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There are two other eating disorders that are like anorexia. One is bulimia and the other is binge-eating disorder. Sometimes people get these three illnesses confused.

People with bulimia binge on food regularly. (A doctor will say that someone who binges at least twice a week for at least three months has bulimia.) To binge on food means to eat a lot more than most people would eat, in a short period of time.

If you have bulimia, you feel you don't have control over what or how much you eat during the binge. You may then vomit or take laxatives to avoid putting on weight. Some people do other things to keep from putting on weight, like not eating at all (fasting) or exercising more than is healthy.¹

Like people with anorexia, people with bulimia worry too much about their weight. This affects the way they feel about themselves overall. One big difference is that people with bulimia don't think they're fat when they are actually thin. People with anorexia do.

There's another big difference between anorexia and purging or bulimia. People with bulimia are often normal weight. People with anorexia are very underweight because they eat so little. To learn more, see our articles on bulimia.

If you regularly binge on large amounts of food, you may have binge-eating disorder. You binge and then put weight on. You don't try to get rid of the calories by vomiting, taking laxatives or diuretics (pills that make you lose water from your body), or by exercising.

You can't control binge-eating disorder, and it may make you hate yourself. Treatment is similar to the treatment for bulimia. About a third of the people with binge-eating disorder are boys or men. Binge-eating disorder is probably the most common eating disorder in the United States. It affects about 2 out of 100 adults.²

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment. ©BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2008. All rights reserved.