People with anorexia are preoccupied with food, calories, fat, nutrition, or cooking. Anorexics may exercise compulsively and may avoid eating, dieting, or exercising when others are near by. People with anorexia use denial to block their awareness of body needs such as hunger, and they are often out of touch with what they feel physically or emotionally. People with bulimia may be of average or even above average weight. They binge, or eat uncontrollably, and then purge by vomiting, using laxatives or diuretics, strict dieting, fasting, or exercising.
Bulimics often disappear to the bathroom after meals or snacks.
Some bulimics also have difficulty controlling their drinking or sexual behavior, and may steal or shoplift to afford the food they eat. People with bulimia are preoccupied with their body image and may be very critical of their physical appearance or other characteristics about themselves. There are also other eating disorders that do not fit the full definition of anorexia or bulimia. While anorexia and bulimia may stem from similar personality characteristics, the psychological symptoms can be different. Anorexics tend to feel elated and initially in control, and believe they are greatly admired and envied by their friends.