I Believe in Fat Bulimics (WARNING: May be triggering)

I'm a former fat bulimic. I know what you are probably thinking; yeah "fat", like how a 90-pound chick bitches about her "thunder thighs". No, I was genuine, Grade-A overweight. By the time I graduated high school I weighed over 270 pounds and had just begun purging daily. As I began purging more, sure I lost some weight, but at my lowest eating-disorder-low I still weighed 185 pounds. I was hardly the picture of skin and bones that most people associate with eating disorders. If you could take a picture of my insides, however, I would've mirrored any other bulimic. My heart would constantly race and skip beats; I had frequent headaches and nosebleeds as well as swollen glands. My hair was falling out, I was constipated, and had even had to be given IV fluids because a 4-day long purging incident had left me so dehydrated that I was passing out. The point that I want to make is that physical size has little to do with physical sickness - a message that even many people in the "eating disorder field" seem to miss.
I went to residential treatment in the spring of 2009. While residential treatment is never a comfortable situation, I was painfully aware of the fact that at 213 pounds I weighed more than the other three girls in group therapy combined. The general attitude of the staff was that my problem was simply with eating - not purging. I was put on an eating plan that resulted in me losing over 10 pounds in one week. The dietitian might have been happy, but I was not. The center director lauded my "progress" and I began to withdraw more and more from therapy.
The rapid change in my body and strict eating plan had left me feeling massively triggered. While I found the other girls (and two therapists) amazingly supportive, I left treatment two weeks early. The upside is that I found an amazing therapist who didn't raise her eyebrows, even a little, when I informed her that I had an eating disorder. I'm in recovery now, and I avoid scales like the plague. I have no idea if I'm "fat" anymore, and frankly I don't care. The problem I do have is with people who judge based on how a person looks, especially those who are here to help people with eating disorders. I was fat, I did have an eating disorder, and I did need help. If you suspect that someone you know has an eating disorder, don't let their weight be a determining factor in when you take action - there is much more to an eating disorder than meets the eye.