I wanna be so skinny that I rot from view

OK these are some of my ideas and pointers on ED in general. NOT tips for wannarexics.  

• Never take shit from anyone. This go's to everyone... Ana's, Mia's, anti ED's anyone.
• Distract yourself when hungry! Read a book, clean your room, make a site. hey that's what's working for me right now. you get to write out all your frustrations and TTT your fellow sufferers
• In school fidget your ass off! It could burn up to 500 cals per day
• I buy food related products and they help with cravings. Stuff like food scented candles, lipgloss ect. I have chocolate lipgoss nd a cookie candle
• When dizzy I play the girlcard. Works everytime.
• Keep a ana book. You know for stuff like thinspo, ideas, reads ect. I keep a mirror at the end of mine and pretend I'm talking to ana! It sounds stupid but it works
• Give yourself permission to eat. For example if you feel a binge coming on tell yourself "i give myself permission to eat this"
• Go to a friend’s house around dinner time, tell him/her that you ate at home, and tell your parents/spouse/roommate that you ate at the friend’s house
• Have a quick nap if hungry! You will be instantly energized.
• Talk during family meals. they won't notice that your not eating
• Drink plenty of water. It bulks you up!
• Sit up straight! It will burn more calories then reclining.
• Don't bring an awful lot of money with you when out. That way while passing some food shop you won't be able to get anything! Woo.
• Take vitamins everyday in order to look healthy. Especially if ur a girl take iron
• Call a talkative friend when hungry
• Paint your nails as well if your hungry. It's not like you can eat with wet nails????
• Eating 100calories 4 times a day is better than eating a 400calorie meal.
• Save up all the money that you would normally spend on food and spend it on a treat for yourself
• Think about where your food came from. This especially works on animal products trust me telling yourself you're eating something dead works on me
• Turn vegetarian or vegan it works also!
• Diet drinks are mini miracles! Diet coke is my fave. Mind ya if you're on caffeine tablets take the no caffeine diet coke.
• School rocks! (apart from working nd bitches who call ya stuff) Go in early to skip breakfast, don't eat lunch (ugh lunch) and stay in school/library to study late so no dinner. Woo!
• Suck ice of your hungry! Your body burns up to 40 cals to melt the ice cube and it turns into water so ahem woo!
• Chew but don't swallow if you must eat junk
• Look at something dirty when you want to eat. Stare into a rubbish bin, clean the cat litter, change a babies nappy. Ugh!
• You’ll eat less food on a blue plate because there are very few foods in nature that are blue
• On the verge of a binge? Count to a thousand or recite the alphabet backwards. Works for me.
• Eat in front of a mirror in the nude! See how much you can eat then!!!
• Never eat anything bigger then your fist
• Use noise to cover the sound of purging: music, shower, running water, anything to drown you out.
• Manicures/painted nails hide your weak and brittle nails. I paint my nails black quite often.  
• Caffeine reduces hunger and gives you energy to get through your day.
• Hit your stomach (just not too hard) if it's growling too loudly                               
• Curl up in a ball if you have hunger pains.
• Celery actualy burns calories. Eat as much as you want of it. Not only will it fill you up, but it will also get you metabolism going.
• put on a facial mask, it has to harden so ur not allowed to move your face (no chewing)
• carry your fave thinspo pic with you and look if craving
• Try cut out carbs all together
• Do you have a bitchy friend/enemy/frenemy? Well I do  and I just think about the look on the fat face when I'm skinny
• Cook the family dinner! Say you had a few bites along the way. It works sometimes 
• Try to keep what you eat in balance, even when your not eating much. Include protein, fruits and vegetables in particular - this will keep your general health better as your loosing weight.
• When tempted by evil food, put loads of salt/pepper on to it. Now it's too icky to eat, and you have got an excuse if someone asks why your are not eating it
• Little rituals around food can help focus your control. Eat slowly and in an orderly fashion - be obsessive about detail!!! Cut apples in to cubes or chew each bite 49 times or what ever makes sense to you.
•  Weigh yourself before and after you eat. Not only will you eliminate unnecessary eating but it will make you want to eat less when you see the numbers creep up. 
•  Try to keep what you eat in balance, even when your not eating much. Include protein, fruits and vegetables in particular - this will keep your general health better as your loosing weight.
•  Do not eat a lot at once. Spread your food throughout the day. This will help avoid binging and keep your metabolism going.
• Halloween.  If you are forced to go trick or treating (it happens folks!)well just say you don't feel safe taking sweets from strangers
• I had a bad throat recently and lived on cough drops (medical ones). They may be expensive but still
• I have a new excuse. I tell people anything with whole nuts make me sneeze and I have a phobia of cheap/foreign branded food (well that's true for me I do have a phobia of foreign branded food). I also tell people I hate dairy products they make me gag (another true statement but try it)
• Eat breakfast. Seriously it keeps you going and it boosts metabolism. Something low fat such as tea and an apple.
• At lunch time in school or wherever go on walks with your friends
• Having trouble finding good thinspo for your thinspo book? Well I find the best thinspo can be found in anti ana articles lol.....
• Lol do what I did. A sponsored fast! It was great. People were encouraging me NOT to eat and it was for a good cause
• Christmas trouble? Well as stupid as this may sound you should eat a nice Xmas dinner. A slice of turkey and a bit of veg. No harm there. Don't be tempted by the trimmings (eg. Stuffing, butter, gravy ect.) Say you feel too full for dessert or do what I do: Say that you can't have trifle/Xmas pudding cause I'm a catholic and made an oath not take alcohol till 16.
• Buy a dance-mat for PS2 or something. There is also eyetoy kinetic or something where you can have a full body workout at home
• Think of HIM (You know who i mean ) when your about to put THAT in your mouth.
• Not the exercise type? Neither am I... I'm such a lazy little fucker. One way to burn cals is to simply walk everywhere. Also if you're like me and have to get public transport 90% of the time just get off early like one stop) and walk
• To avoid weird looks when super thin cover arms and legs.
• I know its hard to be a veggie, like giving up certain foods but just look at the vids on tv.peta.com
• Invisible exercise you ask? Playing with kids (siblings, nieces/nephews) burns loadsa calories yet you have loadsa fun (eg. Hide and seek, tag ect.)
• get an ana pal. Its great. Someone to understand and help.
• Drink a whole glass of water before you starter and again before your main course when out for food
• Brush your teeth or rinse your mouth with mouthwash (Listerine is very good), not only will food taste terrible but you wont want to ruin your clean mouth and feed those bacteria
• On holidays abroad eat only fruit/veggie and water. Say your enjoying the local produce because of the high quality.
• Make an pro ED influenced playlist on your mp3/ipod BUT don't name it something obvious. Rename certain songs or list them under "various artists" (eg. Anorexic beauty - pulp)
• Rename Ana. And Mia. And Chloe. Seriously, I did this (I won't reveal the names however because they're my secret). It will make your imaginary itch of a friend imaginary again. I gave Ana a random name, Mia a name of a bulimic I know and Chloe the name of a girl who hates me. The beauty of this is they are your secret. No one else will know and no one will have the same. The media won't be able to badmouth them either 
• I'm now vegan. It rocks. All I eat in fruit and veggies. No shit. No murdered lamb or chicks. As for other animal produce... ever heard of battery farms?
• Cover scars/cuts/burns/cuts WELL. Armwarmers are miricles but try not cut during Summer or hot weather. We all know why.
• If you are pica please use this. STOP and think what are you putting in your mouth? Is it dangerous? Is it toxic? Some items are less obvious like string which can wrap around your organs. I ate carpet shampoo once cause I forgot the stop and think rule
• Deny your ED. Anorexia, bulimia, ED-NOS ect. destroys people around you. Remember having an ED DOES NOT mean that you don't give a shit about others
• Have a routine. When you're gonna eat. What your gonna eat. How much your gonna eat. Where are ya gonna eat. Memorize it and stick to it
• I've lost trust in most people, perhaps its good. Don't confide in friends. They will either try help or tell someone. If you must talk to someone go to the doctor and escape this hellhole.
• If you know a wannarexic (I know loads) tell them to stop and explain the dangers. DO NOT ENCOURAGE THEM. Be kind and help. Never tell them you have an ED. If they know (not assume, if they do deny) tell them you are recovering.
• Be awear of "pRo aNA sItEs!!1!!!111one!!!11!!". they are either unoriginal or VERY bitchy. Those who TEACH girls how to purge are just encourging wannabe's to endanger themselves and/or devolop and ED. These sites are really useless in MY OPINION.
• Instead of buying food, buy yourself flowers! Food is depressing, but flowers make you happy. Why not take up gardening? I have my own little patch in the back garden 
• When you're hungry, tie a ribbon around your stomach really tight. It will trick the stomach for a few hours, it worked for me especially well during school
• Here's an old but useful trick: Have 6 small meals a day. Take two apples and split them to make 6 meals out of them. It will trick your body yet again.
• A trick from pica: Carry a small container with a few drops of something inedible. Put some on your food so you won't eat it. 
• Know mini excercises/cal burners you can do anywhere (eg. public transport, school ect.). Stuff such as squeezing in your ass or sucking in your tummy burns more cals then you'd think!
•  Keep a stack of magazines that weigh as much as you do. When you lose weight, subtract that amount from the stack. Watch and see how much of a difference that weight makes.
• Playstation, PSPs any type of video game will keep you entertained for hours. Its diff from watching TV coz you have no free hands to eat with 
• Have a social life on the weekends, or at least get out of the house. Depression is more likely wish issolation, I've seen it happening first hand to my good friend Stee.
• The later you stay up the hungier you'll get. I'm guilty of this as well.
• Just say no to all laxatives, dieuretics or Ipecac syrup. I've had huge problems with all these, and they are so dangerous. You don't even lose real weight, just water from laxatives and dieuretics. Ipecac kills. Fancy that?

Anymore pointers/ideas anyone?

Mia

Dudes I'm sorry the Mia section is SHIT but seriously I haven't a clue bout Mia. Perhaps you have some pointers or ideas? If so e-mail me with them at irishballerina@hotmail.com. And you WILL get full credit. 

Meals are one of the most difficult times to remain faithful to Ana. Obviously the difficulty increases depending on how aware those around you are of your condition, and their strictness regarding mealtime customs. My parents don't make me eat so it cool for me. But if your in the red follow these

* Try to arrange it so that you get home from school late as often as possible, go to the library, get involved in sports clubs, go shopping or go round friends' houses. Then when you get home you're family will have already eaten and you can 'eat' alone, therefore making it easier to dispose of the food unnoticed. If they have not eaten yet, give them the classic line "I've already eaten".- this tends to work ok at the start, but your family will get suspicious when you start losing weight.

* Tell your family that you have a lot of work or revision to do, so you haven't got time to eat and will make something later, if they agree then you know what to do ;) If they argue that they want you to eat what they've cooked then agree as long as you can eat in your room so that you can revise at the same time, then dispose of it.

* Since exam season is approaching, you could arrange with your parents to eat your main meal at school so that the evenings are more clear to do work. This means that you will be able to pocket the money they give you for better things and will have much less to deal with in the evenings. Since they will not know what you have eaten at lunchtime you could argue that you had a HUGE lunch so do not need any dinner.

Things getting harder, or just a moderately strict family]

*If your family will not let you eat separately, then suddenly become very interested in a particular TV program that is on each night at exactly the same time as dinner, so that your family will eat in front of the TV with you, or even better let you eat in front of it on your own. It is MUCH EASIER to dispose of food when your family is distracted.

*Insist that you use a tray to put your plate on (one with raised sides), then while you're eating you can carefully place food under the rim of the plate on the tray. Make sure you go into the kitchen first (your status as a 'neat freak' comes in handy here), then you can dispose of the food before anyone else sees.

* Then there's the serviette and opaque cup trick, while you are eating (again this works best in front of the TV, but has some success at a table depending on how aware your parents are). While eating chew your food for a long time to reduce the frequency of the disposals, then casually lift the cup or serviette up to your mouth and spit the food into it. Just remember to dispose of the food afterwards!

* Wear a baggy jumper to dinner (those with front pockets are best), then periodically place food up your sleeve or in the pocket (I know its disgusting, but if necessity calls its better than eating!). This worked for me right up to the end. Just make sure you avoid all sauces!

* Have a certain seat you always sit in at dinner, in the corner of the room (this is again in front of the TV) place a container, on the floor on the wall side of your chair (away from your family) and occasionally drop food into it. This obviously has to be a pot that is usually there.

* Be the last to leave the kitchen with your plate, make up some excuse like you have to go to the toilet, then when everyone has left the room get rid of as much food as you can get away with, so when you walk into the room you already have a lot less food to deal with. This can work at the table too, it just depends how observant your family is, you could even try swapping the original plate for a smaller one.

$ Become vegetarian/vegan, your family might let you cook your own meals to save them trouble, then you can make the meal that you are going to eat as low calorie as you like.

$ If becoming veggie wont work, get involved in the cooking of meals, then you can suggest low calorie alternative and watch all the ingredients put in the food, this helps to get an accurate calorie intake and also alerts you to which food you should avoid.

$ Place a smaller plate/bowl and smaller cutlery at your place, then it will look like you've got more food. The small cutlery will help you to eat slower (where possible use chop-sticks, I said that I was practising new skills), this means that when everyone else has finished you will have lots of food left, and also makes you feel fuller on less food.

$ Cut your food up and move it around, lift food up to your lips and then start talking so that you dont actually eat it.

$ If you have soup with your meal, leave as much of your soup as possible and use it to hide food that you don't want to eat.

$ Get up at least once in the meal to do something (going to the toilet might make your family suspicious), this wastes time and lets your food go cold to give you a reason not to eat it.

$ If your family has realised what you are doing and are threatening you to get you to eat, use tears to make them feel bad, and if they are into negotiating how much you will eat then always be stubborn and give really small amounts gradually increasing only very slightly, in the end they will lower the amount of food so much that you don't have to eat much, and they think that they have succeeded.

$ If you have a weak family member who feels sorry for you, use that. If anyone ever asks you to "try your best to eat", then you are very fortunate in that you can eat virtually nothing and they will think you've tried.

best friends

After school bingers!!

be a better anorexic baby!


an anorexic mind
.........

First of all, let's work on the psychology first. Be sure to fuck up your relationship with food from the start. You want to make yourself as neurotic as possible about food, eating, kitchens, cutlery, refrigerators, restaurants, and hey, why not stretch this out even further and start hating the actual source of foods, in other words the actual animals and plants. I myself am utterly opposed to factories. Any kind of factory. Even pillow factories, hell they're all the same. But you! Spread those bad thoughts! Hate that chicken!!!! Unless of course, you're going for the sympathetic, oh the poor animals, vegan slant. That's a good one too.

• Firstly, reaffirm your mission. Immortalise it. Buy a fat, blank notebook, this will become your own personal anorexic sanctuary of sorts. Write down WHY you want to lose weight. Be sure to include things like how you will feel when you're 10lbs lighter, the glorious clothes you will fit into, an occasion that you would like to be thinner for like your sixteenth birthday, etc. Give yourself a final goal, and break it up into several, smaller, goalpoints. For example, if you weigh 140lbs and would like to eventually be 90lbs, list points along the way which signify a victory for you. For example, 130lbs, and then 115lbs, then 110lbs, then 100lbs, and so on. Re-read this again and again for inspiration. You will be using this notebook later to create tackytown anorexia-inspired collages and other paraphernalia.

• Visualisation. Following the same strain as NLP, or Neuro Linguistic Programming, we must use the principles of association to retrain your consciousness, and sub-consciousness, to turn food into one of the greater evils of the world. (Read: the greatest evil!!) Start by associating food with disgusting things. For your first ever fast, it may be helpful to draw pictures of juicy red apples, somehow morphing into giant dead rotting pigs. Plaster these all around your house, preferably on the food itself. Never underestimate the power of images. Put pictures of fat girls on your fridge, or better yet, pictures of yourself; you're pretty fat. Conversely, stick pictures of rakish models everywhere you can see them, for inspiration, and a bit of productive self-loathing. Also, practise writing things like "I'm fat" over and over. You want to drill this into your brain. "I will be thin" is a good one, as well as other "I will" affirmations. These are positive statements and very conducive to big time weight loss.

• Now create a list of suitable punishments either for thinking of food, or for caving in and eating food itself. A good one to try is to keep a rubber band on your hand and flick your skin whenever you think of eating. Eventually you will have a swollen hand, and a shrunken body; you will have ceased thinking of food so much. Other punishments include ridiculous amounts of exercise, purging, self-mutilation, isolation, basic denial of necessary comforts such as blankets on a cold night, or shelter when it is raining.. or simply menial, disgusting tasks such as cleaning the bathroom. Remember, you need discipline.

• Invent pain and hassles for yourself. Trick yourself into believing your life sucks. Be mean to people so that they instigate fights, just to make you constantly on edge, or nervous, so you cant eat. After all, you'll be light-headed and dizzy, and irritable from not eating, so you have an excuse. I used to love when dad got mad at me because it meant I was so upset I could not eat. Become an angst ridden teenager. You'll be making yourself nauseous from worry and self hatred in no time.

• Find another anorexic to consort with. Whether this be in real life, or on the internet. You can swap tips and indulge in your little sordid anorexia world together, force each other to exercise, pat each other on the back when you reach goals, etc. You want to completely surround yourself with all thoughts of anorexia. Find pro-anorexia websites, or create your own. Sign up for one of the dozens of pro-anorexic mailing lists at Yahoo! and you'll be bombarded daily with like minded individuals.

• Now, immerse yourself further in anorexia propaganda, read anorexia or otherwise 'thin' inspired literature, listen to anorexic music, watch as many triggering films as you can get your delicate little mitts on, look up to very thin hollywood stars and supermodels. Also, visit as many of the aforementioned pro-anorexia sites as you can to get a bunch of quotes and 'mantras' to write in your anorexia notebook, and repeat inside your head daily. I have compiled a list of such sources of 'thinspiration'.

Thinspiration
...........

Triggering music

This is essential. You must familiarise yourself with the very teenage and angsty artists and be sure to play the music over and over to thoroughly depress yourself. Ones to keep in mind are:

• Fiona Apple - try the song "Paper Bag" ... Hunger hurts but starving works...

• silverchair - try the song "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" ... and I need you now somehow, and I need you now somehow ... on my knees for you... in my head the flesh seems thicker...
• Juliana Hatfield - try the song "Feed Me"... Oh baby if only you knew, I'm down to 102...
• Tori Amos - try the song "Jackie's Strength" ... You're only popular with anorexia, so I turn myself inside out, in hopes someone will see...

Anorexic mantras

You must collect as many of these as possible. Write them in your anorexia notebook, memorise them, let them comfort you. Some examples are:

• "An imperfect body reflects an imperfect person."

• "You will be tempted quite frequently, and you will have to choose whether you will enjoy yourself hugely in the 20 minutes or so that you will be consuming the excess calories, or whether you will dislike youself cordially for 2 or 3 days for your lack of willpower."
• "I'm not starving myself...I'm perfecting my emptiness."
• "I can get thinner. I can cut it all off. I can wear low slung Levi's and crop tops and long straight dresses like willowy models, and I gasp with the breathlessness of being airborne. I can fly and be free. Jesus! I never realised how easy it was!"
• "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels."
• "The greasy fry, it cannot lie, its truth is written on your thigh," as said by Quinn from Daria

Devour Literature, not food

Words and text are very very triggering when it comes to not eating. For one thing, it gives you a world to inhabit, your very own private, magnificent anorexia world which nobody else around you can touch, and you shall have characters to understand you. You will be so riveted that you will not need to eat. Books to check out include:

• "The Best Little Girl In The World" by Steven Levenkron

• "Wasted" by Marya Hornbacher
• "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand - not about anorexia per se, but Dominique Francon is the f*cking epitome of ethereal, insubstantial, bony grace.
• "I Am An Artichoke" by Lucy Frank
• "Starving For Attention" by Cherry Boone O'Neill
• "Hunger Scream" by Ivy Ruckman
• "Diary Of An Eating Disorder" by Chelsea Smith and Beverly Runyon
• "My Sister's Bones" by Cathi Hanauer
• "Stick Figure" by Lori Gottlieb
• "Eve's Apple" by Jonathan Rosen

Thinspiring Films and TV Shows

These might be about anorexia itself, or it might simply be glamorous and include very thin beautiful people. Movies and television programmes I know others find thinspiring are:

• Girl, Interrupted

• For The Love Of Nancy
• Ally McBeal

Role models

You need somebody to idolise. You must research him or her to the bones and become as close to her as possible. Become obsessed. Some suitable examples include those in the following list, who are either very skinny, or have, or have had anorexia:

• Kate Moss - nineties waif

• Angelina Jolie - skinny sexy actress, e.g. Girl, Interrupted and Gia
• Christina Ricci - actress, had anorexia
• Calista Flockhart - Ally McBeal
• Lara Flynn Boyle - glamorous and snobby, never eats
• Tracey Gold - actress who suffered from anorexia
• Karen Carpenter - musician and classic anorexic
• Portia de Rossi - actress on Ally McBeal who went through a stage of dangerous dieting
• Geri Halliwell - formerly Ginger Spice, engaged in a 'thin war' with:
• Victoria Beckham - formerly Posh Spice
• Courtney Cox - actress on Friends, bony and gaunt
• Twiggy - iconoclastic model
• Jodie Kidd - impossibly thin model
• Audrey Hepburn - quintessential class, very petite

This should be enough to sufficiently fuck up and cloud your perceptions. Above all, convince yourself you are above others, a hero, owing to your spectacular powers of restraint. Feel elitist. Feel as though you are somehow super-human for resisting the urge to eat. Feel better than the other mere mortals who dig in to their cereal and their donuts. Believe in the power of starving as though it were a religion.

Extreme Dieting
.........

Now we can move on to the actual act of excessive dieting itself. First off we should establish clear limits. Make up rules you cannot deviate from. Only eat yellow foods on Monday, and brown foods on Tuesday. Or only eat every other day. Or only eat at night. Or only eat on days with the letter "u" in them. Or become a vegan. Or a fruitarian. Or follow your own version of a well known diet, such as the ever popular low carb diets, e.g., the Zone Diet, Atkin's Diet. Use your imagination. I knew a model who swore her secret was living on sushi, candy, oranges, cigarettes, and water. Another tip to try is to only allow yourself one food a day. You will get sick of the taste and therefore eat less due to boredom. Now, compile a list of "safe foods". Here is a fairly comprehensive list:

• Low Cal Jelly (or Jello, for you Americans)
• Celery - it is composed highly of water, it is crunchy, which is said to cause you to eat less, owing to the amount you have to chew it, it is considered a catabolic food.
• Carrots are also another safe vegetable (although most vegetables can be on your safe list, these are merely the safest of the safe).
• Salsa and mustard - dieting staples. You can dip vegetables in them, they are fat free and low cal, and salsa brings cravings to an abrupt halt. Spicy foods are also thought to fire up your metabolism.
• Vinegar - thought to thoroughly reduce your appetite. It is suggested you drink a tablespoon or two before each meal.
• Lemons dipped in a sugar substitute such as Splenda or Nutrasweet. (note: In some anorexia circles, even fruit is no good, besides oranges, which are a 50cal food).
• Broth (only 5 calories per cube!!)
• Egg white - much needed protein.
• Pickles.
• Lettuce - an absolute 'nothing' food.
• Cucumbers - very very low cal.
• and never underestimate the power of soup.

Safe foods are merely foods that are safe to eat if you are craving foods outside your set meals. They are extremely low cal, or no cal. As for your actual daily intake of food, most wannabe anorexics tend to stick within the 500 - 1000 calorie range depending on how much exercise they do. Never be shy when it comes to considering taking certain drugs to reduce or diminish appetite. Some antidepressant medication such as Wellbutrin have this effect, as well as Topamax, which is originally an anti-convulsive but has been and can be prescribed for things such as ADD and bipolar disorder. Steal your little brother's ADD medication. Dexedrine is gold when it comes to killing appetite. Just ignore the paranoia and nervousness that comes with it. Think about diet pills and supplements such as Metabolife and Ephedra.

Day To Day
........

Now we move on to the ever important area of ritual and habits, tips & tricks, to get down to a science.

• Graze constantly throughout the day so that your metabolism never gets the chance to rest and become sluggish. Eating 100 calories five times a day is better than eating one meal consisting of 500 calories.

• Fool your metabolism by constantly changing the number of calories you consume daily. This will prevent your body going into starvation mode, meaning that lesser amounts of calories will make you gain weight. For instance, eat 500 calories on Monday, 100 on Tuesday, 800 on Wednesday, no calories on Thursday, and 400 calories on Friday.

• Get a full night's sleep, at least eight hours. Although staying up late does make you burn more calories, don't become sleep-deprived or your metabolism will become sleepy. Your appetite will even increase by 15%.

• Record everything you eat in your anorexia notebook. This serves to motivate you, as well as to be aware of all the extra calories you may not be aware you are consuming. It may also let you identify emotional or environmental triggers, such as boredom or sadness.

• Take vitamin pills frequently so your body doesn't crave nutrients, causing binges.

• Diet coke and other diet sodas cause that bubbly, full feeling in your stomach, for about 1 calorie per glass.

• Brush your teeth and tongue all the time. The feeling in your mouth will ease cravings and additionally, food will taste yukky with toothpaste, so whats the point of eating it?

• Drink water like a fish. Drink a glass of water, or a diet soda, every hour on the hour. Drink water every time you have the urge to snack. Ice water is better because your body will burn more calories to heat it up. Drink water with meals to prevent overeating. Bear in mind that often we mistake thirst for hunger.

• Caffeine will speed up your metabolism. Have two or three servings a day, in the form of black sugarless coffee, or caffeine pills, or guarana. If stacked with ephedra and aspirin, a synergistic effect will occur that imitates the effects of speed or other amphetamines. Do be aware that this practice can be rather dangerous.

• Exercise. Not only will you burn off the calories you consume when you do eat, but it will increase your metabolism for some time afterwards. As well, the consequential muscle mass will increase the calories you burn at rest. It also suppresses appetite. Try running, or buy yourself a skipping rope.

• Stand up and move about constantly. Compulsively fidget. It does add up to an estimated extra 500 calories burned a day. Twitch your leg while studying, for example. Also, sit up straight - you'll burn more calories.

• Have a very busy and active schedule. It will burn more calories than sitting in your room thinking about not eating, and make sure you don't have enough time to binge.

• Find a something other than food to satisfy your oral fixation. Choices include things like smoking, chewing gum, water, iced tea, sugarless mints, and diet coke.

• Put a small coin in a jar every time you resist a craving, or exercise when majorly exhausted, etc. This will motivate you, build up confidence in your starving abilities, and keep track of your successes. As well as give you extra cash to splurge on some fantastical treat when you reach your first major weight loss goal.

• The type of music you listen to while you eat affects how much and how quickly you consume. The faster the music, the more you eat. Try to listen to nice slow music when you eat.

• Eat sweets and the foods you crave early on in the day. This will give you more time to burn them off and it will eliminate cravings later.

• Eat while in the front of the mirror naked. You will be completely repulsed, and repelled from the food. This is a good thing.

• Feel your hunger..don't try to suppress it. If you're hungry that means you're losing weight; you WANT to be hungry. If you're not then you're not doing it right. In time you will get a wonderful high off of being hungry and thoroughly enjoy the sensation. Hunger is not your enemy! The sooner this is understood, the sooner you will reach your goals.

• Did you know that there are 2 pounds of dead skin on you right now!!?! Thats right! 2 POUNDS! ...if you're underweight or in starvation mode your body does not "shed" its skin the way it should. It holds on to it. Use an exfoliator for your face, and a loofah brush or scrub for your body.

• Make a stack of magazines that weighs the amount you want to lose. As you lose, take off the appropriate amount of magazines. Seeing the weight like that may help you realise what a difference it will make when it is all off.

When you're feeling weak..
............

Here are some things which will help when your willpower is very feeble, to ward off the urge to eat, or worse, binge!

• Pinch your thigh and see how you don't need food, because you should be eating your own flesh all away from the inside first, before you are deserving of actual legitimate sustenance.

• Go to the library. You can research dieting or whatever, or you can read the classics, or some of the aforementioned listerature. Or you can do homework, or write letters, but the beauty of it is, since no food or drink is allowed, you'll have no choice but to abstain from a meal.

• Buy some baby teething gel and rub it on your tongue, to numb your tastebuds.

• If you're even considering eating, just hold your breath and count to 100. Chances are that you'll convince youself not to eat whatever it is you're craving in that time.

• The scent of coffee has been proven to lessen ones appetite.

• Chew the food but don't swallow it. Spit it in the bin.

• If you're feeling dangerous, plan out the next few hours so that you're occupied for every single minute. Write a list of things to do for every 15 minutes. eg. exercise, surf the internet, email your friends, clean a room, read a book.

• If you're feeling brave enough to face the kitchen, go there and throw out any potential binge foods. If you must, pour bleach/disinfectant/dishwashing detergent on the food, and then throw it away! (Anorexics are known for retrieving food from bins, or stealing food from strange places).

• Pinch your ear! Apply pressure to the front of the ear, one at a time. The front of the ear is apparently a pressure point, in the area that controls hunger.

• Let perfume replace chocolate. Every time you have a craving, or pass a bakery, sniff some Chanel no. 5. Apply it to a tissue and carry it with you. Smell has a powerful effect on appetite.

• Clean something. Cleaning something dirty can make you lose your appetite. The toilet, the litter box, under the kitchen sink, scrubbing out the garbage bin, anything grimy or smelly. The mess, along with the smell of the cleaner, can put you off food for a while.

• Become a teenage artist. Write anorexic poetry, tragic little verses about bones and stomachs and evil evil capsicums. Anorexics are ever so creative. Collect pictures of skinny girls. Stick them all in your notebook. Draw pictures of painful bony girls with tear stained faces and their head in their hands (their spines sticking out). This will take up most of your time.\

Hiding it
..........

Anorexia is supposed to be a private and tortured place, dontcha know. Deny it at all costs. Pretend you have not noticed the pounds dropping off you. Don't be suspicious. Here are some relevant tips:

• Spend time making yourself look healthy. Drink lots of water and apply a fake tan. Wear makeup so that you have some colour, and keep your hair looking nice and shiny, take vitamins. Smile.

• Whenever you do decide to eat, do it in the company of others. That way they can't say they never see you touch food.

• On your way out, heat up a slice of pizza or prepare a snack to 'eat on the run'. Of course, you will dispose of the food at your first convenience.

• Leave a dirty plate lying around every so often for your parents to yell at you about.

• Drink out of opaque cups, and spit your food into it whilst preteding to drink. They'll never know.

• Eat really slowly because if everybody else is on their third slice of pizza, they'll assume you are too, even if you're still finishing your first.

• Sign out of hotmail and clear the history before you get off of the Internet. This will eliminate Autofill being ever so helpful while your Mum is researching aardvarks, and coming up with www.anorexicsanonymous.com for her. In short, don't leave traces lying around for others to find.