So you'd like anorexia? We give you the truth.

What is anorexia anyway?
Anorexia is a mental illness characterised by a dangerously low body weight, starving oneself, a huge fear of weightgain, body dysmorphia (seeing the body as much fatter than it really is), and missing periods from malnutrition. Anorexia is the most deadly psychiatric illness and has a low level of recovery. Anorexia is not just someone starving to lose weight.
Bulimia is another mental illness which is characterised by uncontrollably bingeing on huge amounts of food, going to extreme measures to prevent weight gain (such as vomiting, laxatives, diuretics, enemas, fasting and exercise) and self-esteem that is affected directly by weight and body shape. Bulimia also has a low level of recovery, and is not just throwing up your meals to prevent getting fat (this is often an eating disorder - though not bulimia).
Eating disorders are not about wanting to be thin and pretty - they are covering up much more serious psychological issues, such as childhood sexual abuse, depression, severe anxiety, personality disorders, etc. They also don't start suddenly - they develop gradually over many months or years.

Could I choose anorexia?
If someone intentionally starves themselves like an anorexic they run a risk of developing full-blown anorexia - though this generally only occurs if someone has the typical psychological and genetic background. 
More likely is the development of another eating disorder where you overeat - such as compulsive overeating disorder, binge-eating disorder, or maybe bulimia which would lead to weightgain and unhappiness.
There's also ED-NOS - an eating disorder which doesn't meet the diagnostic criteria for any of the other eating disorders - this is not to be confused with Disordered Eating (when one doesn't have a full-blown eating disorder, but struggles to eat normally and may use innapropriate methods to lose weight)
Some lucky people are able to return to normal eating after an attempt to 'catch' anorexia.

But i could be thin, right?
Trying to develop anorexia is the worst way to lose weight.
As mentioned above it's unlikely you'd develop anorexia anyway.
When someone starves their body goes into Starvation Mode which means anything eaten gets stored immediately as fat, and also causes the person to have persistant urges to eat fatty and sugary foods which leads to uncontrollable binge-eating.
When someone loses weight too fast (for example by starving themselves) a large amount of the weightloss is muscle and organ (this includes heart muscle, brain tissue, the muscles that stop you from weeing yourself...). When you binge-eat everything gets stored as fat. This means you will get flabbier and unhealthier and stay at the same weight or possibly lose weight (as muscle weighs more than fat). Also this sudden weightgain tends to all pile onto the stomach, so your body becomes disproportioned.
When someone is eating little and losing muscle mass this slows down the metabolism. This means that you gain weight eating small quantities of food.

Health problems won't happen to me... will it?
Starving is one of the most detrimental things to do to the human body. Fasting, purging, laxative abuse, taking diet pills, cutting out major food groups, excessive exercise, chew/spitting, binging, using vitamin supplements inappropriately, abusing drugs and eating/drinking artificial sweeteners excessively are all great ways of not losing weight and destroying your health. See this site http://www.freewebs.com/josiesed/ for the dangers of various eating disordered behaviour.
Everyone thinks "oh that won't happen to me", but it can, and it will. Some of my least favourite effects: body hair, pooing blood and yellow pus, constant diarrhoea and constipation at the same time, a permanently round bloated stomach, fainting several times a day, losing control of my bladder, constant random pains, grey or yellow sickly skin, lank falling-out hair, other mental illnesses developing from brain damage, no sleep, being depressed, rotten teeth and no sex drive. And this isn't even a 'severe' eating disorder.

But, don't you get loads of attention and sympathy?
No-one understands eating disorders - you don't if you're here deciding you want one. They're total hell.
If you have an eating disorder you feel compelled to hide it - it's impossible to tell people about it unless you really force yourself to. You may get a little attention if you actually get anorexia - usually nasty comments like "eugh, look how skinny that girl is" or "does she ever eat?!"..and all you want is to be left alone. But most of the time you don't  - it's hidden so well people just don't know.
As for sympathy - no-one really understands and sympathy is rare. People think it's for attention, that you act that way intentionally, that you're just vain, that you're stupid or that you're selfish. It makes you feel really awful and alone.
If you want attention - go become a popstar or something! And as for sympathy - get it for something else.

Isn't Anorexia glamorous? Isn't that what Mary-Kate and supermodels often have?
Mary-Kate and many other celebrities and other glamorous people may have or have had anorexia. However, remember it isn't the anorexia that is making them glamorous. The suffering and disgustingness of an eating disorder is as far from glamorous as you can get - take a look at the health problems - incontinence isn't sexy! The media has a warped portrayal of what anorexia is really about. Is this glamorous?:


Could I just try starving like an anorexic for a short time to lose weight? And if you hate anorexia so much, why don't you just stop?
Starving to lose weight is highly unlikely to produce satisfactory results (see 'But I could be thin, right?'). And if you do develop an eating disorder it's highly difficult to escape again.
Someone with an eating disorder can't just choose to stop. Those with anorexia are far too scared of food and weightgain to just start eating, and those with bulimia, compulsive overeating disorder and binge-eating disorder often use food to deal with emotions. Also eating disorders are partly caused my chemical imbalances in the brain which need to be set right.
Eating disorders are one of the most poorly treated illnesses. Doctors often have a poor understanding of them and there isn't enough funding for eating disorders treatment. Rates of relapse are also extremely high.

Real Battles
http://community.livejournal.com/ed_ucate/172424.html The writer of this piece committed suicide last year - an anorexic is 56 times more likely to commit suicide than the average person.
http://community.livejournal.com/proanorexia/27387465.html This is an average day with an eating disorder (one not 'severe' enough for treatment).
http://groups.teenhelp.org/showthread.php?t=29460 This was written by the original owner of Proanorexia.

http://www.freewebs.com/wannarexia/  - our advice to those who want anorexia or to diet.