Ditching the diet? Perceptive stuff here.

JeromeBarry1

https://theconversation.com/eating-disorders-are-hard-to-overcome-but-ditching-diets-is-crucial-96078?

JeromeBarry1

"Self-weighing is a safety behavior that maintains the overvaluation of weight, which is part of the American Psychiatric Association’s definition of eating disorders. Continued concern with weight or shape at the end of treatment has been found to be a strong predictor of relapse back into an eating disorder. A powerful strategy to reduce overvaluation of weight is to consider a personal 30-day “no weigh” experiment.

Other safety behaviors that aim at gaining information about one’s shape or size – such as mirror checking, pinching the fat on one’s torso, feeling muscles or bone, engaging in social size comparison, and seeking reassurance from others about one’s body – all have to be considered for elimination. Each one of these examples can be a safety behavior that serves to maintain undue concern with one’s weight and shape, and in turn, keeps the eating disorder alive."

That part hit me right between the eyes.

kommodevaran

I knew it - we are all doomed

CarvedTones

I have pretty bad anxiety because of my history of yoyoing in the past. I continue to slowly lose weight while fretting because of going over my apparently too small calorie goal. My eating disorder was bingeing, but it was heavily linked with my drinking problem. I am a little over 2 weeks away from a full year of sobriety. The weight loss started not long after I quit drinking. Coincidence? I think not. The sobriety started when I finally accepted ny diagnosis of type II bipolar after years of denial and began taking the proper medication. Coincidence? I think not.

I think I need to concentrate on keeping the first domino standing - taking my medicine and continuing to get treatment for my bipolar disorder. I need to talk to my psychiatrist about the anxiety also.

zyxst

This must be what my GP is using when she tells me I have an ED. After years of her (and other doctors) telling me to lose weight (for my health), I finally lose weight, but now I have an ED according to her. Every identifier named in the first paragraph I apply to my daily eating. If I followed the article's advice to drop the safety behaviours and practice self-trust, I will be back to rocking 320# in a few years.

inb4 "you're in denial!!1"

New_Heavens_Earth

I weigh daily. I check my wrist bones, collar bones, and ankles. I'm always in a mirror. Strange yes. Obsessive possibly. But if the other option is intuitive eating, no weighing, and trusting myself, all of which got me to over 200 lbs, I'll be strange and obsessed.

psychod787

I understand than general pop people might not want to weigh frequently, but people who are losing weight or trying to maintain, kitten the media. I am going to every thing I can to stop, or at least slow regain. As I stated the other day, what is weight loss maintanace besides an ED per therapist? Counting calories is unnatural in many ways, though as stated above, intuitive eating has not worked for many of us. I will continue to weigh myself at least 6 days a week, trend it, and count my macros. I remember an article that talks about a woman who was maintaining a 90lb weight loss and that to maintain it had to portion control and exercise an hour a day. The author seemed shocked that someone would portion control and exercise. She also seemed shocked that the woman ate 80-90% whole foods and limited hyperpalitable calorie dense foods. If more people did that, we might now have the problems we have. Sorry for the rant.

workinonit1956

Jeeze, I do all of that

GrumpyHeadmistress

I think there’s a line between wanting to keep an eye on CICO (so weighing and tracking food and body weight) and being obsessive about it.

I’m certainly not clever enough to know where that line is but a warning sign for me would be someone who can’t have an occasional treat. Or who can’t ever countenance eating something that is “nutritionally poor” (and I’m conscious that that’s a hot button for some people). These things would suggest to me that someone is struggling to find the balance between living healthily and living well.

But, as always, mental health and well-being is hugely subjective.

kimny72

The advice in the linked article is clearly aimed at people who are recovering from an ED. I don't see it saying that those behaviors are necessarily bad for everyone, just that you might need to avoid them during recovery.

Just like we don't all have to test our blood glucose level multiple times a day like a diabetic, and don't need to stay away from social situations that involve alcohol like an alcoholic, we don't all need to avoid behaviors that can be dangerous for someone recovering from an ED.

If you find that monitoring your weight or diet is causing you anxiety, keeping you from social situations, or leading you to self harm, seek help. Otherwise, there is nothing inherently unhealthy about monitoring your diet and weight, nor does this article say there is.

AnvilHead

kimny72 wrote: »

The advice in the linked article is aimed at people who are recovering from an ED. I don't see it saying that those behaviors are necessarily bad for everyone, just that you might need to avoid them during recovery.

Just like we don't all have to test our blood glucose level multiple times a day like a diabetic, and don't need to stay away from social situations that involve alcohol like an alcoholic, we don't all need to avoid behaviors that can be dangerous for someone recovering from an ED.

If you find that monitoring your weight or diet is causing you anxiety, keeping you from social situations, or leading you to self harm, seek help. Otherwise, there is nothing inherently unhealthy about monitoring your diet and weight.

*nods* Context matters.

kshama2001

I quickly gained 20 pounds after I switched to weighing once a month.

SagePeach

kshama2001 wrote: »

I quickly gained 20 pounds after I switched to weighing once a month.

I've cut back on my weigh-ins, after being in maintenance for several years now, and yep-I'm currently up several pounds

AnvilHead

kshama2001 wrote: »

I quickly gained 20 pounds after I switched to weighing once a month.

I'd probably get lots of speeding tickets if I only looked at my speedometer once a month too.

vingogly

kimny72 wrote: »

The advice in the linked article is clearly aimed at people who are recovering from an ED. I don't see it saying that those behaviors are necessarily bad for everyone, just that you might need to avoid them during recovery.

That's exactly right - ED is right in the article title. This is one of the suggestions in Intuitive Eating, which was developed by nutritionists who worked with ED clients. Here's an article comparing Mindful Eating and Intuitive Eating:

https://www.foodinsight.org/mindful-intuitive-eating-differences-eating-pattern

You might view Intuitive Eating as a superset of Mindful Eating, tweaked for those with eating disorders. I did a continuing ed course in mindfulness, in which we five minutes experiencing and eating a single raisin - truly appreciating every aspect of the experience.

Seffell

I had no mirror or scales after I changed countries for 3 years. On the third I got a scale and finally realized I've gained 30lbs. I've lost them now but if I don't check out myself on the scale I might gain a lot before I realise it.
I don't have an ED.