If your family doctor has categorized you as being overweight or obese, you may be getting started on a weight loss regimen in the hopes of getting healthier physically. Over the weeks and months ahead, you'll likely be making considerable progress at getting your weight down to a healthy level. At a certain point, it's possible that you'll wonder about where the line between dieting and anorexia sits. Ideally, you'll want to consciously stay away from the latter, but many people have distorted self-image views that can make it easy to slip into an anorexic lifestyle. Here are some signs that healthy dieting has potentially turned into anorexia.
You Aren't Stopping When You Should
When a doctor advises you to lose weight, he or she will generally give you a target to get to. For example, if you weighed 180 pounds at your heaviest, perhaps the doctor will say that 130 pounds is a healthy weight for you to be. The healthy thing to do is to attempt to lose weight until you reach about 130 pounds, and then make some small changes to your daily habits so that weight maintenance, rather than weight loss, is your goal. However, someone who has anorexic tendencies may want to continue losing weight, perhaps setting a goal of getting down to 110 or even 100 pounds.
You're Seeing Health Side Effects
The goal to losing weight is to get healthier physically, but if you've taken your weight loss to point that you've crossed the line into anorexia, you may be seeing a number of concerning side effects. Those who suffer from anorexia can encounter extreme fatigue, hair loss, and other side effects. Healthy weight loss and the maintenance of a proper weight is unlikely to result in such side effects for you.
You're Becoming Too Obsessed
While people who are losing weight healthily can feel some degree of obsession with weight loss, it's a sign that you're perhaps tiptoeing on the line between weight loss and anorexia if you feel a strong obsession with your body. Anorexics often are obsessed with their body image, and their lives can revolve around losing weight, preventing weight gain, and/or keeping their body at a desired weight. Perhaps you're starting to think about your weight too much and are even looking at various unhealthy means, such as skipping meals, to keep your intake of calories low. If you feel as though you're approaching an anorexic lifestyle, visit an eating disorder center California.