I got my eating disorder quite young and for many years I had no idea that I had anorexia... just that I was a bit weird with food.   I actually self identified with anorexia when they taught us eating disorders in 5th grade, but was still in denial about it until my official diagnosis at 14. I always aware I had a problem with food, but that I was not "thin or sick enough" in my own mind to think I had anorexia. In a way I was denying my own experience and the suffering I was going through. Because I wanted to be thin so badly, telling myself I "wasn't anorexic" was a way of telling myself "I wasn't thin" and allowing my eating disorder to get worse and worse.  [pre-diagnosis I was eating 100-200 calories a day, going on a minimum 10 mile run/walk a day. I stood at 5'5" and 81lbs - AKA quite obviously anorexic but in denial]  I never wanted the diagnostic label because I knew that meant treatment, which meant scaring your parents and making them cry, having people watch and worry about you all the time, gaining weight, feeling out of control and hopeless.  When fatties claim to be anorexic, wanting to get the diagnostic label without any serious weight loss, it really pisses me off. A real anorexic wouldn't want the help, they would want to stay in their happy little anorexic bubble and not have anyone interfere. If they were actually sick and wanted help they would have the substantial weight-loss that accompanies an eating disorder. And if they did actually have a problem with food (such as EDNOS or bulimia) they shouldn't be shopping around for the diagnosis that makes them feel good, like anorexia is some glamorous prize and the ultimate eating disorder. It just increases the stigma around eating disorders.