Signs to notice about annorexia and bulimia nervosa

There are many signs to look for if you think you know someone who is experiencing an eating disorder such as bulimia or anorexia. I have struggled with both of these eating disorders and these are the main signs to look for based on my own personal experiences.

Lies about eating:

If you ask your child if he has eaten and he answers “yes”, ask him what he has eaten and check again when he is gone. Once my parents asked me if I had breakfast and I said yes. Later that day, my mom asked me why I was lying. I lied because I didn’t want to be made to eat. So if your child lies about eating … then it’s a pretty big sign that something might be going on.

Go to the bathroom immediately after eating:

This is a great indication that they may be purging what they just ate.

Bruises on the body and bruised / scratched knuckles:

When I was very bulimic, my knuckles were all scraped from sticking my finger down my throat. Also, for whatever reason, I had bruises on my arms and randomly on my legs. I think just the smallest touch was hurting me … another sign of bulimia.

Mood / emotional swings:

I can tell you this, during my eating disorders I rarely had a medium mood. They were very high or very low. During my really low moments, it wouldn’t take much to make me cry.

Fluctuation in body weight:

Most of the time it went through stages, meaning that maybe one month you would weigh ten pounds less than the previous month, then the next month you would gain those ten pounds again.

Exercising obsessively:

Exercising more than once a day is overdoing it. This would be a great sign that they are obsessing over their body image. I worked out sometime in the morning, had my weightlifting class, and also played racquetball.

Always speaking negatively about your body:

Not only was I shy about my body with my boyfriends, but I also degraded anything and everything that I hated about my body in front of them. It would work it smoothly like, for example, “where is the ping pong ball?” he asks. As I turn around I realize that he is right behind my butt. So I say, “oh, it’s behind my fat ass.” I love to slip negative things onto my body, I don’t know why. But that’s a great sign that even if they laugh afterward, there is still some truth to what they say. At least that’s probably what they think. Many jokes are based on the truth. Remember it.