Healthy making me depressed

donnbradman

Any advice? Anyone here suffer similar symptoms. I have really zoned out of my circle of friends and I'm not happy in general and I think it's all down to my obsession with healthy eating

wolfpawnat

How obsessed? My OH has a strict eating schedule and is VERY particular about what he eats. It has caused irritating comments and even conflict with his mother. He is obsessive, which is very restricting in what we even do as a family for an afternoon, but we work around it.

donnbradman

wolfpawnat wrote: »

How obsessed? My OH has a strict eating schedule and is VERY particular about what he eats. It has caused irritating comments and even conflict with his mother. He is obsessive, which is very restricting in what we even do as a family for an afternoon, but we work around it.

I calorie count, weigh my food and would generally feel extremely guilty if I ate something I shouldn't

wolfpawnat

donnbradman wrote: »

I calorie count, weigh my food and would generally feel extremely guilty if I ate something I shouldn't

It is time consuming isn't it? Weighing quantities is not something to be ashamed of, calories I don't really listen to myself personally, and do you indulge in a weekly "cheat" day/meal?

fleet

Toward what end?

Weight loss?
Sports?

donnbradman

wolfpawnat wrote: »

It is time consuming isn't it? Weighing quantities is not something to be ashamed of, calories I don't really listen to myself personally, and do you indulge in a weekly "cheat" day/meal?

I do sometimes. My life has been consumed with the thoughts of food. To the point where it's all I think about and I cant even enjoy hobbies or hanging with friends as food is always on my mind.

Alf Veedersane

You need to ask yourself why. Why do you obsess over what you eat? Why is that the most important thing above all else? Why would you choose to continue obsessing about it when you recognise the negative impacts? You don't need to answer to me but you need to assess it yourself...maybe even write it down. Then think about how you can restore balance to your life and think about integrating those tweaks into your eating habits in order to enjoy life a little more.

donnbradman

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

You need to ask yourself why. Why do you obsess over what you eat? Why is that the most important thing above all else? Why would you choose to continue obsessing about it when you recognise the negative impacts? You don't need to answer to me but you need to assess it yourself...maybe even write it down. Then think about how you can restore balance to your life and think about integrating those tweaks into your eating habits in order to enjoy life a little more.

Suppose for my mental well being I'm best off to have the occasional bit of cake/takeaway/chocolate bar.

Alf Veedersane

donnbradman wrote: »

Suppose for my mental well being I'm best off to have the occasional bit of cake/takeaway/chocolate bar.

Not if you're going to be feeling guilty about it. You need to recognise that your overall diet is healthy and that allowing yourself something that you enjoy as a treat every now and then is fine! It's not going to undo all your good work.

wolfpawnat

Very true, in fact, tests have been shown to prove that to keep the body in peak condition, occasional treat foods are almost mandatory!

donnbradman

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Not if you're going to be feeling guilty about it. You need to recognise that your overall diet is healthy and that allowing yourself something that you enjoy as a treat every now and then is fine! It's not going to undo all your good work.

I probably am but I can't keep this guilt up for the rest of my life.

Alf Veedersane

donnbradman wrote: »

I probably am but I can't keep this guilt up for the rest of my life.

Address that guilt. Why do you feel guilty? Then,when you answer that honestly to yourself,think about how normal or otherwise that is.

whitewave

Would you consider talking to someone about it? Not just on boards I mean. A good friend, even a professional if you feel your moods are really low. Chances are there's something else bothering you that you aren't aware of, and food is almost a front for it, something you're focusing on without even realising you're unhappy about something else? It's great that you're recognising how unhappy you are though, and that you're withdrawing from friends...try find an exercise you enjoy, it releases happy hormones and you might start to feel less guilty about having the odd treat, if you know you've worked hard.

And don't beat yourself up about it, you're obviously working hard on your diet, so try allow yourself to enjoy a treat from time to time - you deserve it!

helliwen

Hi OP,

You wrote in another thread that you previously suffered from anorexia. How did you recover from that? If you worked with a therapist/counsellor, maybe you could see them again? I've suffered from anorexia, bulimia and orthorexia myself so your posts resonated with me.

I think that when any behaviour (even "healthy" ones) becomes too rigid or compulsive, you need to look at the underlying issues. Why is healthy eating so important to you? For me, it was often about control.

While I still eat in a mostly-clean, conscious and planned manner, I no longer have any forbidden foods. For me, this always eventually led to binges since I felt guilty about breaking my rules. Now, everything is allowed, nothing is good or bad and I no longer feel guilty if I stray from my plan or eat treats. This women has some great advice/information on her site: http://gokaleo.com/

Heat_Wave

Hey OP

I'll give you a little story about myself.

I've tried every fitness plan under the sun. I've attended some of the best personal trainers in Dublin (you'd know them on Boards). I've done 4 week and 6 week transformations. I've tried TRX, kettlebell classes, spinning classes, weight lifting classes, power/olympic lifting workshops.. everything! And one thing they all have in common is to follow a very strict clean diet, with majority of them encouraging a 'cheat meal' on the weekend.

I don't even want to think about how much money I've spent on all these trainers/classes etc as I think I would cry! However, the end result of all these programmes is that I ended up dropping bodyfat and then I got to a point where I seriously binged and piled it all back on.

I decided to join Weight Watchers a few weeks ago and I'm now at my lightest (I'm 143lbs which is ideal for my height @ 5'8, while I was training the lightest I ever achieved was 153lbs). And the funny thing is, I eat cake/bread/pasta on a weekly basis now. All the foods which were 'forbidden' in my personal training programmes etc.

So basically OP, it's my opinion that 'cheat meals' are encouraging eating disorders such as binge eating etc. Where is the enjoyment of having to desperately wait a whole week until you're 'allowed' have that slice of cake again?

I used to think 'everything in moderation' was such a cliche, now I live by it.

If you feel like you may need to talk to someone I'd recommend bodywhys.ie

Best of luck

cailleach an airgid

Perhaps chat to your GP or another professional if this is impacting your everyday life as much as you say. They will be able to support you with addressing this. Best of luck :-)

CM24

Heat_Wave wrote: »

I decided to join Weight Watchers a few weeks ago and I'm now at my lightest (I'm 143lbs which is ideal for my height @ 5'8, while I was training the lightest I ever achieved was 153lbs). And the funny thing is, I eat cake/bread/pasta on a weekly basis now. All the foods which were 'forbidden' in my personal training programmes etc.

Did none of these Personal Trainers teach you that what you weigh on the scales is pretty much meaningless? What matters is the how you look, feel and perform. I'm a trainer myself with a good bit of experience, and when I was ''at my lightest'' after a very severe diet, I looked and felt much worse than I do now at a heavier weight. I had less strength, less endurance and I felt miserable, stressed and cold the whole time as my hormones were all messed up from dieting too hard.

If you're doing weights in the gym (as most people should be) then you'll be building muscle, which causes you to weigh more, yet you will look thinner. It breaks my heart working in the gym and seeing people leaving in disgust after weighing themselves and they haven't lost any pounds. Even a simple waist measurement would be a better indication of body composition changes.

Look at some of these for example



P.S. Don't mean to come across as a jerk. Just had a gripe with that one point you made. I agree with what you said about ''everything in moderation'', specially for someone prone to eating disorders. If these people are given rigid diet ''rules'', they tend to binge as soon as they break a rule. I know cos I used to be like this myself! (I was never diagnosed with any sort of disorder, I was just a very picky about everything I ate).

Heat_Wave

CM24 wrote: »

Did none of these Personal Trainers teach you that what you weigh on the scales is pretty much meaningless? What matters is the how you look, feel and perform. I'm a trainer myself with a good bit of experience, and when I was ''at my lightest'' after a very severe diet, I looked and felt much worse than I do now at a heavier weight. I had less strength, less endurance and I felt miserable, stressed and cold the whole time as my hormones were all messed up from dieting too hard.

100% agree.

I take measurements on a monthly basis, along with getting my body fat checked by a PT.

I do still workout, cardio + weights, but I don't view the foods I love the most as 'treats' anymore.