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Was I Anorexic?

I miss the times when I was at high school and would skip breakfast and lunch (would eat full tea with the family though). I felt good, sharper, more alive- it was fun and I felt in control. I've never gone on pro-ana sites and I don't want to be really thin like some pictures I see- they look terrible. I looked normal, bit chubby round the face but was slightly underweight on NHS BMI so I was happy. I hate that I am on healthy weight now. I have been eating chips a bit at college lately but want to stop and am hating how I look. I am nostalgic for these old days and want to start again (I stopped for exams in year 11 and didn't go back to it). Did I have a problem then though? I don't feel like I was ever 'anorexic' but maybe it wasn't a good thing idk.

I was always in control though and could (and did) stop whenever I wanted. I love cooking.
Reply 1
Original post by Anonymous
I miss the times when I was at high school and would skip breakfast and lunch (would eat full tea with the family though). I felt good, sharper, more alive- it was fun and I felt in control. I've never gone on pro-ana sites and I don't want to be really thin like some pictures I see- they look terrible. I looked normal, bit chubby round the face but was slightly underweight on NHS BMI so I was happy. I hate that I am on healthy weight now. I have been eating chips a bit at college lately but want to stop and am hating how I look. I am nostalgic for these old days and want to start again (I stopped for exams in year 11 and didn't go back to it). Did I have a problem then though? I don't feel like I was ever 'anorexic' but maybe it wasn't a good thing idk.

I was always in control though and could (and did) stop whenever I wanted. I love cooking.


I'm not sure anybody here would be able to say if you were or weren't anorexic, but it does seem like you had some rather significant issues surrounding eating. To me it sounds like you may still have some issues.
It might help you to talk to a doctor, therapist or counselor about it. Your college will likely have some sort of free counselling service fore students that you could use.
It is not good to skip meals and wanting to/ doing so suggests you may have some confidence or weight related issues. It may even suggest some connesction to eating disorders. If you are concerned about your body and want to be healthy I suggest you try to look into healthy options for food rather than not eating.
Not eating is not feasible over time...

Cut calories..eat healthy

And work out

Also on Saturdays or Sundays you can eat anything you love... without restriction for one meal...

Anorexic is just a word... dont let yourself be crushed under the 'weight; of this word~
Original post by Anonymous
I miss the times when I was at high school and would skip breakfast and lunch (would eat full tea with the family though). I felt good, sharper, more alive- it was fun and I felt in control. I've never gone on pro-ana sites and I don't want to be really thin like some pictures I see- they look terrible. I looked normal, bit chubby round the face but was slightly underweight on NHS BMI so I was happy. I hate that I am on healthy weight now. I have been eating chips a bit at college lately but want to stop and am hating how I look. I am nostalgic for these old days and want to start again (I stopped for exams in year 11 and didn't go back to it). Did I have a problem then though? I don't feel like I was ever 'anorexic' but maybe it wasn't a good thing idk.

I was always in control though and could (and did) stop whenever I wanted. I love cooking.


Hard to say not enough information.
Skipping breakfast and lunch i.e 1 meal a day doesn not make you anorexic. Better indicators would be how much you weighed, BMI (centile charts) for under 18.

You do sound as though you dont have a healthy relationship with food or a real understanding abut weight and nutrition.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Anorexia-nervosa/Pages/Diagnosis.aspx

If you want to look better go and lift weights.
If you wish to talk to someone then ring BEAT youthline

https://www.b-eat.co.uk/
Helpline0345 634 1414Youthline0345 634 7650
or go and see your GP.
Original post by 999tigger
Hard to say not enough information.
Skipping breakfast and lunch i.e 1 meal a day doesn not make you anorexic. Better indicators would be how much you weighed, BMI (centile charts) for under 18.

You do sound as though you dont have a healthy relationship with food or a real understanding abut weight and nutrition.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Anorexia-nervosa/Pages/Diagnosis.aspx

If you want to look better go and lift weights.
If you wish to talk to someone then ring BEAT youthline

https://www.b-eat.co.uk/
Helpline0345 634 1414Youthline0345 634 7650
or go and see your GP.


I disagree with the statement anorexia is bmi dependent but scientifically it's how the measure it. I've personally gone two weeks without food many times (and had a very familiar story to yours, improving for the exam period). I'd obsessively exercise and my entire mood was dependent on what the scales said. I also got the high from not eating that your describing- especially after day 3. But I wasn't underweight because I started off on the chubby side and therefore wasn't anorexic. I had 2 psychologists tell me I was fine (despite not eating 2 weeks every month and throwing up anytime I ate more then 5 bites of something as well as cutting daily- thanks NHS) so idk the whole diagnosis is a bit ****ed and seems to be so inconsistent. I know people who have been diagnosed with eating disorders for the most stupid of things


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Also the nostalgia thing I completely understand- I get that to. Hoping eventually it will pass, maybe?


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Original post by Failingstudent98
I disagree with the statement anorexia is bmi dependent but scientifically it's how the measure it. I've personally gone two weeks without food many times (and had a very familiar story to yours, improving for the exam period). I'd obsessively exercise and my entire mood was dependent on what the scales said. I also got the high from not eating that your describing- especially after day 3. But I wasn't underweight because I started off on the chubby side and therefore wasn't anorexic. I had 2 psychologists tell me I was fine (despite not eating 2 weeks every month and throwing up anytime I ate more then 5 bites of something as well as cutting daily- thanks NHS) so idk the whole diagnosis is a bit ****ed and seems to be so inconsistent. I know people who have been diagnosed with eating disorders for the most stupid of things

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Bit more complicated than that. BMI is one indicator where a GP will have a cause for concern. Anorexia is ofc a mental illness.

anorexia bmi.PNG

You just sound as though you have an /had an eating disorder. Hope you got it sorted out.
Original post by 999tigger
Hard to say not enough information.
Skipping breakfast and lunch i.e 1 meal a day doesn not make you anorexic. Better indicators would be how much you weighed, BMI (centile charts) for under 18.

You do sound as though you dont have a healthy relationship with food or a real understanding abut weight and nutrition.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Anorexia-nervosa/Pages/Diagnosis.aspx

If you want to look better go and lift weights.
If you wish to talk to someone then ring BEAT youthline

https://www.b-eat.co.uk/
Helpline0345 634 1414Youthline0345 634 7650
or go and see your GP.


Yeah this isn't the right way to think about it. There's plenty of people with EDs who don't meet weight criteria and plenty of skinny people who don't have an ED. I'm pretty sure they've dropped the specific weight criteria from the new version of the DSM (or were thinking about it anyway) as it's quite harmful to people.

TBH neither weight or behaviour are the real problem. Mentality is the real indicator. The issue is when a person has no flexibility in their eating, is controlled by their anxieties and is using food in order to manage their emotions. Obviously the person also engages in destructive behaviours but those can vary a lot person to person and nowadays you get plenty of crash dieters who appear to be undereating severely but they're never under the control of a disorder and still able to choose to, for example, eat a slice of cake on impulse.

OP doesn't sound like anorexia to me but eating disorders are on a scale and it sounds to me like you were certainly disordered and possibly heading for an eating disorder if you'd continued.

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