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Is there such a thing as fake anorexia?
My friend says she has been anorexic before, but right now she isn't. I don't really believe her. She tells me how she hasn't eatten in four days or whatever and how she constantly works out. She never eats real big meals in front of me or any of our other friends. She will eat like an apple or something for the entire day at school, and then she goes to basketball or soccer practice for three hours or the gym. And when sports aren't in season she will run 10 miles after school. Now, I don't mean this to sound mean but 10 miles is a long way and she isn't exactly a slight person, another reason why I don't think she is anorexic. But if she really didn't eat and she really did work out as much as she says she does she would be dead. And my other friend that has actually battled with anorexia never said anything about her not eating, she would always try to cover it up. And when we tell my friend that she needs to eat she just laughs and thinks its like funny. I think she just likes attention. What is your opinion? Does she sound anorexic? What can i do if she is just an attention hog?
She might have had a problem in the past and feels that she might revert back to her old habbits and needs support. She might have a medical problem (thyroid) that may be deceptive about her looks.
She sounds like she wants attention. She probably feels bad about her body and wants her friends to think that she is going to extremes to fix it so you don't think she's lazy or w/e
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Dear kaylakiwa,
It would be quite difficult for me to say one way or the other whether your friend was or was not anorexic. The main criterion for being anorexic is an intense fear of gaining weight, distorted body image, body dissatisfaction and being 85% of a normal body weight. So if a person is 5’0” and her body naturally goes to 100 pounds, that person would need to be 85 pounds to be diagnosed anorexic.
Some of the behaviors she reports are anorexic behaviors. Some anorexics do talk about being anorexic, about what they eat and how much they exercise. It’s amazing what the human body can be put through and still survive! What she is telling you is possible.
However, you want to listen to your own intuition. She may be saying some of these things for attention. When individuals need to go to such extreme for attention, they need support, care and understanding. You could try to get to know the person behind all the symptoms. Learn about who she is and what matters to her. If she has difficulty being real and authentic, you could speak to an adult, i.e. parent, school counselor, trusted adult, to see if she could speak to a therapist to address her underlying issues.
To learn more about anorexia, you could visit the bella vita website.
Best,
Dr Patricia Pitts
The Bella Vita
Los Angeles
It would be quite difficult for me to say one way or the other whether your friend was or was not anorexic. The main criterion for being anorexic is an intense fear of gaining weight, distorted body image, body dissatisfaction and being 85% of a normal body weight. So if a person is 5’0” and her body naturally goes to 100 pounds, that person would need to be 85 pounds to be diagnosed anorexic.
Some of the behaviors she reports are anorexic behaviors. Some anorexics do talk about being anorexic, about what they eat and how much they exercise. It’s amazing what the human body can be put through and still survive! What she is telling you is possible.
However, you want to listen to your own intuition. She may be saying some of these things for attention. When individuals need to go to such extreme for attention, they need support, care and understanding. You could try to get to know the person behind all the symptoms. Learn about who she is and what matters to her. If she has difficulty being real and authentic, you could speak to an adult, i.e. parent, school counselor, trusted adult, to see if she could speak to a therapist to address her underlying issues.
To learn more about anorexia, you could visit the bella vita website.
Best,
Dr Patricia Pitts
The Bella Vita
Los Angeles
I think there's a stereotype attached to eating disorders and people think they are all emaciated. That's sooooo not true. In fact, many many many are not. There are so many possibilities that could explain what's going on with your friend. I do think there's something going on though. Even if she is craving attention, she is sure going to extreme measures by not eating and exercising so this tells me there really is something deeper going on. If she's not eating all day, she's probably messed up her metabolism. Personally, when I was in high school, I would go all day without eating anything and was very active with dance team, dance classes, and teaching. What nobody knew was that I was bingeing and purging very late at night. Because of this behavior, I was maintaining a low weight, but one that was not extremely emaciated. There were periods of time though that my weight wasn't even extremely low. I am not suggesting that she is doing this, but if she overeats (not binge, but just eat more from starving all day even) at night and her metabolism is messed up from her behaviors, she may not be at a low weight. Could any of this be true for your friend perhaps?
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