What is the true definition of anorexia?

What is the true definition of anorexia?Is a person still considered anorexic if they haven't eaten anything for a month or so but are still obese? Or are they considered anorexic if they have lost considerable pounds of weights and still haven't eaten anything for years or so?

This is just a debate between my sister and me.

Andrea
If they don't eat, they have an eating disorder. However, the eating disorder Anorexia requires a certain amont of weight to be lost before the eating disorder can be diagnosed. If a person stops eating and doesn't lose a lot of weight at first (so they just stopped eating), they have Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. Once the person has lost the amount of weight to be considered Anorexic, then they are considered to have Anorexia.

shadow
eerrr confusing. em i assume that an obese person not eating having eaten so much either thyroid(unlikely), or a eating disorder of some kind. different people have different relationships to food and to eating.

Derek W
Anorexia Nervosa symptoms do include extreme weight loss, but in the beginning stages for someone who is obese this may not be immediately noticed. Anorexia's main symptom is self starvation, and is also associated with a skewed body image such as an underweight person believing they are overweight.

Candy_Kisses
Neither is anorexia. Anorexia and other eating disorders are MENTAL. If the person in the first situation has an anorexia mentality, it's called eating disorder not otherwise specified. There are a few specific phyical, mental, and emotional requirements for anorexia.

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