Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. The fashion industry and the conventional types of beauty are the main reasons while some people develop this disease.
1. Anorexia Pact
Twins, Maria and Katy Campbell have made a shocking pact when they were kids. They decided to never gain weight. It all began when they overheard their parents talking.
Maria recalls: ‘We were standing at the top of the stairs and heard our Dad remark: “Gosh, those girls are becoming young women, aren’t they? They’re getting hips.” ’
But for Maria and Katy, daughters of distinguished writers, it was a trigger for their pact that would haunt the family.
‘We decided that day that if we stopped eating, we would lose our “hips”. Now, they’ve decided to fight the illness as Maria says that she’s lost everything due to this illness. She lost her life, her house, her hair and her job. Both of them are doctors they should have known better.
2. Boy, Interrupted
Jeremy Gillitzer, this once stunning model died in 2010 from anorexia. When he died he weighed only 66 pounds. He fought with anorexia and bulimia for many years. The regime of chronic starvation, self-induced vomiting and relentless exercise took the best of the frail Jeremy who couldn’t fight off the disease.
3. Rebecca and Maisy Jones
Rebecca and Maisy Jones might look like sisters but they are mother and daughter. Rebecca is a 26-year old mom who likes wearing the same size clothes as her daughter. She weighs less than her daughter even though she’s taller than her. Rebecca lives only on soups and energy drinks while she encourages her daughter to eat sweets and junk food. She said: “Wearing the same clothes as Maisy gives me a sense of pride. It’s wrong, but it makes me feel good. I don’t think I’m thin, I always see myself as bigger.”
4. Lauren Baley
This 26-year-old spent 18 months in the hospital trying to regain lost weight. She used to walk obsessively for 12 hours each day trying to lose weight. She said: “I really don’t know how I did it, I really shouldn’t have been able to walk that far. It was the anorexic adrenaline”.
5. The Dream of Becoming A Mom
Many people develop anorexia because they feel insecure. But this woman was sure that she wanted a baby and thus helped herself achieve the goal by gaining weight. Her doctors warned Hayley Wilde she was just over a week away from death. But three years on, after an eight-year battle against anorexia, she has bounced back in the most emphatic fashion by giving birth to a boy. The wish to have a child was so strong that it helped her survive.
