What is pregorexia?

“Pregorexia is a media-generated term for a pregnant woman who takes strict measures to control pregnancy-related weight gain, generally by exercising or restricting calories,” says Stephanie Ho, MD, a reproductive psychiatrist in private practice in New York City. Although women with pregorexia have aneroxia-like symptoms, it’s unlikely that a woman with true anorexia would be able to become pregnant, Dr. Ho explains; a woman with pregorexia is very controlling about her weight gain, but not to the degree of someone with a clinical eating disorder.

What are the symptoms of pregorexia?

According to Dr. Ho, a woman with pregorexia may have one or more of the following symptoms:

Act as if the pregnancy is not real
Exercise excessively
Be very focused on her calorie intake

Who is at risk for developing pregorexia?

Since people with pregorexia demonstrate behaviors that closely resemble anorexia, it’s possible that the same risk factors apply, says Dr. Ho. Those include:

A history of eating disorders
Poor social support
Strong social pressure to be thin