Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder where a person diets to the point of being significantly underweight yet still feels overweight. It predominantly affects adolescent females but can also affect males. Common symptoms include being more than 15% underweight, irritability, sleep issues, lack of focus, and extreme fatigue. Treatment may involve feeding through tubes or an increased calorie diet along with social and physical activity. Living with anorexia as a male can be difficult due to social stigmas that it only affects women. The document then outlines one man's daily routine and struggles with anorexia before eventually undergoing successful treatment.
2. What is Anorexia? Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which a normal-weight person(usually an adolescent female) diets and becomes significantly (15% or more) underweight, yet, still feeling fat, continues to starve.
3. Who is Affected by Anorexia? Typically, young females are the most common victims of anorexia but males can also have the disorder.
4. How Many People are Affected? In America, approximately 8 million people suffer from an eating disorder. 1 in 200 women suffer from anorexia. 9 out of 10 people with anorexia are women.
5. Celebrities With Anorexia Karen Carpenter Terry Schiavo Christy Henrich Leila Pahlavi Anne Sexton Mary-Kate Olsen Justine Bateman Amanda Beard Victoria Beckham Elisa Donavan
6. What are the Symptoms of Anorexia? A person becomes more than 15% underweight. A person may be very irritable. Sleep loss Lack of focus and attentiveness Extreme fatigue
7. How is Anorexia Treated? For severe weight loss, intravenous feeding and tube feeding through the mouth may be necessary. Scheduled eating, decreased physical activity, and increased social activity are also ways to regain weight.
8. Can Anorexia Disrupt One’s Social Life? In most cases yes. Anorexia can lead to social withdrawal, and in severe cases, depression.
9. What Causes Anorexia? Anorexia can be caused by a mixture of genetic history, social influences, occupational stress such as ballet or modeling, and personality traits.
10. Living with Anorexia As a male struggling with anorexia, getting through the day is extremely difficult. When I tell people I have anorexia, they don’t believe me because I am a man and people think it is solely a woman’s disorder.
11. Sexuality Because of my anorexia, people speculate that I am a homosexual. Having the disorder doesn’t mean I am gay (which I’m not). I just don’t like the way I look so I exercise excessively and limit my caloric intake to a minimum.
12. Daily Routine I wake up around 5:30 AM so I can run (5 miles) before work. Once at work, I’ll grab a power bar or some other small snack. I typically have a small lunch including lots of vegetables and fruit. Once I get home, I will get on the elliptical trainer for another 3 miles. For dinner I will eat my largest meal of the day. I never exceed 1500 calories per day.
13. Physical Attributes I am 6’3” and weigh 122 pounds. My mother has told me that I look very frail yet I see an overweight figure in the mirror.
14. Social Life I don’t have many friends because of my constant irritability. Also, because of my appearance, I don’t feel comfortable with social encounters. Because of my lack of friends, I sometimes feel depressed.
15. Love Life I am now 23 and have struggled with anorexia since I was 20. I haven’t had a girlfriend since I was 19. Every time I start talking with a girl, I lose my confidence and feel uncomfortable. This typically makes the girl uneasy and that concludes our meeting.
16. Work Life I work a typical 9-5 job, but my days at the office may be numbered. Because of my anorexia, I am extremely tired and inattentive causing my production to be minimized. My boss told me I had one more chance to prove I can be productive or else I am going to be fired.
17. Medical Effects At my last check up, my doctor stated that I have a possibility of organ failure due to malnutrition. He said he wants me to start eating 3000 calories per day, but that would throw off my diet.
18. Treatment I have decided to undergo treatment to try and rid myself of the disorder. My doctor has me on a diet that will cause me to gain 2-4 pounds per week. He also advised me to stop working out for a few weeks until I can maintain a healthy weight.
19. Improvements It is now 16 months later and I have successfully overcome my anorexia. My weight is up to 167 pounds and I actually have a girlfriend. Now that I’m eating much better, I am more focused at work and was promoted as a result. I feel much more confident and comfortable in my own skin.
20. Notice All the pictures of men featured in this power point are not of myself but rather are generic images used to describe myself and certain situations.
