Mental Health and Losing Weight

SeptemberRain81 · July 2018

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I am finding the mental health aspect of this lifestyle change I embarked on ~380 days ago to be more challenging than the physical.
I've only lost 57 pounds in that time period and it's because I cannot get out of my own head. I have at least 100 more pounds to lose. I binge eat. I sometimes purge. I have restricted, but rarely (obviously, or I would have lost more weight). I know what it takes to lose weight - I get the science behind it. I just don't know how to handle the mental.

So, here is my question: has anyone here been to therapy for eating disorders - or just in general - and found more success with attaining your health goals?

benandstephlegg1 · July 2018

I have a family member that suffers from severe PTSD from combat and being a police officer and also deals with mild bipolar disorder and anxiety attacks. He has seen practitioners that deal with eating disorders and they have seemed to help. I am a social worker that specializes in therapy with veterans. If you have underlying issues, such as anxiety/depression I would try to focus on those. Otherwise, find an exercise and eating plan that works for you and you can stick to. You didn't really say if you lift weights or do any cardio. If you don't it is a great supplement to your diet plan. It will also make you feel like you are "allowed to eat" instead of having to purge.
Hope this helps

Howdoyoufeeltoday · July 2018

Haven't gone to therapy, although I probably should. I know how you feel about mental health and eating disorders getting in the way of your results.

Personally I'm not ready for therapy but I think it could be a great tool for you to learn why you keep falling back into your disorder and how to break the cycle. You just have to find someone you like and trust. What do you have to lose right?

In the mean time try not to be too hard on yourself. And if you have safe foods try sticking to those till you have a better handle on your binging. It's not ideal but it's better than purging.

Good luck!!

kommodevaran · July 2018

I haven't had any eating disorders, just enough disordered eating to struggle with weight. I like to take the credit for finally managing my weight myself, but I have had counseling, in general, and gone to self-help groups, and I believe all that has made a tremendous difference.

I found out most of the weight specific things later, though. I can't take credit for all of it. MFP members have provided ingenious tweaks to how to think about food and weight, and eating and maintaining weight is no longer a struggle, it just takes a small daily effort, and it's challenging now and then.

LondonSummer2018 · July 2018

I’ve been through recovery in the last year after a long long period of disorder. I had therapy but also followed a ed recovery book that advocated removing restriction and ie.

It’s been hellish year but I’m amazed at where I’ve got to by sticking with it.

Health goals I smashed them- if you mean being able to be normal and at peace around food, not restrict or binge, being able to have chocolate or ice cream in the fridge for weeks and not fancy it or enjoy it when I do; or manage social situationswith food like family bbqs freely eating what I need but not more.

I gained weight initially as I was maintaining a falsely low body weight but my heads caught up with my body nearly now. I am a stone heavier than my ed brain would like that can be mentally hard but my healthy brain knows that’s ok- I think this will be my ongoing challenge.

By sticking to the rule of no restriction after a few months of eating what felt like a lot I just naturally started eating less/ at maintaince level. I suspect if I’d been particularly overweight my weight would now be gradually dropping as my appetite seems quite balanced.

Ive started to strength train which has helped improve my body confidence.

I’m not perfect and occasionally track to help reassure myself I’m not eating too too much but in general intuitive eating has really helped.

I guess my point is if I can go through recovery after 30 years of disorder that’s seen me waste large parts of my life I believe anyone can

But I do strongly believe that you need to relinquish all ed /diet rules before you can make that step. Dieting while trying to recover from ED never worked for me. It wasn’t until I put my weight loss goals to a side and focused on health that progress beyond what I could have ever imagined occurred.

Duck_Puddle · July 2018

I was diagnosed with binge eating disorder and did go to therapy (which included individual and group sessions). This was without question the best investment I have made in this process.

I remember the days of binges-when I was so full it was physically painful and I still couldn’t stop eating. And you’d think that sensation would be enough to stop you or prevent you from doing it again-but it wasn’t. So much shame, anger, guilt. Why didn’t I have willpower like normal people? Except it had nothing to do with willpower. Nothing to do with food at all really.

There are now days I eat more than I should, and days I eat less than I should. But I no longer have emotional attachment to these events. It’s just food. I no longer do hours of exercise as punishment. I don’t fight the urge to binge-it’s just gone.

My life with food is now peaceful. That would never have happened for me without therapy. My weight loss and health are now on my schedule rather than trying to work around my mental state and eating disorder. I Hope you find that peace as well.

aokoye · July 2018

I haven't been to therapy for eating disorders but I've been in therapy off and on (mainly on) for the past 10 years probably? I credit the work that I've done and am doing my current therapist for my ability to be as functional as I am - being able to go to school, socialize with people and create and maintain (or try to) lasting relationships, get out of bed on a regular basis (which is to say, not hide in bed more often than not), etc.

My depression and anxiety aren't at all related to my eating habits (save for sometimes forgetting to eat but that's in the context of not being able to get out of bed) but I highly recommend going to therapy. I can't recommend it enough honestly. The health goals that I work on in therapy are more related to my mental health than my physical health. That said, being able to get out of bed means that I'm able to do things like exercise (cycling, swimming, running, soon to be rowing) which is very important to me and my physical health in terms.

peggym4640 · July 2018

Therapy has been a big part of my ability to better manage my health. I ate my feelings and used food as a coping mechanism. My therapist was a referral from a friend and it worked out great that she also worked with disordered eating. I feel better than I have in years and no longer require perfection from myself as part of this process. I make my mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health a priority. It may be painful going for awhile and it does get better.

SeptemberRain81 · July 2018

Thank you everyone ❤

kshama2001 · July 2018

Cognitive behavioral therapy has been shown to be helpful for food issues. Sometimes people avoid therapy because they think it will be years and years about talking about your childhood. That's Freudian, not CBT

This book on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for overeating was available in my library system, so perhaps yours as well.

The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person

Can thinking and eating like a thin person be learned, similar to learning to drive or use a computer? Beck (Cognitive Therapy for Challenging Problems) contends so, based on decades of work with patients who have lost pounds and maintained weight through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Beck's six-week program adapts CBT, a therapeutic system developed by Beck's father, Aaron, in the 1960s, to specific challenges faced by yo-yo dieters, including negative thinking, bargaining, emotional eating, bingeing, and eating out. Beck counsels readers day-by-day, introducing new elements (creating advantage response cards, choosing a diet, enlisting a diet coach, making a weight-loss graph) progressively and offering tools to help readers stay focused (writing exercises, to-do lists, ways to counter negative thoughts). There are no eating plans, calorie counts, recipes or exercises; according to Beck, any healthy diet will work if readers learn to think differently about eating and food. Beck's book is like an extended therapy session with a diet coach. (Apr.)

Mental Health and Losing Weight

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