'Fat Positive' Sharon Maxwell Talks About Her Atypical Anorexia Nervosa Diagnosis And Tess Holliday Shows Her Support

Sharon Maxwell, whose strict parents taught her from a young age that gluttony is a sin, had to work through her inner conflict and guilt surrounding food. She was forcing herself to eat three meals and three snacks a day in order to recover from the adverse health effects she got from anorexia. Maxwell has even burned her esophagus from years of damage due to purging. She had heart palpitations and experienced dizziness from low blood pressure, and the effects of malnutrition were also present in her brittle hair and nails. Eventually, Maxwell started to get the help that she needed and began "eating enough food" to where she was allowed to engage in physical activities – not to "lose weight," but to live a healthier lifestyle. But because of her size, people would have never guessed that she suffered from an eating disorder. 

What Is Atypical Anorexia Nervosa?

Atypical anorexia nervosa has all of the symptoms typically associated with anorexia nervosa. Some of these include binge eating, vomiting, dizziness, dehydration, fatigue, and more. The only difference between the medical terms is their physical aspects. While anorexia nervosa is associated with extreme thinness, its atypical version includes people of different sizes. The medical diagnosis first appeared in 2013 after healthcare providers saw a rising number of patients who all exhibited signs of anorexia, except none of them were significantly underweight. Despite this, they were skipping meals, chewing and spitting out their foods, and creating strict rules surrounding their diets. According to the NY Times, some of these individuals have either lost a large amount of weight or struggled to do so because of their metabolism. 

Some psychologists actually believe that atypical anorexia is far more difficult to treat than those who have anorexia at a lower body weight due to the mental stress it brings. After Maxwell moved to South Carolina, she sought help from the Eating Recovery Center in Greenville, where she purportedly faced mistreatment. A staff member at the hospital had told her to sit at the back of a dining room while those with "normal" eating disorders were in a different room. "I was like, I can't sit with them?" Maxwell says. The staff members purportedly also had her eat less than the small-bodied patients. 

Since the release of Maxwell's story, Tess Holliday has taken to TikTok to show her support for the article. The model came out as having anorexia back in 2021 but was met with backlash. 

"Y'all, we have to talk about this New York Times article that came out today. Literally, the title is 'you don't look anorexic' and it makes me feel so validated and so hopeful for the future," Holliday says in her TikTok. The model has also had to deal with the consequences of coming out about her diagnosis, even tweeting in 2021: "To everyone that keeps saying 'you’re looking healthy lately' or 'You are losing weight, keep it up!' Don’t. Comment. On. My. Weight. Or. Perceived. Health. Keep. It. To. Yourself. Thanks."

It appears that users have also shared the same sentiment under New York Times’s tweet on Maxwell’s article, but the response has been overwhelmingly positive from readers. Today, Maxwell says that she's choosing to recover but still greatly suffers from the physical, mental, and social repercussions of atypical anorexia. Her doctors are also monitoring her recovery from QT syndrome, a cardiovascular problem that can turn into deadly arrhythmias, which is a rare side effect of anorexia. Maxwell continues to post about her journey and recovery on TikTok.

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