OCD and Weight Loss - Anyone with me?

I was diagnosed with OCD in November 2012. I always knew I had OCD tendencies, but when the stress of being in control got to me, it put me in the hospital overnight. My blood pressure was so high that the school nurse thought I was on the verge of a heart attack or stroke. All tests came back normal for the big things. The cardiologist treating me told me to see my primary. After listening to my story and reading the reports, he asked me if I knew what my problem was. I responded that I was a teacher, duh. He said that wasn't it. I was OCD and I would need to learn to "let go". Really? Well, how does one do that with OCD? He recommended therapy, but that option wasn't feasible for me since I am a teacher and being absent is more work than just being there. He then suggested meds (happy pill and blood pressure) and as reluctant as I was, I accepted this as I needed to control the stress that put me in the hospital.

I began my own behavior modification therapy. With the help of my "happy pill", I gradually began to "let go". I adjusted my tutoring times and stuck to them. No longer would I accommodate students until after 6 P.M. I would stay on the non-tutoring days to grade papers, make copies, do lesson plans, and anything else that needed to be done. At first, I wanted to run back to my classroom and gather those papers that I didn't finish. For weeks, I would stand outside the school door and tell myself to walk to my car and drive home. I would sit and obsess at home about what needed to be done, but I forced myself to not do school work at home. After many weeks, I was finally able to leave school and not think about work.

In January 2013, our campus decided to hold a biggest looser contest. I was unhappy with taking the pills to deal with all of this. So, I signed up and began my journey on January 14, 2013. I weighed 202.4 pounds. I really wasn't expecting to last more than a couple of weeks, much less win. Well, I believe that my OCD saved my life! Something clicked and I lasted the 12 weeks and lost 18.4 pounds. I didn't win that contest, but I won my health back! Of all the females that participated, I am the only one that is still going. All the rest have gained back all the weight plus some. Today, I have lost 50.2 pounds since that fateful day.

I now use my OCD to my advantage. It no longer controls me. I control it. This truly was a lifestyle change and not a diet. I still have about 10-12 pounds to go to reach my goal weight. Once there, I will reevaluate and see if I need to lose more or not.

I am happier now than I have been with my body. It can do things I never believed it could. Excuses? I was the queen of excuses. Now, I try things and continue to do them if I want. Otherwise, I find something else. I am off all meds now and I don't plan to go back.

I can't wait to retire in 2 years so that I can find more activities to try!

You can do this. Harness the power of your OCD!

I was diagnosed with maladaptive perfectionism and an obsessive personality "type" (not quite the same thing, but similar) when I was eight years old. It's a lot like having all the obsessive qualities of someone who suffers OCD but none of the ritualism. My half brother discovered many of my issues during my gymnastics practices because I had a very, well, obsessive tendency to repeat a particular discipline over and over again and it was never quite "perfect" enough (among many other behaviorisms.) I also developed acute mysophobia and haphephobia as secondary issues (is anyone really clean enough to touch, haha?) Thankfully, all of my family are surgeons, including my half brother, who raised me, and I was placed in the care of a great psychiatrist. I used to fly to his office in Manhattan once a month, but since he retired, he has been much more accessible to me and I have been able to continue my therapy.

I was a ballerina and a gymnast, both of which are judged "sports" if you will, and that was an awful thing for me. I never had an eating disorder, but I was gifted with good genetics and enough physical activity that I was extremely fit my entire adolescence. Then I was in a car accident when I turned twenty-five and I broke my back. I spent a year and a half in a wheel chair, and almost immediately got pregnant with my daughter, and spent nearly eight months on my back. I gained seventy nine pounds, which looks like a billion to me in the mirror, since I am 5'2." I lost sixty pounds after my pregnancy was over, then found out that I was pregnant again and, well, was placed on bed rest, and gained most of it back, until I was 183 lbs again.

So here I am. I lost sixty through the severest calorie restriction my husbands ever seen. Most people tell me I will gain it back when I "fall off the wagon" but I don't ever "fall off" because I am just too...well, neurotic to do it. I am scared of gaining weight, it's part of my neurosis to fear imperfection. And JMRod is correct, you have to use what the OCD gives you. While I don't quite have OCD, in the fullest sense of the word, I call my perfectionism "the beast." My particular "beast" is a state of perfection I can never achieve, and even though I know it, I can't help but want it. I am heavily obsessed with numbers. I own three different weight scales, including one from my brothers practice. I call that one the "most sensitive." I weigh myself three times a day, with all three scales. I use three different calorie calculators, one through an app on my phone, one through this website, and one through a paperback book. Everything I eat is added up three different times, and I automatically leave food on my plate just in case I over estimated my portion size. I have become fanatical with exercise, to the point that if I don't feel exhausted I add more cardio to my routine.

It only took six months to lose the first sixty pounds - and then I hit a plateau for three solid months and pinged a pound around. I freaked out and tried a low carbohydrate plan, and while that "instant" weight loss sounds wonderful, it's tough to eat a mere 18 grams of carbohydrates and get the protein you need as a vegetarian. I decided that wasn't for me this week and now I am back on my happy system of neurotic monitoring- I am happier when I am organized (my beast must be fed with organization and control.)

Sure, this all sounds craaaazy to a normal person (including my husband) but it works for me. And you should find what works for you. You should see what I did to study for the MCAT (medical college admissions test.) So if your OCD is helping you lose weight, by all means, use it. I have - and I just fit into a size 2 jeans for the first time in five years.

Good luck!