While exercise addiction may sound like a pretty good addiction to have, considering the dangers and downfalls of alcohol addiction and drug dependency, the control that exercise has over an addict’s life is anything but harmless.

Exercise addiction, also known as exercise bulimia, has much of the same side effects as eating disorders like anorexia nervosa or bulimia, including unhealthy body weight, injury to self, lack of self-worth, and depression.

How do you know when you’ve become addicted to exercise? When exercising starts to control your life instead of fitting nicely into your schedule. Classic signs of exercise addiction include:

• working out despite an injury or illness
• exercising for hours on end each day
• doubling up on workouts the day after you had to miss a workout
• ignoring feelings of fatigue to exercise despite the fact that you’ll be even more exhausted afterward
• allowing exercise to become the number one priority in your life, even if it means canceling prior obligations or letting down or hurting loved ones.

It may be difficult for you to recognize exercise addiction in yourself, but it’s probably pretty easy for an outsider. So if someone is telling you they think you may have a problem, listen up and get to your doctor for help.