I think my sister might have disordered eating but I'm not sure how I should bring it up. How would you bring it up?

[Anonymous]

My little sister is 23, she just started grad school, and has been really busy. She moved into my place because I had an extra room. I'm 11 years older than her and my fiancé lives with us but has been out of town helping her family. We've always been pretty close because our mom past away when we were kids. Since my fiance has been gone, I've realized that my sister barely eats. I buy groceries for us and I'm the only one who ever eats them. We used to hangout and watch TV but i've noticed she just isolates herself in her room. I help her manage her money and I looked at her credit card bill and she hasn't been eating out. She might just be studying and stressed over school but it doesn't seem like her. I've asked her to go get dinner and stuff but she always says she's too busy. She looks like she lost a fair amount of weight. I talked to her boyfriend about it but he said that he gets off of work so late that it's hard for him to notice if anything is going on. I feel that I need to say something but I don't want her to get mad at me. She's been working really hard and i don't want to stress her out more. How should I talk to her about this?

[tightblackjeans]

Hmm, that's a tricky one. If she does have disordered eating, she might be very defensive about it, and confronting her about it might just drive the behaviour underground, if you know what I mean.
(How long has she been going out with her boyfriend? Sometimes when you fall head over heels you lose your apetite for a few months, maybe that's all it is...)
I think it would be best to take her at her word when she says she's really busy. Maybe you could say something along the lines of "hey I know you're really busy, is there anything I can get to make things easier?" Like multivitamins of fish or something good for your brain for studying.
Keep it helpful, don't make a big deal out of it and just keep a quiet eye on things... I'm sure it will all turn out fine!
(Talking from personal experience here, and I turned out OK!)

[Brooksbaby93]

I would jeep wacthing her and if it gets worse ask her. You're concerned and that completly normal but her not eating can lead to other issues. So yes I would ask and if she gets denfensives and changes the subject she's most likely does have soemthing going on.

[Ephemera1]

My sister had an eating disorder, at least what I think was a disorder, as she never felt hungry and would sleep on an empty stomach after studying all day long. I did 2 things to get her out of it.
1) Bought her foods I knew she loved, which opened up her appetite.
2) I carried her out of her room to the dinner table.
Best of luck

[CrazynKinky]

Just ask her. Don't worry if she gets mad probably means she does and you can get her help and she will appreciate it

[Wingedz]

You have to sit her down and talk deep about it.