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Many want to lose weight and they do different things to achieve this aim. Some develop anorexia in the process. What is anorexia and how can you overcome it?

Creative Ways To Turn The Table On Anorexia

Let’s dive into this mesmerizing topic and find out what anorexia is and how to manage it to ensure it does not affect your health.

 

What Is Anorexia

Let us state here that anorexia is a major eating disorder that makes people obsessed with what they eat and how that affects their weight. Anorexia is a mental and physical disease. It causes you to be afraid of being overweight and still gives you a distorted body shape. It can be self-diagnosed, and you don’t need to go to a health professional to tell you that. It is, however, treated by a medical professional, and if you don’t arrest the issue immediately, it can become a chronic issue. So how do you know if you have this eating disorder?

 

Symptoms of Anorexia

Surprisingly, anorexia is not all about food. People who have it relate their self-worth to how thin they are. They want to get back their self-confidence badly, so they go to extreme lengths to lose weight. Some things they do to lose weight include vomiting after eating, misusing laxatives, diet aids, diuretics, or enemas, and over-exercising. They go to great lengths to avoid eating food, and no matter how much weight they lose, they are never satisfied; they still have fear of gaining weight.

As we said earlier, anorexia is a mental as well as a physical disease. It may be difficult to pinpoint the physical symptoms if you are basing it only on slim bodies. This is because people’s bodies differ after they have lost weight. However, these are some physical symptoms of anorexia.

 

Physical symptoms

1. Dry and yellowish skin/ bluish discolouration of the fingers

2. Absence of menstruation

3. Inability to handle cold weather

4. Dizziness and insomnia

5. Fatigue

6. Dehydration and abnormal blood counts.

7. Thin appearance and excessive weight loss

8. Irregular heartbeat

 

Behavioural Symptoms

Some behavioural symptoms of anorexia include going to great lengths to avoid food intake by –

1. Inducing vomiting after eating using laxatives, diet aids, and even herbal products.

2. Exercising excessively

3. Fasting and dieting excessively.

 

Emotional Symptoms

Some emotional symptoms include;

1. Skipping meals and denying that one is hungry.

2. Not wanting to eat in public and lying about how much food one has eaten.

3. Continually check oneself in the mirror for flaws. Also measuring one’s weight every hour.

4. Lack of emotion, social withdrawal, easily irritated

5. Reduced interest in sex and complaining about being fat.

 

How To Overcome Anorexia

Okay, now remember how we started by saying that you can turn the tables on anorexia, get that good body size and still not get sick. Well here, we will be showing you how to do it. Let’s begin!

 

1. The first thing you want to do is to set achievable goals. This means you shouldn’t do things simply because you want to lose weight. It is more of a mental exercise, and before you embark on it, we advise that you create a treatment plan with your doctor and take therapy very seriously. In addition, you can try focusing on things that make you a great person and why it is wrong to think that thinner people are better. Exercise because you want to be strong and not because you want to lose weight, and always remind yourself that you are beautiful inside out.

Remember to not set too many goals at once. We don’t want you to get frustrated and stop altogether. But if you do stop along the way, start again with simpler goals. Go easy on yourself, okay?

2. Wear clothes you love and pamper yourself: It is unacceptable to hide that beautiful body of yours. So stop wearing clothes that do just that. When next you want to shop, buy clothes that show off your body (we don’t mean that you should go naked) but wear clothes that make you feel

comfortable. Also, learn to pamper yourself. Go out on an evening stroll, take a long bath, go to the beach, and have fun with yourself.

3. Ask for emotional support: You don’t have to be an island. Find family and friends who care for you and talk to them. Open up to them and let them share in your fears. Remember, if they give you advice, it’s only because they love you and want the best for you. Anyways, when choosing these confidants, ensure they are people you trust.

4. Eat healthily: You should learn to practice smart eating habits, and that means not throwing up when you are done eating. And since you have been starving your body of its needed nutrients, try to eat anything your body wants. Focus more on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. You can also ask your doctor for nutritional supplements you could take.

5. Contribute to society: This will serve as a distraction. Instead of worrying about your body weight and what you are doing wrong, spend that time and energy on helping people in need. Volunteer to build a house, help out in schools and libraries; anything that will distract you.

6. Rest your mind: You can do this by getting enough sleep at night, not paying attention to harmful information on the television, and remembering to draw yourself back whenever you feel like weighing your body. 

With these steps, you will be able to maintain good mental health and body size. Remember, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

 

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