Signs of Eating Disorders– That are More Common than you think
Which I saw looking back at myself
For about 2 years I have been battling with anorexia, at the start I was in complete denial and didn’t think I had an eating disorder. I simply wanted to lose weight but then I took it too far.
I began with a few different tricks that I combined together to lose weight as quickly as possible, but once I started I couldn’t find a way to stop.
I got obsessed over the numbers, counting calories, and allocating certain times of the day I could eat, but little did I know there were all traits of the eating disorder.
Then I started restricting food and once I began, I found that I enjoyed it. Having the routine in my life of structuring my meals helped me in a way. But I was focusing too much on the calories and not the enjoyment of meals.
Even going out for a meal was too hard for me. I would days before be on the restaurant’s menu, finding the lowest-calorie meal I could have. The price didn’t even matter it was just the calories.
I went to therapy and the first thing I got asked was;
What do you think has triggered this?
To be honest, I didn’t know, and even now I don’t. I did get bullied all through school and maybe that has had an effect, but my doctors who referred me on to the therapy put it down to my autism.
He says with autism you can become obsessed with things e.g. food.
I think he nailed it as food for me became my world, it was what I thought about all the time, nonstop, but it was taking over too much.
Here are some signs I noticed looking back that all mixed together are an eating disorder;
- Calorie counting
- Restricting certain foods
- Being scared of high-calorie meals
- Getting stressed if I go above my daily allowance
- Creating my weeks lunch, dinner, and snacks every weekend so I knew for the rest of the week I would be in my allowance
- Obsessing with how I look
- Comparing myself to others
- Watching a lot of food tiktoks etc
- Skipping meals if I knew I was having a high-calorie meal later
- Obsessive exercise
All of these combined were causing my weight loss but I couldn’t stop myself at a point I was happy with because if I ate normally again I would gain weight back, or I thought.
If you have a few of these, I would recommend that you talk to someone or look at your eating patterns as you don’t want to be stuck in the cycle of obsessing over a grain of rice like me.
Have you noticed any of these signs or have any to add?
Thank you for reading! :)
