When does healthy eating become disordered eating?

kommodevaran wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

While you have to be consistent, determined and thorough to lose weight, I do NOT agree that you have to come close to disordered eating.

Some of the behaviours may be superficially similar, but there are crucial differences - specifically, how you feel about it. Calorie counting and healthy choices should not be associated with anxiety, and to the extent that they are, you are doing it wrong.

Now, of course we all struggle with this initially, but if you are moving in the right direction, you should see a decrease in that anxiety and a gradually healthier, more proportionate relationship to food as time goes on. Less moralising, less splitting, less worrying, less emotional eating, less self-hatred, less need to fret over every bite.

By contrast, an eating disorder will see an increase in all those things over time, because an eating disorder is not a means of empowering yourself - it is a progressive loss of control.

We should all take note of this and regularly check our feelings and attitudes, because it is true that any weight loss effort carries a risk of developing disordered eating behaviours.

Look at your trajectory. You should see an improvement in your attitude and feelings around food. If it's deteriorating, you need to revisit your approach, and perhaps seek help.

Explain to me how eating at a deficit is possible without any anxiety when you LOVE eating and have a social life that often involves food (that you may not have much control over).

Why do you think that people gain the weight back? Because it gets harder, not easier, for most people.

I think it's the other way around. If you're going to succeed with weight management, it can't be a struggle. My love for food has matured (if that is an appropriate word) as food became more of a "limited resource" - instead of eating as much as possible, of anything, anytime I could (that is, whenever I couldn't help myself, or nobody was watching), I pick reasonable amounts of my favorite items, and never feel ashamed, guilty, or like I'm losing control. This goes hand in hand with being more assertive - I don't accept every offer of food anymore, and with being more confident - if none of the foods offered are good enough, I can wait until I find something I want to eat. Not being afraid means I'm also becoming more flexible, so a wider range of foods are indeed acceptable. For me, it's getting easier.

Francl27 wrote: »

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

While you have to be consistent, determined and thorough to lose weight, I do NOT agree that you have to come close to disordered eating.

Some of the behaviours may be superficially similar, but there are crucial differences - specifically, how you feel about it. Calorie counting and healthy choices should not be associated with anxiety, and to the extent that they are, you are doing it wrong.

Now, of course we all struggle with this initially, but if you are moving in the right direction, you should see a decrease in that anxiety and a gradually healthier, more proportionate relationship to food as time goes on. Less moralising, less splitting, less worrying, less emotional eating, less self-hatred, less need to fret over every bite.

By contrast, an eating disorder will see an increase in all those things over time, because an eating disorder is not a means of empowering yourself - it is a progressive loss of control.

We should all take note of this and regularly check our feelings and attitudes, because it is true that any weight loss effort carries a risk of developing disordered eating behaviours.

Look at your trajectory. You should see an improvement in your attitude and feelings around food. If it's deteriorating, you need to revisit your approach, and perhaps seek help.

Explain to me how eating at a deficit is possible without any anxiety when you LOVE eating and have a social life that often involves food (that you may not have much control over).

Why do you think that people gain the weight back? Because it gets harder, not easier, for most people.

amyepdx wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

While you have to be consistent, determined and thorough to lose weight, I do NOT agree that you have to come close to disordered eating.

Some of the behaviours may be superficially similar, but there are crucial differences - specifically, how you feel about it. Calorie counting and healthy choices should not be associated with anxiety, and to the extent that they are, you are doing it wrong.

Now, of course we all struggle with this initially, but if you are moving in the right direction, you should see a decrease in that anxiety and a gradually healthier, more proportionate relationship to food as time goes on. Less moralising, less splitting, less worrying, less emotional eating, less self-hatred, less need to fret over every bite.

By contrast, an eating disorder will see an increase in all those things over time, because an eating disorder is not a means of empowering yourself - it is a progressive loss of control.

We should all take note of this and regularly check our feelings and attitudes, because it is true that any weight loss effort carries a risk of developing disordered eating behaviours.

Look at your trajectory. You should see an improvement in your attitude and feelings around food. If it's deteriorating, you need to revisit your approach, and perhaps seek help.

Explain to me how eating at a deficit is possible without any anxiety when you LOVE eating and have a social life that often involves food (that you may not have much control over).

Why do you think that people gain the weight back? Because it gets harder, not easier, for most people.

People that have never had a weight problem behave this way all the time -making choices & trade-offs (whether consciously or unconsciously) on what and how much to eat. I don’t know about you, but my goal is to think like that.

Francl27 wrote: »

amyepdx wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

While you have to be consistent, determined and thorough to lose weight, I do NOT agree that you have to come close to disordered eating.

Some of the behaviours may be superficially similar, but there are crucial differences - specifically, how you feel about it. Calorie counting and healthy choices should not be associated with anxiety, and to the extent that they are, you are doing it wrong.

Now, of course we all struggle with this initially, but if you are moving in the right direction, you should see a decrease in that anxiety and a gradually healthier, more proportionate relationship to food as time goes on. Less moralising, less splitting, less worrying, less emotional eating, less self-hatred, less need to fret over every bite.

By contrast, an eating disorder will see an increase in all those things over time, because an eating disorder is not a means of empowering yourself - it is a progressive loss of control.

We should all take note of this and regularly check our feelings and attitudes, because it is true that any weight loss effort carries a risk of developing disordered eating behaviours.

Look at your trajectory. You should see an improvement in your attitude and feelings around food. If it's deteriorating, you need to revisit your approach, and perhaps seek help.

Explain to me how eating at a deficit is possible without any anxiety when you LOVE eating and have a social life that often involves food (that you may not have much control over).

Why do you think that people gain the weight back? Because it gets harder, not easier, for most people.

People that have never had a weight problem behave this way all the time -making choices & trade-offs (whether consciously or unconsciously) on what and how much to eat. I don’t know about you, but my goal is to think like that.

Of course, but most people gain the weight back because it's not that easy to completely reteach your brain how to see food a healthy way.