Most people associate eating disorders with thinner bodies, but there are many types of eating disorders that can affect anyone at any size. Some examples include binge eating disorder (BED), bulimia nervosa (BN), and compulsive overeating or obesity.
People develop eating disorders for many different reasons. It may be because they feel bad about themselves due to poor body image or weight issues. This could be from over-evaluating their own looks or others’ looks.
It could also be because someone else in the family has an eating disorder. In this case, genetics play a big role in whether you get it as well.
Some mental health conditions can make you have an eating disorder. For instance, depression and anxiety can cause you to eat more than normal to calm your nerves.
There is some evidence that stress can contribute to eating problems as well. People who experience frequent life changes and stressful situations may find that they need to adjust how much food they have due to worries related to money, work, or home life.
Loss of interest in eating
When you lose your desire to eat, it can feel like your body is rejecting what you give it. You may notice that you are not hungry at all, or if you do try to eat, it takes a long time for you to finish what you set aside for yourself.
You might also have trouble feeling full from food. It could be because you don’t want to consume as much as you usually would, or you don’t seem to enjoy the foods that you normally like, but instead find them boring or taste bad.
Another thing that people who experience loss of appetite say they note is that their thoughts about food become very negative. They think about how little money they have, how thin they are, or things of this nature.
It is important to remember that while these thoughts likely contribute to developing an eating disorder, they are not caused by one.
Symptoms such as weight gain or weight loss occur well before someone develops an ED. Therefore, trying to avoid thinking about food or limiting what and how much you eat will only make the problem worse.
Narrowing of eating habits
A person who experiences early symptoms of anorexia may begin to notice that they is not hungry, or feels very tired after eating a small meal. They may also start to feel fat due to their body’s natural fluid retention in order to keep them well-fed.
Another symptom is when someone with anorexia starts to worry about how much food they have consumed. If you are struggling with anorexia nervosa, trying to remember how many meals you ate can make you more anxious.
It is important to note that these symptoms are not cause for concern unless your behavior changes markedly and your weight drops drastically. (If you decide to try to lose some weight, talk to your doctor first.)
In fact, most people will experience some degree of “hunger pangs” before every meal as their bodies work to get back into regulation mode. Having normal hunger patterns like other people does not mean that you do not have enough nutrition, it means that your body is functioning normally.
Avoiding eating
A person with anorexia nervosa may go up to one week without eating, sometimes called time-restricted feeding. This is when you are allowed to eat only certain foods for a set amount of time, such as one hour per meal.
People with this condition can become very focused on their diets, trying different foods that they think would not satisfy their hunger pangs.
They also might exercise or spend time exercising to burn off more calories. But if they do not feel hungry, they will stop eating and experiencing normal hunger sensations.
Drinking lots of water helps keep your body hydrated, which makes people feel fuller. If someone with anorexia nervosa does not feel thirsty, she should be given adequate amounts of water to drink.
This way, she will have feeling full from drinking instead of eating. People with this disorder often worry about getting enough nutrition by only eating small portions of food, so they try to take supplements or use special nutritional drinks instead.
Not eating enough
Sometimes, even though you’re trying to eat healthy foods and exercise regularly, your body doesn’t seem to agree. You start to feel hungry all the time, but you don’t want to eat because you think you shouldn’t be hungry since you just ate an hour ago.
You may also have trouble feeling full from food due to health conditions like diabetes or obesity. Or, your appetite can be affected by stress, sleep issuesor symptoms of other medical conditions.
If this sounds familiar, it could mean something is wrong.
It could be that you are developing an eating disorder. This means you have specific behaviors directed towards food or weight that go beyond what would be considered normal habituation to dieting.
These types of habits can become more intense, longer lasting and/or compulsive. They can easily overtake your life and make it hard to function at work and home.
Muscle loss
A lot of people worry about weight gain, but what if we told you that your body is trying to help you lose some weight?
When you develop an eating disorder, your body goes through a process called muscle wasting or atrophy. This happens when your muscles are no longer being used due to lack of food or exercise.
Your digestive system works hard to break down and use up all the nutrients in your diet, so there’s not as much left over for your muscles to use. And since individuals with eating disorders often suffer from nutritional deficiencies, their bodies end up running out of fuel needed to keep muscles alive.
This can result in significant weight loss because your muscles will start to waste away. Sometimes this can go unnoticed, especially early on, because people who love you may not recognize the signs of disordered eating habits.
BMI – or “body mass index”- isn’t always able to tell whether or not someone has an eating disorder.
Mood changes
Another clue to identify if your friend or loved one is developing an eating disorder is if they show signs of changing their mood. They may become angry easily, irritable with you, and/or start arguing frequently about insignificant things.
They may also seem distracted more often than normal and forget what they were talking about minutes before. It’s important to remember that it takes a lot of effort to maintain an eating disorder.
So when you notice these symptoms in someone who has previously shown no significant behavior change, it should make you concerned.
It could be a warning sign that something bad may happen.
Confidence issues
Starting to feel uncomfortable with your body is probably one of the first things that you notice when you look in the mirror or watch yourself on TV or YouTube.
You may even start noticing little signs like looking into the bathroom mirror for longer than usual, trying on lots of different clothes sizes, or feeling self-conscious about having certain features.
It’s easy to think that you’re just not liking what you see but actually having an eating disorder can go much deeper.
Other symptoms include feelings such as fear, anger, sadness, frustration and worry which are all related to food.
These emotions can make you want to eat more so you either need to learn how to control your hunger or buy extra snacks to satisfy it. You might also have trouble sleeping because you’re preoccupied by thoughts about food. Finally, people often notice changes in personality due to the way the person eats.
Thinness as a symbol of worth
For individuals with eating disorders, being thin is always a main focus. Thin people are admired and envied, which can contribute to developing unhealthy dieting or weight loss behaviors.
For example, someone who places importance on being thinner might use food as a way to feel better about themselves. They may even begin restricting their diets or starving themselves in order to lose weight.
When you place emphasis on something, you usually try to achieve that thing. For these individuals, they often begin trying different things to lose weight.
Some of these strategies include taking more exercise, limiting calorie intake, or both. Unfortunately, this sometimes has a negative impact outside of the eating disorder.
People will notice the changes in your appearance and question whether you are healthy. This could be very stressful for someone with an eating disorder.
It also raises concerns about if you are trying to hurt yourself.
