12/06/25: From Nikki Thornton, Orri Service Manager.
Do I have Anorexia? If you’re asking yourself this question, you’ve already taken a courageous first step toward understanding your relationship with food, your body, and your emotions and further explore how to make sense of your current challenges. Anorexia Nervosa, more commonly known as Anorexia, is an eating disorder and mental health condition. Whilst this is not a diagnostic tool, the hope is that this blog can provide some information regarding the signs and common symptoms of Anorexia and identifying when to seek help. And if you still feel anxious, worried or just want to know more, we have some expert-led information about Orri’s approach to anorexia treatment.
Common Symptoms of Anorexia
Weight and shape preoccupation
People who have Anorexia are often trying to intentionally maintain a low weight through restrictive eating. There may also be excessive exercise with a primary focus to lose weight and behaviours such as laxative abuse, taking appetite suppressants and purging may all also be associated.
You may experience a balance of increased preoccupation around food, not feeling able to switch off from thinking about the foods that you have or haven’t eaten, alongside increased avoidance of meal spaces, eating very little or and missing meals entirely. Distress can be experienced when faced with certain foods or the experience or perception of gaining weight, and this fear can lead to obsessive weighing.
You may have started to notice that how you view yourself and your own perception of your body is different to those around you and their observations, or indeed what the physical numbers are saying. Objectively, you may have lost weight, or even be clinically underweight, but feel that you are ‘fat’.
Change in relationship with food
People experiencing Anorexia may see their relationship with food change in many different ways. As mentioned above, you may find yourself always consumed by thoughts of food. You may daydream about foods that you have cut out or ruminate on foods that you have eaten and the potential calorie content. You may also notice that the types of foods that you eat becomes restricted, not just the quantities. Food groups may start to get cut out which can lead to foods becoming labelled as fear foods. Morality may become assigned to foods and how you talk about good. Eg. Good foods/bad foods and food becomes something that is deserved or earned.
The feeling of needing to control aspects around the food can also start to show up. As these factors become the focus that determines your intake, your relationship with your hunger cues and being able to trust yourself to eat intuitively can change. It may be very important to stick to rigid structures and rituals around food, using the same plate or cutlery or not letting others prepare your food.
In addition, people may start to increase their exercise, intentionally and sometimes subconsciously. This could look like actively increase your exercise with the motivation to lose weight, and may also look like subconscious increased standing instead of sitting, walking or pacing and often, doing so in private.
It may be very important to stick to rigid structures and rituals around food, using the same plate or cutlery or not letting others prepare your food. In addition, people may start to increase their exercise, intentionally and sometimes subconsciously.
Isolation and avoidance
You may have noticed a change in your social engagement, not just around food but also around your peers. Avoiding any occasion where food could be present can lead to deception around when and what you have eaten to avoid eating with others. As a result, you may start to find yourself more isolated from your social networks if you are not wanting the eating issues to be observed or questioned.
Eating Disorders are a coping strategy, and it can often feel threatening if people are to notice the eating issues. You may find yourself avoiding connecting with the people you love in order to minimise the chances that the eating disorder could get ‘caught out’. There may also be an increased desire to cover up your body in baggy clothes. This could be as a result of a change in self-esteem and confidence and/or not wanting people to notice the changes in your body for further fear that the eating disorder is noticed.
Physical Health Symptoms
Along with the physical changes to the body’s weight, you may also notice other physical health changes. For women, menstrual cycles can be impacted and periods may stop or become irregular. People can experience bloating and changes to bowel movements as a result of significant changes to dietary intake. Further side effects to poor nutritional intake may also include hair thinning or loss, or alternatively fine hair growing on the body. Circulation can be impacted, resulting in always feeling cold, pins and needles in hands and feet, and or feeling faint or dizzy.
Further side effects to poor nutritional intake may also include hair thinning or loss, or alternatively fine hair growing on the body. Circulation can be impacted, resulting in always feeling cold, pins and needles in hands and feet, and or feeling faint or dizzy.
Do I have Anorexia If I don’t “look” sick?
What we often see with people experiencing Anorexia, is that the goal-posts are constantly shifting. What was initially the goal weight, is no longer thin enough, the list of foods that are no longer deemed good, extends. The challenge with this, is that the goal posts for believing that help could be required, are also shifting. ‘I’m not sick enough’. ‘I don’t look like I’m anorexic’.
If you take anything away from this today, please hear that you are worthy of support and it’s never too early to seek it. Preoccupation or distress of any kind relating to any of the themes above are just some of the indicators that it could be useful to seek some support. Whether that be through your GP, or specialist clinics or clinicians, there are people equipped to help. Please don’t suffer in silence or in isolation.
Remember, you are worthy of support and it’s never too early to seek it.
We’re here to help
If you or someone you care about is struggling, get in touch with Orri’s team. We’re here to listen, advise, and offer a safe space for recovery.
