Do you think that you could lose a few pounds? Well, most people do, but some take it to extremes. Two million people in the world suffer from eating disorders like anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. Two thirds of teenage girls and one third of teenage boys do not like their bodies and their weights. Many people suffer from related conditions like bulimia and anorexia but do not meet specific conditions to have their symptoms called that. This category is called unspecified eating disorders. Symptoms of unspecified eating disorders are restrained eating, binge eating, purging, fears of fatness, and distortion of body image. .
People suffer from eating disorders because of our social standards. Everyone wants to look like a supermodel, but not everyone can. They start to obsess about being thin and looking at their normal body weight as being fat when actually they are at a healthy weight. When they start judging their bodies, they set restrictions on what foods they can eat and intense hunger sets in. Normally, young people go on eating binges because of the severe hunger pains that they cannot overcome. Weight cycling then takes place when dieters go on energy restrictions followed by bingeing. Weight cycling results in losses and gains of weight. This habit can make weight loss much harder over time because it messes up your metabolism. .
Among people with eating disorders, athletes; primarily dancers, gymnasts, and endurance runners, can be seen with these problems. Society sets guidelines on how thin an athlete should be. Coaches and parents encourage their athlete to meet these standards, forcing many stresses and psychological problems on the person. Female athletes are at greater risk to develop an eating disorder than other people. Once they develop the disorder, they are most likely to assess the female athlete triad. If the female athlete gets these symptoms, they develop disordered eating, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis.