Exercise bulimia is a subset of the

psychological disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

called

bulimia Bulimia nervosa, also known as simply bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging or fasting, and excessive concern with body shape and weight. The aim of this activity is to expel the body of calories eaten ...

in which a person is compelled to exercise in an effort aimed at burning the

calories The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of ...

food energy Food energy is chemical energy that animals (including humans) derive from their food to sustain their metabolism, including their muscular activity. Most animals derive most of their energy from aerobic respiration, namely combining the carbohy ...

and fat reserves to an excessive level that negatively affects their

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

. The damage normally occurs through not giving the body adequate

rest Rest or REST may refer to: Relief from activity * Sleep ** Bed rest * Kneeling * Lying (position) * Sitting * Squatting position Structural support * Structural support ** Rest (cue sports) ** Armrest ** Headrest ** Footrest Arts and enter ...

for athletic recovery compared to their exercise levels, leading to increasing levels of disrepair. If the person eats a normally healthy and adequate diet but exercises in levels they know require higher levels of nutrition, this can also be seen as a form of

anorexia Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gre ...

Symptoms

Exercise Bulimia can sometimes go unnoticed because exercise is something that is seen as healthy, but just because a person looks healthy does not mean they are. Compulsive exercisers will often schedule their lives around exercise just as those with eating disorders schedule their lives around eating (or not eating). Other indications of compulsive exercise are: *Missing work, school and other important events in order to work out *Working out with an injury or while sick *Working out secretly or away from noticeable sight *Becoming unusually depressed if unable to exercise *Working out for hours at a time each day *Not taking any rest or recovery days *Defining self-worth in terms of performance *Justifies excessive behavior by defining self as a "special" elite athlete * Depression or agitation when unable to work out *

Amenorrhea Amenorrhea is the absence of a menstrual period in a woman of reproductive age. Physiological states of amenorrhoea are seen, most commonly, during pregnancy and lactation (breastfeeding). Outside the reproductive years, there is absence of menses ...

, the stop of a woman's menstrual cycle *Isolation from others while working out"Exercise Bulimia." ULifeline. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. . *Lack of interest in friends and eating *Lack of sleep

Notes

References

About.com
Exercise & Eating

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013210926/http://abide.ucdavis.edu/overexercise.html , date=2012-10-13 Culture-bound syndromes Eating disorders Physical exercise

Symptoms

See also

Notes

References