RIDDLE ME THIS!

Ok, this is going out to all you wonderfully intelligent people who are always giving me good advice and direction. I was thinking about this as I did the treadmill this morning and watched a girl who is obviously anorexic next to me. She is skeletally thin, and she does an hour on the treadmill and then swims laps for an hour after that. I see her every morning because I do both of these cardios (although only half an hour each). So here's my question: If our bodies go into "starvation" mode when we don't eat enough, we are told that it is holding on to our fat and not letting go, making us settle into plateaus that drive us crazy. (yes, I am raising my hand I am guilty of this). But when anorexics DO starve their bodies, THEY don't hold on to their fat at all... as a matter of fact, they dwindle down to skeletons. So why do their bodies burn the fat and ours doesn't?

Fabulous question. When you find out, please post for the rest of us. -Paige

here's my guess at answering your riddle: I think that anorexics aren't burning fat as you think. My guess is that their body has burned all of the fat and is now burning muscle. There body is essentially cannibalizing itself to survive. Does it look like they are losing "weight" -- absolutely...they are losing their lean body mass.

OK, an ex-anorexic responded to my post on the Over 50 Forum about this question. She said that anorexics don't just "not eat", they also workout and do exercise for hours every day. She was only drinking water and exercising for 5 hours a day when she was in the throes of her disease. Every third day she'd allow herself a small bite of something. She said that the "high" she got was addictive, like a drug high, but she also got very ill (as all anorexics do). So, according to that information, if we were on a plateau that wouldn't budge, one alternative would be to eat more to get our body out of starvation mode (if we weren't eating enough to begin with) OR continue eating too little and just bump up the workouts to crazy levels. (NOT a good idea and not something I'm suggesting anyone do). This explanation makes sense to me. I wish I could say something to the woman at the gym, because I've read that anorexics are really dying for someone to notice that they need help.