Feel guilty after eating

KawaiiInnocentUke

So, I've noticed that I'm a pretty obsessive person about things. Whenever I start to like something, I can't just like it, I LOVE it and pretty much become completely obsessed with it for a while. It's the same with goals that I have, like losing weight. I tried to lose weight a couple months ago for a biggest loser competition at school, but I dieted to the extreme (I had friends tell me that thought I was going too far with it and that they were concerned about me). I didn't eat very much, exercised a lot, and pretty much hated myself for the entire time. I lost 8 lbs, but by the end of it, I was even concerned about how obsessed I was becoming and how miserable I was.
I stopped trying to lose weight, and let myself go when I had friends come over for a while. My friends and I are really into baking, so we baked cookies, cakes, and desserts galore. I was happier, but I ended up gaining the 8 lbs back. When I stepped on the scale again for the first time in weeks to find out that the weight I had lost came back, my mood pretty much completely dropped and it pushed me to try to lose weight again. Unfortunately, along with that comes the obsession again.
Today marks the day that I officially lost the 8 lbs again, putting me right back where I started. The same thing has been happening, though. I've been trying to eat healthier and snack on fruits and veggies instead of junk food, but even when I eat celery, I feel guilty. Every time I eat, a bunch of irrational, self-loathing thoughts rise up in me. I don't know what to do. I'm really glad that I'm losing the weight, but I feel guilty all the time.

BombshellPhoenix

Your relationship with food and your approach to getting healthier are pretty terrible imo and that's where this is stemming.

You're seeing weight loss as a race and foods in black and white..Neither is a good approach.

Realistically, you need to look at food as what it is. Food. There are no good or bad foods. How you fit those foods into a balanced diet is what determines that. I had cake yesterday. Was it a bad day? Nope. It was a great day, cake is awesome. I hit my nutrient intake goals and stayed within my respective calorie goals and didn't think any more of it. A diet of all apples is no better than that of all chips. You need moderation and sustainability to not only lose the weight but to keep it off.

As far as wanting to lose weight quick. Stop it! It didn't get put on over night, you can't expect it to come off quickly. Quicker weight loss is not better. Losing weight slowly gives you a better chance at retaining your current muscle and not falling into what's called "skinny fat".

As far as the obsessing. Obsess about finding a healthy approach to this. Focus on fitness goals and milestones that way. Use measurements and mirror over scale and pick a sustainable deficit that doesn't leave you hungry and worn down. This is hard enough without over complicating it and making it misery.

Graelwyn75

If you are feeling self loathing for eating at all, then maybe it would be wise to seek some form of therapy to find out why, as the idea of changing your diet should be to get healthy, and it certainly is not healthy to have that reaction to this. I think forgetting the scale and just focusing on having a balanced diet with plenty of healthy foods and engaging in some form of exercise might be the best idea for you if counting and weighing triggers obsessional behaviour. Not to say I do not struggle with this myself, to some degree, but certainly I would not be self loathing about celery.

tlicttbh

I used to feel guilty when I ate. These guilty feelings would lead me to eat more and more. I would think, I've blown my diet today. I'll start tomorrow. Then a day would turn into a week...into weeks...into months. The books that really helped me are EatQ by Susan Albers and Overcoming Emotional Eating by Geneen Roth. Both are at my local library.

brianpperkins

There are three words you need to apply immediately ....

SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP.