Am I Anorexic?

I'm 16 years old and I'm 5 ft. 4 and i weigh 102 pounds. i started out as wanting to lose weight and i finally got to where i wanted: 115. Now I'm still losing weight and I'm not even trying! I don't eat breakfast, and I sometimes forget to make my lunch for school, but still. I'm scared. Any advice for me?

I'm 24 and have always hated my body since i was 14. For ten years now i have battled my weight. At 15 i stopped eating and excessively exercised and at 5ft 6 i dropped from 8st to 6st within eight months.

I continued this for over a year and i passed out and became very ill, i thought i over came it and began to eat, but always on a diet. i never went past 8st for the past 10 years and now even that weight is making me feel fat.

i have a son and i am in a long relationship which i am happy in. i have secretly started to diet again after two years of eating rather well. i am eating less than 500 kcals a day, walking 10 miles a day and not stopping.

i have lost three pounds in a week, and it makes me feel great, but i know it's bad too. I'm too scared to get help as i don't look anorexic, just slimmish, and I'm not too underweight that i will be ill. i think i will be able to control my diet, so i don't go too far and just lose one or two more pounds, but i have a little voice telling me that won't happen.

Hello I'm chanice

I've not long turned 16. I've not had a problem with my weight till about five months ago when i did weigh 120 pounds and was 5'4 but i thought i was fat, but i was a girl who never really put on weight until october 2009 and i didn't care what i was eating until i stepped on the scales and my weight was 121 pounds in august 2010 and thought i needed to diet but i didn't think anything was working so i didn't eat rubbish food, but kept a good diet, but i still didn't notice any change in myself.

My mum also had the same problem so she brought a treadmill and since then, well, I've not had any periods for four months either. I just didn't eat altogether and my friends and family began to notice weight loss but not me.

Since september, I've lost 2 stone and that leaves me down to 90 pounds. My height is 5'6 but i still keep thinking I'm fat. My parents took me to the doctors and they gave me a blood test and it came back fine, but I've lost even more weight since then and I've been transferred to a hospital for anorexics and think it's of waste of time as i still think I'm fat.

I eat a breakfast bar a day and some days i don't eat anything, but i still then exercise every day, with or without food inside me.

I'm constantly on about food and count calories. My family are skinny and healthy anyway. That runs in the family but i disagree with it. My dad buys me food i ask for. he thinks I'm eating the food but I'm not. i chew it and spit it out. if i did eat a meal when i get forced to as it upsets my mum, i make my self sick only a bit till i feel happy with myself.

i do feel bad inside even though the food does fill me up even the little bits that i would eat, but at the end of the day i count up what I've had which is enough and i jump on the treadmill burn it all off and workout every day.

I think I've got big hips and thighs and bum, but you can see my ribs and see I'm not well in the face either but when i look in the mirror i see me as fat. it makes me cry. i don't go out. i stopped going to college and everything altogether. When i do eat something little, the next day i weigh myself (every day, twice a day) i seem to put on a pound. You have to eat at least 3,000 kcal a day to put on a pound.

i eat less then 100 calories a day so i don't see how I've put it on this. also makes me not eat for days but I'm still on the treadmill.

My mum when she was 19 did go though the same thing for five years and was eating a packet of crisps day and she was getting down to 5 stone which is good but she got help and now she is healthy person but with me i don't know what to do?

I'm 5'6'' and i was a little less than 100 pounds a while ago. i started treatment and they told me i couldn't exercise anymore. i don't really think i was anorexic, i just wasn't eating enough and all i wanted was a flat stomach. i love running and i do cross country. i stopped getting my period seven months ago. i really want to exercise but if i do will it actually hurt me?

@anon136508: I'm just wondering why you don't know if you are anorexic or not if you have been hospitalized for it twice? I go on this site all the time because I like to read about other l people like myself, but I always find it odd when people say they have been diagnosed, or hospitalized etc. for anorexia and then they ask If they have it or not. Anyway, that's just my opinion.

I'm 14 and I'm worried i could be anorexic and i want to find some help so i don't hurt anyone around me, especially my mum because she would blame herself and feel that it's her fault.

I've been accused of being anorexic a lot by friends and family and i have apparently lost a lot of weight but i don't see it and lately I've felt fatter then ever and in photos i can see my bones but when i look in the mirror i look completely different -- like a massive lump. Even my little brother and sister can pick me up and they are like half my age.

i have only just realized that i haven't been eating much and I'm lucky if i even eat a meal a day. For example, all I've eaten today is a third of a stir fry and that filled me up completely so that will be all i eat today.

Am i anorexic or not? and if i am where could i get help?

I'm 15 years old and i am 5ft.2 inches. My weight is 37 kilograms. I admit i don't eat very much but i don't eat any less either. I eat as much as required. But yet i don't get fat. I don't know if I am anorexic or not but I'm the thinnest girl in my class but i want to become healthy.

Doctors say i will become fat one day -- i don't have to worry about it. And i was thin since i was two years old and when i was born my weight was just a little below normal. So the doctors said it is nothing to worry about.

I was healthy when i was a year old and after that i became thin. I don't like being thin. Everybody teases me.

I'm good in sports and all so what problem do i have? Am i anorexic? What should i do? Please help me.

Dear anon136508,: I think that you are anorexic and it seems as if you are trying to be because you restricted your diet. I am the same way. I'm 5 feet 4inches and i weighed 71 pounds when i went to the doctor the other day.

I'm going to pray that me and you get better and will not want to lose weight, but become healthy. You are beautiful the way you are and you don't need to change that. God made and he loves you the way you are, so why change? One day he's coming to get those who have trusted and believed in him. So pray. It is always the best way or method when you are having a hard time.

God will listen to you and answer your prayers if you have faith in him. He loves you. Have a good day!

I'm 15, almost 16. I'm 6"0 and weigh 120-130 (i find it odd that my weight can fluctuate 10 pounds). It's not that i think I'm fat; i know I'm overly skinny. You can see my ribs when i lie on my back with my shirt off. It looks as if I'm a starved body lying somewhere in the desert or something.

It's not that i don't want to eat (although i have ignored hunger for over a day just because of a lack of appetite). When i do eat, i just can't eat enough to gain any weight. Sometimes i can take a few bites and feel like if i take another I'd throw up, yet I'm still hungry at the same time.

I've been called anorexic before and everyone realizes I'm underweight and comments on it. it seems that i can eat quite a lot when i smoke cannabis but since that's illegal I've recently stopped and sometimes after smoking and eating quite a lot of food i feel as if i need to try to lose what weight i gained even though i know I'm too skinny. Am i anorexic?

I am 18 years old and have been hospitalized for anorexia twice. Around september I lost about 15 pounds and was back down to be 100 lbs. I became inspired to gain weight from my classes, my friends, my family and my treatment team. So now I'm back up to 115 and I'm feeling terrible about myself and all I want to do is lose weight.

The problem is that I sometimes think that I'm not anorexic. I relapse and then regain all the time. I look at pictures of skinny girls on pro ana sites, and look at my pictures of my friends from the hospital and I feel like a failure. I feel like I'm not a real anorexic.

I want to restrict my diet so that I can be skinny, but I know that if I do then I will be giving up my life. Do you think I am anorexic? I'm not sure.

I'm a 16, nearly 17 year old girl. I'm 5ft 8 and about six months ago I used to weigh 9 stone 10, which was my ideal weight for my height but i felt and looked so fat.

I stopped eating fast foods all together and when I started losing weight I felt so happy. I just wanted to lose more and more. Now I weigh 7 stone 13, which I've been told is underweight for my height. But I want to lose even more weight.

If I eat anything that's bad for me, like a little piece of chocolate I feel so guilty I could cry. I constantly weigh myself every day and I'm not satisfied with how i look until i can see my rib cage -- which i can.

I don't know how to stop because this is turning serious.

I am 16 years old and 5' 10" i am currently at 135 lbs and i want to get to 120. A week ago i was 144 lbs and then i jokingly made this deal with my mom that if she stopped yelling i would stop eating junk food and all week each day i ate about three clementines and chicken and an apple or pear but sometimes i skip the apple or pear.

this is not my first time like this. i often go for a few days and drop a few pounds then stop, but i have never made this much progress so quickly. no one knows that i feel this way or that i eat like that and i always want food but i never want to actually eat it. i think/ hope this new diet sticks for me because nothing else seems to and i set smaller goals in order reaching to it, for example i want to be lower than 135 by christmas and then lower than 140 by jan 2 and then 120 by feb 14 because i have xc ski season then and i need to eat before races and i want to look skinny and toned for when we go to florida.

i wouldn't say i have anorexia but i honestly do think i will easily achieve this and i am considering lowering my goal weight. i haven't yet done this but i really really want to and know i can without binging or something (i would never purge as a habit but do about once a week if i eat something fattening in front of my family or friends).

I also start acting very much like a perfectionist but i don't expect others to be perfect but i will take nothing less for myself. does this mean i have and ED? if so, what is it called?

I have some questions and if anyone can answer them please do. I am anorexic, and i know that i need to gain weight but that's hard for me to understand, because i still think I'm fat.

I weigh 72 pounds and i am 5ft 4 in. Am i fat? My legs, arms and tummy feel big to me. How can i feel better about myself? I also always start to cry when i eat out somewhere or i eat a meal at home but i don't want to. I don't know why i do this. Any advice? thank you.

I am 14 years old. My height is about 5,2-5,4 and i weigh 100 pounds or less. i always have a mild to really bad headaches that just don't go away. do i have some kind of eating disorder or something?

@anon133904: Yes in fact, I have experienced all of the things you are talking about. You see for me, I go through phases where I "have" to be skinny and then after a while I'm like: " ya know what? I. Don't. Care!" if you're anything like me then you probably won't take this advice, but if you need or want to lose weight then you should eat healthy and exercise. You should never fast.

Ii does work and I have seen the results, but unfortunately I never give it enough time to actually produce the results I want. It is slower and I don't have to patience! Right now I have an English muffin in the morning after I run up the mountain by my house with our tenant (every morning before school). I'm still not skinny, but this is the first time you can see my ribs without me sucking in.

Fasting will also make you lose weight in weird unnatural places (ribs hips collarbone etc.) so if you're trying to get a flat stomach, or lose fat on your hips, it'll be the last to go. And it's weird because I know all of this, but I still do it.

Yestrday I bent over in front of the mirror and my spine stuck out and I felt so happy! I started laughing. I mean I'm 14 years old, that's crazy man! Anyway, hope I helped you a bit. Oh, and drinking lots of water might put a few pounds on but I'm not sure, I've never tried. -meghan

I read that you have to be underweight to be anorexic. Is this true?

Hey Meghan! Thank you so much for replying. The thing for me is that I do not want to be/become anorexic because I know it can be life threatening, but I need to lose weight, well I really want to.

A month ago my mom and I went to see a nutritionist (because I am a vegetarian) and I had lost weight. She was concerned so now I have to go back in a few days for a weight check I know for a fact I have lost more weight.

I have no idea what to do. I am going to drink a lot of water that day and hope to gain some weight. Do you have any ideas? I am not ready to admit this to anyone I know personally and I am afraid if I do, It will become impossible to lose weight. I feel that today was even worse. I exercised a lot and I barely ate anything. This afternoon I was baking and the food was repulsive to me.

My stomach will growl, but I do not feel hungry. I also have bags under my eyes and I never used to. I am always cold also and feel really tired and sometimes dizzy. I feel like it is getting more serious and part me wants to stop while the other knows I can't because I need to lose weight. Do you ever experience or feel the things I do?

@Anon133717/133721: I posted here before, twice actually (Meghan). I'm not an amypollick answer but I just wanted to let you know that you sound a *lot* like me and the amypollick person told me that I should talk to someone and that I was, and if not, then quite close to being anorexic.

It definitely sounds like you are anorexic because you are doing all of the things I am doing. Anyway, I don't really have any answers for you. In fact, most of your questions are mine too, but I check this site all the time so if you need someone to "talk" to, I'm here. You can read my postings: anon120443 / 121062.

I just posted as - anon133717 and i forgot to add that I weigh myself twice a day and I get extremely upset If I have gained a pound so I make myself eat even less than I normally do.

My friends at school sometimes try to force me to eat and I make a million excuses. I also lie to my parents that I eat lunch and a good breakfast. When I started losing weight I would sometimes have a snack when I came home but now I can barely finish an apple and after dinner I also feel so full. I also always want to eat alone so I can hide the food I do not eat and then flush It down the toilet.

I also spend so much time on the internet reading about calories and how to lose weight, etc. I am in my normal weight range and I want to be 86 lbs, the lowest I can be without being underweight but I feel like that will never happen because I am so fat compared to my super skinny friends. Well, please answer my questions about if I am burning fat or muscle, and If you think I am anorexic. Thank you again.

I don't know if i am anorexic. I am 13, 5 feet 2 inches, and weigh 97 lbs. A few months ago i was 108.7 lbs. I fake eating a good breakfast and don't eat anything usually, until a low calorie dinner.(skip lunch)I probably eat 500 calories a day. I feel so fat. Like my stomach feels so fat and bloated all the time and i just want to be skinny.

I stopped getting my period and i play soccer and basketball and will run on the treadmill. however, i don't over exercise. At least I do not think so. I am really confused. I want to be at least 95 lbs. I always have to read labels for any food I eat and I have tried to make myself throw up sometimes after eating a large dessert but have only been successful two times.

Some nights I will have a little dessert so i don't know if i am anorexic. However, I do restrict a lot of food and I am a vegetarian.

Could you please tell me if I am anorexic. Also, I am concerned that I am just losing muscle instead of fat because my body is in "starvation mode." Could this be true? Thanks.

i am a 16 year old girl. I'm 5'7 and just recently went from 135 lbs to 120 lbs. i want to get down to 110, but I'm afraid the only way i can do that is to starve myself. I'm really self conscious about my body, but I'm not anorexic. at least i don't think. i normally eat 1-2 small meals a day at the most. is that okay? I'm just very confused. can anybody help?

@Anon132070: Prayers going up for you right now. God bless you.

i weigh 71 lbs and i am 5 foot 4 inches. my mom and dad are worried about me and they make me eat a lot when i am with them.

i like to eat but i feel sick after i eat and my tummy growls after i eat. i sometimes don't eat at school because i feel good when i don't eat. i know that i need to gain weight but something inside me is telling me that my legs are fat so i exercise them every chance i have.

i love God and I am a christian so if anyone reads this please just pray for me while i will do the same. thank you.

I haven't been eating lunch at school for three years. I'm almost 13 and I'm 5'5 and I weigh 140 and my mom says I'm not fat for my bone size. I'm a healthy weight but I just look fat to me.

Everyone used to say I'm fat and ugly and they still do. All my friends look skinny compared to me so I just don't eat in public. I sort of stopped growing like last year and it scares me a bit.

At home I force myself to eat so my mom doesn't think there is anything wrong with me. I eat a mini bagel in the morning and I eat whatever there is for dinner. I tell her I eat lunch. At school I just can't eat. Even if I get lunch and it's something I love (like mandarin oranges) then I just can't eat it. My stomach starts to feel sick then goes away a few minutes later.

It's kind of hard to exercise but I think it's just because I'm out of shape. Am I anorexic or just too embarrassed to eat?

@anon130868:

You'll probably lose much more weight on other places than your thighs and your bum, because that's just the way your body is. You're 13, you've hit puberty and you're obviously going to start getting curves and such so that's maybe why, compared to your friends', your thighs may look a bit bigger, but just wait a few years and and your friends will look exactly the same.

By time you've lost "enough" weight on your thighs and your bum, your arms might look like sticks.

By starving yourself you, in fact, lose muscle faster than fat, actually. Your heart is a muscle as well, and if you keep on starving yourself, your heart could fail. You should read more articles about anorexia on the internet and about what it does to your body.

What you need to do is get on a healthy diet. Get the necessary calories (at least 2000), snack on fruits and veggies and if you want to do something about your thighs and your bum, try jogging or rope skipping. Go jogging three times a week and trust me, you'll notice a difference after a few weeks. You might gain some weight from exercising but it's because you converted fat to muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat, but it takes up less space and looks much better.

And please, do talk to someone about this. Good luck!

I just started starving myself a week ago, and i am now anorexic. I want help, but at the same time i don't, i don't want to eat. Last night, i felt my body was weak and i started shaking and i was dizzy, like my face and head weren't tired but my body was.

Anyway, I'm 13 years old, weigh 104 right now and trying to be 100. I'm 5'3. The only thing is that i don't want to lose weight anywhere on my body but my thighs, it's just my butt and thighs i want to lose!

I've been eating a salad and fruit a day with maybe a little bread with jam or something on it because i don't have control at night on what i eat so i pig out. too many cravings.

@Morgan: thank you so much for the advice! I do have few questions but I'll just ask one right now because I'm in a rush.

OK so what I understand is that you stop getting your period after really serious anorexia that has lasted for a long time. Well after I lost my period the first time I can stop getting it whenever I want (it came back). All I have to do is go hardcore anorexic for a week or so and it's gone for that month.

Also, I sort of take it in phases if that makes any sense. This week I'm going to be skinny. this week I'm going to be fat but i still exercise, obviously. Is this what happened to you? Or is it different for everybody? Will my period eventually stop forever even if I start eating again?

Thank you so much for your support. looking forward to your reply. jena

Where do I belong? i starved to 84 lbs. once. I am 5'4 Then I was steady at 108 and happy then the rain came and so did my weight. I went back up to 112-114 a stayed there for a while until things began to crash and burn once more, panicky faster, xanax, celexa as shelter. Now I'm 96 pounds. within three months I have lost 20 lbs. What do they call his. What should I do with myself?

I think i really need help. I am 20 years of age, my height is 5'8 and i weigh 44kg. I am so skinny that whenever I am walking everyone's eye is on me and especially that I am an African and well, Africans like the fat people not thin ones. what do i do to add weight the healthy way. Please help.

@Jena: My name is Morgan, and I am currently being hospitalized for an eating disorder. I am 5'4, and I weigh 86 pounds. I do think you should talk to somebody Recovery is the hardest thing you will ever go through, but it's worth it. I think that anyone who thinks they might have an eating disorder should seek help, and it's not hard or awkward, and nobody has to know. Just look up physiatrists in your area that specialize in eating disorders.

You only have to sit down once or twice with them and discuss your worries with them.

Also, people of any age can have eating disorders, which not many people know. I have many some friends at the facility where I am being treated, some who are 15 and 16, but many who are between the ages of 40 and 60. There is even one woman there who is 75.

Also, anorexia is a lifetime battle! Catch up with me when I'm 65 and I'll still have that little voice in my head telling me I'm fat. The difference is, though, that by then I'll be able to ignore it and say I'm not fat, I'm perfect.

I am going to check this blog continually after this, so if you have any questions, post and I'll answer! -- Morgan

I am 21 years old, i am 5ft 4inches and i currently weigh less 84lbs. the most I've ever weighed is 100lbs but the thing is i can't seem to keep the weight. my average weight is 90lbs.

i have a friend who is a gym instructor and he provided me with some routines that i can do to build my body as well as eating foods that are high in calories, and this helped me to achieve the 100lbs weight goal but then i just seem to lose it all off.

I have developed a bad habit where i only eat once for the entire day, and i feel sick oftentimes. i don't believe i am anorexic. i have struggled with gaining weight for as long as i can remember. as a child i was never skinny.

@Jena: Anyone who weighs 97 pounds and is 5'6 is not fat. That's a fact. That's getting toward the underweight category, according to the BMI calculator.

But what I've said here before, and what you have to remember is that anorexia is between your ears. It's a skewed perception of yourself. It has very little basis in how you actually, physically look.

Your parents obviously care a great deal about you. They're not just being silly or overprotective. They are seeing a dangerous trend starting and want to stop it before you are physically harmed by this disorder.

So now we have the big question: when do you stop being fat? How much weight will you have to lose until you're not fat anymore? 90 pounds? 80 pounds? 75 pounds? You see, as soon as you reach the desired goal, you have to set a new goal of weight loss. It won't matter that your periods have stopped, your hair is breaking off, your bones are brittle, you have a fine hair covering your body because it's trying to keep warm. You'll be able to count your ribs, your vertebrae, see the division of your tibia and fibula bones in your lower legs, see your kneecap in sharp relief, but it still won't be enough. There will always be another five or 10 pounds to lose. Because this disorder has nothing to do with how much you actually weigh. It has everything to do with self-perception.

Jena, do yourself a huge favor and get that counseling. I don't know if you're depressed, but you're not happy, that's for sure. Untreated, anorexia is a death sentence. I'm not being overly dramatic. The statistics are there. The victims' photos are all over the internet. It is *fatal.*

You're 13 and you deserve more from life than watching yourself waste away, and being a slave to a mirror that lies to you. Please get the help you've been offered. I'll be thinking about you and praying for you. Take care.

My name's jena. I'm 13 and I know I have a problem. Or so my folks say. Anyway, I don't eat, to put it straight up and if I do it's only if I have run up the mountain next to our house before school. I'm fat. I've got a muffin top.

My mom says I'm way too skinny and they both try to force food in me every morning. I weigh 97 pounds And I don't understand how I can weigh that little for someone 5"6 and still be fat. I hate it.

I'm just fat and ugly. I'm always angry and my parents think I have some sort of depression issue too, but I told them if they sign me up for counseling they're wasting their money because I won't talk.

We had parent teacher conferences a few weeks ago and all my teachers said that I had no confidence in my abilities and that's why my parents are freaking out so I decided to research anorexia. Am I sort of on the right page here? Well some advice would help. thanks.

I am not sure if I am anorexic or not. I know, that sounds dumb, but I don't fit the stereotypical anorexic image. I don't exercise-hate it in fact, and I don't count calories. I do have a fear of getting fat, but it's not as life-controlling as other people's. I tend to not be hungry, which may be a physical condition, but I'm not sure.

Most foods I smell make me feel nauseous, and I just genuinely don't want to eat. I don't count calories, and I love eating chocolate, but if I do eat a lot of chocolate, I'll starve myself the next meal. I'm pretty sure half of why I do this is for the attention when I do eat or don't, but I think it's more than that, since I really don't like to eat most foods. Am I anorexic?

This is anon121114, I decided to register.

I forgot something in my post. Since that "phase" that I mentioned, I've been having digestion problems. I've been congested and I've been having diarrhea and stomachaches sometimes as well. Does anyone know what that's all about?

Thanks again.

@Meghan: Yes, even though you're scared to talk to your mom about it, it's still more than half the battle. Maybe it would help if you told someone else you could trust, who could go with you to talk to your mom: a friend's mom, aunt, cousin, someone? Your mom loves you and wants you to be healthy and happy above everything.

As for some of the issues you've been having... Could they be a result of your eating habits? Yes. Are they? I am not a doctor, so I can't tell you for sure. You asked about the internal organ damage. That's absolutely true. The reason is because starvation throws the body into survival mode. It will consume whatever it needs to consume for energy, and that includes your internal organs. The bone loss is because of nutritional deficiencies. If you're not eating, you're not getting enough calcium and Vitamin D to sustain healthy bone and your body has all it can do to just keep you alive, without expending the energy to make more bone cells.

There are a lot of images on the Internet of women who have been diagnosed with anorexia. And you know what? Even though, to our eyes, they look like walking skeletons, they still thought they were fat before they died. That's why you absolutely need to get to your mom and get to a counselor. Untreated anorexia always, always leads to death. That's the irony of it. Someone who is 60 pounds overweight may be able to maintain that status for years and years without any problems, and indeed, may never have any problems. Anorexics, who are terrified of being "fat," and can't stand the thought of it, who exercise compulsively and monitor every bite, kill themselves in roughly a tenth of the time. It's an ugly, agonizing death.

Talk to your mom or someone you trust. Get the help you need, now. You're young and at this point, the damage is probably reversible. Good luck to you.

I am 16, male, and I would like to know what you think of my behavior.

First of all, I'm 173cm tall and weigh about 54kg. I think that's a healthy weight. I would like to know if I have an eating disorder or if I could be becoming anorexic. I don't think I'm anorexic because I still eat.

I work out seven days a week and if I can't work out for a day or two, I feel fat and lazy. I've been jogging for about 50 minutes almost every day for over a year and I actually have a six pack now, but I think my stomach isn't flat enough when I look at it. If I look in a mirror, I can see my six pack but if I just look at myself I still feel too heavy and fat. People say that I'm very thin and look good, but I just don't see why.

I eat normally, usually four times a day. I'm scared of becoming anorexic so I always say to myself that as long as I eat, nothing's going to happen. So I do still eat, but sometimes I need to force myself to do so.

Also, there was one phase about a year ago, where I basically started eating less and starving myself and at the end of that phase I weighed 47kg. My mother was worried about me, she said I looked like a skeleton. At some point I fortunately started eating normally again and gained the weight back again, but the actual problem (which is that I just don't feel well with my body) is still there.

I seem to be disgusted by food like pizza. You can see the yellow fat swimming on top of it. If I have lunch in a pizzeria over the weekend with my dad, I need to force myself to eat.

Another strange one of my habits is that I don't really like eating in public. I'm the first one to get up in the morning, just so I can eat alone. I eat less when someone is watching me. It's like I don't want people to make comments about how much I eat. Is that a normal behavior?

I've also tried to make myself throw up after eating sometimes, but fortunately, I've never managed to do it.

I would like to know if I have an eating disorder or if I'm just being a silly teenage boy. If I'd try to talk to my parents about it, they'd say I'm just being silly. I can't talk to my friends about it because I don't have any friends. I know a lot of people but they're not my friends. (Then again, who am I trying to please?) Thanks.

It's Meghan, again. I'm not sure if this is a site where you're supposed to make more than one post but I really wanted to reply to the person who answered mine. If I am talking to them right now, thank you so much and if I am talking to someone else could you could read my other post to understand what I'm talking about(anon120443).

I've been researching things on anorexic people and it says that they get bone loss and their organs disintegrate and so on. Is this true and could it happen to me? I know I can't stop now.

You said earlier that I've already beat half the battle by admitting I have a problem. But I've only admitted it to myself and every time I think about admitting it to my mom I get so scared and I don't even know why so is that really half the battle?

Last night I ate my dinner but I felt sick after and today I wasn't even hungry but I ate an apple. Also, my hands and feet are always freezing. I had to wear mittens and slippers in the house today. Does that have anything to do with my disorder? Or am I just getting sick or something? I'm so scared.

Please reply whoever is reading this. It's greatly appreciated.

@Meghan: Talk to your mom. Please. If she was willing to arrange counseling for you once, she can again. She obviously loves you and wants you to be healthy.

Why didn't the teenage boy choose you? Because he's a stupid teenage boy. There are one or two exceptions, but as a rule, teenage boys aren't worth spitting on. By and large, they're nasty, horny, crude, rude, lewd and socially unacceptable. There are, as I said, a few exceptions, but in general, teenage boys are a completely worthless group of people. Don't waste your time on them. They often aren't worth a dime until they're 25 or older. Why do you think every kind of insurance costs about twice as much for males under age 25 than it does for females under 25? Because, in general, they cannot be trusted to walk across the street by themselves. Stay away from them at least until you're in college.

Having said that, please talk to your mom and get some counseling. You know your behavior isn't healthy and that's more than half the battle. Good luck and let us know how you're doing.

My name is Meghan. I'm 14 years old and I'm pretty sure I have an eating disorder. It started when in was 13 and I started hanging out with boys. My friend and I had been hanging out with one particular boy and I started to like him.

After a month or so I really liked him and I was ready to ask him out when he asked out my friend. I kept asking myself, "Why didn't he choose me?" and I could and can only find one answer: because I'm fat and ugly. I weighed 130 pounds and I realized that for 5'6 that was really overweight (even though it wasn't actually) so I went on a diet.

It started with me just not having second helpings to me not eating anything but a handful of dried cooking oats a day. I lost 20 pounds fast and my mom tried to make me eat but I would just dump my oatmeal in a cup while she wasn't looking and then go dump it outside.

At school I would eat nothing and for dinner I put my food in my mouth, then I would pretend to wipe my face with a napkin and spit it out in my hand and sneak my whole dinner to the dog under the table.

I started looking at every skinny or pretty girl and wishing I was like them. The guys I was hanging out with started comparing if me or my friend was heavier by lifting us up on their shoulders. When summer came along I knew I would have to wear a bikini when I went swimming with them.

If we were going swimming on Monday, I would stop eating on Friday to make sure I was extra skinny when they saw my stomach. Then I found out that when you have an eating disorder you don't get your period and I hadn't gotten my period for seven months. My collar bone along with all the bones underneath it and my hips were sticking out and my mom was arranging counseling when I decided I'd gain back enough to get my period back then I'd exercise it off.

I ran up mountains, biked, boxed and dieted. But after a while I decided this was stupid and I should just stop, and I did, until a few weeks ago when I stared hanging out with the girl who rents the cabin on our property. She is crazy pretty and very skinny (from working out) and I feel really fat just being around her. And now it's started again.

I tried puking this time but it just made me cry so I decided to just stick to my diet. I go to school on a half cup of water, eat a granola bar when I get home and pick away at my dinner because I'm trying to be skinny so our renter will notice, I guess. I hate it, having to worry like this but I can't stop.

My mom gave me a cookie with my tea tonight and I spent ten minutes looking at it, deciding whether to eat it or not (I ended up feeding it to the dog). I have huge bags under my eyes and no matter how early I go to sleep they never go away.

My skin is pale and I know I could die from this but I can't stop! I need help but I don't know what to do. Please help me. Since I'm young I'm hoping that this is just a phase and it will pass, but I have a feeling it's not.

I am 15 years old, soon to be 16, and I eat one apple a day and drink a lot of black coffee and water. My best friend thinks I am anorexic, and wants me to seek help, but I'm so frightened that they'll make me eat and I'll get fatter like I used to be.

All of my friends say I am too skinny and my mum is really worried about my eating habits, so sometimes she makes me eat. This makes me feel guilty so I throw it back up when she's not around. Please help me someone.

i am 17 years old and i weigh 96 pounds. i have anemia but i still wouldn't eat. it got to the point where the only thing i care about is my physical look. i want to have a perfect body and that's what matters to me the most. i will get down or disappointed with myself if people tell me am gaining weight. people tell me I am too skinny but i still see me as fat and ugly.

@Anon113969: As I've posted before here, anorexia is a physical manifestation of what's going on between your ears. It's not dependent on how much you weigh.

I don't think you're being silly at all. I think you are certainly developing very unhealthy thought patterns. I am also glad you're still eating. That's very good.

If you feel you can't talk to your mom about what's going on, do you have an aunt, grandmother, or a family friend you can talk to? You know something's not right, which is why you posted here to start with. Your heart is telling you something is going on. Perhaps, if you can speak to someone else you trust, that person can go with you to your mom, so she will understand you are taking this very seriously.

Take care of yourself and good luck.

I'm 17 years old and I weigh 54kg so I am a normal weight. I don't think I have anorexia. I know I don't because I'm not underweight and I do eat.

I think I have something wrong with me but I don't know what it is. I plan my days around what I eat and making sure I have time for gym. All I think about is how many calories is in this or that so how much I need to burn off at gym.

I hate it I feel that I'm constantly thinking about food and gym. I would miss meals and just stop eating but the only reason I don't is because I have read things that say eating regularly helps you lose weight. so I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and rarely snack.

When I look in the mirror, I just want to cry, I feel fat and ugly all the time. my family and friends always tell me I'm so skinny and I don't need to go to the gym and can eat what I want.

I sometimes make my self throw up after I eat, especially if I have been drinking alcohol to get it all out, but I hate the feeling it leaves in my throat.

I don't know what to do. I feel scared to talk about it with my mum because I feel like she will think I'm being silly and not take it seriously. she knows something is not right because I have been refusing to go to work and just lie in bed crying.

I just want to know if I have some sort of eating disorder or if I'm just being silly.

Before I started birth control I had the metabolism that made it so I could eat and eat and eat and not gain a pound. I was always told how lucky I was to be skinny and I've never thought I was fat or had any issues with my weight.

When I started birth control, three months later I had gained 17 lbs, (the freshman 15+ I guess you could say) and my boyfriend at the time flat out told me I was getting fat and that he would not date fat girls. Then my mother started poking at my stomach and told me I was getting a pooch.

Immediately I started dieting, I lost all of the weight and went back down to my 'normal' weight of between 98-100 lbs [I'm 5'0] but now, all I can see is the weight that I had put on before. At this point I'm trying to ignore the feeling, and I'm trying to eat healthy but the want to be thinner is still there.

My lowest was 94.5-95.0 (95 was my original goal but now I don't have one. I only the want to be thinner no matter the number) but on really bad days it seems staying healthy doesn't really matter anymore.

There are sometimes days where I puke up what I eat but I really don't want my teeth to go bad so I don't do it often, plus I hate the way it makes my throat feel and I can never get it quite all out without getting sick of trying to puke right the first time.

I want to ask for help but I already went to see a therapist when I was in seventh grade and my mother thinks I'm better and I really don't want to put her through any more stress.

i am sixteen years old. i have tried and tried and tried, but i can't make myself throw up unless i drink enough alcohol to put down a small horse. and alcohol makes you fatter. i limit myself to 500 calories a day, at the most. 300 is the ideal. i am 5'3", 95 lbs.

my mom thinks I'm dying, but she pretty much leaves me alone because I'm really responsible and i have straight A's.

i can no longer sleep through the night because of nightmares that curl their way into my head at night. i have hollows around my eyes, but that's just from not sleeping.

i know i can stop whenever i want, but my goal is 88.

someone please tell me I'm not insane.

my name is Ryanne. you say it like rain.

My boyfriend and I are on a break, and it's killing me right now. It's supposed to last ten days. Can you be anorexic for only a few weeks?

Ever since Saturday (it's now Wednesday) I haven't eaten much of anything. My last real meal was lunch on Friday. I used to eat all the time, breakfast lunch, dinner and snacks. Now I've got these troubles in my tummy, from the break. So I can't eat, it doesn't appeal to me anymore. if I do eat, i throw it up.

When I brush my teeth, i throw up acid since there's nothing in my stomach to come up. I just washed my hair yesterday, and already it's greasy. My mouth is always dry, and I feel so weak and tired. Could I be becoming anorexic? i used to weigh 137 lbs, now I'm down to 128. I'm 18 and I'm 5'8."

I don't care to share too much information, but, I do have a couple of questions.

My sister(older) has suffered from Anorexia Nervosa, and she still does. My question is, does a family member having it, make you more likely to suffer from it as well?

I'm asking because, about six weeks ago, I would not eat for two weeks straight. I used religion (fasting) as an excuse so that my family would not bug me. But I wasn't doing it to fast, I was doing it because I feel huge (159 pounds) and every time I look in any mirrors, even for a minute, I feel like someone is calling me fat, but in really awful ways.

Then about four weeks ago, I caved to the hunger. No more than 200 calories, but I had to eat. So, directly afterward I purged because I felt horribly guilty. So for the past four weeks I have been eating about 200 calories a day and then directly afterward purging.

I haven't lost much weight, but I am constantly checking the scale. I have also developed a tendency to exercise, (and I hate working out, I even hated gym class).

I have become extremely exhausted, and constantly pained in my sides and chest. I just want to know, can anyone tell me, what's wrong with me?

My name is Lizzie. I have been getting a lot of comments from family and friends saying that I've lost too much weight, and people are starting to ask me if I'm bulimic or anorexic.

I know I'm not bulimic but I never even considered anorexia. Is it possible to be aware of anorexia, but not know that you yourself are anorexic?

Every day I generally eat one small meal a day and if I try to eat anymore I feel incredibly ill in the stomach like I'm going to vomit.

I did stop getting my period for three months about a year ago, but the doctor said it was just "change of lifestyle". Since then I have lost 10kgs. I'm about 165cm and I weigh 45 kgs.

I still think I look the same, I don't think I look any different from before or thin at all but I do admit I get a little bit of satisfaction from restricting myself from food sometimes. But don't all women?

I don't like being a hypochondriac. Peace.

@Livia: I have to disagree with you. I don't think I'm overreacting at all. But allow me to reiterate: anorexia is a mental illness first. Wanting to be thinner is not always anorexia, by any means. Neither is being underweight.

As an athlete, of course you do not want to be overweight, but how much weight can you lose and still be able to cope with the demands of gymnastics and figure skating? And these are extremely demanding sports.

How do your coaches feel about this proposed weight loss? Have you spoken with them about it? Have they suggested you see a dietician or nutritionist so you can lose any weight in a healthy way? Certainly, being slender is important in these sports, but being healthy is even more important, particularly down the road. I mean, when you're 25 and you've been undernourished for years, and your bones are weak and you have premature arthritis, will it all be worth it?

One more thing, Livia: I have to wonder why an article about anorexia makes you so extremely uncomfortable that you have to protest so adamantly that you don't have it -- that you are just committed to being an athlete. I strongly suspect if you didn't wonder this about yourself to start with, you wouldn't have read this article, or the discussion posts, and you certainly wouldn't have replied. As we say in the South: "When you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps the loudest is the one that got hit."

My name is Livia and I think you're a bit overreacting. I am 160cm and weigh 50kg. I'm losing about a half a kg per day. I started from 63 and I am going for 40kg. But that doesn't mean I'm sick. I couldn't care less about how I look. But I'm an athlete and sport requires commitment. I am a figure skater and also a gymnast. Both require me to be as light as I can.

That is the difference I don't care about being thin. I care about being light and short. And if that is going to stop my growth then why not? Seriously, just because someone is "underweight" doesn't mean she/he is sick. It shows how committed a person is.

I think i may be be anorexic. I'm 16, I'm 5 2 and i weigh about 100 pounds. Every time summer hits, it's like i forget to eat. I'll go weeks and realize i haven't eaten anything, but i don't feel sick and i don't get hungry at all. My collarbones pop out, my rib cage is in full view, and eating just makes me feel gross and fat!

All my friends say I'm too skinny, but i don't see myself as that skinny. Is this really that bad? am i going to end up in the hospital? please help.

@Callie: Yes, your problems are almost certainly caused by your caloric intake --or lack thereof. I am not a doctor, but I'd bet my eyeteeth a physician would tell you the same thing.

Here's something many people don't realize: Anorexia has *nothing* to do with weight or body type. It is between your ears, not on your body. Chances are, you won't stop eating the way you're eating when you reach 130. You'll just set a new goal: 120, for instance. Then, at 120, you may well say, "I got to 120. Why not 110?" Then, why not 100?

Getting to a healthy weight is one thing, but not the way you're doing it. You're depriving your body of essential nutrients. Even a woman who weighs what is considered "normal" has weight fluctuations. Water weight gain with the period, for instance. Your weight can vary quite a bit over a month or so.

You are starting down a very dangerous road and I urge you to talk to a doctor, or a nutritionist or dietician to discuss what your body needs to be healthy. Being healthy is so much more important than being thin. And if you're skipping periods and used to have regular cycles, you're in perilous territory. But there's time to reverse the trend. You can still continue to lose weight while eating a healthy, nutritious diet. I lost 80 pounds, but it was through healthy eating and exercise, not starving myself.

Please talk to a health care professional who can give you sane, safe weight loss advice. Your life most certainly depends on it.

Hey my name is Callie, I am 19 years old. Eight months ago I was binge eating and weighted 230 pounds. The day I saw 230 pounds on my scale I decided to lose weight. I would eat on a schedule: not eating for three days then having 300 calories; not eating for four days then having 500 calories.

Now eight months later I weigh 155. I am consuming no more than 200 calories a day now and will continue to do so until I reach 130 pounds. I bought a digital scale and I weigh myself the second I get up, then after I pee, then after I have a bowel movement, after I drink or eat my 200 calories. I am terrified to gain weight but I am not underweight yet so I can't be anorexic, right?

Anyway, I have recently noticed random bruising on my body, lockjaw, constipation, bloating, nausea and missing periods. I had my period last month but not this one. I have begun to take laxatives so that the constipation will go away.

My question is, are all of my problems listed above caused by my diet? If so, is there any way to make them better without increasing my calorie count? Thank you!

I have been really skinny for as long as I can remember, but I seem to be getting skinnier and skinnier as I get older. The most I have ever weighed in my life is probably 95 lbs. and that was when I was 13 or 14 years old. I am currently 17 years old and I weigh 75 lbs. That is definitely, definitely way too skinny, and the worst part is that I am 5'7". It's so horrible. But I dress in a way that I don't look that skinny.

I look very skinny, yes, but not as skinny as your probably picturing me. But I've tried my best to eat and eat and eat but it doesn't do any good. I feel so embarrassed when I go places and people look at me because I know they're talking about me and I just feel like hiding all the time.

I have absolutely no self confidence at all. I need help, seriously. When I eat a lot, I usually gain back 5 pounds or so, but I lose it back very quickly. Is there an easier way for me to gain weight? Someone please help me!

My name is Gee and I think I may be anorexic. I'm 11 and I weigh 35 kg. I'm 5" tall. I've always been really thin, and I stopped eating breakfast. I don't really eat much for lunch and dinner either.

Recently though, I started feeling bloated and fat. I even feel like I want to make myself throw up because I really feel sick. Help!

@Anon100091: I did a little preliminary checking, based on the height and weight you gave. Even for a 12 year old, your Body Mass Index indicates you are significantly underweight.

Let me also put your eating in perspective. Four chicken nuggets equals about 150-200 calories per day. This is not enough to keep a pet rodent alive. A minimum calorie intake is 900 calories.

I'm not a doctor. I cannot diagnose you as anorexic. But something is wrong, here.

When your body is malnourished and in starvation mode, it begins using any available source for energy. This includes bones, organs and muscles. It starts breaking itself down to survive which, as you can imagine, causes even more damage.

Please talk to your dad or someone you trust. You need to see a doctor who can help you. Get the help you need now. Take care and you will be in my thoughts and prayers.

I'm 12 and weigh 37 kilograms and the last three days I feel sleepy, sick and hungry, but food doesn't appeal to me. I threw up a week ago and wasn't sure if I was sick or not.

I've always been the tiniest, skinniest person I know and all my friends know I've been eating one meal a day and that's like four chicken nuggets if even that and if I eat more I puke and my dad is worried. I feel like kassie but I haven't had my period at all and I am about 158.5cm. Help and I have been getting lots skinnier.

@Kassie: You can tell your parents, and you need to. If you don't have the words, then print out what you wrote in this forum and read it to your mom.

One of the more disturbing things you said is that you missed four periods. If your cycles have always been regular, this is a warning sign. A 15-year-old girl whose cycles have always been regular should not miss four periods. There has to be a reason, and missing periods is often one of the first physical signs of malnutrition in a female.

One of the reasons you get sick easily, I think, is because you are becoming malnourished. Malnutrition suppresses your immune system and makes you more prone to whatever bugs or viruses come along. Your body simply does not have the resources to fight them off. It's too busy trying to maintain your basic life support systems.

If you still feel you cannot talk to your mom, is there another adult you trust who could mediate for you? Your grandmother, an aunt, cousin, a friend's mom, a teacher, clergyperson, anyone?

Kassie, I really sense your desperation in your post. Your mom *needs* to know about this. Your parents love you. But sometimes, parents do get so caught up in their own lives, that they just aren't picking up on the signals you're sending out. It doesn't mean they don't care -- they do. But once a child is in her teens and doesn't need the constant supervision that, say, a toddler does, sometimes parents relax a little too much, and don't catch the signs that something might be amiss with their children. They're human, just like you, and sometimes, humans need to be nudged out of our complacent little ruts. Sometimes, we just don't want to see something is wrong.

Please, talk to your mom, or to someone else you trust. I don't know if you're anorexic, but there is obviously something going on with you. I'm not a doctor, but I don't think I have to be to see something is up.

Talk to your mom. You all will certainly be in my thoughts and prayers.

I am Kassie. I am 15 years old and I weigh 95 pounds.

I think I am anorexic but I am not sure. I eat, but only twice on a good day and not even big meals. I have the food there but food doesn't appeal to me like it use to. I have always been the smallest girl in my class and always the skinniest but I am tired of it. I feel like I am becoming deadly skinny.

I gain two pounds and then lose four pounds. It's a never-ending cycle. I have also missed four months of my cycle and of course it was great, but it scared me and I finally got it this month but when I had it, I was bleeding for a week and a half. I usually bleed for only five days. I don't throw up my food but I don't eat all day and maybe until the next day at dinner I will eat a bigger meal then planned.

I have been on pediasure for a week and it is making me lose more weight. I feel sick and tired all the time and I don't know what to do. Please help me. I don't want to tell my parents anything because I wouldn't know what to say.

I get sick easily and they won't take me to the doctor just for anything and I'm not sure this is serious or not. I just want to know why I am tired, losing so much weight, not eating anymore and look deadly skinny.

Please help me.

I'm 13 and i weigh 85 pounds. i know that's a lot but i have been losing weight a lot recently.

I was normal but then i started cutting down on my food and just have dinner, half of it, and for breakfast a yogurt and one slice of toast with no butter.

But now all i eat in a day is half my dinner and after i would do more than 100 sit-ups and push-ups and then these leg things. i don't know what they are called but i do them randomly during the day even if i haven't eaten.

My mum just gives out to me all the time and i just yell back.

I have a question. I'm having a hard time putting this into words, and I don't know why. That was a lie. It's all a big lie. My whole stinking life.

My name is Marya. I'm 14 years old. Like most of the people here, I want to know if I'm anorexic. I'm almost 5'6 and I weigh 100 pounds. This is quite normal, I know, and that doesn't worry me. What does worry me is that one week ago I weighed 114 pounds. I lost more than 10 pounds in a week, and even I know that's abnormal.

This is a stupid question I'm asking. Of course I know that. But to me it still doesn't seem like a good way to describe me. I don't know what I am.

The problem is that I know I need to gain weight but I can't. I know it would be healthy but I dread getting on the scale and seeing my weight rise. This isn't going to the doctor - the last time I had an appointment was over six years ago. I have no idea why, but because I've always been exceptionally healthy - I only ever got a cold every two years - my parents never saw a need for me to go the doc.

I feel like I can't get out of this, and that "Just lose two more pounds" will eventually go into the 90's and eventually I will become emaciated. I don't want that - I want to be healthy and live a long life. My mum often jokes that I'm an anorexic because I eat less.

I don't starve myself - a typical days meal for me would be a cup of milk for breakfast, one toast with a chicken nugget (no mayo) and half a piece of bread with some soup for dinner. I have no idea why I'm doing this. I know I'm skinny. I fit into my 11-year-old sister's jeans. I don't look emaciated - no one would guess anything of the sort.

I think it's because I feel lost. Like I'm sinking. I can't control anything. I'm supposed to have a happy life. My cheerful family lives in a big, beautiful house. My dad's a doctor. I'm homeschooled. I have no friends. My social life is, for all intents and purposes, nonexistent. I don't even get out of the house - barely once a week.

I'm scared. I want to live healthily. I can't tell anyone - not my Mum or anyone. I have an inexplicable fear of letting go of the string, this little bit of control I have over myself, my life. I think my family loves me. There's no way to be sure, is there?

I feel comfortable posting this anonymously - like I'm free to pour my soul out into this computer. This flat screen. Where an unknown number can read this. Laugh at me, if they're normal. Sympathize with me, if they are like me. Like me.

I feel alone. There are other people like me? They understand me? It's foreign to me.

I hate the internet. I'm almost positive it started it. I transformed literally overnight into a monster, with my only goal in life to lose weight. I think it started reading the fitness articles in Seventeen and Cosmo. Those people are stupid. The articles and everything is demeaning to our health, our intelligence. Those stupid, skinny models who think we're stupid enough to believe that they eat healthily.

Then I read books about anorexia. Fanfictions online. Marya Hornbacher's "Wasted." I felt like I had a connection with her. I shared her name, her same love-hate relationship with food. I couldn't buy that book, obviously. I am crazy. I stole it from the library. Tore off any library identification - it's stashed in my closet.

When the hunger pangs hit me, I go and read her love-filled scrawls, sounding almost like they were written in the midst of a high of some sort. Her book was supposed to discourage people. I never should have read it.

I'm famished - the hunger pangs are back. I feel like I float. Like my soul is looking upon my body - as if I'm a prisoner in it. I'm the God - I rule my body and I am not going to let it control me. I'm going to die before that happens. I'm above it, all of it.

I'm cold - absolutely stinking stone cold. All over and inside and I can't even do anything about it.

I need help. I'm not normal. I'm strong enough to admit it to myself, anonymously to a virtual audience who don't know me. I'm not strong enough to admit it in person. It's like my anorexia doesn't want to me to get help. I'm weak. I despise being weak. I hate it with all my heart.

I'm not even sure if I have a heart anymore.

cheryl davies- I think that you should call up the doctors office when you get the courage and tell him that you lied. It sounds like you regretted telling him the lie, so why not tell him the truth? I know you can do it!

anon93157 and anon93987- I think you should both consult a doctor about this problem. I think it may be an eating disorder, but I'm not a doctor, so I may be wrong.

OK. Now on to me. I think my friend is anorexic, but I can't tell. I leave for Germany in eight days, so I won't be able to watch her like I normally do. I got the feeling that she was anorexic during the school year too, but I got her to eat at least a little during lunch and got her to drink my chocolate milk along with hers.

I don't think she is Bulimic, but she may be. I don't really see her after lunch, so I don't know if she goes to the bathroom every day. I saw her for the first time since close to the end of school two days ago, and she lost a lot of weight in that short of a time, but still says that she is fat. She has no stomach whatsoever, and you can see her collar bones and such. Also, she used to be a really tan person (like Mexican tan), but for two years now, she has been as pale as a ghost.

I don't want to leave and end up hearing that she landed herself in the hospital. She doesn't overexercise, though. She doesn't like to be active, but she takes care of her three baby brothers, all under three, and her other little sister and brother, as well as having to do random chores around her house. No one really helps her except her mom. I think that this gives her the physical activity.

Plus, like I said, she doesn't like to be physically active, but this summer, she has taken up biking -- a lot. Please help.

I don't know if I have a problem. Especially since I wonder if I have a problem. It makes me think that I don't. This past year my appetite has been a lot smaller than usual. I would force myself to eat lunch though because I do track and cross country and didn't want to fail at those because of my eating habits.

About a month ago when track ended I started not eating lunch. It was always hard for me to eat in front of people. I could do my lunch table but if anyone else came over I couldn't do it. But a month ago I would get lunch and not eat it.

About two weeks ago I started eating tons of ice cream. Then I started substituting it as meals -- a little when I woke up around 12, and again at say 4? then maybe again around 1:30 a.m. when i couldn't sleep.

I am 15 and was 5'9, almost 5'10 and 116 pounds. This was natural though due to all of m running and such. But about a week ago I started not eating. Not just skipping lunch but going through days eating barely anything. For the first day or so I was so hungry and felt like there was two sides of me, one wanted to eat, but the other was fighting it so hard and won. Food then began to be unappealing and I had no desire to eat. During this time I also became attached to the scale. I weighed myself over ten times a day, after everything (eating only a bite of something, going to the bathroom).

Whenever my weight would go down I would feel relieved and thrilled, so afraid that it will have gone up. Even when it would be a half pound higher it would make me feel bad. I got down to 111.5lbs. I have a very competitive, perfectionist personality. This is especially odd for me because I'm the person people come to for help, yet I don't even know what's going on with myself. I also started doing sit ups randomly throughout the day. Yesterday I did 150.

I know I am not overweight, and that for my height I am underweight. But my stomach doesn't look good to me. I have a big rib cage so my ribs go out and then I feel like my stomach sticks out and looks gross. My whole life I've been told that I have chicken legs, but I can't help but think that they look big sometimes.

Last night my friend sat with me and I decided that I needed to eat and see what happened. It was amazing how quick things changed. I felt so self conscious sitting next to someone while eating. It was so hard. Food tasted weird and eating it was difficult. I got full after barely having any and I wouldn't be able to make myself throw up, but I wanted to drink to make myself throw up. I didn't. But I had the idea cross through my mind.

Can someone please tell me if they think I have a problem or what else it may be?

I only eat when I'm hungry, which started out oddly as every few hours I'd eat. now i can comfortably go a whole day and not have to eat. If i try eating and I'm not hungry, i don't feel good. It's like the food tastes different, like someone putting dog poop on your plate and convincing you it's spaghetti.

If i try standing up after sitting down for more than five minutes i get dizzy. if i don't go to bed before 8 and get at least 10 hours of sleep i get aggressive and snippy. I'm 5 ft and 95-100 pounds. It takes longer for me to gain weight than to lose it.

I always have the feeling of throwing up, but i don't. My weight is normal for my height, but i have to work hard to keep it there. I used to be a nice mocha color, but I've paled a lot. I don't like going out because it involves energy that i just don't have. I'm so skinny, i can't sit/lounge/lay on anything hard without my bones bruising my skin. but i don't look skinny. i look fine but I'm not. and i certainly know I'm not fat, which seems to be a symptom of anorexia. Am i anorexic? Or is it something else?

Its too long ago to think when I started being anorexic. My hair's started falling out, I have greasy hair and skin but my teeth are still fine.

I had an appointment with the doctor the other day about my appendix and he took a blood test to see if I had appendicitis.

As he was checking my blood test, it read low, and he asked me questions about how I find eating and what things i eat when i have snacks and things like that. I lied. I said that I eat enough to keep me going through the day. So i went home and started to cry. I knew i shouldn't have said what I said.

My step mum left after having an affair my brother died, and I have my dad left, that's it. We moved to an apartment after he died because we didn't need the room, so there you go for my story.

I feel sick all the time and dizzy. All i think about is my brother that I'm doing this for him. I know I'm not but I want to feel like this. I feel I'm going to end up in hospital like my brother and die. I don't want it to happen but I think it just might. Help!

@Taylor. I read your post a couple of times. I said it before below: body perception (and anorexia as a result) has nothing to do with what's actually on your body; it has everything to do with what's between your ears.

I don't know if you have anorexia. I'm not a medical professional. I do know you sound like you're dealing with some heavy body image issues, though, and you needed somewhere you could just let it all out. That's O.K.

Anorexia, left untreated, is a terrible way to die, and that's how it *always* ends when untreated: in death. Try concentrating on being healthy, on eating healthy (not a liquid diet), and on sensible exercise. That's what's important.

If this doesn't work for you, then I feel you need to talk to an adult you trust. It doesn't have to be a family member--just someone who will listen to you and can help you talk to your parents. You may need to talk to a professional who can help you work through these issues.

In any event, I remember being 14. It wasn't easy. The problem with being a teen is that it's so difficult to see ahead, to a time when the current issue is no longer a problem. Problems really seem as though they last forever. The good news is they don't.

In all likelihood, the girls you like now will not be the ones you look at for marriage. That may be eight, 10 or more years down the road for you and a lot-- a whole lot can happen in that time. You'll have a completely different circle of friends, and a different outlook. Your point of view changes so much from your teens to your mid-twenties. It's unreal. Life is a completely different game by that time.

Try to hang on and not worry too much about how you look right now. It probably won't greatly resemble what you'll look like at 24. Concentrate on being healthy and living a healthy, active lifestyle. But if you need to, please talk to someone you trust. Don't allow this disease to consume you.

My name is Taylor. I'm 14 and male. I originally weighed 145 and I'm 5ft 7inches, which is a healthy weight. But recently I've become so jealous of others guys my age being so skinny.

I hated going to school because all I would see is these good looking people and here's me a fat and ugly person. I always had to wear baggy clothes (sweatshirt and sweatpants) whenever I would go out anywhere at all.

Now that it is summer time here in Minnesota I can't stand it. I never want to leave the house because it's too hot to wear my usual sweatshirt and sweatpants. There's days where I would just bawl my eyes out because I'm scared of what others' perception is of me, especially someone I just broke up with. I don't want this person to see me because I'm so ugly, even though we're not together.

When I get ready, I have to look in every mirror in the house or anything that gives off a reflection to see if I look skinny in one, then I'll end up changing over and over again. Sometimes I take up to four hours getting ready. It got to the point where I just wanted to stay at home in bed every day. But I don't want to waste my summer away so I thought maybe some new clothes and a hair cut would make me feel better about myself, which it did, but only for a day. Then I was back to sleeping all day, got sick of it again and I thought losing weight would help me feel better about myself.

I looked up diets and discovered I wanted to do a all liquid diet for a week. And it has been 15 days, with only three pieces of toast a night. I keep telling myself I'll stop soon but I can't. My life has become absolutely miserable and I don't know what to do anymore. I know I won't be able to quit this diet.

Everyone always asks why I'm never eating anymore and I just say I'm not feeling good, then I feel like they're on to me so I just ask to go home, then I go to sleep. I don't want anyone to know about this.

Honestly, I just want everyone to let me be and keep losing weight. And I have lost an extreme amount of weight in a short time.

I feel comfortable posting this anonymously. Please help. I can't stop not eating no matter how hungry I feel, and I love the fact knowing I'm losing weight and it makes me feel okay about myself some days.

I don't know what's wrong with me and I don't know if this I'd the place to go but I really need someone else's perspective on my situation since I never have discussed this before.

I'm 16 and have had anorexia for four years. i was sectioned and forced to stay in the hospital. I'm 5foot 3 inches and weighed 30kg. Now I'm still 5foot 3 but weighed 35kg when i was discharged. i weighed 43kg but in five months i have managed to lose 8kg. i know i have to stop but it's so hard. i don't want to be sectioned again with a tube stuck in me. it's awful.

my name is catherine and I'm 14. on march 14 (pie day at school) i noticed that my throat felt tight so i didn't eat that day or the next day either. and now its been three months and now it's hard to eat a full meal because I'm not hungry and I'm afraid I'll choke if i swallow too much too fast.

my sister told me that sometimes people think they're fat (and trust me, i know I'm not) and they will slowly stop eating and become anorexic without knowing it, as if it's not their fault.

this probably doesn't have to do with anorexia but i sleep a lot, I'm always tired and i don't want to do anything.

I'm cold all the time and sometimes i get dizzy and have to hang on to something for a couple of seconds until I'm stable enough to walk. my mom thinks it's anemia but i want to be sure i get rid of the other possibilities first.

so am i anorexic, anemic, or something else?

hey anongirl. I know exactly what you mean. I have similar problem. My weight is currently at a "healthy weight", but i still go through periods of not eating for three to four days.

You do have an eating disorder -- this is very clear -- but you just aren't at an anorexic weight, yet. And as for what your parents say about it being for attention, it isn't.

My psychology teacher says that some women do it for attention, but if they do starve themselves for attention, then they don't have an eating disorder. They need help for other problems.

If i were you, I'd go to the doctors, and tell them about your eating habits, as they may be able to help you, that it if you want help. If you feel that you can't go to the doctors then I'm here.

I’m not anorexic. I know that for a fact due to my height and weight and according to my BMI, I am at a healthy weight but I do think I have issues with food and eating.

When I was 11, I was bullied. It started off as typical teasing and witchiness, so I tried to suck it up, but when it was an every day, constant thing, especially bullied by a group of about 10 girls, it made my life hell for a year. I was ashamed to tell my parents about it because I felt embarrassed. But time went on and they started calling me ‘fat’ and ‘ugly.’

Back then, I never used to see myself as fat and back then I would’ve said I’m not a bad looking girl either. But that really got to me and I thought, ‘if they think it, who else does?’

So I got into a mode of going on a diet that I was going to stick to. I wasn’t eating my breakfast, yet I was leaving evidence so as my mum thought I was eating it. I threw at least half of my lunch away, if not more and then of an evening, I would pick at my dinner and what I ate of it, I went to the bathroom to induce vomiting.

However, after so long, my mum got a bit suspicious that I was going to bathroom each night so she followed me up there and asked what I was doing. In the end, I came clean that I thought I was fat and that I need to lose some weight. After that, my parents watched what I was eating and made me stay at the table so I couldn't get rid of it.

It had been an on, off thing and every now and again, I would diet to lose a few pounds.

By the time I reached 13/14, I started it again, feeling as though I wasn’t good enough for a guy that I really liked, but he found out what was going on and kept tabs on me also.

I started to lose weight and everything and even on school trips, I would take advantage and literally starve myself for a week, living on a couple of pieces of fruit a day.

My parents actually said that I was attention seeking which I’ve always thought, even to this day, is very harsh considering that I could lose a few pounds and I myself recognize it as a problem that I have, and although not ongoing, it comes and goes.

At 15, I even tried smoking to suppress my appetite, as a lot of smokers in my year were rather thin, regardless of the fact that they ate quite a lot, especially unhealthy foods.

I’ve always wanted to lose a bit of weight and I’m under the impression that I would be more popular if I’m thinner.

I don’t have many friends, I keep myself to myself and I have low self esteem, but saying that, I’m a high achiever. I passed all of my GCSE’s and am currently at college studying childcare and am achieving really brilliant grades.

At school, I was always called a perfectionist and I was quite proud to be known like that but if anything went wrong, or I scored wrong in a subject, especially my favorite subjects, I would get really uptight about it and panic quite a lot, feeling like a failure.

I’m now 16, nearly 17, and I still get the feeling of ‘you need to lose a lot of weight.’ When I eat, I still get that feeling as though I’m disgusting and I need to get rid of it, but I can’t do anything that would make anyone think there is something going on, because I’m generally worried my mum would say I’m attention seeking again.

I’ve always been an insecure person, worried why I haven’t got an amazing circle of friends or a boyfriend but then I base it on me being ugly and fat and that there’s something wrong with me.

Quite a lot recently, I have cut back a lot and I lose weight quite quickly, especially when on a serious diet. I’ve been able to get away with no breakfast or lunch, just replacing it with water, tea or coffee but then I have been picking at my dinner so much, leaving loads of it and only selecting parts of it to eat.

And then I’ve been exercising like mad, to the point of exhaustion. I want to stop sometimes, after doing stomach crunches and even brisk walking on the treadmill, I feel like I could just fall asleep but the voice inside my head is telling me otherwise.

“You need to exercise and burn off the calories otherwise you’ll always be fat. You’ll always be ugly.”

And when I actually accomplish a task, it’s like the voice congratulates me.

When I eat, I feel fatter and although I’m so hungry throughout the day, although I’m hungry, I drink water and decide to go on the treadmill or do stomach crunches to distract myself.

By the time I go to bed, I feel relieved that I have gone a day just through drinking fluids and then eating a small portion of dinner.

Then, when I watch other people eat, especially when I eat dinner with my family, I watch them and think that they’re weak and one day, they will all be fat and I will be thin, then I would gain control and power, because I’m strong and can refrain from eating so much food within the day, almost like I’ve won.

Looking in the mirror for me is generally revolting as I see a ugly, fat person standing before me. I’m always able to pinch a bit of fat off somewhere and the fact that by eating, I put weight actually scares me.

Things like going shopping are a nightmare, especially when I’m with my mum. She tells me I have no ‘fashion sense’ and that I’m ‘tight’ with my money because even though I need more clothes, I don’t buy myself any. The truth is, what my mum can’t seem to understand, is that nothing compliments my body, and nothing looks good or flattering on me. I see a top in a store and I fall in love with it, but on me, it look hideous.

I see someone else in the exact same thing, and they look like they own that top and like it was made for them.

I hate eating out with friends especially because I am always worried that I will look greedy, so I don't go out with them for a meal. If I go out with my family, I always watch what other people are eating and make sure they are not watching me eat, as I get concerned and paranoid that they think I’m fat and greedy. I usually go for easy options, something I know would be low calorie and then I pick at it.

I just want to know if any of this is normal. Like I said, I’m not anorexic because my weight is ‘normal’ but none of my family seem to experience issues like this and I just want some advice on what’s happening to me, especially as they are difficult to talk to seeing as they class it as ‘attention seeking behavior,’ which is not the reason whatsoever, and it’s difficult to understand why they say that seeing as I have quite a good, stable and positive relationship with them. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.

@Anon87789: Thank you for sharing your story. I hope it reaches some of the young girls on this forum.

I hope you are getting the help you need to fight and overcome this disease. Good luck and God bless you. You are certainly in my prayers.

I'm 13 years old, 5'5" and 77.2 pounds. I've already been diagnosed as a restricting anorexic, and I just want to share my story.

Every day I have about 200 - 500 calories, though I like to stay under 400. If I go over 500 I make myself throw up and exercise nonstop.

When I look in the mirror I see a really, really skinny girl. When I actually look at myself, like look down at my body, I see myself as fat. I truly believe that mirrors are tricking me.

Every day is a nightmare. I'm always hungry (though I like the feeling), painfully dizzy and feel like I'm going to pass out.

My hair has lost a lot of its color, so now it's an ugly light brown instead of dark red, and it's very thin. It hasn't grown in years. My skin is light grey, because I've been very pale my whole life. It hurts to sit too long, or cross my legs.

If you think that anorexia is a life choice, or a quick diet, it's *not*. It's a mental disease.

Anyone reading this who wants to "become anorexic", or is asking in excitement at the possibility that they may have anorexia nervosa sickens me. I can't imagine why anyone would want what I have.

Please aim for fit and toned, so you can feel amazing and be happy. Hope I shed some light on this.

I understand many of you girls. I began my eating disorder when I was 11. I am 17 now, and have been in recovery of two years. I saw a dietitian, counselor and a psychiatrist.

Two years ago I was told that I was as recovered as they could help me be, and I still have trouble with my body image. Girls, understand one thing: Every woman on this earth has a question in her heart. Am I beautiful? We all want to be told we are beautiful. We all want to look perfect. It is ingrained in us to be beautiful! Now the big question is this, what is beautiful? What is perfection? No one really knows, but the people who pretend the hardest to know, are looked up to. Keira Knightley? Yeah, anorexic. Me? I was 5'6'' and weighed 80 pounds. that is 40 pounds under The lowest healthy weight. I was going to hospitalized.

I won't give my whole tale as to why I was anorexic, but I will tell you this: just loving your body the way it is when you feel healthy, spirited, and fully awake is what we can do to be closest to perfect. Me? Still 5' 6'', but now I am 125 pounds, a dancer (ballet, bellydance), majoring in fashion design and business, and above all, alive!

I live every day, not to make myself what the media says is beautiful or perfect, but to make real beautiful and lovely things, and to dance with joy! You know what really got me to change my heart? God. I fell on my face before Him and begged for His help. Before I would only beg to die. But now, I cannot wait to awaken every morning!

Can you say you love your body? Can you wait to wake up? Do you love your day? Then yes, you have a problem. Why do I say that? Well, we all have issues. I was suicidal, a friend of mine is still anorexic over boys. But why do I describe joy as the goal? Because, loving God and doing what He wants us to do is our goal.

Now if you don't believe in God, that may be the largest reason you have a problem. If you want help, or just want someone to talk to, I'll listen. I'm still a teen, so I'll not be preachy, I'll listen. Life is too much of a gift to waste! Carpe Diem!

I'm 17, 5 foot 6 inches. I'm struggling to keep my weight at 9 stone 6 pounds. It's really hard for me and I'd like to talk to someone about it.

I've been to the doctors who weighed me for a while to try and maintain my weight. i restrict my food intake to 300 calories a day.

But before the doctors were involved i wasn't eating anything for three or four days at a time. my mum has had an eating disorder before and so has my auntie. my whole family noticed my drastic weight loss, from 13 stone to 8 stone 3 pounds all within a year. they all think I've got an eating disorder, and that I'm not far off becoming diagnosed as anorexic. i need to know if I've got an eating disorder and would like someone to talk to about it.

i'm 15 years old (soon to be 16) i'm 5'3 and i weigh 102 pounds. in the last year i have lost 2 and a half stone. i eat a banana for breakfast, a microwave meal for dinner and i skip tea. i am constantly thinking about food and how much calories and fat are in what i'm eating.

i hate going out for meals (i tend to take something with me and say that my mum wouldn't let me have any money). i'm always criticizing people about what they're eating (saying they're eating too much).

i often lie that i have eaten when i actually haven't and i'm scared of gaining weight (if i do it makes me really angry then i don't eat anything). my family is worried about my weight. i am constantly tired, light-headed and have stomach problems. i'm worried i could be anorexic. do you think i am?

could someone help me? from first

amy, i am so very sorry for your losses. truly i am, I've had a nightmare where my own father passes and i never got the chance to know him for him and he died thinking i hated him. it was the worst experience of my life.

i know what I'm doing is wrong and I've tried to stop continuously over the last four years, but no matter how much i try, i just can't enable the willpower to continue. i have this image of myself in my head, of how my life would be and another of what it is now and the one in my head is so much better, in my head I'm me again. i have my family, my friends and most importantly a dad who just doesn't give up on me. and I'm thin! and the image of what i have now is a complete contrast that words cannot describe.

I've lost who i am and i can see that. I'm not the little girl who used to crawl into her mother's room in the middle of the night because she didn't want her mum sleeping alone or was afraid of the dark. she was my best friend when i was a child and gradually over the years I've distanced myself from her to protect myself to the extent where i can't even tell her i love her anymore, because i feel like it's a weakness. this image, this perfect flawless image of the life, i dream i have her back, and i have myself back and if i have to do this in order to undergo psychoanalysis and therapy to bring her back then i will. it's not just something i can go up to some one and say "hey i think I'm beginning to get an eating disorder." it's not a part of who i am. i don't open up to people and if i do it it's because I'm way too drunk to realize.

i understand how a parent's love is supposed to be "unconditional" and many people have told me how it's not my fault that my father is the way he is and that he doesn't realize what he has walked away from. but my whole life I've been struggling for him to see me just once and he hasn't. i just want him to notice me to be proud of me for everything I've achieved and for him to want me.

you are right that my life has spiralled out of control. there are about three things holding me together at the moment and that's my best friends, this addiction of mine knowing that it'll all pay off and the dream of being a lawyer.

I'm not starving myself to death. just to perfection. it's the only thing i seem to be able to do almost right. and i don't think I'm ready to give that up. i like having a secret that nobody knows and i like the compliments that come with it, even if i don't believe them myself, it's still really nice to hear them.

you're right -- my uncle julian truly is an amazing person and that's one thing i can thank my father for. it wasn't until this past february that i saw that.

thank you so much for everything you have said. your concern means a lot more than i can say.

Lorelai

Lorelai, I am very sorry about your dad. But the truth is, you can never be perfect enough to "earn" his love--and you shouldn't have to be. Our parents should be the two people on earth who love us regardless of what we look like, or what happens between them as a couple. Your dad has the problem, not you. He's the one who gave up on his family, and this was his decision. Nothing you've done, or not done, made him do this. He is the one with the problem. It's so sad that he can't see what he is doing to you, and that alone should tell you he's the one with the issues. Sounds like your uncle Julian is a great guy and loves you. Sounds like your mom loves you too, and is worried about you. I know she is.

Lorelai, someone needs to be blunt with you --not mean, just honest. If you stay on the road you are currently traveling, you *will* die to be thin. Literally. You may not be underweight right now, but sweetheart, anorexia is not on your body--it's between your ears. It's a disorder of the mind, not the body. You will never be thin enough, pretty enough, perfect enough. There is no such thing. No one is perfect, no matter how they look in a photo. Pictures can be altered, bodies airbrushed and digitally enhanced or minimized so you see what the advertiser wants you to see.

What I see from your post is that you feel your life is spiraling out of control. However, the one thing you can control in your life is how much you eat. That's something no one can take away from you. So, you don't eat because it gives you some measure of control over one aspect of your life. It's certainly a lot more complicated than that, but that's one way of looking at it.

For God's sake, Lorelai, get some help. Talk to your mum and tell her what's been going on in your head. She knows you're not all right, now. She knows something is seriously wrong, and her worry probably makes her a little sharper than she intends to be. Please, get some help. If you can't talk to your mum, talk to your Uncle Julian. He sounds like a wonderful person, and I'm sure would be very understanding. Talk to someone. You're keeping a deadly secret, and one day, it will kill you.

Death by anorexia is a bad, bad way to go, and I believe you've started on that road. But it's not too late to take another way. You just have to make the decision to change your direction. A wise person once said, "We're only as sick as our secrets," and I have personally found that to be so very true in my life.

You sound like a lovely, intelligent young woman, and I'm sure you are. There is so much more to life than slowly starving yourself to death, chasing after some impossible dream. Life can be so much better than that.

I've lost people I love in my life. My grandparents were gone by the time I was seven. My dad died when I was 27. I was very close to him. I walked down the aisle alone at my wedding. But you know? I've survived. I never thought I could, but I have. You can, too. But you have to tell someone and get some help.

Please, do something very wonderful for yourself, and make the decision to have a beautiful life. I don't know you, but I'm thinking of you and praying for you. God bless you.

I'm 16 years old. I'll be 17 in september, I've heard my mother talking about me and how worried she is on the phone and she'll make snide comments about how i don't eat anymore to my sister, but every time i get mad. In my opinion, the way i eat is amazing. well sometimes. the times when i slip are bad.

i don't eat breakfast and i haven't for a matter of years. and since i was 13 i haven't eaten lunch. my mum thinks i do but i throw it away and when i get home i make excuses about how I'm not hungry or I've already eaten.

If i do have something i go upstairs and i put it in ziplock bag then in my box under my bed. i go for days without eating anything. The maximum amount of days I've gone without eating is five, then i slip for one day then i start again.

i live on coffee and water as a supplement for hunger. When i slip then i come very close to wanting to cut myself, and i have previously, but always in places where nobody can see, because if there's visible scars then i won't be perfect, and with my past and the dark place I've been in for five years i know I'll never be perfect inside but maybe i can be perfect outside.

i know I'm not anorexic because I'm not in the underweight category. but i know there's something wrong with the way i eat. but i don't want to stop. if anything, i enjoy it every morning when i wake up and haven't eaten the previous day i am overjoyed. i love the sound of my rumbling stomach when i haven't eaten and i love the tight feeling it gets.

pro ana sites are what keep me going. hearing about how skinny people are and how little they weigh. i envy them; is that normal? i know that they're killing themselves by doing this and yet i proceed in doing anything i can to be like them to have the willpower to be in control.

i know I'm starving my inner child, and i know I'm getting weaker by the day. i have great friends who love me but when i look in the mirror i feel like crying. i want to be beautiful. i want to be thin. i would literally die to be thin if that meant that when they found me they wouldn't think, "Eew. She's a fat one."

When i don't eat i hear a voice, it's kind of creepy sometimes, but it's like she's the only one who understands me and my obsessive meed to be perfect. I'll go in the cupboard and pick something up and she say do you want to fit in your prom dress? or you're going to get fat. Sometimes its hard to tell whether it's me thinking it or her telling me. sometimes when i try to eat normally she begins to fade, and it scares me because she's such a huge part of me that i don't want to lose her.

i didn't used to be like this. there was a time when i was a normal child who ate everything, up until i was 11, and my grampa died from cancer and i immediately distanced myself from my family. over the recent years I've had major family problems. my dad told me when i was 15 that he wanted nothing to do with me and hung up on me.

this february he got back in contact with my sister, saying how sorry he was and how much he loved her. i waited two weeks and still didn't hear anything. my mum sent him an e-mail saying how he had two daughters, not one, and the next morning i got an email too, saying he was sorry. He didn't say he loved me or he was proud of me. i replied harshly saying how sorry isn't going to change anything and how I'm not just going to forgive him like that. the next day i found out i was blocked from his profile. by that evening he had deleted his facebook altogether. he had split up with his wife, and when they got back together he deleted all evidence of contact. i was so upset and was staying with my uncle julian at the time so he rang my dad and had a go at him for making me so upset.

my dad filed a harassment report against him. it was my fault, all of it. i rang my dad saying why get my hopes up to bring them crashing down again? he gave me an ultimatum of having him in my life but his wife was included and he would try to see me or never contacting him again. then he insulted my uncle and i was like that's out of order, he was protecting me. my dad said well there's your choice and he hung up again.

sometimes i wish i could find out i had APL cancer, just so that i could have him back again. I've spent my life with him either not noticing me, or putting me down, saying how chubby i was even when i hadn't eaten for days, or just giving up on me. i just want to be perfect enough for him so i can earn his love. Lorelai Leigh

@Anon84290: How far is too far? You're not eating. You're often sick. Your ribs stick out. You've hurt yourself. How far is too far? Sweetheart, you've reached it. Have you noticed your periods being irregular? Fine, downy hair growing on your arms and legs? Cold all the time? Dental problems?

Your parents are right. You're headed for the hospital. I don't care how much stress you have in your life, you still need help. Please talk to your mom or another trusted adult to get the help you need.

@Anon83958: Are you anorexic? I'm not a doctor, but I can tell you one thing: you have an unhealthy body image. 5'5 and 110-115 pounds puts you at the lower end of what is considered a normal body mass index. 98 pounds means you are significantly underweight.

You are at a healthy weight now. Your "plan" is guaranteed to do one thing: make you sick. You do this and you could end up in the hospital. You *don't* need to lose any weight! Healthy females who are 5'5 were not meant by God or nature to weigh 98 pounds unless they are suffering from dysentery or some kind of intestinal flu.

If you want to be healthy, eat healthy foods, and do healthy things for your body. Including quitting smoking, which is one of the worst things you can do to yourself.

Also, please talk to an adult you trust about this. You need to refocus your body image into a healthier path.

Hello. I've struggled with anorexia before. I'm now 14. I'm 5'2 and I'm weighing 102 pounds and still losing. My highest has been 127. My lowest is 90. I lose and gain weight quickly. You can see my ribs badly when I'm standing -- or sitting for that matter. I get sick way too much, and I'm not eating at all.

When i eat over 600 calories, i hurt myself.

i have no appetite whatsoever. i play sports all the time. I'm an athlete, but i also have a lot of stress in my life. i don't even know where to begin with that.

my parents and everyone around me say I'll be in the hospital soon. am i too skinny? how far is too far? help.

signed, ene. desperate

I'm 15 1/2, 5'5 and 110- 115 pounds.

Everyone talks about how nice my body is But i feel so fat and big. i would like to be about 98 or 100 pounds and I'm going on a diet starting today.

My Plan: I'm not going to eat anything for a week and if i do it'll just be like a banana or apple, maybe veggies -- something healthy and not a lot, and all I'm going to drink is water and ice tea.

I also smoke cigarettes, so that will be a good food substitute.

I'm only going to do all this until i get to the weight i want. Does that make me anorexic?

i have no boobs and I'm 14. i haven't had my period i eat only tea when I'm hungry and I'm only 90 pounds. does anyone think I'm anorexic?

I'm 15 years old - 16 in five months. I'm about 5'3 and a half. i weigh 104 pounds and I'm eating around 350 calories a day.

my mum keeps saying I'm obsessed with food and that she sees me counting the calories and fat content on the packet. i get angry when i have found out i have put on weight. i weigh myself after everything i eat and i have lost around 3 and a half stone in a year. I'm worried i could have anorexia. could someone help me?

@Cheryl. Glad you got my response. Yes, you *can* overcome anorexia. The reason you feel sick when you eat is because you haven't been eating normal amounts and your stomach has shrunk. But you can get it back to normal.

I'm so glad you found your mom. I think that will be good for you.

I cannot emphasize it strongly enough: self-harm, whether it is cutting or anorexia or compulsive overeating (my particular demon), etc. does not solve the problem, and the "feeling better" part is only temporary.

Like other such behaviors, it is about control. When you felt your life spiraling out of control, the one thing you *could* control was your eating. So by not eating, you were in control of some tiny part of your life. You were making the decisions.

So now things are looking up, thank the Lord. Maybe you can see a bit now, how temporary most situations are, and how you are able to push through them, without anorexia.

You're doing good things for yourself with athletics and dance. This is really positive. Keep it up.

Let me also suggest you do something for others. Do some volunteer work. Yes, you can. You don't need special training. A lot of elderly people would love a visit from a young person. You could join a literacy program and help children with their reading skills. Do you knit or crochet? What about making caps for cancer patients or dialysis patients? Dialysis centers are always freezing cold and the patients have to be there for three or four hours at a time.

My point is that, when you are helping other people, it does several things. First, it gives you pleasure and satisfaction to know you are making someone's life a little better. Second, it takes your focus away from yourself and puts it in a better place. You're not as apt to brood over yourself and your own problems, which leads to the third benefit: gratitude. Volunteer work can help you become most grateful for what you have in your life, when you see what others have to endure in their lives on a daily basis. I highly recommend it.

Your life and health are worth fighting for, Cheryl. Please don't give up on yourself.

Thanks for kind reply and it has changed my mind. I've found my mum in Manchester. She had taken the dye out of my hair (you see I wasn't naturally ginger- she just made me ginger) I feel better already.

But boys still tease me all the time and my friend said I need to stop this because it'll get too far and you could end up in hospital. I nearly did today. I fainted when people were bothering me about something but I got on with my life.

Why does no one understand anorexia? Only the ones going through it understand. My brothers had a load of ops and tests and gabs etc. and he is on the right side now. He will get better.

I was close to getting the boy I want, I'm not going to stop being anorexic. I can't, because when I eat, I feel sick.

I had some food though today, not much. I feel drained all the time. Have you noticed when you don't eat, you don't sleep so every thing just goes wrong -- even the smallest of things? Reply back please.

@Cheryldavies: No, this is not normal and death by starvation is an ugly, agonizing way to go.

I've been chubby my whole life, but you know what? That's one percent of who I am. I've been called names, too, and I know how much it hurts. So I've been there. I know exactly what you're going through. It's about time people started putting less emphasis on physical appearance, anyway. And if someone has a problem with you having red (ginger) hair, then *that* person has the problem -- not you.

And that's the whole thing. It's so hard to look down the road when you're 15 or 16. The *now* presses in so hard, it's difficult to see past now and look at where you can be in five or 10 years. Those bozos will be out of your life by then. They are certainly not worth starving yourself for.

The people who are calling you names are the ones with the problem, not you. And in 10 years, most of them will be working at gas (petrol) stations, asking you if they can clean your windscreen. You, on the other hand, can be starting your career as a solicitor, or a dancer, or some other worthwhile career.

I am sorry about your brother, but this isn't your fault either, and you don't need to punish yourself. Crohn's Disease is treatable and most people live pretty normal lives with it.

The situation about your mum is sad, but that's not your fault, either. Obviously, the woman you call "mum" agreed to be your mom, but I can see where it would be a tremendous shock to find out this information.

Can you see a counselor to help you work through some of these issues? I really think you would benefit from being able to talk to someone who could help you understand what's going on with you, and who could help you develop ways to cope with it.

In the meantime, good luck to you and God bless you. Just remember: when you look at those nitwits calling you names, think "Petrol station," smile sweetly and walk on. It will drive them completely crackerdoodle. I'm thinking about you. cheryl, and rooting for you.

I am anorexic, but no one believes me- not even my best friend who says she has been anorexic. I feel so depressed about it. Sometimes I want it to change and stop but sometimes, more than often I want to carry on and be anorexic.

It's not good either, because I'm a footy player, dancer and athlete and am good at everything but lately I've seen a difference in my stamina and I can't run for long or as fast.

About a month ago my brother, who is young, was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, so that got me down. Before this though, I was feeling really down because everyone had left me- two boys who I really like turned me down and people started calling me names.

I wasn't happy at school, they were calling me fat and ugly, just because I'm ginger. Just after this about two months ago, I had a DNA test to see if the woman I was calling mum was actually this person, and she wasn't. My real mum had abandoned me for a different woman. I felt unwanted by every one.

I couldn't find another way to punish myself, so I starved myself: one day, two days, three days -- you get the picture -- and it carried on for a month and now it still carries on coming up on three months soon.

I take an apple to school and chuck it away, with not even two bites eaten. I never eat my dinner, I never drink tea and I have pasta most nights cause there is nothing left to eat. I love my vegetables, but I never eat them anymore. I feel fat and ugly.

I'm not naturally ginger, or with a light nude skin tone. I feel let down by every one. Everyone says I'm underweight and need to eat, but the boys just wander past going fat, fat, fat. Still calling me names.

Sometimes I wish I could just die, others I feel normal like others but I know I'm not. Is this normal? Thanks!

I can't even read through all of these because they are so repetitious, so similar. Are we all to one another, those of us who are heavy, slender and deathly skinny -- all of us have the same obsession with our body image and with the controlling of food, the pride of losing pounds.

Some of us are just a little sicker than others, a little more obsessed, or at least more proud of the habitual starvation we've cultivated in our lifestyles.

I am anorexic, sure. I can't admit that to my friends, family and co-workers, but I know it's true. I am technically underweight (sometimes severely underweight, sometimes barely...) but I don't want to get better. I don't want to die, either, so that's why I intentionally fluctuate in eating patterns.

When I was eighteen I would fast for a week, plan out miniscule meals and sometimes get so weak that I'd have to eat an apple just to walk around the house. Now I am more sensible, but perhaps sicker in the way I've made my instability so stable. I eat a 150-calorie breakfast and a 200-calorie, protein-based, lunch. I always eat a regular-sized dinner (between 500 and 800 calories), usually over-eating salad and vegetables, always minimizing scary foods like bread, potatoes, oils, pastas and cheese. I eat enough to not make me feel like I'll break down and binge, but never as much as my body wants.

I aim to wake up in the morning with my tummy feeling sucked in somewhat, and my thighs never touching. This is, I suppose, sick, but it's become my obsession.

Why am I writing this down? I have no idea. But I am a sicko like all of you (both fatties and skinnies), and I just wanted to clarify that "anorexic" is a mindset, though the negative health effects certainly begin to take their toll when one is highly "successful" at losing a great deal of weight.

Anorexia is a cultural disease, not an individual disease. Some of us are just more attuned to it, more susceptible to it, than others. We all want to be thin. Some of us get carried away.

What shall we do about this, girls?

@anon78142: Seriously? You should listen to your boyfriend. It sounds like he's got a good head on his shoulders and truly cares for your well-being.

I looked up your body mass index. It's 14.6. That's considered severely underweight, on anybody's scale.

I think one of the most common misconceptions about anorexia is that it is a *physical* problem. It isn't. Like other eating disorders, it is between your ears, not on your body. And because of the nature of this disorder, no, the person who has it isn't going to be able to realize he or she is affected.

You will never be able to see your body as it really is unless you get help. Of course you don't look emaciated to yourself. That's part and parcel of how this disease works. It's related, believe it or not, to alcoholism and drug addiction. So denial of a problem is the order of the day.

If you've ever thrown up consistently to lose weight, if you hide food to throw it away, if you're obsessed with your weight, even though you are significantly underweight (which you are), you are on the verge of having a problem.

I'm not a doctor, so I can't give you a definitive diagnosis, but like it or not, you are at a high risk.

Have your periods stopped? Are they irregular? Are you cold all the time? Has your hair thinned or weakened? Are you noticing a fine covering of fuzz over your body? This is called "lanugo" and is a hallmark symptom of starvation. It's the body's way of trying to keep warm. Absent periods are how the body tries to conserve energy.

No, I don't know you and I'm not your mom, but your story reached out to me. You're not defective or flawed. You're a human girl who, in my opinion, needs some help to get back to a good place, where she sees herself as a beautiful, worthy human being who doesn't need to starve herself in order to be that beautiful, worthy person.

You are worth more than your outward appearance. I know that's not the message we women get these days, but it's true.

Three cheers to your boyfriend for being so aware and concerned about you. He's a keeper. You can tell him I said so.

Please, get the help you need to be healthy and happy. If you're constantly obsessed with your weight and how you look, you're not truly happy. Please get some help.

I'm 14, 5'2" and I'm usually 80 pounds. my boyfriend thinks I'm anorexic and he wants to get me help, but i don't think i am.

i was pretty thin growing up until i was 12 or so when i noticed how much weight i put on. i was devastated. i do think i used to have anorexia.

when i was 13 i started throwing up after i ate. first i just tried it, then i did it occasionally, and then i started doing it more frequently. it never got too bad though, sometimes I went one or two days without doing it.

i told my boyfriend (big mistake) whom i love and trust him very much, and he told me i had to stop or he was going to tell someone to help me.

i started to get better, and was only doing it once or twice a week for a while. i now consider myself better from that stage, and i have gone almost a month now.

i don't/can't eat much without getting a stomach ache, so i eat until I'm full, but he says this isn't healthy. my usual caloric intake is about 300 calories a day, which is much better than i used to be.

A few days ago he said he was glad to see that I'm filling out a bit since i stopped throwing up. i felt like crying and hiding.

back in october i was around 75 pounds, which was the lightest i'd been in a while.

he knows my weight is usually 80, but currently I'm 85 and he guessed 83. at that point i was really pissed at myself for letting myself go like that.

anyway i was reading about symptoms and crap, and most of them don't fit me.

he thinks I'm pretty screwed up and i need help, but i don't. and he's seriously threatening to get me into some kind of treatment.

i know i don't need it, and it would just be embarrassing because i don't look emaciated at all, and i have a good amount of fat on me.

what should i do about this?

Please help me. I was diagnosed with anorexia at the end of last year, and my life is an ongoing battle.

I am 14 and really scared for my health, but there's nothing i can do. People don't understand how much it hurts me when they say, "ahh go eat a hamburger," or, "oh you look like a skeleton." I really want to be healthy and i want people to stop saying I'm anorexic because that's my business and no one else's.

I used to browse pro ana. If you don't already do it, don't start. It's so addictive and it's bad! i know its bad but i still browse the sites. i miss being as thin as i was but i feel so fat at the moment and people still say I'm skinny. what can i do?

I am 14 years old. just before xmas i was taken to the doctor by the school counselor and i was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. A lot happened after then and i lost all the trust i had with my mum. My mother found out i went to the doctor and she made me eat downstairs with her.

She has now started to trust me again and i have gained so much weight these past few months. i feel i really need to lose it. i want to be the weight i was before.

i have started throwing my food away again, and going running, and i feel terribly guilty after eating food. i never thought i was anorexic but now i really don't know what to think. please help. Am i anorexic?

I am 13 years old, I am 5'4" and I once weighed 115 pounds, but now I weigh 93. I have lost a dramatic amount of weight. I lost all muscle, and I am weaker. I sometimes go the entire day without eating or drinking anything. My mom threatens to call someone to get me help, but I simply say "fine, I will eat." But I always throw my food away.

I can't be anorexic. I'm fat. Yeah, I restrict and I feel guilty for eating and I always think about food and I have no self esteem. But I am not anorexic because I'm still bloody fat.

I don't know why I'm desperately trying to fix myself when I'm not even broken- I still weigh 92 pounds at 5 foot and I want to be at least 90. Is that normal? I don't even know what normal is. I just feel so alone all the time. I wish I could talk to someone about how I feel.

I know this is crazy. People comment on this site with their own accounts, and some people are terrified of being anorexic. I, on the other hand, used to be bulimic. It wasn't binge and purge, it was just throwing up after every meal to keep the scale at the same point. Now, I can't stop myself from snacking and I try to skip meals but I can't. Why is everyone so scared of being anorexic? Anorexic people are strong.

But then I see things like hair thinning, no longer having curves and lowering heart rate and I'm super into sports, I dance and I exercise a lot. And I don't want to have problems.

But nobody loves me, nobody notices me. I'm in this group at school that (i know it's really shallow) is sort of considered the top of the hierarchy, but I'm one of the lamest people in it, and it's so annoying because all of my friends are really, really skinny and one day when my friend offered to give me her pants my best friend was like, "but isn't she tiny?"

I guess trying to point out that I was not as tiny as this other girl, who is two heads taller than me by the way. That really insulted me.

Anyway, I don't know what to do because I really really, really want to lose weight and to find somebody who can love me and notice me and I think that if I lose weight maybe I will finally be beautiful, because right now I am not.

And i saw another comment on here and it was like, "and i see these people and their weights are so low and i want to be like them." that's the same with me. I read these accounts of children much taller than me who weigh 70 pounds and I think to myself, what is wrong with me? why can't i lose weight?

i just need to stop eating but I have no willpower. Food is like my boredom escape.

I'm 5 ft 1 and weigh 99 pounds. I'm fat. Thanks.

I don't think I'm anorexic because everyone tells me that I'm a healthy weight I'm quite tall - 175cm and 59.0 kilos.

I feel so disgusting and fat when i see myself, i sometimes start crying or screaming at myself.

When I was in grades four and five, i used to get teased about my weight and they used to call me a man!

I was so fed up with it and each year i began to get thinner.

I lost a bit of weight in grade five and i kept growing and growing.

In grade six I lost quite a bit of weight.

But on the holidays transferring from grade six to year seven I lost the most weight i ever have.

I am 12, turning 13 in May (which is only two months away)

Everyone is always telling me that i am at a very healthy weight right now, but i won't listen and am continuing to lose weight.

My mum tells me all the time that people tell her how beautiful i am but i look at myself and feel disgusted.

I'm over feeling like this and lately at school I've been having only an apple for lunch and play.

I know I'm not underweight yet but i really want to be (heading that way).

I get so much satisfaction from hearing that I'm thinning out, but I'm not sure what to think.

please comment.

My mom thinks I'm anorexic, and so does my doctor. I'm 14 and I began to lose weight a couple months ago. I used to be just over 100 pounds and now I'm like 92 pounds. I don't think I'm anorexic or fat, but I forget to eat sometimes because I am so stressed I think.

I have three meals a day but only because my mom forces me to. I eat when I'm hungry is how I think about it.

I stopped having my period about four months ago. My mom just brought me to the doctor last week and told me I had to gain weight. I tried, but I just got full and stopped eating. I don't know what's wrong with me.

Does anyone think I'm anorexic? I mean I don't think so because I don't really care what I eat or when, I just eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full.

I am 11 years old and I weigh 49 pounds. I am 4'7 and everywhere I go everyone says "you're anorexic" then i tell them that I'm not anorexic. I have been skinny all my life and I eat a lot but I don't gain any weight and by now I'm thinking there's something wrong with me. Am i really anorexic?

i used to be anorexic but was able to hide it. somehow i got out of it. i still don't know how.

for years anxieties in my life kept my eating to a minimum. i was in a mental hospital for three weeks about six months ago. my stresses have lifted and with that i noticed i began to binge to ease the now 'boring' life.

i am 5'2''. when i was underweight when i was 12 (am now 18) my lowest was 84. i maintained a weight of 105 after that. but now i weigh 125.

i want to be 100. i have begun starving myself. i want to forget how good food tastes. i am sick of feeling fat, and looking fat. i can barely fit into my old clothes.

i know i'm at a healthier weight than i ever was before, but i feel sluggish. i feel gross. i don't look the way i like to. ugh.

maybe some day my therapy will pay off and i can like my body. or am i just doomed to constantly hate it?

I'm 11 years old and i think i'm starting my eating disorder(anorexia). i don't want to have anorexia. i want to be healthy but, every time i look in the mirror i see myself as a fat, fat, fat girl. I need help! I lost a lot of weight. at first i was 92 pounds then 85 then 83 and now i'm 80. i just keep losing weight. (i think) i need help! I told my mom already.

I am thirteen years old and i am 35 kilograms and i am 150 centimeters and my BMI is 15.6. Am i underweight? Should i gain weight? Please write back soon.

i am 22 years old. I'm 5ft 2 and weigh an average of 7 stone although it does fluctuate. the heaviest i have been was 7 stone 8 and i stopped eating because i didn't want to be 8 stone! i found out over christmas that my boyfriend had cheated on me so christmas was fun for me!

my mom started to notice my eating was virtually non existent and this happens a lot when I'm stressed or depressed!

although my mom's sarcastic comment over the christmas table full of family didn't help!

i eat what i want when i want! if i want a kebab followed by a pizza i will have it but more than likely, i won't eat properly if at all for the next week and a half! i never make myself vomit after though!

i do want to be thin and i can look at myself often and wish i was more toned- i want to look thin but i know I'm not fat but mostly i want to weigh less! and want to weigh less than the people i know!

can anyone tell me if this is abnormal? To me it's normal but to some people in my family my eating habits are to them!

I'm 13. I'm 5'2 1/2 and i weigh 89 pounds.

all i ever think about it food and how fat i am.

i don't eat meat or dairy or anything at all unhealthy or processed.my parents force me to eat food but all i want to do is starve myself.

i want to weigh 75 pounds. Help.

I'm 14, 5 foot flat and weight 78 pounds. I hate eating in front of other people. I would barely eat when I was a little girl and I starve myself a lot now. I do that when I'm depressed, which is every day. I do eat sometimes though. I'm not sure if I'm anorexic. Help!

I think I'm an anorexic. I'm 13 years old and 92 pounds and 5ft 2in. That's not really skinny but it's getting worse.

What I have been doing is eating 1200 calories per day so I lose a pound a week. I do this so my family won't notice a big change, like losing three pounds in one day -- that's just crazy.

I have a lot of symptoms: thinning hair, loss of appetite, dizziness, numbness in the limbs and other symptoms.

This all started about three years ago but then I just tried to eat healthy, nothing drastic. But in the summer and spring (it's the end of winter now) I lost a lot of weight. I lost about 32 pounds -- that's a lot for someone my age -- and I also grew an inch.

Last year I weighed around 125 pounds and was a little over 5 feet. Am I an anorexic or just a hypochondriac?

I think I'm a newborn anorexic and here's why. A little over a year ago I started worrying about my weight since I was a whale at 5 feet and weighed 128 pounds at the age of 11.

Every night I would cry myself to sleep praying to god one day I would be skinny. Then online I started looking up things to help me lose weight. I even downloaded an app off my phone called lose it to help me lose weight.

Now I weigh 92 pounds and I'm 5 foot 2 inches almost 3 inches and I still feel like I have to lose weight. I think I feel this way and most people like me feel this way is because they think they'll gain it back if they change their habits and they really don't know how to change it.

I think I feel every symptom there is: numbness in my limbs, dizziness, thinning hair (I don't know if that's from my straightening iron though but I don't think I would lose that much hair) and other things that aren't coming to my mind since I'm exhausted right now.

If you read this, thank you, and I

don't want to be anonymous if I spelled that right.

I'm not a psychiatrist and I can't even spell. I need help.

I'm 13 and 5 foot 2 and weigh between 85-93 pounds. I do ballet and read about the expectations of professional ballerinas and they are supposed to not go over 115!

I'm afraid that when I'm age 20 or something i might go over that! I hate my body. Right now I'm always so obsessed about losing weight and skipping as many meals and food as I can!

It's hard going to ballet class all the time in just tights and a leotard with many other super skinny girls and with a big long huge mirror in front of you.

I want to be the skinniest girl in my ballet class but to do that i'd have to go under the weight of 60 pounds and i'd be dead by then. But i still want to be thin. I see the older girls in higher levels talking about how they are fasting and not eating at all because they think they are fat. Those girls are like 14, 15, 16 years old and they are really thin.

I cry all the time and have fits and scream in my room when nobody is home about how i hate my weight and my body! I can't take it! I try skipping meals all the time but food is just so good and tastes so good.

I'm a vegetarian and so i don't eat meat. but i don't see how one of my friends can just not eat anything for three days, then eat a little tiny meal, then fast herself again! I try being like her. Ugh. i hate myself i want to be 75 pounds again like how i was when i was 12! i want to be skinny!

I do eat on and off depending on how i feel, sometimes i feel too fat, sometimes i feel to skinny. Either way i hate looking in the mirror. i am 7 stone and a bit though, i don't know for sure because i hate the idea of weighing myself in case i have gained weight. It's so confusing, does it make me an anorexic if i do eat sometimes?

wow you girls are so young. I'm 17 and weigh like 119 pounds (probably more because I've been gaining muscle) but seriously. 14? being 84 pounds? that's insane. I was 114 at 14 and wore a size one. I'm only 5'5, so 20 pounds less would be like little girls sizes.

I suffer from anorexic tendencies and am usually depressed when I look in the mirror. every day is a struggle, but I'm getting better. Seek help!

i'm sarah and i'm 12 and a half. i weigh 36kg. am i anorexic? i need to know please!

i am 16, 5 foot 3 and weigh 131. i think I'm completely disgusting and i want to weigh 90-100 pounds.

i want to get to at lest 115 by april. and 110 by june. i was anorexic when i was 12. i weighed 130 (very fat) and in four months i weighed 93 pounds.

I'm starting to feel really gross and I'm on a diet right now. i only eat when I'm made to. and if my parents aren't around, i throw it up. today i got really hot and almost passed out. my hands and face went numb and it scared me. my dad made me eat food and now i feel like I'm a whale.

For years I've wanted answers and now i finally am asking the questions i do want to write.

i want to know if there's something wrong with me. i can't stand it anymore.

I'm 16 and i do PE four times a week. i run on tuesday and thursday and i do badminton after school on a thursday too. My mum doesn't think i know, but i hear her talking about me. about how worried she is. i don't eat breakfast and she *thinks* i eat a packet of crisps for lunch but i don't. i throw them away.

when i get home i make excuses about how I'm not hungry or I've already eaten. If i do have something i go upstairs and i put it in bag then in my box under my bed. i go for days without eating anything. All I'll have is a cup of tea, water and juice. whenever i eat, I'm sick. i never make my self sick -- it just happens. i swear I'm sick double what i eat.

In four days last week i lost half a stone, no joke. each week i end up not eating monday to friday then saturday or sunday i'll have some crackers or white bread. I can't help it -- if someone tells me to eat i gag. she tells me I'm fat and ugly and that nobody wants me. and it's true. Two years ago my dad told me he wanted nothing to do with me anymore and i haven't heard from him since.

When i was 11 my grandad died and that's when i stopped eating breakfast and cut down how much i ate. When i was 13 i started skipping lunch every now and then, and when my dad told me that i just stopped eating lunch altogether, and the last year I've been going days without anything.

I've craved fat into my hip and i hate myself for it. She tells me to do it. I can't lose her. whenever i stop eating. she's stronger and more powerful and i try to not not eat, but i can't. I don't want to. i hate my life. i hate me. this is the only thing keeping me sane. knowing that i'll be thin one day. --Antonia

I'm 13 years old, am 5'7 and weigh 90 pounds. My mom and dad tell me that I'm a healthy weight but when i look in the mirror i just see a fat monster.

My friends joke around with me and tell me that I'm fat and that just makes me feel worse about myself. I only eat when my friends make me. My bones stand out so much I look like a skeleton and I'm afraid there's something wrong with me but I still want to throw up. And this past year I've been really depressed.

Please tell me if anything's wrong with me. I can't take it anymore! Thank you.

I am 19 years old and weigh about 100 pounds. I am an identical triplet and feel like i am the "fat" one. One of my sisters is totally anorexic and weighs about 85 pounds, sometimes less. She looks all sick. The other one is about 100 pounds as well.

I am bulimic and was anorexic for a long time. Right now i think that i am becoming more anorexic because i don't want to be known as the "fat " triplet. It is not fair. Sometimes i want to eat but don't because Victoria the anorexic makes me feel bad about eating.

I feel so fat compared to her. Now i am depressed and have started cutting myself because i am so sad. I am mad at myself because i am not losing a lot of weight. I have recently stopped eating anything with fat in it and hardly any carbs.

I only eat veggies and some lean protein. But that is it. I also am taking diet pills to help. I am losing weight but compared to my sister i still feel obese! It's not fair.

What can i do? I need help. I hardly ever eat anymore and when i do i throw up. I am so depressed. Someone please help me!

I'm 11 and i'm 4 feet 7 and i weigh 64 pounds. all of my friends think I'm way too skinny and they think i'm anorexic. Am i anorexic? Please help me! I'm very scared.

Recently I've been told that I'm not eating enough and that I'm getting too skinny. My parents have been forcing me to eat more at the dinner table and giving me lectures about anorexia. Part of me is enjoying the 'You look too skinny' comments, but another part of me wants to gain some weight.

I'm 150cm tall and weigh 38.5kg. My dad says it's underweight but I've calculated my BMI and I've been told I'm in the healthy range. Help please?

Oh, my God, you girls! all of you 10-18 year olds!

You have many many years to grow! Your metabolism is still full of energy. I am 18, 5'4, 118 pounds and I am absolutely healthy and feel great!

If you get winded from walking or anything like that, start exercising more, kick the junk food and eat foods with lots of protein.

I am a healthy girl, and all of you are too!

Today's society worries me so much. Everyone is either too fat from fast food and no exercise, or think they are too fat and don't exercise either! --Heather

My name is "Jenny". I really need some answers. I want to know if I am anorexic.

I checked all the websites I could find and all of them say the same thing: depressed, stressed, workout addict, sees "fat" in the mirror, etc. But I am not depressed! I get stressed occasionally, (being in ASB) and I do work out a lot, (run, swim for two hours four times a week) but I don't see how this lifestyle is unhealthy. And i sometimes see myself as mildly "bigger" than the day before!

I am scared to weigh myself, to see if I gained any weight, but sometimes (like at a doctor's appointment) I need to.

When I finally hit 80 pounds at age 12 I felt like a fat blob. 80 pounds seemed like a lot to me, always being the skinnier one in the class. Still, to this day, it makes me feel good when people call me anorexic and superskinny. But I don't know why it does.

I know it's weird to be spilling out my feelings online, but I don't want to talk about this to anyone else. My mom is part of the reason I am so paranoid about weight. I would help her pick out clothes and when it didn't fit right, to her was an apparent "roll of fat", she would to me "never get fat." And I strive not to.

Sometimes, i would trash my lunch and only eat a few pretzel sticks and a juice box. My mom still only packs me a little for lunch, (example: 7-10 cheez-its in a plastic baggie, half a sandwich.)

Last summer, I went to visit family in Denmark, and they would all get two helpings. But I didn't want to come back to America and be fatter! All my friends would notice the apparent change in me and think of me as "fat".

I have a six-pack of abs, and some boys at school joke around saying I only have it because my skin is so thin.

I can see all my veins, in my foot hands, stomach, hips, legs and thighs. We got weighed recently in PE and he weighed me as 90 pounds, at 5 ft 1 1/2 inches. I know i am not 90 pounds (the scale is cruddy) but it made me feel fat.

I did a BMI check and put myself as 90 pounds, and it says I'm underweight. When I sit down, there is no line or roll or pudge, and I get jealous when someone looks skinny in a picture or whatever.

Please, please, please help me. I do not think i am anorexic, but i would like to know if there is something wrong with me.

here where i live it's normal not to eat lunch. no one pays attention so i eat a bagel for lunch and some dinner with maybe a healthy smoothie.

My dad often tells me to workout because I'm losing muscle but I'm fine without eating.

he also monitors how much money i spend for lunch to make sure how much I'm eating through a school program.

i often feel overwhelmed by the mixture of school work, piano lessons, food, sleep and, exercise, and i have recently started seeing more and more bones.

Up until i was three my family was poor, which meant there was little food and so i would watch parents eat small portions sometimes.

then when my dad got a better job we had a lot more food around. this made me uncomfortable to be around so much food, but then i soon got used to it.

I started gaining weight and was very healthy until around second grade when i noticed that there were a few girls that were skinnier than me. i wasn't used to it because in my family i was usually the skinnier one, they even nicknamed me skinny.

but then when i saw those thinner girls i became jealous and upset that i wasn't their size. i didn't do anything about it though because i had no will power.

By fourth grade i was one of the thicker girls and my new friend was thinner than me. she was actually very skinny compared to most other girls.

she was proud of her body and that just made me feel bad even though she told me that i shouldn't worry because i wast really that fat.

Well by sixth grade we weren't friends any more and i had lost a little weight anyway.

now I'm in seventh grade I'm around 5 feet and around 90 lbs give or take, I'm not sure because my mom won't let me weigh myself.

but i don't wear clothes that show any curves of my body to school because I'm afraid of what people might think if they see my body.

recently i have started to see my ribs, and the tendons of my hand along with the indent of my knees and my hips.

now i often get head rushes or my limbs fall asleep. i scared myself the other day because i woke up at night and couldn't move my arm because it was asleep. actually now i can't sleep on my stomach without something falling asleep.

i used to be one of the best girl runners in my grade but now i get winded from walking up a hill.

i try to eat breakfast to lose weight and i have recently tried to go all of the way vegetarian but my grandma wanted me to eat and she is the only person i will eat for so when I'm with her i can't be a vegetarian.

now i secretly laugh to myself when i see my ex-friend's fat thighs walk in front of me.

i freak out if i forget to do a part of my homework and i get mad at my dad easily because he likes to tease me about everything.

my family members often joke about my weight like my uncle said the other day to me "i guess you can't say no to bacon anymore, since you can't walk away" which made me feel good that they noticed my thin legs.

i usually have a bagel for lunch and then a normally sized dinner, and sometimes I'm happy with what i see in the mirror. i have one question about food and that is all: Since my limbs are falling asleep what can i eat to help with that?

i am 12 years old and I am not sure whether i am anorexic or not. i weigh 85 lbs and have a height of 145cm. people say that i am skinny and that i have a good figure but all i see is a fat blob. i am already bulled at school so my confidence is low and this is just making me feel more sad. please tell me whether i am anorexic or not.

thank you if you answer.

i am 13 and i am 8 stone. i know am am not anorexic, but i want to know if i were to make myself sick and not eat food would i lose weight

because i hate being fat!

My name is Maya. I'm 12, 5ft 2in, and 72 pounds. I have been anorexic for a year now and took it way too far.

I ended up in hospital for three months with a nasal gastric tube, that's a plastic tube that goes up your nose and down your throat so they can force feed you, and it was agony having it put down.

I just kept telling myself, "You're not anorexic, you're just flabby and shedding a few pounds." But the less I ate, the skinnier I got and the less I wanted to eat. I didn't believe mum and dad when they said they'd have me admitted, but they did. I was a few days away from death. Listen to the people who care about you. They only want to help you and are worried about you, and don't kid yourself, don't take it too far.

I'm 17 years old, am 5"4 and I weigh 98 pounds. I eat but I feel guilty after I do eat, so I don't eat a lot. I have been told I'm too skinny, but I can't see it. I never make myself sick or anything like that. Can you tell me if I am anorexic? Thank you.

My name is nicci. i am 13years old, 5ft 3in, and 130 pounds. I don't think that i am anorexic, but my friends are getting worried about me because I will go almost two weeks without eating anything. I have low blood sugar and when i don't eat I can pass out. I passed out at school one day and my friend carried me to the nurse. Now every day they make me eat and if i refuse they call my mom and have her pick me up and she makes me eat.

By my age my mom and grandma were only 90 pounds. They tell me all about how I need to lose weight, then force me to eat. I want to lose weight so bad, but with my busy days i don't have time to work out so not eating is the only way i know how.

I used to make myself throw up, even if there wasn't anything in my stomach to throw up. I have been thinking about going back to that but when my mom found out last time she lost it!

I choose not to eat because I honestly just don't even want to anymore. So for my friends i was asked to get help and i hope this works.

I'm 12 years old, 5'1 and 93 pounds. I don't eat any junk food and I have a lot of dry skin! I used to be on a diet and I lost a lot of weight. Done with it now but I still feel fat.

Everyone calls me anorexic but I still eat regular food. I'm not going to start eating junk food any time soon. I have very thin hair. And hair on my body, a lot. Am I anorexic?

I'm 12 and 5'1 and I weigh 93 pounds. for the past few months I haven't eaten junk foods, and I'm not going to start anytime soon. I went on a diet and lost a lot of weight but I'm still not satisfied.

I want to be 80 pounds. I eat regular food but people still call me anorexic. I haven't thrown up in a long time, like when I was 8. I take a lot of anorexia quizzes and they said I might be. Am I?

hi I'm 14 I'm 5,1ft and I'm 88pounds. i think I'm fat and i think like an anorexic but i would love to know if i am!

I have only been eating dinner for a while now. I have lost some weight, but it's just not enough. I am going to start going to the gym soon, and will continue to only eat dinner.

I have started to have a snack at 4 in the afternoon, and if I eat before them I feel so guilty and terrible. I don't think that I have a problem, because if I look better I'll eventually feel better right?

I hate my figure. I weigh about 62-3 kilos. That screams obese to me. I just want to have a really nice body. Well, a flat stomach.

I don't care if I damage myself. I'll deal with it when I have to.

I am 18, 5ft 1 inches, and currently 125 pounds. I am becoming severely depressed because of my weight. I had always been around 106-110 lbs, and in the last year gained so much weight. It makes me sick to look at myself naked when I used to have a sexy body. I hate it. I hate the way I feel after I eat only one meal.

I work out for hours a day and don't feel any thinner. :( Why can't i lose more weight? I don't want to have a disease. But I don't want to be fat like this either. I don't know what to do.

I am 11 years old. I am five stone. I am 140 cm. And i have been eating less and less. now i will only eat a few pieces of dinner and two bites of my lunch then i am full. am i anorexic?

i just turned 14 and i usually weigh 115 but i have suddenly lost 10 pounds. Today my mom asked me if i was anorexic.

It all started because i stopped eating lunch because my ADD pill makes me not hungry or maybe i just used that as an excuse, i don't know. But a long time ago i had the swine flu and then after that, food started disgusting me. Like the smell of peanut butter was so gross and i used to love it.

I used to snack all the time and tried not to but couldn't help myself, but now i don't ever snack. I used to not ever be able to skip breakfast at all or my stomach would growl really bad but now i might have just a piece of toast or nothing at all and my stomach doesn't growl anymore.

but i don't know if I'm anorexic because i don't think about losing weight and sometimes i look in the mirror and like what i see. only sometimes i think I'm fat but i don't get obsessed about calories or my weight. like i haven't been on a scale in a few months until today but my mom's comment made me think and i don't know.

But do you think i am?

I'm only 15 and i go for regular hospital appointments, however today when i went, i was told i have lost 3kg and I'm below weight.

i do not like eating too much because i have a belly (well that's what i think but everyone else thinks i don't). And i try my best to eat. However, a few days i ate less and now i have lost my appetite.

I'm scared about my condition as i already have a habit of self harming. please can anyone help me?

Spooky, please see a professional about your health issues. Skipping periods and thinning hair are serious signs of malnutrition. I am not a mental health professional, but the behavior you describe is very worrying. Please see someone who can help you sort out your feelings.

And another thing is I just can't stop obsessing about losing weight. Just reading people's comments, I'm sitting here saying to myself "I want to be 100 pounds. Why can't I be that skinny?" It's honestly scaring me. Help?

I'm about 5'7 and weigh 126 pounds. In March I weighed about 160 pounds. I have dealt with severe depression problems and anxiety my whole life. I'm constantly worrying about everything and I'm a hypochondriac.

I grew up in a household with a mother who was always complaining about how fat she apparently is and I have always had the same body type as my mother until now. I've always had self esteem issues but when I was dumped by the love of my life after a year and a half back in March I felt horrible about myself.

I began, what in my eyes was, dieting. At first it began with a few pounds lost here and there, but it wasn't good enough. I didn't think much of it but after a while I began to majorly cut back on food. What was once 4-5 meals a day on normal sized plates that were completely filled soon turned into one meal or two on a small plate that isn't even filled up. After I eat I feel depressed and disgusting.

When I don't eat and feel hungry I feel great. In about April I began smoking which seems to help with the hunger. When I'm hungry I light up a cigarette rather than grabbing something to eat. Then I began avoiding my family around meal times.

I still live at home with my parents and when I should be at home eating dinner with my family, I'm out with friends having cigarettes and coffee instead of food. I've lost about 20 pounds in the last two months alone. I can tell my friends and family are starting to get concerned. I've noticed in the past two weeks my friends who usually are with me when I skip dinner have been making me eat and lecture me about how I need to stop saying I'm fat. But that's something I can't seem to help.

Though everyone around me is constantly saying how skinny I am, when I look at myself in the mirror I can't help but see myself as overweight. Though I've noticed that you can see some of my ribs and can see my hip bones I can't help but see a fat stomach, big thighs, and love handles.

I don't know whether it's real or in my head anymore. None of my clothes fit me anymore, even pants I bought a month ago are too big when they fit perfectly when I bought them. What has me scared is I haven't had my period in about two months and my eating is getting less and less. I'm always cold. I get sick easily. I've noticed that my once extremely thick hair is starting to get thinner. I'm really weak and my joints hurt. My knee even randomly gave out while simply bending down the other day.

My arms, legs, hands, feet, etc. tend to sometimes go numb or “fall asleep” out of nowhere. I'm always extremely tired. I barely even notice that I'm hungry anymore. Another thing that scared me is I was at a friend's house the other day, I stood up to get a cup of coffee and got really dizzy, lost vision for a few seconds, and could feel my heart rate drop. Thankfully my friend sat me down got me a glass of water and a large cookie, which I felt horrible about eating shortly after.

I've noticed that without even thinking about it, when I feel as if I’ve eaten too much, I make myself some laxative tea that I have. However, I have never once made myself vomit. I don't know what to do. I need some help, advice, anything. I'm scared. Am I anorexic?

I am 6 and a half stone and eat one meal a day. my husband thinks im way too thin.

i want to gain weight but can't. I don't know what to do.

Hi. I am 31 years old and am living in a foreign country away from family and any friends. My weight is like 150 and I am 5'3', however for the past four months i barely eat and am in severe depression. I can barely concentrate to do my work here. I can't sleep at night either. I've tried to tell people I notice anorexic behavior but people don't believe me and tell me I am obese. i know I should eat but I just don't have the interest or the strength. I am just too young to be going through this.

I'm 5'4", maybe 5'5". I'm in between 100 pounds and 107. I'm terrified of being over 108, and I limit myself as much as possible, but I always end up eating. And then I feel fat and terrible. I always feel better when I don't eat in a day because I look skinnier. Oh, I'm 14, 15 in five months. A while ago, I had surgery and was 81 pounds just before I went back into the hospital, due to complications. I want to to go back to, like, 92 pounds because then I looked sort of pretty. Now, I just look in the mirror and see someone fat and ugly. People say I'm skinny, and some people say I'm pretty, but I don't believe them. I'm ugly and fat, always. I want to go back to the time when my thighs didn't touch, when I could fit into 0 slim fits (American jean size) and I could wear this really pretty blue sweater. Now, I just look fat in it. Please -- am I anorexic? If I am, I'm not sure I want to get better. I want to be thin! I'm so fat right now.

I can't stop thinking about losing weight. It's like there are two sides of me. Whenever I have any food I always get an urge to hide it or throw it away. I keep not eating lunch at school, and my best friend is really upset. I try to force myself to eat and just stop thinking about it, but I just can't! Sometimes things happen at home which make me upset and depressed, and I just miss meals and try to skip eating as much as possible. I just want to be normal, and a healthy weight, but another part of me tells me I want to be skinnier. Sometimes I want to talk to someone, like my friend who really seems to think I'm going to go anorexic, but I just can't force the words out. I don't know how to stop thinking like this.

i'm 15 and 5'8. and this morning i weighed 128. is that overweight? I think I'm fat, but all my friends tell me i'm skinny. How much should i weigh?

I'm 14 and i'm 40 kgs and i'm 160cms tall and my BMI is 15.6kg. does dis mean i'm under weight? i really want to get fatter and i keep on eatting and nothing happens. Can you guys please help me?

I am 15 years old, 5ft 8inches and am 113 pounds. I hate myself because I feel I am fat. I run cross country and for the last month and a half I weighed 123 and now weigh 113. I don't know what to do. I am so scared of getting fat.

Hey, I'm a 5'2", 12 year old girl. I weigh about 88 pounds. I was just wondering if that is good for my age and height. I eat anything I want, but I don't gain much weight. Yes, I play sports, so maybe that's why I'm not gaining much. I'm really skinny, one of the skinniest in my class. And my doctor says I'm healthy. So, is 88 pounds good for a 5'2" 12 year old girl like me?

I am 45 years old. 5'51/2" and I'm less than 109 pounds. This is very skinny for me. I cannot eat. I am so depressed. I cry so much like all day and all night and I lie there and I cannot eat. I am starving and I cannot eat. I have a doctor. I have a therapist. I cannot tolerate the antidepressants. I went to the hospital in my city, which is a teaching hospital, several years ago for depression. I stayed two nights and it was so horrifying that when I left I thought I would rather be dead than to have to go back. I'm not going back there. I would go to another hospital if I could find one. I simply cannot make myself eat, unless I am with a friend. Then I can eat, sometimes only a little but the other night my friend came and I ate my meal and half of his and all of the desert. He was so happy but afterwards my tummy hurt and he said yes "because you have to eat more" but he is too busy to help me. Everyone is too busy. My son has a brain disorder and can't help. I have two dogs and I'm too weak to walk them. I haven't weighed in about two weeks but I know I've lost more weight. The hunger hurts. But here is the thing -- I hate being so skinny. I hate it. So am I anorexic? I would like to gain weight so my clothes would fit me.

Call me starh i'm thinking about becoming anorexic. i think its so sexy! I'm 16 and weigh 280 pounds. And i bet you before i'm 25 i'm going to weigh 100 pounds. Who wants to join me?

I am a 13 year old girl and am 5 foot 3. I weigh 86 pounds. My boyfriend says i was just made small but everyone else seems to tell me i need to gain weight because i am too skinny. I don't eat barely any breakfast(normally a piece of cheese) or any lunch. I only eat dinner. My dad said i am just losing weight because of puberty but i don't know if that is it or i am really medically ill. Am i anorexic? please help!

im a 17 year old girl. since i was 13 i used to pray, beg, wish, i might have even killed, to be skinny. i wasn't horribly fat, but i definitely wasn't skinny. i weighed about 135 at my highest at a height of about 5'2. yet i couldn't be anorexic, i didn't have the will power, i was weak and despised it. it made me so depressed i got sent to counseling because my parents thought i was going to commit suicide. i only went two times, and the lady figured my problem was my parents arguing and screaming and stuff was the problem. i recently found out that's why my mum moved out. but it wasn't that, i sat on the stairs and listened to them, it made me so disturbingly happy. i was depressed because i was a fat, emo, ugly, weak girl, with no friends, and couldn't even control the small parts of my life, like what i ate. i looked at the girls who were anorexic and i coveted them, i looked up to their strength and it was really a glorious thing. people said it was horrible and a problem, and i can see that, but i just didn't (and still don't)care. just how i know abortion is wrong, and starving children in africa is wrong. but me, my inside, just doesn't care and i can't make it, no matter how hard i try. am i a horrible person?

anyway, im now 17. im 5 feet, 2.75 inches, and i weighed 106.4 pounds this morning. i know that doesn't even put me in the underweight section of the bmi, but its the lowest I've ever been (since i started to care), so it makes me happy. i weighted 115 last week (and was proud of that). i am a lazy person, not physically, but i cannot stand drama, or stress. i'll do almost anything to avoid it. i don't want people to know im anorexic, because they would just feel obligated to get involved or try to help me. i don't want that. it's too much hassle. i just want to be underweight for once in my life, so that i can convince myself i'm not fat. i have proof. if the numbers say it, it's obsolete. that's all i need. 103.

over the summer my friends and everyone was saying i was skinny, and i got a lot of compliments on losing weight, and on my hair, and stuff. it made me really happy. and i even got honesty box comments on facebook, saying stuff like "Eet! it won't kill u!" It makes me satisfied to know i'm not fat in their eyes at least, though their comments hurt. but now the comments and compliments have stopped coming. i weigh less now, and i feel better and feel like i'm pretty, but nobody else seems to. and so i look in the mirror and though there's less of me there, i feel fatter than i did a month ago. it's a mind thing i know, but even moving, i feel heavier and i feel like gravity's pulling on me more. i don't understand. ughh, i even have to close my eyes when i go to the bathroom, sitting makes my legs look utterly massive, not even kidding. i swear i had a point to this before i started to ramble about my life, sorry to anyone who actually is still reading. i suppose my point was to ask if anyone has any advise on how to sort out my head, because i want to be anorexic. i enjoy it, it's like a little special secret i get to keep to myself, but at the same time, i want people to tell me i'm skinny and stuff because without it i get fatter and fatter, even though i weigh less. but i don't want them to know it's because I'm anorexic, because that just causes problems and counseling and stuff i really haven't got the time for. its confusing. screw life. jeez. how do i win this game?

I am 15 years old. i weigh 48kg and i am 164 cm high. I'm always looking in the mirror, thinking i'm fat. I usually eat very little e.g. very small breakfast, no lunch and small dinner i.e half a pizza. My friends say i'm skinny but i really don't think i am. Am i anorexic? please help.

im 24 years old, im 5'3 and weigh 107. i don't know if i'm underweight or anorexic or both. im afraid of being fat. i'm afraid of eating too much. i love cooking and baking, but i don't eat what i bake and cook, i just give it away because im afraid that if im going to eat it i'm going to be fat. i love to be thin. although a lot of people are telling me that i'm not fat i don't believe them. i think of myself as fat. can you please tell me what's wrong with me? please i need answers. thanks!

Anon45684, I am not a doctor, but I don't think you are all right. According to a little preliminary research online, your Body Mass Index is 15.1, which is considered underweight. In fact, according to a growth chart I found, your BMI puts you below the fifth percentile in proper growth.

You can never completely eliminate body fat, and you shouldn't try. Humans are meant to have a certain amount of body fat. It helps us regulate our body temperature, for instance, and helps keep our systems working properly. If you have started having periods, have you noticed they have decreased in frequency, or stopped altogether? Are your arms and legs a little more hairy than before? These are serious warning signs that you are becoming severely malnourished, and your body is attempting to compensate by growing extra hair to help keep you warm, and your body is not producing the right amount of hormones.

Please, please, please, talk to your mother or another trusted adult about this. I am afraid you are heading down a road that will end in one way: death. Yes, girls die from anorexia every year, and all of them think it won't happen to them. They think they can control it--that they won't get *that* skinny. They just want to lose another couple of pounds -- another kilo or two. Just to get a little extra fat off. Sweetheart, you don't have any fat left to lose. Even if you have some fat on your thighs or upper arms, you're *supposed* to! Eating healthy is a great thing, but it can become a destructive obsession. Please, I urge you desperately, *talk* to an adult you trust -- one who will really listen to you and whose advice and opinion you respect. Do it now. Please, do it now.

I am 15 years old, 16 in 4 months. Four months ago i used to weigh 55kgs (about 121 pounds). i started getting really aware about how i looked against everyone at school as a lot of the girls are skinny. so i started thinking i am fat, so i started counting calories and reading the backs of packaging. i think i look okay now, but i do need to lose a bit more fat. i am now 40kgs (88 pounds). i am about 5 foot 4. i am okay, aren't i?

i am 16 and approximately 5 foot 7'.After weighing myself last week i realized i had gone from about 123 pounds to only 99 pounds without even realizing it. My body is getting more slender and i just don't want to eat anymore. I drink a lot of water and eat an apple and maybe a little snack a day. Am i OK?

Anon45340, yes, you do need to get some help. Please talk to your mom, school counselor or nurse, or another trusted adult about your situation. Anorexia is nothing to play around with. Please talk to an adult you trust.

I'm 14 and 4'9" and i weigh 80 pounds. i don't eat breakfast. at lunch i'll have a couple chips, and at dinner time i hardly eat. I'm always hungry, but when i try to eat i just feel sick. i could go two days without eating. i hardly drink any water. i feel light headed a lot and get stomach aches and headaches all day. should i get help?

I'm 15 and i'm 5 feet 8 inches tall, and i'm incredibly obsessed with my weight. I'm a size 8-10 Uk girls but i want to get smaller because i'm too big for my height. How can i get down to a size 4? because i've got big hips too, but i'll work so hard to get there.

i don't eat breakfast most of the time i skip lunch and if i can i skip tea as well (by making up lies such as :not hungry -- my mate brought me something or i have a stomachache). after i do eat i do a lot of exercise. i constantly worry about my weight a lot and my mates tell me that i'm really skinny but i don't know what they're on about and sometimes i feel really fat. i go rigid when i'm around food and i have a massive fear of being fat.

am i anorexic?

i skip breafast and lunch. i often skip tea if i can after eating. i eat lots to try and make myself sick or do lots of exercise to burn it off. i haven't lost much weight but my ribs are starting to show but this may be because when i over-eat to make myself sick. it doesn't work. everyone says i'm skinny but i often feel fat and i do this to myself because im afraid of being fat.

am i anorexic and should i seek help

My legs are so skinny.

am 5'2 and am 18, and i weigh 84 pounds. but before i weighed like 92 pounds and i pretty much lost weight. and i at least want to be 115 pounds, and people do tell me that i am skinny. i don't eat breakfast and sometimes skip lunch.

im 13 years old and a half. i am about 5'6 and i weigh about 113 pounds. i don't know if that is normal. i try to stay away from eating a lot of junk and calories. i play heavy soccer about 5 hours a week, maybe it's the muscles that are weighing a lot. some people say that i am a little fat on my legs, some like my shape, some say i'm skinny. but i don't know. my friends are all skinnier than me by like 11 pounds. i hope its not anorexia. i don't think so at least. :( is this normal. i'd rather die then be anorexic!

i'm 5 foot 4 and i weigh 104 pounds. i'm 15.

i never eat after 5, and after every meal i eat a lemon to burn off the calories. i also skip lunch. am i anorexic?

I'm drinking soda sometimes and eating maybe some junk foods. I'm only 13 years old and 80 pounds. My friend at school doesn't eat anything sometimes in lunch time. And I eat more than she does.

im 13 almost 14 and weigh 93 pounds. i don't eat lunch or breakfast but i do eatt dinner and dessert. am i anorexic if i refuse to eat food?

I'm 24 years old, 5'1, and I'm 99-100 pounds. each day it's back and forth. I limit my food, I don't eat all day and then eat a few things in the evening at 7. I think Im anorexic

I need help. I'm 16 years old and i think i weigh less than my normal weight, for the past couple years i maintained a weight of 118, but not so long ago i went to 116 pounds. I feel that i lost more weight but i haven't checked myself. I haven't been sleeping for the past couple months normally and I wouldn't go to sleep until 5 a.m. or even later. I haven't been eating normally either, and i would limit myself from eating. I exercise everyday at night because i feel insecure about my body. i don't know what to do.

danielle im so so sorry and i pray for you to get better. Please go eat some chips or a sandwich or something! you can do it!

hi i'm kat. i'm around five feet to five and 2 inches in height and weigh around 95 to 105 pounds. im twelve years old. My friend called me aneorexic. when i told my other friend she didn't say anything like "you are So not!" or "that's stupid." she just didn't do anything. I admit i am a picky eater, i like certain things i like soup and cereal, mexican rice and read. That kind of things, i also eat white chicken and turkey. Also i love sweets candy, soda, ice cream, fudge gummy bears laffy taffy reeses pb cups, yum! but im pretty picky and can't pig out as much as my friends can. I don't count calories or check labels on food cans but i do play softball and am signing up for track. i have a stepfather who i really don't like. not only is he annoying but his daughter is a total dork and is really creepy and says im her best friend forever. anyway my stepfather says all these comments about me not eating enough and it makes me want to cry. His only daughter (described earlier) is a little overweight so could it just be not what he's used to? Sometimes i feel swept up in all the weight loss craze of advertising, i do read seventeen and teen vouge but because i like fashion and they put fitness articles in there and sometimes i will do them. a few months ago i was crying over everything, and my mom said that i was at risk for aneorexia which just made me cry harder. she also said im a perfectionist. i was always scared of being a perfectionist, because that's a viscious circle of self doubt nd stuff. Right now im trying to exercise every other day for 30 minutes. and have dessert only once daily. So please answer me! please! i don't want to stay up crying every night and want to prove them wrong! or if i am aneorexic get better, so who's right my mom stepfather and friends, or me? please help.-Kat :(

I'm 14, 5"8, and 106 lbs... Last year I weighed 140, to me, that's FAT. Lately I've been feeling really dizzy and weak. I've had many friends and families confront me. I reaserched anorexia on the internet and all the symptoms I had, it's like they were inside my head!?!? I decided I didn't want to be sick and judged, so I started eating a little more.

I thought I had recovered but I still keep track of EVERY calorie, pretty much if I eat something and am unsure of the calories I reaserch it just so I feel in control... Personally, I think I look the best I have EVER,(which is my problem) but all my friends say I look like a skeleton. But the downside is all my bras are pretty much empty space now...Great.

I started working out after every meal, it makes me feel better. Whenever confronted about my weight I get really angry and aggressive, just fed up. I'm terrified to gain weight, I won't touch any form of junk food, and I never eat between meals. I've considered being a model maybe because I'm tall and officially thin... But I'm afraid I'm seriously unhealthy. I just need some advice on what you think I should do.

I'm 14 years old, 5"8, and 106 lbs. Last year I weighed 140... To me that's so fat, and when i look at old pictures I almost want to cry. Everyone at school thinks I'm anorexic, and I've been told a lot of times. I always denied being anorexic.I read every label and count every calorie. All my meals stay within a certain carlorie count.

Lately I've been reaserching anorexia, and all the symptoms I have. When I read everything it was like they personally knew me? I was crying because I don't want to be sick.

I used to get dizzy every time I stood up, but after like a million interventions from my, and other families I decided I wanted to change. So I did, I started eating a sandwich at lunch. On the scale I saw I gained 5 pounds (106 lbs after I gained), I was proud at first, but lately my mind has been telling me to lose...

I started to exersise after every meal because it makes me feel good :) I looked at the scale today and I dropped a couple pounds. I think I look so good, but other people tell me I look like a skeleton... I only see it a couple times in the mirror. As of now I have like no chest, my bras used to fit, but now they're just empty space :(

I thought I had changed, and I was proud of that, but lately I've been getting into my old habits. I've been cutting down calories to try and "maintain" and lose weight. Every time someone says something about my weight or says I have a disroder I get really mad and aggressive and fed up with everyone/everything.

I'm scared I'm going to get really sick, but I feel OK? What should I do? I'm terrified to gain weight, and my mind always tells me I can't.

I'm a 15 year 5'5" I currently weigh 110. last week I weighed 118.

I've never been the smartest in my grade, nor have I been the most athletic or outgoing. I am athletic and I love playing volleyball and I enjoy running. I don't feel like I'm the best or need to be the best. There's just one thing that I feel the need to do for myself and only myself.

I know I'm skinnier than most of the girls in my grade, but some are skinnier. I often find myself jealous of them, even though they are shorter I still feel like I should weigh the same or less than them. So I started to diet. I only ate about 500 calories a week, this only lasted about a month. I dropped about 5 ibs.

I started eating normally again. I think since school was out and I wasn't really able to compare myself with the skinnier girls I wasn't so insecure about my weight. I was back to a healthy 116-118 and I was eating like a foodaholic. Naturally I love food and eat a lot. But now I just find myself not wanting to eat so I can lose weight. I've only consumed about 100 cals. in the last 3 days. I run every other morning too.

When I look in the mirror I never see myself as fat or normal, I see myself as skinny. Even though I know I'm skinny I always want to weigh less. I am definitely a perfectionist with my body and feel the need to always look the best. I never was this way in my younger years, I grew up as a happy healthy child although I was always in the underweight category.

I know that what I'm doing to my body is very dangerous and life threatening, but I feel like it's the only thing I really have control over.

Is this a life style I really want to consider???? My mind tells me no, but my conscience tells me otherwise. :/

I've always been a bit underweight, but it has gotten really bad the past year. I am 21 years old, 5'5 and 100 pounds. I've never thought i was fat, and a lot of this comes from the fact that I am really poor. In the past 2 years, I have had my period 3 times. I feel so sick and dizzy, I feel like I am wasting away. Going to bed hungry every night is never something I've gotten used to.

Please Help!!

I am around 12 years old. I way around 88lbs. I get a lot of exercise, and i eat enough. I find myself to be losing weight. I don't eat a lot of meat, and I try an finish my plate but i can't? Whenever i'm forced to eat everything i feel like it's going to come right back up? I sometimes feel fat even though i'm not, but i really am getting worried because i'm starting to lose weight fast!! i don't know what is wrong with me!

im 12yrs going on 13 in october.

i weigh around 95-98, im constantly going from 95 to 98 or to 98 back to 95

im barely 5'1

i don't weigh my self but once a month.

i barely eat whats on my plate when its time for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, but since it is summer i get up late most of the time so i wait for lunch time to come around but if i wake up early i eat yogurt or some kind of fruit.

when its lunch i usually have pasta like raviolis or oodles and noodles.

dinner comes around and sometimes im forced to eat, and if i don't eat the meat that my parents fixed i get yelled at but i could care less about the meat all i want is the vegs or whatever is another side.

im a size 0 in pants and shorts, in the winter i go up the scale and stay at a constant size but my size 1s that i wear in pants in the winter started to sag on my butt in january and i wasn't playing soccer, the only kind of sport i was doing was tumbling and that's an all year sport for me, but then when it was lunch time at school sometimes i wouldn't eat and i would get told to eat but i wasn't hungry and all i was craving was water. when i came home from school i would have a light snack like anything that would hold me over till dinner, but then i wouldn't eat everything that was given to me. but then i would just have a light snack before i went, and that still happens in the summer too.

i was getting headaches a lot more than i was last year and i was about the same size as i was last year. but im getting headaches everyday now and i take 2 of ibuprofen and that only lasts about 3-4 hours long then i have to take more.

can you please tell me if i near anorexic or if im normal.

i decided to search anorexia symptoms and such on the computer when i found this. im 14, 5'2" and about 100 pounds. at the beginning of the year i was 110. and my doctor said only 33% of the girls my age have that weight, and apparently im underweight. i never considered myself skinny, bc when i look in the mirror, i see a girl with huge thighs and a huge stomach. and im 100, and that to me has always been fat... I've always been naturally skinny in a way. at age 11, i was 59 pounds. my doctors were so worried that they put me on a serious diet, and i feel like it made me fat. the issue is, i feel fat, but i tried my hardest to stay away from anorexia or anything, so i started working out like *crazy*. i couldn't move for weeks I was so hurt. and then my doctor started noticing my drop in weight, and so did my friends. and i said it was bc i work out. but she said there is no way you can lose 10 pounds in only a matter of a week or so, and i didn't understand.

i realized that i wasn't eating, because i just lost my appetite. i often skip dinner, and I've never eaten lunch or breakfast. so i searched this, bc my close friend said she was worried about me. she said i was too skinny, but i said no, im fat? and she freaked out. she begged me to eat, but i seriously wasn't hungry!!

i go two days without food, and my stomach doesn't growl even once! i pick at my food, and end up throwing it away when my mother isn't looking. im getting worried, because in the article it says that signs consist of missing your period multiple times. i cried, because i have been. i go months without it. im soooo scared that I've become anorexic, and i hate it. i don't want to be that way, it makes me feel sick. but i don't understand, because im looking in the mirror, and i tell myself im skinny, but i just don't see it. im afraid im anorexic.

what do i do?!? im only 14, and im scared for my health. im always tired, im never hungry, and i don't ever get my period but maybe 5 or 6 times a year. if someone could just tell me what i need to do to get my appetite back up, id really like that. im extremely insecure, and i find myself insulting myself for everything. my hair isn't pretty, my thighs are huge, im so ugly... and my friends try *so* hard to tell me im pretty, but i don't believe it. i need help, i know... but where do i start? how do i get back on track? *please help*

hi i am 12 and i weigh 105 lbs. about a month ago i weighed 110. i am almost 5'5. people say i am skinny but i think i am fat i don't eat because if i do i can't stop eating then i feel fat i have tried to make myself throw up it didn't work only water came up. do i have an eating disorder?

I am 13. my bmi says it is 17 and under-wieght. I only eat 100 calories a day but im not losing anymore weight. I have actually gained about 3 kilos over the past 3 months and now I am going crazy. apparently i have gained weight because my metabolism has gone in "survival mode" because i am not eating enough and that is why i am not losing anymore weight. My family is happy about this now, they say "oh but you look normal now" but the thing is I feel really fat. I don't want to be "normal" I want to be slim and pretty. I am going to try and speed up my metabolism by eating breakfast instead of skipping and exercising at least 3 times a week, but now i am questioning myself, is this crazy??

please help me i'm totally freaking out!! i think i may be anorexic. i'm 14 and the skinniest girl in my year (or so i'm told). I don't eat a lot because i'm not always hungry or i just don't want to eat. i'm about 5 ft 2 and 5 stone and i'm 14. am i anorexic or just underweight?

i am 25 years old and have lived with anorexia now for 14 years, i have never addressed the issue before and have only realized in the last 4 days that i have a problem, nobody around me has ever spoken about it (i moved out when i was 16) until my partner confronted me the other day. after a long talk and 4 days of thinking about my life i have finally been able to admit that i do have an eating disorder and i am not proud of it.

i am not really ill, i have always been under weight. i always eat my meal on the night with my family (but make excuses why it should be smaller than everyone elses) but during they day i eat a piece of fruit or a chocolate bar, if i eat anymore than that i feel really bad and obese in the mirror for hours feeling i have put on weight.

i have tried throwing up but it never seems to work right and can only be sick a bit.

i feel fat at the moment, somewhere in my mind i know i am wrong i know i am not but that's just how i feel.

7 months ago i gave birth to twins (with the help of ivf) i worked really hard to put weight on or they wouldn't have given me ivf.

after the birth of my babies i suffered bad with PND and the only way i could control it was by losing weight, i am now a size 8 and still feel hugely over weight.

i have booked an appointment with my health visitor for Wednesday and am going to talk to her as first step towards recovery. i need to do this for my children. but the bad thing is, i don't want to put any weight on, i still want to lose a lot more!!

im 15. i don't think im anorexic, but lately things have changed. my weight is only slightly lower than normal, but just barely and my parents have voiced their concerns, but how do i know when i actually am? because right now i don't want to eat most of the time, but when i eat i feel too stuffed.

my name is sasha and i am 20 years old. there are times that i don't want to eat and if i don't get what i want i won't eat and i will go for days without eating and there are times that even if i get what i like to eat i don't want it anymore because i got bored of it and the thing i liked before i don't want it. why do you think i get like that?

i'm a 13 year old girl. my friends all say i'm anorexic coz i don't eat unless i have 2. i haven't been eating properly 4 about 6 months. i eat half a biscuit and then i'm full.

i don't seem 2 be getting any thinner but i'm not getting any bigger either, but i fainted in skl the other day.

my friends say i'm skinny coz my bones are showing really visibly. after i eat i often feel sick.

i have loads of energy though so im often running around and dancing in my room.

they say i barely have a bottom. if i didn't eat then wouldn't my friends say that they'll force feed me if they have 2 (i know their only messing around though.)

i get really bad stomach pains and my hair is starting 2 fall out.

i don't know who 2 talk 2 coz i know my mum won't listen. if told one of my teachers at skl would my mum have 2 find out.

confused person

Everyone can look thinner, better. I think it's natural to want to lose some weight. Personally, I love losing weight and love the buzz of seeing i'd dropped lbs.

It's impossible to diagnose properly online, but also easy to push someone to believe they have an eating disorder when they may not.

Realistically, I think when your family begins to follow you to the bathroom, or starts saying you have no bottom, is probably a good time to worry, prior to that, research shows a lot (mainly males) use the experience of an eating disorder to lose lbs without even having one. I think this is often true of many, and you see on the forums many who go in search of ana and begin to develop it.

I think it's best caught early. As once you have it, even when you lose it, it has a habit of resurfacing, usually after some big event like a split, or such.

I am 5 foot 8 inches and i weigh 43.7 kg ..i have been to the doctor and he told me i need to eat and gain weight (go on a healthy diet) my family is happy at the fact i am eating again. But i am not. So i have decided that i do not want to eat again. So i am stopping and if i feel as if i am going to faint i'll eat a Cube of Cheese and that shall be it.

I'm 15. I don't know how much I weigh but I know I'm very skinny. When I'm in school I want people to notice. I think it's because I'm not that pretty and being skinny is the only good thing about my appearance.

I know I am skinny but I still want to lose weight because I think if I just got a bit smaller I would look better. All my friends are pretty.

A few months ago I went to the doctors and the nurse asked me if I'd eaten that day. I had and I love food but now I'm eating a lot less. The nurse said I'm on the edge of being underweight. In some weird way that made me feel special. I really want to become underweight. I don't know why and I know it would be wrong, but I still do.

When I look in the mirror I can see some of my ribs and I know I shouldn't be able to. I still want to be skinny... but I kind of don't. I want to be average weight like all the other girls in my class but I'm scared of doing that.

Tonight my parents aren't home so I have to make my own dinner. I know I probably won't eat anything. But I should.

I'm 5ft 6 and weigh 8st(112 lbs). I'm not anorexic now but I really want/don't want to lose weight. Will I become anorexic?

I'm Brenda and i got in trouble because i didn't eat all day. My mom said that she would let me do everything i wanted if i ate, but i don't want to. What should i do?

Hi My Name Is Emma

When In Primary School I Was Badly Bullied, One Day A Boy Called Me *fat*. I Knew Deep Down That I Wasn't And He Was Just Saying It To Hurt Me ... And It Worked.

Every time I Tried To Eat I Heard That One Word *fat*. I Stopped Eating. I Got Up Before The Rest Of My Family And When They Got Up I Told Them I Had Already Had Breakfast. I Chucked My Lunch My Mum Gave Me In The Bin At My Bus Stop. At Tea Time I Hid My Food In A Tissue Or Cried Saying I Felt Ill Or Wasn't Hungry.

I Did One Hundred Press Ups, Sit Ups...(you name it i did it) A Night, I Was Obsessed. If I Did A Sit Up Wrong I Would Start Again. In Reality I Did Around 400 Sit Ups A Night.

At School I Was An A* Student, All My Targets Were A*s I Was A Perfectionist. If I Got a B It Might As Well Have Been An F. `

Not Eating Made Me Short Tempered And Soon I Started Falling Out With My Friends. They Were Worried About Me And I Resented It. One Day One Of My Friends Told My Tutor. I Went Mad. The School Made Me Have Counseling...It Didn't Help. Nothing Made A Difference Until I Was Willing To Admit To Myself I *was* Anorexic.

There Was A Teacher At My School Who Noticed Changes In Me. One Day They Told Me To Stay Behind And Promised If I Ever Needed To Talk I Could Go To Them. I Broke Down In Tears, Realisation Hit Me. I Knew I Had A Problem, But I Couldn't Tell Anyone, I Knew My Mum Would Over-React And Blow Everything Out Of Proportion So I Lied... I Said Nothing Was Wrong.

For 4 Years I Was Anorexic. At My Lowest I Weighed 5 stone 4 lbs.

No One Understood. They Though I Was Doing It To Loose Weight. I Wasn't. I Just Didn't Want To Get *fat*.

One Day I Tried To Tell My Tutor. He Made Everything Worse. He Didn't Listen. He Just Heard The Word Anorexic And Referred Me To A Councilor. He Let Me Down.

I Am Now A Recovering Anorexic. I Am 5 Foot 2 Inches And Weight 7 Stone.

I Have Never Told Anyone About This Before Until Now. The Only Reason I Am Now Is Because I Understand. No One Can Really Help Unless They Have Experienced It Themselves. People Say They Understand But They Don't. Not Really.

Anorexia Is Like A Pit. An Inner Darkness. I Never Could Have Known Had Existed Until Now.

Anorexia Ruined My Life. Plz Don't Let It Ruin Your's!

x

Hi, I am a 12 year old girl that is 87-90lbs.

All my friends say i'm skinny, even my teacher...

But when I look in the mirror, I look fat.

My stomach dose not stick out, but sometimes it like sinks in, that the point I feel like i'm dying, but really i'm not, but...

In grade 6 I weighed 98 pounds, then I lost 15 pounds to 84, then 82, but I told myself if I reach 70, I'm dying... so I never reached it.

I am 5.1 but I think I look fat compared to some other people. Am I anorexic?

Hi iM Jazz im 12 AM 5.2 and i weigh 99pounds and i want to loose weigh fast without my parents finding out my friends say am skinny but im not

Help Me XxxxxX

Just call my Lizzy. I'm 15 years old, four feet and six inches and 94 pounds. I eat two things a day. Today I had a bagel and a small cup of rice. Do I sound Anorexic?

I am 15 year old boy going on 16 soon. 5'8-5'10. I weigh 115 pounds. I'm skinny and I am classified as skin and bones to many people. I hate this. I consider myself at the stage of being healthy and going into complete anorexia. I had to lie about my mile time last year in order to pass the fitness gram.

I do eat enough in the morning, yet around 10-11 o' clock my stomach starts to grumble randomly. It is embarrassing considering I cannot figure out why. I try to eat more and more yet it continues to grumble. This has been going on for a year now and i'm pissed off at it.

I try to eat a lot yet I don't gain weight or i gain 1 pound after 6 months or so. I want to join Track, but i fear the fact that I'm going to end up making a fool out of myself from not being able to be successful in the event because of my health. I am a 1/10000 child since i was born with a narrow aorta vessel so i had to undergo surgery when i was 1 day old but I don't believe that has anything to do with my weight condition. Please help me =[

i am a fourteen year old girl, i don't eat at school and lately i don't feel hungry and i think i look fat, i have diabetes and do horse riding weekly. i don't know who to speak to and i am not sure if i am anorexic or not.please help

hi, i just turned 14 years old. ever since iwas about 9 years old i always thought i was fat and still do. when i first started high school i began to not eat and only drink water and have rice and daul very occasionally.

i used to throw the food that my mother gave me away. no one noticed until i stayed at my sisters and she knew i wouldnt eat which was then they forced me to eat and so now my mum always makes sure i eat. i want to continue starving myself I've always looked at every one else how skinny they are i don't like wearing certain clothes and i never wear a bikini or anything i just want to be thin and pretty I've tried everything

i do eat but if i had a choice i wouldnt what should i do?

Im 13 And About 5'2 I weigh About 6 Stone And My Friends Always Say Im Really Skinny But I Don't Think I Am. I Don't Really Eat Much And The Wii Fit Says Im Underweight. :S

I am 14. I am 5'5 and 125 pounds. I eat only 100 calories a day, yet I'm not losing any weight. What's wrong with me?

I am an anorexic since last year. For a while I was in denial about my disease but now I know its a for sure thing. I have lost 8 pounds in just a week before! I am 14 am on the verge of hitting 80 pounds. I eat about one thing from one meal every day so depending on what it is then the most I eat is about 500 calories a day. My stomach is growling all the time but I don't feel hungry. At school I just sit there because I am self conscious about people watching me eat. My dad is kind of finding out. I told my school librarian because she's awesome. She said that I am doing well with it this year and I am getting it under control unlike last year when I skip up to two days worth of meals! I'm kind of recovering. kind of not. Since I got myself into this, I don't know if i'm getting out.

Hi. I am 15. 16 in a week. I am an athlete. i love volleyball. I have tryouts in a week. school season just ended. i am 5 ft 11 in and weigh about 123 lbs depending on the day. In oct. i weighed 138 lbs. i work out at least 5 times a week...intensely running at the minimum 4 miles, weight lifting, abs, and stretching. On top of that i have a 4.8 gpa, i am working on the school play which is in 2 weeks, participating actively in 2 clubs, and busy with friends, babysitting, and family events. My parents began fighting really bad, and the blame fell on me. that was in oct. when i first stopped eating. now i eat like celery and peanut butter or seafood salad for lunch with carrots or pretzels through out the day. and for dinner an apple and a salad and maybe some meat depending on my headache. my friends and 'rents began to notice my eating habits changing, and are getting on my case but have backed off. i have made myself puke twice after they forced me to eat, i stay away from dinner parties, and at sleepovers eat just enough so no one looks at me curiously since i used to b a big eater, eating more than my 220 lbs 6 ft 3 in dad could consume. i feel sad, stressed, and a little scared. i havnt slept for awhile, i have pounding headaches, a little dizzy at times, and weird stomach pains. i see myself as huge. i am not even underweight. so there's no way i can have an eating problem. no one would believe me if they did. just say i am over reacting, or being silly. then would tell me to go out and get a cheeseburger and fries....which sounds very fattening. i need to get down to 115 lbs so i can fit in with my friends and sisters. who are all around 110 lbs. boys don't even notice me. it feels like this is something i can control. i can finally do something for me to make me happy. and it is. my brain is always consumed with the thought of food and how to hide it today and how much weight i am losing...even though i have a lot to go. am i sick? or just paranoid?? if i am sick how is that possible when i am not underweight?

hi, im 14, i weigh 130 lbs, and i am 5'10. i eat about 1000-1500 calories a day. my parents and friends say that i am going to be anorexic if i keep it up, but i can't help it! im fat! i want to weigh at least 10 pounds less than what i do now. is that a bad thing? im kind of scared. i keep eating less and less. what do i do?

Hello everyone, My names Joshua and this is my story. I'm an 18 year old male. I haven't been on the slim side my whole life pretty much, but my family and friends feel I'm smaller than I use to be. It was so bad at one point my mom would through out phrases like "are you on drugs?" "are you watching your weight" or friends will say "your so skinny!" and I even had an experience at the mall. I asked a worker if a shirt came in an extra small, and his reply was "no, go get a burger or something." I personally left this was really rude.

As I said I'm 18 years old, about 5'7-5'8. I weight about 125. I remember at one point in my life weighing about 136, but I can't remember when. Well i recently became a vegetarian, and I also have to take some medication that I don't feel comfortable talking about, but a side effect is "loss of weight"

I went to the doctors in October of 2008 and weighed 127. This was 1 pound less than the year before, then when i went back after being on the medication on October 30, 2008 I dropped down to 122 in 1 month. That's 5 pounds in about 20 days.

I have to admit and this may be weird but, I don't mind the feeling of being hungry. I actually like it? I don't know. When I'm completely full, I feel awful, I feel grossed out, and just want to go run.

I have a sister at the age of 15 who eats more than me at the supper table. I don't get many big portions of food. I eat smaller meals through the day, but still I'm sure not enough.

During the school week, I don't eat breakfast, and when at lunch at school I get a ice cream at times, but if no ice cream I won't eat lunch, then I go home and I might grab a snack, and when I should be starving because haven't eaten all day and I have been up from 5:30-3:00 without food yet. I feel not hungry. After the snack I take my pill, which makes me tired, I wake up later have dinner and go to bed.

I don't think I'm anorexic, but with so many people worrying about my size and food intake it makes me wonder and confuses me.

Also when people tell me to "buff up" I see being buff as being fat. I don't want to be huge, wide, stocky, or anything along those lines. I would much rather just be toned. Guys who have more muscles and brains make me sick. I don't see why I should have to be forced to look as an image of such a bodybuilder.

When people talk about my weight or how slim I am, my mom will through out, "he likes to be that way" like I have some way of choosing how I am.

I take a size 28-30 in jeans, and a xsmall-small in shirts. I know I'm on the slim side, but it's not like I can watch my weight there isn't a scale in my house. But i do find myself every time I go to anyone elses homes, I see if they have a scale.

I would be happy if there was a pill I could take instead of eating. To me eating isn't a big deal, I'm not a big eater.

Well I'd love to hear everyone's advice? idk.

i have a friend who is 12 she says she had a blood test and that the test says she is a little anorexic though she lies about a lot of things and doesn't look anorexic

hi im 15 nd im 5 foot 7 nd i weigh 96 pounds nd to me i look fat and i feel bad. im always weighing myself to see if I've put on any and if i have i try and diet until im less. i checked my bmi nd it said i was underweight but i still eat, not as much as my friends but still i don't not like not to eat i just don't like to eat too much. i started dieting and i had 300 calories a day but i want to go less to 150 calories a day. my period is quite irregular like I've missed 3 in a row and stuff. all my friends are all really worried but i really don't see the big deal. am i anorexic?pleasetell me thanx

I am a recovering anorexic. Anorexia sucks. For all of you who don't know if you are anorexic or not just go to the doctor and tell them what's up. Anorexia sucks. Please don't let a mental disease take over your life like it took over mine. Anorexia sucks. I hope you all can get better and I hope I can get better. Anorexia sucks.

I started dieting about 2 summers ago. This summer I went to Italy and I couldn't control myself so I ate... a lot (well for me) when I came home I ate even more all summer and I feel like a cow!! I think I did it because I became more confident in myself as a boy I liked started flirting with me. I'm now back at school and I've gained a lot of weight, I'm a normal weight on the BMI calculator, when only a few months ago I was underweight. I hate my body and none of my clothes fit perfectly anymore. I am a perfectionist and I do very well in school. I'm trying to lose weight, but I can't manage not eating in school as I find it hard to concentrate if I'm anyway tired. This is an exam year for me and all I want is to be anorexic. I know I have serious problems but every time I look in the mirror, I hate myself. I was happier when I was skinny!!

hi. i'm 13, 5'2" and weigh a whole 88 lbs. I have a very high metabolism, and if I don't eat a meal, i feel fatigue. Whenever I skip at least 1 meal for 2 days in a row, I get a high fever. The last time I got a high fever, I lost 9lbs, making me 79lbs. no matter what i do, i feel like i'm killing myself if I eat too much.

i don't know if im anorexic. im 13....81 pounds. I do gymnastics 20 hours a week. you can see my ribs. I don't eat sugar, dairy, meat or packaged foods. all my friends noticed but i don't eat very much just fruit and vegetables...i force myself to eat in front of my parents so they don't notice. what should i do????

please, I need help. I need information too. I'm 14. I just entered high school. I weigh 103 pounds and im 5'6". Is that bad? People tell me im horrifically skinny; it's scary to them. I don't notice anything, I think I look fine. I am a good student. I've gotten nothing lower than an A- since beginning of elementary school. I usually have a break down if I get something lower than an A-. Stress is a main factor in my life. I can't escape it. Except, with having to be a perfect student, i haven't been eating. I don't even think about. I don't feel hungry. Ive been like this since 7th grade. Now i skip breakfast, for lunch i have a bottle of water, and i usually have a little something to eat when i get home. Is something wrong with me?

I am 13, about 5ft 2 or 3 ? i weigh 98 pounds and I am not skinny what so ever ?!

its not that i am worried about my weight - because im not, I just want to look different ?

I do ballet (which is not the reason I want to alter the way I look) And my legs are nicely toned but its just my bum I want to lose weight on because I am very insecure about it unless its nicely covered (:.

Reading some of the comments here I have started wondering about my eating habits because What i call having a snack, others may call Binge eating.

and sometimes I do feel guilty for what I've eaten because I know that I haven't done anything that day whatsoever. And sometimes I will notice that i have only eaten one dinner and a snack or something like that - but I can't Physically bring myself to eat nothing. ( not that I want to ). I don\'t know ?

Although i haven't started my period yet which is quite late and I was thinking maybe it was something to do with my weight but when I was eating A LOT of junk food I was 7 stone 2 pounds but since then I have lost about 2 pounds ?

Which no one has noticed because its not visible!! I think i have some sort of problem with my eating because of how i feel about myself but I wouldnt go as far to say i was anorexic because im not !

I don\'t look anorexic, in fact im not thin, im slightly on the plumper side. What do you think ?

i have recently struggled with anorexia nervosa. i was 5'5' and 100 pounds. it got to the point where i would only eat less than 500 calories a day and i was not hungry. now i am still 5'5' and 135 but i want to lose weight and become 125. i am just afraid that i will go back to anorexia again. i had all of the symptoms you listed and i lost my period for a little over a year and i just got it back. my family says im skinny but i think im fat. what should i do? im 13.

Hello, Im 15, 5'11 and i'm going to estimate my weight as being 117 lbs. I'm wondering if i'm becoming anorexic or not. Every day my parents tell me i'm "eating too little," "I'm nothing but skin and bone." etc.

I have started to eat less and less on purpose to try and lose weight for maybe 2 months. I skip breakfast every day, when i go to school I will give at least half of my lunch away to my friends especially chips and stuff, I try to never drink anything such as: soda, juice, and anything with caffeine. Limiting myself to water. For dinner I try to eat very small portions so I continue to lose weight.

Some things I believe may be symptoms from this are I now have very dry skin near my eyes. It basically is pinkish a little i dunno how to explain scaly. Also my basketball season has just started up and I have found myself getting tired about 20 minutes sooner then I did when i weighed 10-15 lbs above my current weight.

Also, at school I secretly compare myself to my friends. In exercise and eating habits (probably some others but i can't think of atm). Whenever i look in the mirror i can see all my rib bones but i continue to look at my stomach and think of it as fat and I feel an urge to get skinnier.

I have even had friends tell me when i take my shirt off that i must be sucking in my stomach because I can't be that skinny... (but i'm not, or not consciously doing it I don't know) I'm sorry if these things are out of order but, I'm just saying what comes to my head first. Any advice would be helpful.

p.s. I don't eat tiny things such as carrots only However, I do try to eat less such as mentioned above.

I am 14 years old. I'm 5'3". About a 7 months ago was the last time i was weighed, I was 96lbs. I'm sure i'm about 104 or something like that now. I don't know. But in this past month i've become obsessed with calories and eating less than 1000 a day. I don't eat breakfast. And if possible no lunch. And little dinner. I have no idea if i've lost any weight, i can't tell and i don't own a scale. I don't want to become anorexic, but i really want to lose like 10 lbs. Im fat!! and I know it!!

hi this is the 20 year. old from the other comment. OK I weigh 102 pounds and my height is I think 5'3 or 5'4 I don't know how to gain weight. how do you gain weight without getting fat? oh and I also hate food OK well maybe hate is a bad word I um I just don't like it to me it just looks terrible. I don't know anymore I'm tired of being tired can you help me?

i'm 20 years old and I don't feel hungry half the time I've been skinny all my life and if I lose two pounds people would say I look skinner or that I look anorexic and I need to eat and get fat I know that I am skinny and I know I need to eat but I just don't want to I just don't feel hungry. am I anorexic?

hey im 13 and im about 5 ft 2 and i weigh 100 lbs :3 and my doc has been telling me to eat more just every time i try and eat i can't.

hi im 15 years old and im 120 pounds. when i was 14 i was 95 pounds and my therapist told me to eat since i was so skinny. i don't want to be 120 pounds anymore why can't i be at least 98 pounds and not be anorexic. Many people tell me im still skinny but i don't believe them. Do you believe i should be 98 pounds and not be anorexic?

Hi. I'm 15 and I'm about 5'1 and I weigh 94 to 95 pounds. My whole life I've been chubby and weighed around 125 but I'm short. Well I hated it because every girl would be skinny but me. Now I lost weight by reduced calories and excessive exercise but am too skinny and borderline anorexic. I'm seeing a therapist now and she wants my ideal weight to be 105 to 110, which is okay to me, but I am worried about gaining the wrong fat, meaning the flabby fat. I still want to have a flat belly and look good but with more healthy weight on me. I lately have been eating more than enough but not gaining any weight. What can I do?

Hey, OK i'm a guy about 6'2' and 175 i'm pretty built even though i have a six pack and you can see like all my veins in my entire body and you can see my ribs. all my friends say that need to gain weight but i don't want to get fat i play sports all the time their my life but, i have to lose a lot of weight some times to keep playing an winning cause that's my main drive to lose weight an also because i want to have the perfect body i workout like 8 hours everyday for it and whenever i go in to a room or anywhere i look around and rate everyone there fat ugly sexy etc. and some people say i'm a egocentric because i look in every mirror or anything with a reflection just to look at myself so yeah maybe a little bit but whatever is there something wrong with that i'm not the only one that does all this right?

I'm 15 about 5'7" and when I weighed myself today I weighed 104 lbs, but over the weekend I was down to 101.5 at one point. My BMI says I'm underweight but, I have always been. I LOVE food, which sucks, because I tend to overeat...This just started about 3-4 months ago when I began to eat less and less, normally i'll have a special k bar or english muffin for breakfast, carrots and ranch, soup, or a turkey sandwich for lunch, then eating a lot for dinner and have a few low cal snacks in between with activia yogurt at night. I do have thin hair and it sheds, I also stopped my period, does it sound anorexic? or not...? thank you!

You're supposed to have fat on you; it's there to keep you warm, to cushion your organs, etc. You couldn't have babies without it... your brain wouldn't work as well... it's not just "extra fat"; it's a valuable part of your body, not to mention the part of you that makes you look feminine. When anorexia gets bad, women start to look more like boys than women.

Lots of women have these subclinical eating disorders... basically something that would be an eating disorder if it were more severe. You don't have to have a diagnosis to get counseling, though you could go to a nutritionist instead.

There's a lot of talk of girls being anorexic... but what about guys like myself... im 19... im 6 foot ish... maybe 6 foot 1... and weight around 136lbs usually... it varies obviously a lot... but i think im fat and people keep asking why i'm soo skinny... but its almost like i don't want to lose my figure... when men put on weight they get a big old stomach... and i like my flat skinny waist line... its about 27inches and my hips are like 30 inches... and my chest is 34 so i am skinny enough but i do have some flabbyness on my legs and stomach... its like what meat there is on me... is basically fat... and i haven't developed like most guys... i haven't gotten hairy thank god and haven't got much facial hair... Id hate to end up like a typical hairy foul man.. i duno what to do though.. am i not eating to stop this happening?

Hi, I started a low fat, low calorie diet about a month ago now, and for the last two weeks i seem totally obsessed with counting calories and have been eating under 500 calories a day, only eating fruit and veg and maybe as a treat either a bit of chicken or an egg. The thing is I can stop now, I can't make myself eat and stop thinking about calories. I wouldnt even have a drink of tea because of the milk in it and i don't find myself hungry anymore, i just eat fruit for lunch and a salad at night because i know i have to. I can't stop it and i think i need help but whenever i talk to my boyfriend who is away in the Raf at the moment he just gets angry at me and tells me to go cook a pizza or he won't speak to me. so i lie to him and say i have, but i can't.

I was wondering if anyone knows how long it takes for anorexia to really develop? I am 20 years old. I started throwing up when i was about 12 and did that till about 17 but got control and stopped for about eight months, and in that time i went from about 130lbs to about 210lbs. Then, in a year i went from 210lbs to about 108lbs. I constantly think about how much I eat. I feel anxious when I have a couple of bites of bread, or even if i drink something with calories, like skim milk (which is ridiculous i know). I wear a size zero but still feel extremely fat and want to lose more weight. I refuse to talk to anyone about it, so if anyone has advice other than talk to someone, it would be appreciated.

im probly the perfect weight but i don't know im 5'6 and im 127 i only gained 2 pounds since i last weighed my self last year. you can see my ribs and i do not eat lunch any more only my carrots and i will not eat dinner and i only have half a bagel for breakfast and im 12 so i feel kind of fat and people at my school are skinner than me.

If you need help with anorexia, you can call the National Eating Disorders Association’s toll-free hotline, for yourself or about someone else, at 1-800-931-2237 or you can visit their website (edap.org) for information, advice, or referrals.

For those of you who don't know what to say, so you don't say anything, I've written what you can say below. It doesn't matter if you are young or old, male or female, white or black, rich or poor, overweight or underweight... you can say what I've written below. You can write it, read it, IM it, say it, email it, whatever it takes. Here's what to say:

Hey Dad, (or Doctor, Coach, Aunt Janine, etc), I have something important to tell you that's been on my mind, but I haven't said anything because I'm not sure about it all and I'm a little worried about your response (or "about my parents' response"). Can you just listen to me until I'm done? (If the person interrupts you to argue a point, like if you ought to lose weight or if you should be worried about this, say, "Would you please listen to everything I have to say before responding? This is hard for me to talk about and I want to be sure to get it all out.")

I've been trying to lose weight lately and I've noticed that I'm thinking about it a lot now. I've started [say your symptoms and concerns here, like...] not eating even when I'm hungry, and constantly comparing how skinny I am to my friends. Even though I know in my head that this thinking isn't healthy, I can't seem to control it and (sometimes) I really don't want to control it. It's starting to affect my life (or "to concern me," or "to get out of hand") and I'm wondering if I might have anorexia (or, "and my friends are saying that I might have anorexia" or "some people on the internet said I might have anorexia.") I've thought about talking to a (school) counselor or doctor about it, but I'm scared. (You could also mention specific fears, like "I'm scared of being told to gain weight or to stop working out or that I won't be taken seriously or that my Mom will blow it all out of proportion or that it will be true." And/or, you could say whatever other feelings you have like, "I'm embarrassed to be dealing with this at my age, or to be a guy going through this, to be relapsing after going so long, for people to know, to be overweight and maybe anorexic" or maybe you feel conflicted, confused, justified, or another emotion, and you would say that here.) Will you help me? (You could also mention specific ways to help, like "help me to get to the doctor, to tell my Dad, by staying in the doctor's office with me, to understand what's going on, etc?")

That's it! Be honest, be straightforward, and deal with whatever is going on. By saying all of it at once (what's going on, what you've done about it, what you think and feel about it, ask for assistance) you're going to be able to take control of the circumstances and to stop feeling powerless and controlled by these forces pulling you from outside and inside. Choose a mature, trusted adult in your life and tell him/her/them everything here and they'll help you to empower yourself. You might tell the doctor everything to find out your weight and eating are fine and the person who suggested it needlessly made you worry, that you really have a different problem--maybe one easily treated with some medication, or you might find out that your body is starving itself and eating its own fat and organs to live because you aren't giving it enough food and if you keep it up much longer then you'll soon die a painful death. Whatever it is that is going on, following what I said above will get you to where you need to be. So now that you know what to say and how to say it, go say it!

I've seen a lot of people posting they aren't saying anything about their concerns they might have anorexia because, they say, "I'm not even sure if I have it." Well, people who have symptoms of cancer don't know if they have it, so they talk about their symptoms and get a diagnosis. It might be something different, but it isn't your job to figure that out. Of course you don't know if you have it! That's why you need to talk to someone who can help you figure out what is going on, whatever it is. Go talk to a doctor or other adult today!

please help me! Im 13 and I've lost about 7lbs. really, really recently. I don't know if I have anorexia or not..... I skip breakfast, pretend to eat in front of my friends, and eat as little as possible for dinner. I am 5'0 and down to about 89lbs. Is this normal? I've been down to 76lbs. at my lowest, and really want to get back down to it. Where do I draw the line?

why do i feel fat even though everyone tells me i'm skinny? no matter what that is how i feel. i don't want people to know because i am a girl no one would ever expect to be anorexic. what do i do?

my mum is constantly nagging me because apparently i don't eat enough. but usually i eat most of my meals. she bugs me and says i look like i skeleton.. which i don't think i do. i weighed myself today and it said 8 stone 8, im about 5ft 8, which i don't think is anorexic weight. i lost a lot of weight since i was ill and i was 8 stone when i was about 9 and a bit before. i don't want to be that skinny but i don't want to be fat either. i look at myself and see the tummy that i want to be flatter. im usually cold, i have dry skin and tired which i read are symptoms. i just want answers to shut her up and leave me alone because she threatens to take me to the doctors.

this is all complete honesty here.. because i just want answers now. im so fed up.

hi, im Alexa and 13 years old. Im 5'0 and weigh 96 whole lbs!Ive been trying to lose weight since last year, and at my lowest have made it down to 76 lbs. I try to skip breakfast without my mom knowing and I eat as little of my lunch as possible to get it past my friends. They think im anorexic but I don't know... and Im scared! All I see when I look into the mirror is fat and hated. I am always thirsty and feel very weak almost all the time. My friends are basically force-feeding me and trying to help me "gain weight to be healthy". My best friend almost told my mom... but she didn't, because we're not sure if I have anorexia or not. Im really scared because I know that people can die from this and I just don't know what to do! please help me!!!

Im 12 years old and have a difficult time with my weight. All of my friends say that they are fat. one person in my class is so skinny i love it!! she is a size 0 in jeans. But although she's skinny she show it off to everyone in class. She stands up and glides her hand down her stomach and laughs. And it's not like we like it. me and my friend always talk like "You're so skinny. Ya right. well you are. no i'm not" stuff like that. I might be a size 1 and she is a size 7 but as i always say jeans can't hide everything. no guys like me. i don't know. im going on a diet but i don't think it's working. i weigh 105 lbs. please tell me what should be my goal or i'm i at a good weight??

i'm 13 am weigh 28kg. this word anorexia is always in my head i'm always running and exercising, never eating. people at school be like sarcastic calling me fat and stuff and it really gets to me. i think i need help, am i anorexic ?

I'm not sure if I'm classed as anorexic or not. I'm 23 and approx 7 1/2 stone, I'm not trying to lose weight, I know that I don't need to and if anything I could benefit from putting some on. But I can't seem to eat a regular meal, I don't eat breakfast, never have, I usually skip lunch and in the evening can only manage about half of what would be considered a normal sized meal then I'm full. I eat when I'm hungry which isn't very often, my parents have asked me about this but the honest answer really is that I'm just not hungry. I have the odd binge where I can eat full meal upon meal but it's rare. Does all this make me anorexic???

hi im danielle and im 12 i have got anorexia and it's hard living with it and the worst thing is my doctor said if i don't put on a few pounds i will die in a week so don't become anorexic please

I Feel if i am fat which i am i have no reason to live i starve myself and don't lose weight i exercise i don't lose weight my friends say i am skinny but i am fat compared to them i need help

to anonymous, if you are concerned that you may be anorexic, then you may have a problem. if you know that you are at an unhealthy weight, and feel like you want to lose more weight, then you may be anorexic. at 13, you cannot handle this on your own--if you have a hard time going to your parents, or family, then you should go to your school nurse, your teacher, or your friend's mom. there are so many adults who would be willing to help you talk to your parents. you don't want to risk your health now, and your future health by waiting to address this. find the strength within--you can do it! good luck and best wishes!

i posted the last question

how could i tell anyone no one would understand can you please tell me how i could tell someone because i haven't got a clue how.

also i may not actually be anorexic i might just want to lose weight.

i am 13

i have been worrying about my weight for a few months now i am 5 stone when i see myself i feel soo fat i am always freezing and my hands are blue my friends are starting to notice but i don't care all i want to do is be thin.

what can i do?

hi. i've had anorexia. im 97 pounds.

you need to stop. it gets addicting. no one knows that i'm anorexic. no one knows how i feel. i have all those problems that you do too...

anorexia is a sign of depression. if you start eating you won't be depressed. i tried it and it worked but i gained weight. so i stopped eating and here i am. addicted to not eating. every time i see food i feel like i'm going to puke.

stop. you NEED to eat. PLEASE!

i always feel as if eating is not something i must or want to do and that i'm overweight but i recently got asked if i was anorexic. but it didn't change my view. no one but that one person has mentioned my weight so i'm not sure if he was kidding or not ...

Hello.

i've struggled with anorexia before.

i'm now 15.

i'm 5'9 and im weighing 120 pounds still losing

you can see my ribs badly when i'm standing OR sitting for that matter.

i get sick WAY too much..

and i'm not eating at all.

i have no appetite what so ever.

i play sports all the time.

i'm an athlete.

but i also have A LOT of stress in my life..

i don't even know where to begin with that.

my parents and everyone around me says i'll be in the hospital soon.

am i too skinny?

how far is too far?!

help

signed;

desperate

it is known that most pre-teens and teens get anorexia because they want to be skinner. they watch models on TV and compare themself to others. if you or someone you know has done this or YOU even has done this do something about it or it will get worse.

as an anorexic i know it's hard to tell someone when you need to. but its something you just need to. i may be only 12 but i know when it gets bad or starts to improve. i'm still anorexic but i still know what to do. if no one believes you tell me i check this site daily.

I WILL GET YOU A ANSWER IF YOU SPEAK UP

THANK YOU

its what to say. i'm afraid to tell my teacher because i don't know when to. i don't even know if i'm anorexic yet. because my story should be above this. CAN YOU TELL ME?

Please tell your teacher, and if your teacher doesn't listen, tell a different teacher or a friend's mom. Keep talking to adults until someone helps you!

I am confused if i have anorexia. meet me i'm the 12 year old. im 98 lbs and this is my story

as you no i am currently 98 lbs and i was 110 lbs before my goal on losing weight. in my concern i have been trying to lose weight for about 2 years. i got to 75 lbs at 4 grade, then i started to gain during 5th and 6th grade. in didn't like that. it meant that i was getting fatter and fatter every year. i started to cut myself for eating. i still have the scars. one said my name, another said BNR for Big & Rich, and a lightning bolt. also i non-visible one which said poison. my friends said that i was crazy. my cousin in which has known this for a while said that i NEED to stop hurting myself for this.

Well there is more on the way. i have cracked my wrist for eating fries, bent my finger for EATING. I COULD GO ON! i went to a smoothie diet once. helped a little, but not enough. i didn't know what to do but it's getting worse i can tell.

i read up on anorexia that it can lead to severe dehydration, kidney failure, hair lose, a lot of things. i KNOW i have the severe dehydration because i passed out over it. my hair is falling out a little.

but who can i tell. my mother wouldn't listen when i tried to tell her. should i tell my teacher. and if i should, what could i say.

im scared and i don't know what to to

i don't know who to tell.

I NEED SOME ADVICE FAST

i'm only 12 and i'm VERY confused if i have anorexia of not. I was 100 pounds when wanted to lose weight. i would and still say that my friends are skinner than me (and they are). Most of my friends are taller so they LOOK skinner than me. Now i'm 98 pounds and i can't stop losing weight. i don't know if i need help or not i am told that i have similar side-affects to it. DO I NEED HELP OR NOT?! i am also getting dehydrated more often, losing some of my hair some how. i don't know!! the dehydrating part is the hardest to deal with. i didn't know i was dehydrated and i road my bike about 1 mile and i ended up passing out on a chair for 3 minutes until i drank something. its serious i know, but i don't know how to tell my mom or get help if i need it. SOMEONE HELP ME!!!!!!!!! PLEASE.

I'm 14 years old and think I may have anorexia. It started out really mild. I would eat, but more in the morning and less in the evening (you burn your breakfast calories off by the end of the day). I actually did go from 96 lbs to 87 lbs (I am currently 5'2.5"). Then is sort of became a game...what was the lowest weight I could reach? Then, I went to camp, it's not hard to loose weight there, and when I came home I was only 83 lbs. Then I didn't want to gain weight. Very recently I was sick, and my weight went down to 81 lbs. I don't want to gain weight yet I know I need too! I throw most of my lunch away and say I've eaten think which I haven't really. It's like out of control! I know it's horrible for me, but I can't help it!

I may only be 12, but I have a hard time dealing with anorexia. I'm not like the other people in my class. While they are drinking dr. pepper and that kind of pop I'm drinking diet stuff. My parents now that i am dieting but what they don't know is that i'm 10 pounds under weight

It sounds like you may be displaying the symptoms of anorexia, although you really should get a diagnosis and help from a doctor! Please talk to someone - a teacher, your parents, or one of your friend's parents and get help!

I'm trying to figure out whether I'm anorexic or not. I'm 14 years old and i only weigh 91 pounds. I recently lost 3 pounds this week. I do starve myself most of the time. My friends all ask me why i never eat anything at lunch with them or breakfast. I'm running out of excuses. i don't gag myself and i don't exercise daily, or take diet pills. My friends are worried but my family has no idea. how can I find out if I'm really anorexic or not, without my parents knowing. Can someone tell me at least?

To the author of the first comment:

Yes, eating too little will put your body into famine mode, where your basal metabolic rate will be reduced to protect your weight. Eating fewer than 1200 calories per day will be counter productive for weight loss. In fact, depending on your height and activity levels, you probably need to eat approximately 1500 calories per day to lose weight consistently.

And yes, you can indeed become actively anorexic again. Many women who have recovered from Anorexia Nervosa will experience relapses of this nature, even years after recovery. Your fixation on what and how much you're eating is a very bad sign, and eating so little is a good way to push yourself over the edge. I strongly urge you to take action now, to avoid falling back into the trap. A good registered dietitian, with experience with treating eating disorders, would be your best bet.

Good luck to you.

I may only be 13, but i have had an awful time with anorexia. ( i have posted my story and my name is Lottie if you want to read it) If you worry about it at all, speak to yor doctor. DONT RISK IT, please! You have a small child!! they need a mummy!

Lottie

I have a history of being anorexic when I was a teen. I got this under control, and am now a 47 year old mom of 1. I have MS, and the limitations of mobility from this combined with gaining almost 100 lbs with the pregnancy, has gotten me to the point of being overweight.

About a month or two ago I decided to try one of the Hoodia products on the market. It is working remarkably well for me. I have lost about 20 lbs so far.

I am also using a computer program where I chart everything that I consume, and it breaks it down to show nutritionally what my percentages are. This way I know what things I need to work on.

With this said, I actually have a couple of questions.

First-The program I'm using also shows me a report that shows my averages over a period of time. Well so far(I've only been using the program a week), my average caloric intake is under 1000 calories per day. Am I being unrealistic in thinking that I should be losing weight quicker? Is there such a thing as your body going into a starvation mode if your intake is too low? I actually have about 80 more lbs to lose. But I am very aware of what I am eating, but I am worried that I could possibly become anorexic again. Is it silly to think that someone of my age could become anorexic?

Thanks for any info you can share.