Shedding unhealthy weight and becoming the fittest version of yourself is important and the idea is gaining popularity. With the increasing obsession with rapid weight loss, comes a list of quick fixes which people will offer you in order to achieve the desired weight. Youngsters with poor self-esteem and body image issues are more susceptible to such lies and develop unhealthy eating habits. These habits can reach an advanced stage to the extent of becoming eating disorders and could prove to be life threatening. The sooner an eating disorder is detected, the easier it is to be treated. Here a few symptoms which can help in detection.
Here are signs that you or anyone you know may be suffering from an eating disorder:
1 . Extreme dieting
In the eating disorder known as anorexia nervosa, the person becomes extremely scared of gaining weight. In this disorder, you may fear that even a little amount of food will add a lot of weight and in order to avoid that, you may take extreme measures like going on a very strict diet. Your choice of food will become extremely limited and you will indulge in a little variety or none at all. If you have been eating very little or being very selective when eating food all the time, counting calories all the time, talk it out and look out for other symptoms as well. Another warning sign could be skipping meals repeatedly. This will be coupled with obvious weight loss and soon nutritional deficiency symptoms like constant tiredness, lethargy, difficulty concentrating, recurrent infections are sure to show.
2 . Negative thoughts about your body
The beginning of any eating disorder is a negative body image. Abnormal eating patterns often stem from deeply rooted insecurities about one’s weight and shape. This results in a person developing extremely unpleasant thoughts. The warning signs would include negative talking like saying – “I am too fat, I don’t like the way I look, I am so skinny”. You may tend to be extremely conscious of the way you look and you will find yourself idealizing models or actors whom you think have the ideal figure.
3 . Working out too much
Working out for long hours and overindulging in exercise to the point where it causes extreme fatigue but does not diminish motivation at all is an alarming sign of eating disorders. If you panic when you does not go for a workout or find yourself refusing to stop even during times of injury, then you must take this discussion to a doctor.
4 . Having extremely rigid eating rituals
This is a symptom of advanced stages of an eating disorder. People who have developed an eating disorder will often form rituals related to the food they eat. You might eat food with only certain ingredients, arrange your food in a specific pattern, only take small bites and take much longer to finish your food in hopes of avoiding unpleasant consequences.
5 . Developing physiological symptoms
The most common physiological symptom of an eating disorder is malnourishment. In cases of the binge eating disorder, the symptom will be overeating and obesity. Sometimes the people with eating disorders tend to use laxatives to rid their body of food that they have eaten in order to reduce the feeling of guilt. This often leaves their body weak. Their immunity is significantly lowered due to unhealthy eating patterns.