Over the last year or so a lot of my friends have become concerned about my, um, eating habits.
I don’t eat at school and I’m never hungry anymore, and most of my friends can pick me up easily. They say that I over-obsess about my weight, how fat I am, how bad I look, etc. I’m really bony, too. (you can kinda see my ribs)
My friends say that my absolute lack of self-confidence and self-esteem is a bad sign and some have already asked if I’m anorexic.
I used to just brush it off and ignore it, but its starting to get to me. I want to know what some signs of anorexia are and how someone can tell if they are starting to devolp it.
20 Answers
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Signs and symptoms of anorexia
People with anorexia often hide their condition, so the warning signs are not always easy to spot. Furthermore, anorexics will typically try to explain away their disordered eating behaviors when confronted. But as anorexia progresses, the signs and symptoms become increasingly obvious and difficult to deny.
Eating and food behavior signs and symptoms
Dieting despite being thin – Follows a severely restricted diet. Eats only certain low-calorie foods. Bans “bad” foods such as carbohydrates and fats.
Obsession with calories, fat grams, and nutrition – Reads food labels, measures and weighs portions, keeps a food diary, reads diet books.
Pretending to eat or lying about eating – Hides, plays with, or throws away food to avoid eating. Makes excuses to get out of meals (“I had a huge lunch” or “My stomach isn’t feeling good.”).
Preoccupation with food – Eats very little, but constantly thinks about food. May cook for others, collect recipes, read food magazines, or make meal plans.
Strange or secretive food rituals – Often refuses to eat around others or in public places. May eat in rigid, ritualistic ways (e.g. cutting food “just so”, chewing food and spitting it out, using a specific plate).
Appearance and body image signs and symptoms
Dramatic weight loss – Rapid, drastic weight loss with no medical cause.
Feeling fat, despite being underweight – May complain about being overweight in general or just “too fat” in certain places such as the stomach, hips, or thighs.
Fixation on body image – Obsessed with weight, body shape, or clothing size. Frequent weigh-ins and concern over tiny fluctuations in weight.
Harshly critical of appearance – Spends a lot of time in front of the mirror checking for flaws. There’s always something to criticize. They’re never thin enough.
Denies being too thin – Refuses to believe that his or her low body weight is a problem, but may try to conceal it (drinking a lot of water before being weighed, wearing baggy or oversized clothes).
Purging signs and symptoms
Using diet pills, laxatives, or diuretics – Abuses water pills, herbal appetite suppressants, prescription stimulants, ipecac syrup, and other drugs for weight loss.
Throwing up after eating – Frequently disappears after meals or goes to the bathroom. May run the water to disguise sounds of vomiting or reappear smelling like mouthwash or mints.
Compulsive exercising – Follows a punishing exercise regimen aimed at burning calories. Will exercise through injuries, illness, and bad weather. Works out extra hard after bingeing or eating something “bad.”
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Warning Signs Of Anorexia
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There are many signs of anorexia like dramatic weight loss in a relatively short period of time, Obsession with weight and complaining of weight problems (even if “average” weight or thin), and Obsession with calories and fat content of foods.
They are just few of many signs of anorexia. The best thing you can do is find its treatment before it something bad will happen to you.
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It does sound like you are anorexic, or at the very least not far from it. I’m in my 40’s but in my youth I went through both anorexia and bulimia. What got me through those times were my friends.
You really need some PROFESSIONAL advice. In the mean time: Ignore mirrors, they lie, if you want to see how your body looks, take a photo instead. A part of the weight loss thing can be trying to make yourself look fit, but the extreme weight loss gets rid of any tone you might expect to have, so get a photo of someone with the body you desire, and look objectively at what and how you need to change to reach something approaching that look. Go out of your way to eat at least two main meals in the company of others.
This last one is going to sound a little strange but it worked for me. One of my friends suggested that I get involved in something that (legally) involved me being seen in public in a minimum of clothing. It’s a great reality check meaning you have to see yourself a being reasonably fit (and not just skinny) to be willing to do it.
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Typically, anorexia is a mindset where you begin to slowly starve yourself (or just go straight to starving.) to get skinny.
Is that what you’re doing?
Because you might be unconsciously doing it too.
This part – I’m not totally sure about, but even if you’re unconsciously doing it, such as starving/eating little to get skinnier, it’s anorexia.
you’d have better luck at a theʀᴀᴘιsт or maybe your doctor.
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These are the symptoms of an eating disorder.
-Feel guilty when eating certain foods.
-Sneak food or eat large amounts on the spur of the moment
-Prefer not to eat in front of other people
-Stop going to fun events because there might be fattening foods.
-Weigh myself a lot and feel fat even when I’m not
-Often count calories and/or fat grams and worry about what I’ll eat next.
-Try not to eat for a while, and then overeat and feel bad.
-Make myself vomit, use laxatives, or over exercise.
To me it sounds like you may be in the early stages of anorexia and I urge you to seek help from a doctor or health professional.
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Dieting despite being thin – Follows a severely restricted diet. Eats only certain low-calorie foods. Bans “bad” foods such as carbohydrates and fats.
Obsession with calories, fat grams, and nutrition – Reads food labels, measures and weighs portions, keeps a food diary, reads diet books.
Pretending to eat or lying about eating – Hides, plays with, or throws away food to avoid eating. Makes excuses to get out of meals (“I had a huge lunch” or “My stomach isn’t feeling good.”).
Preoccupation with food – Eats very little, but constantly thinks about food. May cook for others, collect recipes, read food magazines, or make meal plans.
Strange or secretive food rituals – Often refuses to eat around others or in public places. May eat in rigid, ritualistic ways (e.g. cutting food “just so”, chewing food and spitting it out, using a specific plate).
Weight loss is viewed as a way to achieve happiness.
Self-esteem is based entirely on how much you weigh and how thin you are.
Is an attempt to control your life and emotions
Becoming thin is all that matters; health is not a concern.
Look at this site: community.livejournal.com/proanorexia
It’s people who ARE anorexic and posting things like “OMG I ATE 350 CALORIES ALREADY, I’M SUCH A FAT FAILURE! “
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people who suffer from eating disorders will never admit it to themselves at first its the hardest thing for them to do
signs usually are
not eating as much and will not eat in front of other people because you are worried they will think your fat
excessive working- out so you can lose weight and be skinny
always worrying about your weight so you are constantly weighing yourself
obsession with food- like always thinking about it and how that sounds good to eat but you can’t eat it or like how what you ate affects your body and beating yourself up over that one little thing
it will affect you by
your hair will get thinner and start to break off more
you will grow more hair in other places like on your face and stuff
you will bruise a lot more easily and start to walk more with a hunch
you will be tired and usually unhappy
antisocial and don’t really feel like going and doing things
its a major problem is very hard to overcome and if you really think you might have an eating disorder you should stop it before it happens
i used to have an eating phobia i had 4 different stomach problems so i was scared that eating was going to make my stomach hurt more so i just wouldn’t eat
it’s the hardest thing to overcome don’t let yourself fall into something like that
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Here are the criteria for a diagnosis of Anorexia according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders:
Source(s): DSM IV -
Well it sounds like you are developing an eating disorder. You should really talk to your doctor about it. The doctor will be able to tell you what your healthy weight should be. Also try talk to a councellor about your self-esteem. Its not healthy to not eat at all, we need food to survive. Also its not healthy to have bad self-esteem. Its really important to catch this as soon as possible because it will turn into a life long addiction. It will then lead to illnesses, your organs will begin to shut down, bone degeneration, and then death. For yourself and the people who love you, please get this looked after. Good luck.
