Do I Have an Eating Disorder? Common Warning Signs and When to Seek Help
Are you worried that you or someone you love has an eating disorder? Eating disorders
are often misunderstood. At first, many people wonder where the line is between dieting,
disordered eating, and an actual eating disorder. So, let’s break it down in a clear,
understandable way.
What’s the Difference Between a Diet, Disordered Eating, and an Eating Disorder?
What Is a Diet or Lifestyle Change?
Typically, a diet or lifestyle change means adjusting how you eat with a specific goal in
mind. This involves being more mindful and intentional about your food choices. People
change their lifestyles or diets for many reasons, such as improving energy, managing a health
condition, building muscle, or weight loss. When approached with balance, and without rigid rules or shame, these shifts can be part of a healthy life.
Healthy adjustments to eating patterns are:
Gradual and sustainable
Include all food groups
Allow for spontaneity (e.g., enjoying cake at a party)
Encourage you to enjoy your favorite foods in moderation
Respect hunger and fullness cues
Avoid moralizing food choices as “good” or “bad”
Supportive of emotional regulation or relationships
Tied to realistic goals
Not coming from low self-worth, anxiety, or shame
When Dieting Becomes Disordered
On the surface, a change to your diet aims to be more mindful and intentional about what you eat. It may involve paying attention to your food choices and monitoring portions. However, what society advertises to us as a “diet” is actually disordered eating. In reality, disordered eating includes harmful patterns that may not meet the criteria for a clinical eating disorder, but still impacts health and well-being.
Warning signs of disordered eating include:
Chronic dieting or yo-yo dieting
“Cheat days” that lead to patterns like binge/restrict cycles
Extreme calorie restrictions or cutting out food groups
Feeling guilty or anxious after eating
Skipping meals to “make up” for overeating
Ignoring hunger or fullness cues
Avoiding social situations involving food
Exercising to “earn” or “burn off” food
Obsessive food tracking or body checking
Hiding eating behaviors or eating in secret
Using diet pills, steroids, or non-prescribed medications
Shame, low self-esteem, or control as motivators
Diets like Keto, Paleo, or Intermittent Fasting are marketed to us as “lifestyle
changes” or for “wellness,” but instead promote restriction and disconnect you from your
body’s needs.
What Is an Eating Disorder?
An eating disorder is a serious health condition that causes you to have an unhealthy
relationship with food and your body. You may have problems with the way you feel
about eating, food, your body weight, or shape. Eating disorders affect your physical
and mental health. They are not about vanity — they often begin as a way to cope with
stress, trauma, anxiety, or feelings of not being good enough. If they are not treated
early and effectively, they get worse and can become a long-term issue. Eating
disorders can also be severe and life-threatening. Anorexia has the second-highest
death rate of any mental illness.
Eating Disorders Differ From Disordered Eating
Eating disorders are similar to disordered eating, but are more severe, intense, and
frequent. The symptoms often require help from an eating disorder therapist and
dietitian to improve.
Eating disorders often:
Feel obsessive and out of control
Involve behaviors like purging, fasting, or extreme restriction
Interfere with work, school, and relationships
Cause shame, guilt, depression, or anxiety
Lead to medical complications
Require professional support to recover
Are connected to deeper issues (e.g. Low self-esteem, a need for control,
relationship problems, stressors in your environment, etc.)
Common Types of Eating Disorders
1. Anorexia Nervosa (AN)
Anorexia Nervosa Often Included an Intense fear of weight gain
Obsessive thoughts about body image or body shame
Food restriction that leads to significant weight loss
May include purging or excessive exercise
2. Bulimia Nervosa (BN)
Bulimia Nervosa includes cycles of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors (e.g., vomiting,
fasting, over-exercising)
Intense shame after eating
Preoccupation with body weight or shape
3. Binge Eating Disorder (BED)
Binge eating includes recurring episodes of eating large amounts of food quickly
Feeling out of control
No purging behaviors
Deep guilt and distress after eating
4. Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
Avoidance of certain foods based on taste, texture, or fear (e.g., choking)
Not related to weight concerns
Nutrient deficiencies or growth delays
May rely on supplements or very limited foods
5. Other Specific Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED)
Significant eating-related distress that doesn’t fit other diagnoses
Includes:
Atypical anorexia (same behaviors as anorexia without low weight)
Purging disorder (without bingeing)
Night eating syndrome
When is it essential to seek help?
Many people live in the gray area between dieting and full-blown eating disorders.
And all deserve support. If food, exercise, or your body image feels like it’s taking up too
much mental space or it’s taking over your life, it’s time to talk to someone. Early
intervention is very important as eating disorders can be very dangerous. You don’t
have to wait for it to get worse before seeking help. You are worthy of getting the
support you need.
Are you ready to Empower Your Eating Disorder Treatment in Tampa, Florida? Start Your Healing at Bloom Psychological.
If you’ve been questioning whether your eating habits are “bad enough” to seek help, please know this: you don’t need to hit rock bottom to deserve support. Whether you’re navigating disordered eating, diet culture pressure, or a full-blown eating disorder, your experience is valid—and healing is possible.
At Bloom Psychological, we offer compassionate, trauma-informed eating disorder treatment for individuals in Tampa and throughout Florida. Together, we’ll work to untangle harmful food and body patterns, uncover the deeper emotional roots, and guide you back to a place of balance, self-trust, and freedom.
Let’s go find you. Let’s go find your glow.
Begin Your Journey to Understanding and Healing
Other Services at Bloom Psychological
In addition to eating disorder therapy, at Bloom Psychological, Dr. Kaite offers trauma and complex PTSD therapy to help individuals process painful experiences and move toward healing with confidence and care. We also provide specialized support for UCF students navigating academic stress, identity struggles, and mental health challenges. No matter where you are in your journey, we’re here to support you with compassion and expertise.
About the Author
I may live in Florida now, but I’ll always be a Jersey girl at heart—honest, grounded, and deeply committed to cutting through confusion with compassion. That’s especially true when it comes to eating disorders, which are often misunderstood or minimized. In both life and therapy, I show up fully and unapologetically, so the people I work with feel safe enough to do the same.
I’m a mom to a smart and spirited little boy, plus a dog who thinks she’s the boss and a cat who definitely is. (My plants, on the other hand, have accepted their fate.)
But here’s the truth: I don’t just understand eating disorders from a textbook—I know what it feels like to live inside one. I know the spiral of self-doubt, the pressure to shrink, the silent shame that builds with every meal or skipped one.
Now, as a licensed therapist and Certified Eating Disorder Specialist, I help clients across Tampa and the state of Florida make sense of their relationship with food and body—by going deeper. We don’t just treat the behaviors; we uncover the why. Because when we understand the root, we can finally begin to heal it.
If you're wondering whether your eating habits “count” as serious enough or feeling lost in the chaos of diet culture, please know: you are not overreacting. You are waking up. And I’m here to walk beside you as you reclaim your voice, your health, and your life.
