Woman with prosthetic leg calls out armchair critic for trying to diagnose her with eating disorder

Boundaries are crucial safeguards in any social interaction. It helps keep the conversation light and prevents people from getting offended. However, many people find it hard to identify or adhere to boundaries. The problem of boundaries becomes even more relevant when it comes to talking about another person's body or diet. Saying something without thinking properly can have consequences. A Reddit user had a story to share that highlighted the importance of respecting people's boundaries when it came to their bodies or eating habits.

The woman begins the story by sharing that she had lost her left leg when she got infected at a very young age. She writes, "I have a prosthetic leg for walking and another one for running and exercise." Being on her parent's insurance plan helped as she could afford to get regularly refitted over time.

She eventually transferred to her company's insurance plan, which happened to be quite good, but getting a new prosthetic leg in case of changes in body weight proved to be too expensive. She adds "I expect to be paying a fortune if I get pregnant." Therefore, she has to maintain her weight to ensure that she does not have to go for a change. Everything was fine until she went out for dinner and her friend's girlfriend began pointing out how little she was eating.

Everybody else at the table was having baby back ribs and she chose to have soup and salad. She refers to the ribs and says, "I'd stolen a few off my bf's plate, but generally, I was trying to eat light." The user told the other woman that she was trying to lose weight and she immediately replied that she was beautiful the way she was and did not need to lose weight. The woman explained that she was aware of that, but not gaining weight helped with her mobility.

The woman failed to understand the user's situation and "diagnosed" her with an eating disorder. She said that she was delusional about the whole thing. She writes, "I was pissed and she sounded super condescending and blurted out she had no business talking down to me about my weight, even if it was to tell me not to change it." Other people at the table heard the conversation and the woman got really embarrassed and left not long after.

The woman's boyfriend thought she should have explained the reason for not gaining weight. However, the individual reasoned that she should not have to use her disability to make the woman understand her situation. Moreover, the individual happened to be wearing loose pants at the time, which made it difficult to identify that she had a prosthetic leg. She writes, "I don't know if she knew, but I didn't feel like justifying why my weight needed to stay the same."

People agreed with the Reddit user's stance and shared their views in the comments section. u/C_Majuscula said, "NTA. Bringing up a potential eating disorder in casual dinner conversation is rude as hell and she should be embarrassed about it." u/SneakySneakySquirrel hilariously suggested, "NTA. But you missed a great opportunity to say, 'Are you kidding? I put away food so fast they say I must have a hollow leg!' Followed by the big reveal."