Help me.. i'm obsessive with food

S

safetydance

New member
Hi,

I'll start off by saying i'm a 18 year old female, 5'5 and roughly 130 pounds.

About a year or two ago i was almost 200 pounds.

I've lost weight over time.. and for most of it .. i wasn't obessive with my diet. I did cut down obviously .. but i ate 1,500 calories a day, had the odd treat and exercised..

Anyway.. around 2 months ago.. somehow mentally my outlook changed..

I'm not sure how it happened. I watch everything i eat now.. and i'm quite scared often to eat a full meal. When i eat i feel guilty. Really guilty.

Mainly all i eat is fruit now.. i eat some other stuff but generally i try to keep below 500 calories.. i know somehow this is stupid and not healthy.. but i am struggling to force myself to eat.

Not sure what to do anymore. It's ruining my life but i can't seem to break it.. i'm so terrified of putting on weight.

:cry::cry::cry:
 
Well, that is definately a scary state of mind and I'm glad your trying to pull out of it. Maybe you need to remind yourself that food is fuel. Without fuel, your bodys not going to work properly.

Using a calorie calculator, I typed in your info and came up with this...

Maintenance: 1886 Calories/day
Fat Loss: 1509 Calories/day

Here is a link to an article about the dangers of eating too little.....


Here is a brief summary of that article ....

"To begin, (using the car analogy) the group that eats too little: I simply say when you eat so little calories in a day and you are planning for a road trip, you can only go so far. This is where they start grabbing for caffeine and all sorts of stimulants to get them through the day. Unfortunately when they want to lose weight and their body is in starvation mode where it senses emergency, fat loss is not it's priority, it's survival!

What happens if energy through food is not available it will draw stored sugar from your muscle cells (glycogen) which is then converted to glucose and then burned up. This is bad because you are deteriorating your muscle mass which then leads to a slower metabolism. Additionally because of this inefficient metabolism your body will more likely store fat as a result of this emergency state."
 
OP, Have you thought about getting face to face help? things sound very tricky and although it would be wonderful if we could just say "this is what you need to do, you need to eat x and you'll be fine" I am thinking its not that easy, that you'll doubt what will be advised and still be stuck in the space that your in.

If you can, see if your doctor can refer you on for treatment before this gets really out of hand. There is a way around it.

Maintaining your weight would be one thing but you also need to eat a healthy and balanced diet. Without doing so your at risk of all sorts of problems, everything from bone density issues to unbelievably strong cravings and bingeing. When things get bad it can feel even harder to get them back to normal so if you don't feel in control and could do with some help, please get some as early as you can as it can make all the difference.

Talk to people around you- not wanting them to fix anything but just to be there, to give you some support by knowing things feel difficult for you, it can really help to know there are people around you who want the best for you.
 
It sounds like you know that you're harming your health and still can't stop. I would strongly urge you to talk to your doctor about it, you could be developing an eating disorder and there are treatments available for that if you seek it out.

It's important to get help sooner rather than later, because as you eat fewer calories your brain will not be getting the nutrients it needs to make neurotransmitters and function properly and things like anxiety and depression and the eating disorder itself could very well get worse.
 
safetydance said:
Hi,

I'll start off by saying i'm a 18 year old female, 5'5 and roughly 130 pounds.

About a year or two ago i was almost 200 pounds.

I've lost weight over time.. and for most of it .. i wasn't obessive with my diet. I did cut down obviously .. but i ate 1,500 calories a day, had the odd treat and exercised..

Anyway.. around 2 months ago.. somehow mentally my outlook changed..

I'm not sure how it happened. I watch everything i eat now.. and i'm quite scared often to eat a full meal. When i eat i feel guilty. Really guilty.

Mainly all i eat is fruit now.. i eat some other stuff but generally i try to keep below 500 calories.. i know somehow this is stupid and not healthy.. but i am struggling to force myself to eat.

Not sure what to do anymore. It's ruining my life but i can't seem to break it.. i'm so terrified of putting on weight.

:cry::cry::cry:
Click to expand...

First thing is 'don't panic'! If you are still 130 pounds then you are still healthy and well.

You have done well to lose the weight you needed to lose and extremely well to be aware that your thinking and attitude to food is not right.

You have trained your brain to devalue food and value being slimmer so it is doing what you asked it to do.

Your brain is not out of your control. Just as you told yourself to stop eating too much and lose weight you can tell yourself to focus on something else as well.

Having achieved your weight loss goal maybe you need to give yourself another goal - to be fitter and stronger or perhaps to take up a sporty hobby?

Also, when we diet we can become disinterested in food - healthy foods can get a bit boring - so maybe take up some exercise/sport and allow yourself a treat each week. It can keep your appetite stimulated.

And if all this seems a bit beyond your reach on your own start talking to people about how you are feeling - friends, relatives or even counsellors - as they will help you get a healthy perspective again.
 
Thank you for the article

BiggestLoser105,

Thanks for the semi-starvation article link. That's a fascinating read and a sober reminder of what can happen as a result of radical diets.
 
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