How do anorexics lose weight?

I think because very little energy is coming in, so the body starts to use available energy (not immediately though), and eventually it starts to consume itself.

That’s why starving kids have bellies, their body is consuming itself.

Even if your body is in “starvation mode” where it’s using whatever it can get its hands on for energy, it’s still a basic math equation…if you expend more calories than you take in, you will lose weight. You might lose weight in your muscle tissue instead of from fat, but your body has to absorb the energy from somewhere.

It is not a simple topic; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anorexia_nervosa

yes, if you consistently click on links, you’ll become anorexic.~

My understanding is that the starvation mode of conservation only lasts so long.

The body doesn’t get sufficient nutrition so it goes into “starvation mode” as you say. The problem is that then the body begins to consume it’s own reserves and then it begins to consume itself.