When I don’t eat enough, I get low blood sugar and I find it hard to concentrate and function enough to do anything. And that’s just from skipping a meal, let alone if I hadn’t eaten for days or was subsisting for years on a very small amount of calories. When I see anorexic people in movies or books, they seem to have enough energy to exercise compulsively, go to school or work, and other things. Is it that their eating disorder gives them anxiety and that makes them more energetic? Or does your body just get used to not eating and functions fine after a while?
In: Biology
okay so, believe it or not but you can survive off weed, caffeine and sugar.and little proteins. although you loose a lot of muscle- and become irritable. Please if you want to look better just work out
> I get low blood sugar and I find it hard to concentrate
Feeling of weakness usually goeas away after your body switches to ketones for energy. You should really try water fasting for 3 days to discover your own body.
Speaking from experience, you don’t actually function that well. I’d spend most of my day tired and dizzy, seeing black spots whenever I moved too quickly, and sick to my stomach. And yet, I didn’t pick up that what was happening was anorexia. I’d get most of my energy from caffeine, five to seven cups of black no sugar (which is how I always drank it, so nothing new), and from just enough dinner so my wife could see I’m eating.
Last year I went through intensive therapy, which included weekly meetings with a dietician. It was hard getting back to eating full meals, but once I did and was no longer constantly starving, I did actually start feeling better and more able to deal with my other issues. A few weeks ago I had a long day and forgot to pack lunch, and finally realized how being hungry affects my mood.
It sucks really badly.
Most people don’t go from eating regular amounts to full on daily starvation. It tends to be a gradual lowering of intake, and the body gets used to it. That doesn’t mean the body isn’t exhausted, sore, or unwell, but the body adapts. Stomach feels like it shrinks, hunger cues change, hormones fluctuate, etc. as the body gets depleted. People in the throes of an ED sometimes feel validated by the daily pain that starvation causes, and that can be a motivator to keep restricting. So it becomes a maladaptive cycle.
Eventually, there’s effects you can’t ignore (low blood pressure, insomnia, loss of muscle control, brain fog, heart and breathing problems) and you have to adjust what you can/can’t do because you just have no energy for it. You can’t survive forever on nothing at all, which is why EDs have such high mortality rates. People are surprisingly resilient, and some will look “fine” for a while before they finally can’t do it anymore.
Function and function fine are different. A drug addict can live for a long time doing drugs in. An anorexic person can survive even while they have an illness. But survival isn’t thriving. It’s not loving life, having fulfilling job, relationship, or friendships. It’s an addiction to being thin at all costs. Even death.
When I had it, I never really had trouble with energy. If anything I got a kick out of it.
I have no idea of the science behind it, but starving myself gave me energy. Maybe went into a different metabolic state.
The mental obsessiveness and kick I got out of using discipline and willpower to exert control over what I was eating (a pretty fundamental human drive) felt… adrenaline-adjacent.
It’s like you’re working on a project that you’re really invested in.
Obviously I don’t recommend this.
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