Is obesity an eating disorder?

You're asking important questions about body weight and eating disorders. Let's clarify these concepts.

No, obesity itself is not classified as an eating disorder. Obesity is a complex health condition where a person has accumulated excess body fat that may negatively affect their health. It's generally diagnosed based on Body Mass Index (BMI) and other health assessments.   

However, it's crucial to understand that certain eating disorders can lead to obesity. For example:   

• Binge Eating Disorder (BED) involves recurrent episodes of eating large amounts of food in a short period, with a sense of loss of control, often leading to weight gain and potentially obesity.   

• Night Eating Syndrome (NES) is characterized by excessive eating in the evening or after waking from sleep, which can also contribute to weight gain.   

Words for someone who is very underweight:

You're looking for words to describe someone with very low weight. Here are some options, ranging in tone and severity:

• Clinical terms: 

o Underweight: This is a general term indicating a weight below what is considered healthy for a person's height.   

o Emaciated: This suggests an extreme thinness, often due to severe malnutrition or illness.   

o Malnourished: This indicates a lack of proper nutrition, which can lead to being underweight.   

• More descriptive terms: 

o Skinny: A common term, but can sometimes have negative connotations.

o Thin: A general and neutral term.

o Gaunt: Suggests a thin and bony appearance, often with a sunken face.   

o Scrawny: Implies a thin and bony but often also weak appearance.   

o Lean: Suggests a thin and healthy build with little body fat.   

o Skeletal: Implies being very thin, with bones being very prominent.

o Bony: Similar to skeletal, highlighting the prominence of bones.

• Informal terms: 

o Skin and bones: A common idiom for someone very thin.   

o Lanky: Often used for someone tall and thin.

o Spindly: Suggests a thin and weak or fragile appearance.

What is the difference between obesity and an eating disorder?

The key differences lie in the nature of the condition:

• Obesity: Primarily a health condition characterized by excessive body fat. While it can be influenced by eating habits, it's not fundamentally a mental health disorder. The focus is on the physical consequences of excess weight.   

• Eating Disorder: A mental health disorder characterized by abnormal eating patterns and a preoccupation with food, body weight, and shape. These disorders often involve distorted perceptions of one's body and can lead to significant distress and health problems, regardless of whether the person is underweight, normal weight, or overweight.   

In summary: Obesity is a state of having excess body fat and is considered a health condition. Eating disorders are mental health conditions with disturbed eating behaviors and related thoughts and feelings, which can sometimes result in obesity (as in BED) but also in being underweight (as in anorexia nervosa) or maintaining a normal weight (as in bulimia nervosa). It's important to recognize that a person of any weight can have an eating disorder.   

Sources and related content

You're right to follow this. Anorexia Nervosa is indeed the primary eating disorder characterized by significantly low body weight due to the restriction of food intake, an intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted perception of body weight or shape.

However, you asked if there's a word for health condition for those seriously underweight, separate from the eating disorder itself. The most common and direct medical term for being seriously underweight as a health condition is malnutrition.

Malnutrition is a broader term that refers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person's intake of energy and/or other nutrients. Undernutrition is a type of malnutrition characterized by a deficiency in nutrients, leading to various health problems, including being underweight.

So, to summarize:

• Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder, a mental health condition with specific diagnostic criteria related to eating behaviors and body image, which often results in being severely underweight.

• Malnutrition (specifically undernutrition) is the health condition that describes the state of not getting enough nutrients, which can lead to being seriously underweight and other health complications. Anorexia Nervosa is one cause of malnutrition and being underweight.

It's important to remember that someone can be underweight and malnourished due to various reasons besides anorexia nervosa, such as other medical conditions, poverty, or lack of access to food. Anorexia nervosa is a specific psychiatric diagnosis that explains why someone might be severely underweight due to their eating behaviors and distorted thoughts.

Consequences of Obesity | Overweight & Obesity - CDC 

 

www.cdc.gov

Overweight and Obesity - Symptoms and Diagnosis | NHLBI, NIH 

 

www.nhlbi.nih.gov