A Wanarexic is someone who lies about having Anorexia or actually wants to have Anorexia to lose weight.

A Fauxlimic is someone who lies about having Bulimia or actually wants to have Bulimia to lose weight.

Most of the time people who lie and say they have an eating disorder, do this because they want to feel like they belong somewhere. They often lie in other websites, blogs, other social networking sites, and will even lie about having other mental illnesses to “fit in”.

Wanarexics and Fauxlimics believe that Eating Disorders are lifestyle choices and NOT mental illnesses. They refuse any other outside sources that inform them otherwise. They can be stubborn, and bothersome to websites that know and understand that eating disorders can be a fatal illness.

They can be sneaky, but usually easily caught by trained readers. Asking questions on how to lose weight, when they should already know how if they had real eating disorders. They may bombard a chat room with questions to members about the “Anorexic lifestyle”, “Bulimic Lifestyle”, and asking too many personal questions. They may ask: How to I purge? How many calories should I consume? How to you starve or fast? What is a GW, UGW, CW, HW, CW? What does IP mean? What does OP mean? Most people who have BEEN on eating disorder chat rooms and forums know what those acronym’s (abbreviations) mean. ALTHOUGH some people who do not visit such websites, or chat rooms may not really know what they mean. So choose your words and thoughts wisely when confronting someone. They can be a true person with an eating disorder and not know what a CW and etc stands for.

Remember not all people with eating disorders use acronyms, and not all people are fakes or liars.

Many people with eating disorders will eventually recover from their illness. Such strength should be praised, and not discouraged. So don’t hate or ignore someone that wants recovery. Just because you don’t want recovery, does not mean your friend should be suffering with you. Let them recover and praise them every step of the way. LIKEWISE, do not hate on someone with an eating disorder that does NOT want to recover. Recovery should be a personal choice that an individual makes for themselves. Not because other people want them to. They have to do it themselves.

People who believe that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice, often discourage recovery, ban people for wanting recovery, or going into recovery. They often call the person who wants to recover “weak”, and makes statements such as: “You don’t have what it takes.” People who are brainwashed into thinking that eating disorders are lifestyle choices are often abusive towards others and push their ideals to people who are confused, They recruit, and manipulate people to their cult like websites, forums, chat rooms, and other social networking groups. THIS is what is called Pro Anorexia. Many Pro Anorexia sites get shut down. Often times they violate the web host Terms of Service, or policies. Pro Bulimia is the same.

Do not confuse Pro Anorexia/Pro Bulimia, with Pro Ana/Pro Mia. There is a significant difference between the two. Pro Ana/Pro Mia is a different eating disorder group. They believe that eating disorders ARE mental illnesses, and DISCOURAGE the thought of eating disorders are anything else but illnesses. They believe that recovery should be a personal choice. Recovery is not talked about a lot on Pro Ana/Pro Mia websites, but they do supply links to resources for recovery, if any user is interested. Recovery is not discouraged. Often times when a member or user chooses recovery they are praised and encouraged to get well. It is the general knowledge that if anyone is seeking recovery to go to a recovery site. They do this so that way it will not trigger the person who wants recovery into a relapse. If a user or member relapses and decides that recovery is not for them, they are welcomed back.

With a pro anorexic community, they usually are not.

People who are Pro Anorexic will give ANYONE the tools to have an eating disorder. It does not matter whether the asker is a fellow wanarexic or just curious. They often times have a list of dangerous tips and tricks posted for anyone to see, with no disclaimer to warn the visitor that the information may be harmful.

Pro Ana sites have disclaimers, and their websites are strictly for those who have eating disorder and do not wish to recover. They do not post dangerous tips or tricks. Mostly they post “safe” tips that help an anorexic with hair loss, or a bulimic with dental care for example. Pro Ana “safe” tips would not be for someone who does not have an ED or someone who wants an ED. Those types of tips are not helpful to the tips and tricks seeker.

Some people say that Pro Ana sites can be “pro anorexic in nature” because of thinspiration that is posted in forums or elsewhere. In truth many dieting sites, weight loss sites have thinspiration also. However, between the two the message to the user varies with each member. Some people see thinspiration as grotesque. Thinspiration on Pro Anorexic sites usually are of extremely emaciated images of people, even nude images are accepted. On a Pro Ana site, thinspirational images are of thin people, even healthy people. Nude images, and emaciated images are not allowed or accepted.

Some Pro Ana and almost all Pro Anorexic site have challenges. These happen usually in forums or other social networking outlets. Pro Anorexic types are usually unhealthy and can be deadly to an already sickly person. Often times those who “screw up” on a challenge are criticized and chastised. On Pro Ana forums this is simply not the case. All challenges are for those who can handle a challenge. They try to make it fun, friendly and as non-competitive as possible. Challenges usually include certain diets, or fasts and no one is yelled at for “messing up”.

Pro Anorexic sites usually go to the extreme with everything that they do. Because they feel that anorexia is LIFE and nothing else, they do not care if they die, often times members do. For members that leave these sites, they are ridiculed and “blacklisted” from joining any other Pro Anorexic site. in a Pro Ana site, members can come and go as they please. They can join any site they want to as long as they follow site rules.

In a Pro Ana site Wanarexics and Fauxlimics are caught, called out, and banned. In a Pro Anorexic site Wanarexics and Fauxlimics are welcomed.

To a Pro Anorexic this just adds more soldiers to their army of ignorance.

Remember knowledge is power! Know who you are. Know what eating disorders are. You have a choice to recover or not to recover. You have a choice to be real or fake. You have a choice to understand what mental illnesses are or be ignorant.

We hope you take this information and learn something from it.