Anorexia

worrying alot more about your weight

Become obsessed with calorie counting

Exercise lots, to burn off calories you have consumed

Desperately wanting to lose weight, even when you are well below a healthy weight for your age and height

smoke more or chew gum to keep your weight down

obsessively check your weight.

Isolate yourself from social situations which may involve eating

wearing baggy clothes to hide one's body

water loading before being weighed

excluding certain food groups and making foods good and bad

avoiding mealtimes, especially at school

In girls or women - monthly cycles may stop.

You take in very few calories every day. You eat "healthily" - fruit, vegetables and salads - but they don't give your body enough energy.

You may also exercise, use slimming pills, or smoke more to keep your weight down.

You don't want to allow yourself to eat, but you buy food and cook for other people.

You still get as hungry as ever, in fact you find you can't stop thinking about food.

You become more afraid of putting on weight, and more determined to keep your weight well below what is normal.

Your family may be the first to notice your thinness and weight loss.

You may find yourself not able to tell other people the true amount you are eating and how much weight you are losing.

You may also make yourself sick if you eat anything you did not plan to allow yourself, particularly if you lose control of your eating and find yourself bingeing. However, this is known as 'anorexia, binge-purge subtype' rather than bulimia nervosa. Bulimia nervosa sufferers are by definition in the normal weight range.