I want to preface this by saying that not everyone with anorexia will lose their period.

It is not a requirement of diagnosis anymore and hasn’t been for some time, and it isn’t an indicator of how unwell you are. Some people lose their period at a healthy weight, and others don’t lose it even at very low BMI’s. But as someone who has had missing periods for very long lengths of time and then very irregular periods, I want to take some time to discuss how it feels to both lose it, and get it back.

Despite the disclaimer above, I have been happy every time I have lost my period. It has always been something my anorexia could congratulate me over, and a marker that I was doing what it wanted and being successful at being thin and unwell, regardless of what my rational brain told me…