In January 2007, Jilian McLendon stepped on the scale. It read 64.5 pounds.

“I was a sophomore in college, and I’ve always been thin and small, so when I heard about this ‘freshman 15,’ I thought I couldn’t be one of those people,” said McLendon, a junior art education major from Winder. “It became an obsession with the scale.”

Jilian McLendon and fiance Brad Hunt before McLendon sought help for her eating disorder

One eating disorder treatment center refused her plea for admission because her weight was so low. In the six months she’d been starving herself, she did irreversible damage to her back and spine, and she still suffers from osteoporosis to this day.

“Every week that someone suffers is doing horrible damage to the body,” she said.

The University Health Center Counseling and Psychiatric Services, known as CAPS, sees about 10 percent of the student population each semester — and 3 percent of those students suffer from eating disorders.

Allison Puryear, the coordinator for the Eating Disorder Treatment Team at the Health Center, said that some studies estimate more than one-fifth of America’s college students suffer from an eating disorder.

“I’m certain that there are many more people in the UGA community struggling with eating disorders,” she told The Red & Black.

Now healthy, happy and armed with a greater understanding of her past illness’s long-lasting effects, McLendon stressed that the disorder operates on two levels — the mental and the physical.

“You have to gain the weight and get healthy again, but also mentally, you have to be ready for it,” she said. “You have to be willing to get better.”

But not everyone suffering from an eating disorder is dealing with the stresses of college life. “The peak age of onset is 14, and there’s another around 18, and it’s more likely to come to people’s attention in a university setting. No one knows why these are the peak ages — that’s just what the data shows,” said Sarah Fischer, a psychology professor working at the University’s McPhaul Family Clinic.

McLendon and Hunt after McLendon found help for her anorexia.

The Eating Disorders Recovery Center in Athens has also struggled to make sense of this age trend.

“I’m not sure if that’s because there’s more information or prevention efforts out there so that people are more educated about seeking treatment earlier,” said Ann Weitzman-Swain, the center’s founder and clinical director. “Most of the college-aged patients we see say their problems began at an earlier age, around early adolescence.”

University students suffering from an eating disorder can pursue three different avenues of treatment in Athens: CAPS, an outside psychology clinic or outpatient therapy.

McLendon’s father took her out of school and brought her home to be with her family.

“That’s the best support,” she said. “The support of a family that loves you no matter what.”

CAPS has reported no decline in students with eating disorders in recent years. The number of cases nationwide has skyrocketed in the last two decades, becoming even more prevalent among teenagers, particularly those at the college level.

McLendon works with the student group FLY — For Loving Yourself — an organization aimed at educating the University population about the importance of good body image and high self-esteem.

“I think the earlier people can get awareness the better,” she said. “Lack of self-esteem, the media — thinness is worldwide, it’s seeping through to a different level with girls, and it’s hitting hard in America.”

Weitzman-Swain said she also believes in the importance of early childhood education on body image and self-esteem.

“It’s just one of many factors, but that’s the only antidote to the cultural pressure,” she said. “Any area where we can intervene is a good thing.”