Home > What are the signs and symptoms of Anorexia?

The Signs and Symptoms of Anorexia

NOTE: Not everyone will display all signs

Behavioural Signs

Repeatedly avoiding meals (saying “I’ll eat later”, “ I ate with friends”)
Refuse to eat with the family or in front of people
Reduction in amount and types of food eaten
Not wanting to eat what everyone else is having
Lie to family and friends about how much they have eaten
Become very deceptive around food and eating – ie. they may eat a normal size dinner with the family but this could be all they have eaten that day
Eating meals but extremely restless or guilty after the meal as their anxiety grows
Pre-occupation with food and feeding others (counting calories, reading recipes)
Unusual eating habits (eg. preference for foods of a certain texture or colour, eating with a teaspoon, adding lots of condiments)
Compulsively arranging food and/or cutting into tiny pieces
Very rigid around food - only eating particular types of food or at certain times.
Eating unusual mixtures of food
Denying hunger
Dieting when not overweight

Distorted body image: believes they are fat even when very thin
General dissatisfaction with appearance and figure. Expressing the desire to change
Extreme concern about appearance, both physical and behavioural
Thinking in extremes (If I’m not thin, I’ll be grossly obese)
General apathy and/or depressive outlook on life
Moodiness, irritability, depression, argumentative – especially around meal times
Inflexibility
Oversensitive to criticism
Feel very guilty about eating
Have black and white thinking about food. ie good food & bad food
Have low self esteem
Have a need for perfection
Have periods of depression

Significant weight loss in the absence of a related illness. However, not always - with young people it may be the case that they just don’t grow and put on weight
Thinning of Hair or hair loss
Appearance of fine raised white hair (lanugo) on the body
Bloated appearance of stomach
Yellowish appearance of the palms or soles of feet
Dry, pale, pasty Skin
Loss of periods (amenorrhea) or irregular periods