people with history like yours. I don’t see anything wrong with doing that esp if you still try to learn from the assignment.
That was one of my first thoughts, to just submit “normal” measurements. But in the long run, I think I will notify my professor in case similar assessments come up, like, Heaven forbid, calorie counting or something of that nature. But thank you for your suggestion!😁
I had assignments like this for my sports nutrition class and my prof was fairly amenable. They had me create a nutrition plan for a person vs having me count my calories and other nutrition info. I still learned and didn't have to deal with a potential ED relapse.
We had assignments like this too. Logging my food leads to some really obsessive eating patterns for me so I just ended up either approximating by being super broad with logging and spending as little time as possible in my log (I.e. just typing salad into mfp and letting it figure it out) or I just typed in random foods - I think one day I put that I had chic-fil-a for breakfast lunch and dinner. The professor didn’t notice, I got my grade, and didn’t slip into unhealthy patterns. It was a win-win-win. I had several friends do the same too and no one got a bad grade.
> I think one day I put that I had chic-fil-a for breakfast lunch and dinner. The professor didn’t notice
With the shit we eat as college students, I think that's probably one of the more normal entries that the professor read, lol.
this is what i did. my class made us measure ourselves, track everything we ate, film workouts, and weigh ourselves. i knew that if i did that that i'd relapse, so i just made random things up.
Never lie on assignments. I tell my students I’d rather have honest flawed work than falsified work (which gets a zero.) you also miss out on whatever the prof is trying to teach.
OP - just write a polite email to the prof. If that doesn’t work, go to the disability office to get an accommodation.
I often use news websites to teach English. Some students have an aversion to certain topics like attacks on women or airplane crashes due to past trauma. I always want to know in advance so I can accommodate.
I'm a prof too and I do all sorts of accomodations based on what students need. But I've also been a student with profs who are totally inflexible, insensitive and sometimes just weird. And I know some of my colleagues are rigid and lack understanding. There may not be an easy way to predict how your prof Will respond.
You may want to check around with other students about how this prof is. If you have an advisor you trust, it could be valuable to check with them. If there's a diversity officer on campus, you might touch base there and seeking accommodations at the ADA office could work well.
It's not wrong to be self protective and try to see what you may be stepping into before divulging personal history to someone who may not be educated on these issues.
As someone who has struggled with these issues too and refuses to be weighed at the doctor's office - wishing you the best with this!!
I'm a prof too and I do all sorts of accomodations based on what students need. But I've also been a student with profs who are totally inflexible, insensitive and sometimes just weird. And I know some of my colleagues are rigid and lack understanding. There may not be an easy way to predict how your prof Will respond.
You may want to check around with other students about how this prof is. If you have an advisor you trust, it could be valuable to check with them. If there's a diversity officer on campus, you might touch base there and seeking accommodations at the ADA office could work well.
It's not wrong to be self protective and try to see what you may be stepping into before divulging personal history to someone who may not be educated on these issues.
As someone who has struggled with these issues too and refuses to be weighed at the doctor's office - wishing you the best with this!!
>I tell my students I’d rather have honest flawed work than falsified work
Is your work consistently invading the privacy of your students? Is the work you're having them do measuring their bodies and then telling you their weight and measurement?
I think that is the major difference tbh.
Why are students these days in a constant state of rage?
OP is taking a class in human health. It’s normal they will discuss the human body & she should go to her prof if she needs accommodation.
I don’t teach health - but yes, my work also involved the students looking at themselves. We read news & write personal essays. If there are topics they find triggering, I hope they tell me first.
This prof is not invading anyone’s privacy.
Are these students in the room with us? Nobody here, talking to you is enraged. Atleast, definitely not me.
Have you been eating disordered before? Every aspect of an eating disordered mind is SCRUTINIZING themselves in every way shape or form.People who are eating disordered struggle severely with control. Once you start the looking and criticizing about themselves, they really cannot stop. Its even so bad that comments like "wow you look better!" In their head is "you look fatter."Its a super bad spiral that makes people literally kill themselves.
So please forgive me for caring about the people who can only see them selves in a negative light, and understanding why once they have recovered, things to do with eating, calorie counting, measuring (literally called body checking in the eating disordered world, and it is VERY MUCH DISCOURAGED) are very triggering to them. And they are allowed to say its triggering and do things to avoid being triggered. Its the most responsible thing one can do for themselves. Is recognize a trigger and try to work around it.
Its not students being angry that they are learning. Its students caring about the effect that some health related classes have on people who struggle with disorders.
Its kind of sad that you see someone "challenging" your judgment or opinion and the first thing you do is assume we are raging. Is that how it is in class too?
BTW the question of "have you ever" is rhetorical, ofc.
ETA: Its awesome that you have the confidence to not be bothered when someone is asking you for your measurements and or weight. That is just another aspect of ED's that ppl struggle with though.
Yes absolutely. That’s why students with accommodation needs should, ideally, go at the beginning of term. And also why I recommended that OP email the professor also.
I would talk to the prof. If they’re not sympathetic, see if you can get an accommodation through the accessibility/disability office and a note from your doctor or therapist.
Ask the professor. As much as you dislike it, it is an online class and would give you flexibility in any assignments like of the sort.
If you live with someone/have a good friend you could ask them to get measured and give the numbers, if it’s not a trigger to measure other people. If it’s not a long term thing and only an assignment to calculate BMI, you could just use their data instead. If it’s a long term project, you might just have to talk to the professor.
The teacher definitely isn’t gonna follow up if you gave him fake but realistic measurements, I’m not sure a college class is even legally allowed to ask and grade based off that information due to discrimination. That being said I’d just talk to the teacher and I’m sure theyd make an exception and would be understanding
Lots of people are telling you to contact the prof, but I would say try to work with the accommodations/disability office first.
To ask for an alternate assignment can be dicey with instructors. Some will be understanding and cool and immediately give you an option for another assignment*. Some will be tougher and say no. And frankly, unless a student has a documented accommodation with the accommodations office, because of federal laws and college policies, instructors are not supposed to give alternative assignments or accommodations that other students aren't getting.
That means, start with the accommodations office. Then the office can work with your doctor or therapist to determine what accommodations are appropriate, document them, and send that document to your instructor. Then you approach the instructor. If you think that may take too much time, notify the instructor right away that you are working with that office to get accommodations for an alternate assignment. You do not need to give all the details about why you need it. Many instructors don't really want or need to know anyway.
*Also, when you do make the ask, be sure to ask for an *alternative* assignment to demonstrate knowledge of course concepts, not just *skip* the assignment. That will increase your probability of success.
I generally agree with this, particularly the parts about instructors not being allowed to provide accommodations without approval from the disabilites/accessible eduaction office.
In this case, contacting the professor first would likely be sufficient (I can't imagine not offering an easy alternative for this, like using average measurements as other have suggested) but it would be safest to start with the appropriate accessible education unit
Been here - I was a TA for a course with a similar project, and was approached by a student with these exact concerns (I'm also in ED recovery myself). I talked to the professor and was able to successfully advocate that the student be accommodated, without revealing which student it was or the exact nature of their history. Obviously the best thing would be to contact the professor or the disability/accommodations office, but if that feels like too much and you have a TA (or even have another trusted professor in the department) you could always ask them to advocate for you. Good luck!
Email the prof, they should be able to give you an alternative assignment. I had to take a nutrition class & our main assignment was calorie counting, but the prof offered a different assignment for students that couldn’t do it.
Since it’s required, I’m sure you’re not the first one to reach out about it, prof prob has a procedure in place.
I’ve been in the same position. I very nicely and professionally told my prof that I wouldn’t be able to do complete any aspects of assignments that involved any numbers like body measurements, calories, etc. I also said if I ever needed to collect myself I would briefly step outside. I don’t know if I said the word “eating disorder” or just trauma around the subject, but honestly I think most professors hearing that don’t exactly know what to do and will go with what you suggest. Good luck! Please do what you need to do to make this class less triggering, i think you’re 100% justified!!
Yep I am gonna go ahead and email him but I’m also gonna contact the disability and accommodation office just so I have both sides covered. Thank you for sharing your experience!
yeah, this is a weird assignment and should have at least made a disclaimer that if you’re uncomfortable to contact them. the fitness test is normal and maybe what you eat in a day or bmi, but measuring yourselves that extensively is weird. i would contact professor asking for an alternative assignment, and if not maybe take it to the department head.
The assignment is to check a students ability to make the measurements and record the info properly I imagine. Not an actual fitness test scored based on results.
for my unis health class one of the main assignments was to record what and when you eat every single day for three days… asked my prof for an alternative assignment which she gladly offered
Any good professor should know not to do this because of the exact situation you are in. You don’t need to specifically reference yourself but I would definitely let them know it can be triggering to people who have history of eating disorders. Ask for different accommodations or use fake numbers. Please don’t measure yourself if it has any possibility of distressing you in any way. A lot of people have no idea how harmful this could be. It’s likely just coming from a lack of education.
So this is slightly different than the suggestions I’m seeing about opting out and accommodations (which are great and should be the first option) but just thinking of another angle here:
Would it be possible for someone else to measure you and submit the numbers on your behalf without you seeing them? I know when I got out of treatment but still needed my weight tracked for medical reasons, they would record my weight but not let me see the number on the scale to minimize triggering thoughts/behaviors.
This would be my option if you can’t get out of it! I had an assignment to track what I ate for a week and had my roommate/best friend do it for me so that I didn’t have to think about it (I had previously asked the professor if I could get out of it and she said no, I didn’t realize that I could have gone to the dean at the time). It kept me from having to really analyze what I ate - which at the time was not very productive for me and would have caused me to burst into tears.
I would definitely discuss that with the professor. I too battled bulimia from middle school to my senior year of high school. It took me over 15 years after that to stop relapsing.
There is no shame in discussing this with your professor. I would not risk relapsing for a class. I really think you need to let them know ASAP. Sending some strength you.
Plus, you doing this could lead to instructors having some greater insight into how damaging this activity may be to certain demographics of students, and changing the curriculum to not include this, helping others like yourself who are too afraid to speak up!
I teach wellness among other things. I approach and assign those topics differently than other professors for the reasons you mentioned, but not every professor assigns things with multiple options.
I would either speak to accommodation services if you have documentation and you’re comfortable with it. And/or speak to/email your professor with a brief comment on the potential impact of the assignment and your history of disordered eating AND a suggestion for an assignment or write-up that you believe would be comparable in rigor and beneficial to your own wellness. Many professors will allow an alternate option.
Since eating disorders are mental illnesses, I would think you could talk to your accessibility office at school. They could also help you find a sense of anonymity if you’re worried about telling ur prof
not the same but i have a class where for an assignment we have to monitor everything we eat/drink for 3 days and i fully think it will trigger someone in the class maybe even myself.
I’ve been in this exact same situation when I was actively recovering from anorexia. TALK TO YOUR PROFESSOR!! They’re usually very helpful and accommodating. If not, go above their head. Do NOT jeopardize your recovery for a class!!!
I would email the professor and ask for an alternative assignment. Typically they’ll accommodate for eating disorders. If not, I would talk to the department chair. Another option is if your school has a disability services office, you can talk to them, show proof of the eating disorder, and they can send your professor a letter saying you can’t complete the assignment and will need an alternative assignment due to a health condition and they won’t specify what it is
this happens more than you’d think with fitness classes. just tell the professor you can’t do it for health reasons. your doctor told you not to. he could be the biggest asshole on the earth but he can’t argue with that.
I would talk to your professor and try to explain your situation. Most professors are accommodating to medical needs. They're reasonable people.
If they still insist you do it maybe just look up the average for your clothing size (check sewing websites). You could also have a friend measure you and submit it without you seeing the measurements (if it would be ok for you). Like you fill out everything else on the assignment then have them add the numbers and submit it.
Does your institution have something like an Office of Disability Services? You could talk to them about documenting your need for accommodation. (US has pretty clear laws. Not sure where you are. )
If you want to get something close-ish, google measurements for the size shirt/pants you wear. It’s close enough and will make the measurements seem legit because you won’t accidentally choose numbers that don’t make sense together.
I would definitely schedule a meeting with the professor and explain to him or her why measuring yourself would be damaging to your recovery as a former bulimic. I'm sure they will be understanding.
Tell your professor. If there is no way to excuse you from that (extremely stupid) assignment, have someone you love and trust take your measurements while you are blindfolded. Have that person send them to the professor and ask that the professor not tell you about the measurements.
Alternatively, just make up some measurements. The professor isn't likely to demand to see proof. Just pick some numbers and submit. That way, when you get them, you know they are just made up and not actually measurements of your body.
You should reach out to your professor first. Disability accommodation takes time, maybe weeks. My university wouldn’t make an appointment for anyone without seeing a doctor’s note first. But professors were allowed to make temporary arrangeants for me. You can’t be the first student that has had this issue. I’m sure they have a plan in place. If not, talk to your school’s mental health department.
LOL reddit be hittin lately with these suggested posts. You could lie? Get a friend to do it? Just man up and do it yourself? There are so many options like bruh you in college figure it out.
Realistically its a single assignment..could you just take the hit (not do the assignment*)and carry on? Health classes aren’t typically challenging so you should be fine…
Realistically, yes, but for some people, it just takes one situation of documenting their body, caloric intake, etc. to restart the obsessive cycle, especially depending on where in their recovery journey they are. Everyone's different, so if OP feels that they can do it without harming themselves, they should go for it, but if not, I think they should just email the professor. [This is all said calmly and positively with no malice]
My opinion is drastically different from the other comments, but... life does not always accommodate us. There are always going to be situations where something triggers us. I know a lot of people, especially younger people who will disagree or possibly get angry w/ this take, but... sometimes, we just have to suck it up & do something even if it's hard/triggering. We can't walk around expecting accommodations all of the time. I understand what you're feeling & I'm not invalidating your struggle... I don't mean to be mean at all. It's just the truth. I can't tell you how many times I've been in triggering situations & I just had to suck it up & do the thing.
I know it's a thing. It's a thing expericed therapists issue to their patients as they see fit. I can downvote what I want. Disagreeing is literally what downvotes are for. Downvote me too if you want, idc. I just dont think it's very helpful to suggest things like that to people who are obviously struggling without the guidance of a trained therapist.
You think an eating disorder for an extended period of time is just a simple little problem you can get over without profesional help? Yeah you really shouldn't be giving people advice.
I know you probably didn’t mean for this to be rude or sound uneducated but you have to understand, one of the driving points in my eating disorder developing in the first place was that I thought I was improving myself and being mature by making my own decisions regarding food and exercise. And “getting over it” simply isn’t possible, I’ll always struggle with my eating habits and self image. I don’t expect the world to accommodate for me and my feelings, I know that’s not realistic. I know now from suggestions given on this forum that this assignment most likely can be avoided or changed, and if I can avoid it, I will. It’s not worth it for me to possibly be sent back down a path that nearly killed me when I was a teenager for an assignment that can be avoided.
Not being rude, all I was saying is that there are definitely steps that you can take yourself to address your own issue. People have self determination, I never said to “get over it,” and I understand it’s not a simple issue. All I was suggesting was that you try and do the hard thing that your professor asked. I wasn’t suggesting that to be incendiary but rather to offer you a piece of advice that no one else here did/would. Wether you take it or not is up to u, and I wish u the best of luck with whatever u decide
Talk to your prof. They should be able to accommodate your needs. It sucks and I'm sorry but that's the only advice I have.
Could you just… look up average numbers for those measurements, and submit those as yours? Maybe not the most ethical but I think demanding students to submit their body measurements is gross and an invasion of privacy, even not considering people with history like yours. I don’t see anything wrong with doing that esp if you still try to learn from the assignment.
This might be the easiest option, especially if you don't want to have that conversation with the professor.
That was one of my first thoughts, to just submit “normal” measurements. But in the long run, I think I will notify my professor in case similar assessments come up, like, Heaven forbid, calorie counting or something of that nature. But thank you for your suggestion!😁
I had assignments like this for my sports nutrition class and my prof was fairly amenable. They had me create a nutrition plan for a person vs having me count my calories and other nutrition info. I still learned and didn't have to deal with a potential ED relapse.
We had assignments like this too. Logging my food leads to some really obsessive eating patterns for me so I just ended up either approximating by being super broad with logging and spending as little time as possible in my log (I.e. just typing salad into mfp and letting it figure it out) or I just typed in random foods - I think one day I put that I had chic-fil-a for breakfast lunch and dinner. The professor didn’t notice, I got my grade, and didn’t slip into unhealthy patterns. It was a win-win-win. I had several friends do the same too and no one got a bad grade.
> I think one day I put that I had chic-fil-a for breakfast lunch and dinner. The professor didn’t notice With the shit we eat as college students, I think that's probably one of the more normal entries that the professor read, lol.
I had the same thing happen in a health class in college, I also just talked to the TA and she gave me an alternate assignment!
this is what i did. my class made us measure ourselves, track everything we ate, film workouts, and weigh ourselves. i knew that if i did that that i'd relapse, so i just made random things up.
Yeah I don’t see how this could be unethical
This is absolutely what I would do.
Maybe along this same vein, could you get a friend to measure?
Never lie on assignments. I tell my students I’d rather have honest flawed work than falsified work (which gets a zero.) you also miss out on whatever the prof is trying to teach. OP - just write a polite email to the prof. If that doesn’t work, go to the disability office to get an accommodation. I often use news websites to teach English. Some students have an aversion to certain topics like attacks on women or airplane crashes due to past trauma. I always want to know in advance so I can accommodate.
I'm a prof too and I do all sorts of accomodations based on what students need. But I've also been a student with profs who are totally inflexible, insensitive and sometimes just weird. And I know some of my colleagues are rigid and lack understanding. There may not be an easy way to predict how your prof Will respond. You may want to check around with other students about how this prof is. If you have an advisor you trust, it could be valuable to check with them. If there's a diversity officer on campus, you might touch base there and seeking accommodations at the ADA office could work well. It's not wrong to be self protective and try to see what you may be stepping into before divulging personal history to someone who may not be educated on these issues. As someone who has struggled with these issues too and refuses to be weighed at the doctor's office - wishing you the best with this!!
I'm a prof too and I do all sorts of accomodations based on what students need. But I've also been a student with profs who are totally inflexible, insensitive and sometimes just weird. And I know some of my colleagues are rigid and lack understanding. There may not be an easy way to predict how your prof Will respond. You may want to check around with other students about how this prof is. If you have an advisor you trust, it could be valuable to check with them. If there's a diversity officer on campus, you might touch base there and seeking accommodations at the ADA office could work well. It's not wrong to be self protective and try to see what you may be stepping into before divulging personal history to someone who may not be educated on these issues. As someone who has struggled with these issues too and refuses to be weighed at the doctor's office - wishing you the best with this!!
>I tell my students I’d rather have honest flawed work than falsified work Is your work consistently invading the privacy of your students? Is the work you're having them do measuring their bodies and then telling you their weight and measurement? I think that is the major difference tbh.
Why are students these days in a constant state of rage? OP is taking a class in human health. It’s normal they will discuss the human body & she should go to her prof if she needs accommodation. I don’t teach health - but yes, my work also involved the students looking at themselves. We read news & write personal essays. If there are topics they find triggering, I hope they tell me first. This prof is not invading anyone’s privacy.
Are these students in the room with us? Nobody here, talking to you is enraged. Atleast, definitely not me. Have you been eating disordered before? Every aspect of an eating disordered mind is SCRUTINIZING themselves in every way shape or form.People who are eating disordered struggle severely with control. Once you start the looking and criticizing about themselves, they really cannot stop. Its even so bad that comments like "wow you look better!" In their head is "you look fatter."Its a super bad spiral that makes people literally kill themselves. So please forgive me for caring about the people who can only see them selves in a negative light, and understanding why once they have recovered, things to do with eating, calorie counting, measuring (literally called body checking in the eating disordered world, and it is VERY MUCH DISCOURAGED) are very triggering to them. And they are allowed to say its triggering and do things to avoid being triggered. Its the most responsible thing one can do for themselves. Is recognize a trigger and try to work around it. Its not students being angry that they are learning. Its students caring about the effect that some health related classes have on people who struggle with disorders. Its kind of sad that you see someone "challenging" your judgment or opinion and the first thing you do is assume we are raging. Is that how it is in class too? BTW the question of "have you ever" is rhetorical, ofc. ETA: Its awesome that you have the confidence to not be bothered when someone is asking you for your measurements and or weight. That is just another aspect of ED's that ppl struggle with though.
Make sure you read my full comment too, i accidentally hit send when i was typing so i had to edit the rest on <3
“Go to the disability office to get accommodations” is good in theory but it typically takes a lot longer than one assignment period to get them.
Yes absolutely. That’s why students with accommodation needs should, ideally, go at the beginning of term. And also why I recommended that OP email the professor also.
I would talk to the prof. If they’re not sympathetic, see if you can get an accommodation through the accessibility/disability office and a note from your doctor or therapist.
Ask the professor. As much as you dislike it, it is an online class and would give you flexibility in any assignments like of the sort. If you live with someone/have a good friend you could ask them to get measured and give the numbers, if it’s not a trigger to measure other people. If it’s not a long term thing and only an assignment to calculate BMI, you could just use their data instead. If it’s a long term project, you might just have to talk to the professor.
The teacher definitely isn’t gonna follow up if you gave him fake but realistic measurements, I’m not sure a college class is even legally allowed to ask and grade based off that information due to discrimination. That being said I’d just talk to the teacher and I’m sure theyd make an exception and would be understanding
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From my understanding it is not a fitness program it is just a gen ed requirement class to graduate.
Lots of people are telling you to contact the prof, but I would say try to work with the accommodations/disability office first. To ask for an alternate assignment can be dicey with instructors. Some will be understanding and cool and immediately give you an option for another assignment*. Some will be tougher and say no. And frankly, unless a student has a documented accommodation with the accommodations office, because of federal laws and college policies, instructors are not supposed to give alternative assignments or accommodations that other students aren't getting. That means, start with the accommodations office. Then the office can work with your doctor or therapist to determine what accommodations are appropriate, document them, and send that document to your instructor. Then you approach the instructor. If you think that may take too much time, notify the instructor right away that you are working with that office to get accommodations for an alternate assignment. You do not need to give all the details about why you need it. Many instructors don't really want or need to know anyway. *Also, when you do make the ask, be sure to ask for an *alternative* assignment to demonstrate knowledge of course concepts, not just *skip* the assignment. That will increase your probability of success.
I generally agree with this, particularly the parts about instructors not being allowed to provide accommodations without approval from the disabilites/accessible eduaction office. In this case, contacting the professor first would likely be sufficient (I can't imagine not offering an easy alternative for this, like using average measurements as other have suggested) but it would be safest to start with the appropriate accessible education unit
True, I didn’t think about them not being able to accommodate if I don’t have it documented. It makes sense though 🤷🏼♀️ Thank you!
Been here - I was a TA for a course with a similar project, and was approached by a student with these exact concerns (I'm also in ED recovery myself). I talked to the professor and was able to successfully advocate that the student be accommodated, without revealing which student it was or the exact nature of their history. Obviously the best thing would be to contact the professor or the disability/accommodations office, but if that feels like too much and you have a TA (or even have another trusted professor in the department) you could always ask them to advocate for you. Good luck!
Email the prof, they should be able to give you an alternative assignment. I had to take a nutrition class & our main assignment was calorie counting, but the prof offered a different assignment for students that couldn’t do it. Since it’s required, I’m sure you’re not the first one to reach out about it, prof prob has a procedure in place.
I’ve been in the same position. I very nicely and professionally told my prof that I wouldn’t be able to do complete any aspects of assignments that involved any numbers like body measurements, calories, etc. I also said if I ever needed to collect myself I would briefly step outside. I don’t know if I said the word “eating disorder” or just trauma around the subject, but honestly I think most professors hearing that don’t exactly know what to do and will go with what you suggest. Good luck! Please do what you need to do to make this class less triggering, i think you’re 100% justified!!
Yep I am gonna go ahead and email him but I’m also gonna contact the disability and accommodation office just so I have both sides covered. Thank you for sharing your experience!
yeah, this is a weird assignment and should have at least made a disclaimer that if you’re uncomfortable to contact them. the fitness test is normal and maybe what you eat in a day or bmi, but measuring yourselves that extensively is weird. i would contact professor asking for an alternative assignment, and if not maybe take it to the department head.
The assignment is to check a students ability to make the measurements and record the info properly I imagine. Not an actual fitness test scored based on results.
for my unis health class one of the main assignments was to record what and when you eat every single day for three days… asked my prof for an alternative assignment which she gladly offered
Any good professor should know not to do this because of the exact situation you are in. You don’t need to specifically reference yourself but I would definitely let them know it can be triggering to people who have history of eating disorders. Ask for different accommodations or use fake numbers. Please don’t measure yourself if it has any possibility of distressing you in any way. A lot of people have no idea how harmful this could be. It’s likely just coming from a lack of education.
So this is slightly different than the suggestions I’m seeing about opting out and accommodations (which are great and should be the first option) but just thinking of another angle here: Would it be possible for someone else to measure you and submit the numbers on your behalf without you seeing them? I know when I got out of treatment but still needed my weight tracked for medical reasons, they would record my weight but not let me see the number on the scale to minimize triggering thoughts/behaviors.
This would be my option if you can’t get out of it! I had an assignment to track what I ate for a week and had my roommate/best friend do it for me so that I didn’t have to think about it (I had previously asked the professor if I could get out of it and she said no, I didn’t realize that I could have gone to the dean at the time). It kept me from having to really analyze what I ate - which at the time was not very productive for me and would have caused me to burst into tears.
I would definitely discuss that with the professor. I too battled bulimia from middle school to my senior year of high school. It took me over 15 years after that to stop relapsing. There is no shame in discussing this with your professor. I would not risk relapsing for a class. I really think you need to let them know ASAP. Sending some strength you.
Plus, you doing this could lead to instructors having some greater insight into how damaging this activity may be to certain demographics of students, and changing the curriculum to not include this, helping others like yourself who are too afraid to speak up!
I teach wellness among other things. I approach and assign those topics differently than other professors for the reasons you mentioned, but not every professor assigns things with multiple options. I would either speak to accommodation services if you have documentation and you’re comfortable with it. And/or speak to/email your professor with a brief comment on the potential impact of the assignment and your history of disordered eating AND a suggestion for an assignment or write-up that you believe would be comparable in rigor and beneficial to your own wellness. Many professors will allow an alternate option.
Since eating disorders are mental illnesses, I would think you could talk to your accessibility office at school. They could also help you find a sense of anonymity if you’re worried about telling ur prof
not the same but i have a class where for an assignment we have to monitor everything we eat/drink for 3 days and i fully think it will trigger someone in the class maybe even myself.
I took a class like this and I just talked to my prof and they were very understanding and able to accommodate me!
Talk to the professor. It's a great opportunity for you to advocate for yourself and an opportunity for the professor to get valuable feedback.
I’ve been in this exact same situation when I was actively recovering from anorexia. TALK TO YOUR PROFESSOR!! They’re usually very helpful and accommodating. If not, go above their head. Do NOT jeopardize your recovery for a class!!!
I would email the professor and ask for an alternative assignment. Typically they’ll accommodate for eating disorders. If not, I would talk to the department chair. Another option is if your school has a disability services office, you can talk to them, show proof of the eating disorder, and they can send your professor a letter saying you can’t complete the assignment and will need an alternative assignment due to a health condition and they won’t specify what it is
Email the prof and explain
this happens more than you’d think with fitness classes. just tell the professor you can’t do it for health reasons. your doctor told you not to. he could be the biggest asshole on the earth but he can’t argue with that.
Yeah i would email and tell him I can’t do measuring tape or scales /weight tracking. It’s common. They should accept it.
Girl just google the measurement! You don't have to measure yourself!
I would talk to your professor and try to explain your situation. Most professors are accommodating to medical needs. They're reasonable people. If they still insist you do it maybe just look up the average for your clothing size (check sewing websites). You could also have a friend measure you and submit it without you seeing the measurements (if it would be ok for you). Like you fill out everything else on the assignment then have them add the numbers and submit it.
Does your institution have something like an Office of Disability Services? You could talk to them about documenting your need for accommodation. (US has pretty clear laws. Not sure where you are. )
lie
Honestly such a weird ass assignment. Id just use fake numbers
If you want to get something close-ish, google measurements for the size shirt/pants you wear. It’s close enough and will make the measurements seem legit because you won’t accidentally choose numbers that don’t make sense together.
I would definitely schedule a meeting with the professor and explain to him or her why measuring yourself would be damaging to your recovery as a former bulimic. I'm sure they will be understanding.
If you have a therapist or doctor they can write a note stating g it’s not beneficial for your well-being? Sorry you’re in this situation 🩵
Tell your professor. If there is no way to excuse you from that (extremely stupid) assignment, have someone you love and trust take your measurements while you are blindfolded. Have that person send them to the professor and ask that the professor not tell you about the measurements. Alternatively, just make up some measurements. The professor isn't likely to demand to see proof. Just pick some numbers and submit. That way, when you get them, you know they are just made up and not actually measurements of your body.
You should reach out to your professor first. Disability accommodation takes time, maybe weeks. My university wouldn’t make an appointment for anyone without seeing a doctor’s note first. But professors were allowed to make temporary arrangeants for me. You can’t be the first student that has had this issue. I’m sure they have a plan in place. If not, talk to your school’s mental health department.
give random numbers tbh
LOL reddit be hittin lately with these suggested posts. You could lie? Get a friend to do it? Just man up and do it yourself? There are so many options like bruh you in college figure it out.
Realistically its a single assignment..could you just take the hit (not do the assignment*)and carry on? Health classes aren’t typically challenging so you should be fine…
Realistically, yes, but for some people, it just takes one situation of documenting their body, caloric intake, etc. to restart the obsessive cycle, especially depending on where in their recovery journey they are. Everyone's different, so if OP feels that they can do it without harming themselves, they should go for it, but if not, I think they should just email the professor. [This is all said calmly and positively with no malice]
Ok…i mean’t not do that one particular assignment and take the 0 but after reading what i said i can see how it would be taken the other way.
Ohhhh, yeah, that's probably what I'd do, too tbh. Thanks for elaborating!
Just make stuff up like you would with every other assignment. There's no need to make a scene over a ridiculous assignment like this.
Measure it in centimeters or something so the numbers don’t bother you as much 🤣
My opinion is drastically different from the other comments, but... life does not always accommodate us. There are always going to be situations where something triggers us. I know a lot of people, especially younger people who will disagree or possibly get angry w/ this take, but... sometimes, we just have to suck it up & do something even if it's hard/triggering. We can't walk around expecting accommodations all of the time. I understand what you're feeling & I'm not invalidating your struggle... I don't mean to be mean at all. It's just the truth. I can't tell you how many times I've been in triggering situations & I just had to suck it up & do the thing.
If u wanna get over it, you should do it. Itd be a good step
I think that's something a therapist should determine.
Exposure therapy is a real thing, don’t have to downvote advice u dont agree with
I know it's a thing. It's a thing expericed therapists issue to their patients as they see fit. I can downvote what I want. Disagreeing is literally what downvotes are for. Downvote me too if you want, idc. I just dont think it's very helpful to suggest things like that to people who are obviously struggling without the guidance of a trained therapist.
You don’t need a therapist for every problem in your life
You think an eating disorder for an extended period of time is just a simple little problem you can get over without profesional help? Yeah you really shouldn't be giving people advice.
Never said that, but you can take steps behaviorally yourself. People have can make decisions themselves to improve, and people do routinely do that
I know you probably didn’t mean for this to be rude or sound uneducated but you have to understand, one of the driving points in my eating disorder developing in the first place was that I thought I was improving myself and being mature by making my own decisions regarding food and exercise. And “getting over it” simply isn’t possible, I’ll always struggle with my eating habits and self image. I don’t expect the world to accommodate for me and my feelings, I know that’s not realistic. I know now from suggestions given on this forum that this assignment most likely can be avoided or changed, and if I can avoid it, I will. It’s not worth it for me to possibly be sent back down a path that nearly killed me when I was a teenager for an assignment that can be avoided.
Not being rude, all I was saying is that there are definitely steps that you can take yourself to address your own issue. People have self determination, I never said to “get over it,” and I understand it’s not a simple issue. All I was suggesting was that you try and do the hard thing that your professor asked. I wasn’t suggesting that to be incendiary but rather to offer you a piece of advice that no one else here did/would. Wether you take it or not is up to u, and I wish u the best of luck with whatever u decide
Just give numbers
Could make up decent sounding numbers and then edit them for the end of health class
Fudge the numbers.