Am I pushing myself too hard?- Has it become unhealthy?

frankied

Silver Member
I made a thread quite a well ago about whether my thoughts were normal or whether they were unhealthy and had an element of being disordered. As my partner was concerned has I have had very serve bulmia in my mid teens and strong elements of disordered eating and behaviour up until I was 18/19. The replies were really helpful and said I was behaving normally and in a healthy way.

My partner has anorexia at moment herself but is now concerned I'm under-eating too much and pushing myself too hard isn't healthy anymore. I'm not sure in my last previous thread people said if I was ever concerned again to ask everyone on here and they would be honest.
I lost 3.5lbs this week, 3lbs last, 2lbs the week before. My partner thinks 3.5lbs is too much for someone of my current weight. I guess I need some adivce if what I'm doing is disordered so if it is I can do something about it now.

I don't eat breakfast but never really used to either so thought it was normal for me BUT I have been waking up hungry and thinking I'll wait until lunch as having breakfast would mean extra calories. But I do eat more towards the later half of the day. I know the plan only works if you only eat until you are full but I've been so worried about eating when I'm not hungry and therefore eating too much that I don't eat sometimes before I feel I eaten enough so must be full. I'm finding it really hard to tell when I'm hungry as my tummy doesn't rumble anymore and when I'm not sure deciding it would be better not to. But later in the day I can start to feel weak and sick. I get really upset when it loose less than 2lbs e.g. when I have lost 1.5lbs I feel like I have done something really wrong. Even when I loose 2lbs I feel I could have done better and feel disappointed that I didn't loose 2.5lbs. I do exercise a fair amount an hour of walking a day is the minimum I let myself do, I can do an hour and half of walking plus 30 to 45 mins of dancing and this would be normal.
An example of an normal day of food at the moment would be

Breakfast- None

Lunch- Pasta pot chicken flavour- 1 syn, pack of 150g to 200g of strawberries, raspberries or blackberries, sometimes I have a muller light yoghurt as aswell sometimes not.

Snack- Pack of 150g to 200g of raspberries, muller light but only if didn't eat it with lunch

Dinner- Chicken breast with spices on, wedges with spices done with frylight (2 normal sized potatoes), babycorn, runner beans (1/3 of my plate) Tomato sauce 2 tablespoons- 2syns

Snack- Cassonvera snacks- 4 syns, funsize milkyway 3.5 syns

Total syns- 9.5 syns

I keep thinking I look like I'm eating enough, having my syns (most days), and overall think in 28 weeks 3st 11lbs isn't too much at all. I think my partner is maybe over worrying because of her own issues with food?

I have had a complete day off today and burger king and cake as it's my partners birthday and will do the same for mine on tuesday. So hoping this makes this me normal (I haven't had many days off since I started)

Please be honest (and kind lol)
 
I don't have any advice for you, just wanted to offer you some ((hugs)) hopefully someone else will have some more useful advice or support for you. Hugs Crystal xx
 
I would say your rate of weight loss is fine. BUT as you have had bulimia, just keep an eye on yourself and make sure you don't slip into old habits. If you're hungry, eat. You'll still lose weight. Don't think about calories, even if you just eat a piece of fruit :)
 
I've struggled with both anorexia and bulimia and was hospitalised in myy teens. It's been over 6 years since that chapter in my life and if I ever mention I'm going on a diet, my family immediately discourage me.

I see from your "example of yoyr eating plan" that you are eating. You're not starving yourself. I don't eat breakfast either, for lunch I have fruit or a chicken salad and a WW diner at night. I eat pleny of fruit and veg and go to the gym 5 days a week for an hour of cardio. I know I'm not eating enough.

If you feel that you are starving yourself or you're hungry eat. If you're not then I think you'll be fine. If you go the whole day without feeling hungry then there's something not right. I just want to let you know that you're not alone.

Losing 1.5 pounds is great! I'm always disappointed when I don't lose more than 3 pounds or so. Just remember that there's no need to rush and it will come off eventually. Hun, I know it's hard but if yo

Best of luck, big hugs and please don't go hungry or deprive yourself. I know it's hard but maybe try eating three times a day with your healthy snacks. Give it a go.

XX
 
I am not really the best example as I am a walking dustybin and eat everything that is free or superfree in a 10mile radius, but that said, If I wake up hungry I eat. SW say to eat when hungry and I know that my husband is dreadful for eating, he never feels hungry! But when he forces himself to eat, he gains back his appetite and eats normally, so maybe you need to have something small for breakfast.

3.5lbs isn't a worryingly huge loss, I was losing that at the beginning at 188lbs. :)
 
Your partner sounds like a sweetie :)

There are a few things you say, hun, that ring mild alarm bells for me. That you regularly feel weak and sick at a certain point of the day, which suggests you're not eating enough; that you feel you HAVE to exercise so much every day, rather than exercising because it makes you feel good; that losing less than 2lbs makes you feel so upset.

If you're honest with yourself, do you feel out of control? Does your life revolve around your diet/your weight? Do you exercise as a form of purging? Perhaps asking yourself those sort of questions will help clear up in your mind whether you have a problem that needs tackling or not.

*gives you a big hug*
 
I think it's all too easy to get obsessive if you're that way inclined. Maybe try having some breakfast to keep your blood sugars level. Another thing is to chew your food very slowly to give your body time to realise when you are full. How much more have you got to lose? ( can't see stats on phone)
Just be mindful of obsessive behaviour, the rational side of you knows its not right to feel weak during the day.
I have a slightly obsessive mindset where food is concerned ie. All or nothing, I'm trying very hard to overcome this and eat normally. Slim people eat cake and pizza or whatever, just in moderation.
Must be very difficult for both you and your partner, I do feel for you.
In a nutshell, you're doing great just make sure you stay healthy :D
 
Thanks for all replies and hugs everyone

Your partner sounds like a sweetie :)

There are a few things you say, hun, that ring mild alarm bells for me. That you regularly feel weak and sick at a certain point of the day, which suggests you're not eating enough; that you feel you HAVE to exercise so much every day, rather than exercising because it makes you feel good; that losing less than 2lbs makes you feel so upset.

If you're honest with yourself, do you feel out of control? Does your life revolve around your diet/your weight? Do you exercise as a form of purging? Perhaps asking yourself those sort of questions will help clear up in your mind whether you have a problem that needs tackling or not.

*gives you a big hug*

I have other mental health problems which are much more of problem for me and therefore I maybe I need to be careful of being too obsessive but overall think I'm doing well, when I was bulimic before I was throwing up all day plus taking large amounts of laxatives and think what I'm doing now is good healthy way of loosing weight but maybe I'm too hard on myself but only because it want it so bad. And overall my speed of weight loss is very good but not excessive or dangerous at all.

Thanks for hug hun and your thoughts
 
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I think it's all too easy to get obsessive if you're that way inclined. Maybe try having some breakfast to keep your blood sugars level. Another thing is to chew your food very slowly to give your body time to realise when you are full. How much more have you got to lose? ( can't see stats on phone)
Just be mindful of obsessive behaviour, the rational side of you knows its not right to feel weak during the day.
I have a slightly obsessive mindset where food is concerned ie. All or nothing, I'm trying very hard to overcome this and eat normally. Slim people eat cake and pizza or whatever, just in moderation.
Must be very difficult for both you and your partner, I do feel for you.
In a nutshell, you're doing great just make sure you stay healthy :D

Thanks hun, my stats are i'm now 199.5lbs (start weight 252.5lbs) and i want to be 132lbs.
I think she can worry too much when I loose more than 2lbs to 2.5lbs as she doesn't like to see my not eating 'very much' as she can then see me as a hypocrite but I'm trying to loose weight and have chosen the most healthy possible diet to do it on and I do need to loose weight.
 
3.5lbs isn't a worryingly huge loss, I was losing that at the beginning at 188lbs. :)

I agree I don't think think it's an excessive loss. Thanks for your thoughts :)
 
I've struggled with both anorexia and bulimia and was hospitalised in myy teens. It's been over 6 years since that chapter in my life and if I ever mention I'm going on a diet, my family immediately discourage me.

I see from your "example of yoyr eating plan" that you are eating. You're not starving yourself. I don't eat breakfast either, for lunch I have fruit or a chicken salad and a WW diner at night. I eat pleny of fruit and veg and go to the gym 5 days a week for an hour of cardio. I know I'm not eating enough.

If you feel that you are starving yourself or you're hungry eat. If you're not then I think you'll be fine. If you go the whole day without feeling hungry then there's something not right. I just want to let you know that you're not alone.

Losing 1.5 pounds is great! I'm always disappointed when I don't lose more than 3 pounds or so. Just remember that there's no need to rush and it will come off eventually. Hun, I know it's hard but if yo

Best of luck, big hugs and please don't go hungry or deprive yourself. I know it's hard but maybe try eating three times a day with your healthy snacks. Give it a go.

XX
Thanks for the reply and hugs hun, I know I need to go easier on myself with how much I loose.
But I agree I'm not starving myself considering I'm loosing weight. :)
 
Just be aware that your losses will slow eventually and you might even hit a plateau. That's when it gets really tough and what you must do is start eating less. Just more of the good stuff. ;)x
 
Hi frankied, I'm no expert on anorexia or bulimia, but I can tell you that your weightloss is very similar to mine, I've lost 3 st 9 1/2 in 22 weeks. I do lots of exercise but I eat properly, have my HE and 10 syns a day. I spoke to my consultant this week about the speed of my loss as I've lost 10 lbs in the last 3 weeks. She said its perfectly ok it is the exercise that is making the weight loss this high and as long as I follow the plan and am not hungry then its fine. 1 1/2lbs a week I've been seeing as a small loss as well, but I know I need to relax more and accept and believe its coming off quicker than it went on.

I find reading the thread about non scale victories really supportive and its helping me to see that it isn't all about the scales. Are you in smaller clothes?, get positive commments from other people?, finding you can do more of the dancing you enjoy? Think about these as well and try not to get fixated only about the weight loss on the scales. Best of luck x
 
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