Artists/Musicians/Academics/Type-A and "balance"

EeeKatZet
EeeKatZet Posts: 7 Member
in Motivation and Support
So my last two months doing MFP have been successful - I'm losing about a pound a week and feel overall much better. I'm one of those Type-A people, which is great in that I log every single meal, I weigh myself every day, I make sure to get my steps in, etc. I throw myself all the way in it, with anal retentive precision, and work HARD. I'm doing better about being patient and not going to extremes. It still takes 100% of my focus.

Problem? I can't do anything else! I haven't touched any of my other projects - my creativity is in the toilet - I haven't written or made anything since I started MFP'ing. ALL my energy goes to weight, exercise, and food tracking. I want this to be sustainable for me in the future, so I need to figure out how to balance things.

So some questions to you all:

1. Are there any other full-time creative weirdos out there? Do you get tunnel vision? Does your work take a hit?
2. Even if you don't put yourself in that camp, do you find that your dedication to MFP overruns other aspects of your life?
3. Any tips for sticking to the MFP'ing while also living life and throwing yourself into other projects?
4. Did you just bear down until you reached your goal, giving full priority to your health and sacrificing other things? Then maybe find balance during maintenance?
5. Does MFP'ing become second nature at some point?

You all are great. Thanks for all the posts and discussions - just reading them helps me get through a lot of tough days.

Replies

  • tk2222
    tk2222 Posts: 199 Member
    That's me!

    I'm a PhD student, love my research, love my teaching, love getting into it in an all-consuming, this-is-my-life kind of way...but do find that it seems to be kind of a tradeoff where I can be really fully passionate about Just The One Thing at a time. And sometimes that's my body, and sometimes its not.

    That said, I have had periods where I've hit a groove where its just perfect motivation, and I find that carries through for everything - there's some easy synergy of health and creativity and motivation where its easy to eat right, easy to exercise, easy to get solid work in and keep up with emails and be there for my friends and...all at the same time. So I know its not strictly speaking impossible. That said, I also recognize that this is a kind of ideal state of affairs, and at any given normal moment, something might be off, and not kick myself about it too much.
  • EeeKatZet
    EeeKatZet Posts: 7 Member
    tk2222 wrote: »
    That's me!

    I'm a PhD student, love my research, love my teaching, love getting into it in an all-consuming, this-is-my-life kind of way...but do find that it seems to be kind of a tradeoff where I can be really fully passionate about Just The One Thing at a time. And sometimes that's my body, and sometimes its not. (Snip)
    That said, I also recognize that this is a kind of ideal state of affairs, and at any given normal moment, something might be off, and not kick myself about it too much.

    Oh dang, thanks for making me feel less alone! I’ve felt like I’ve been juggling knives and spinning multiple plates my whole life. Pedal to the metal no matter what. I just would love for some degree of exercise/health to not totally disappear and then come back and take over.

    Sidenote: I finished my PhD just under a year ago. Glad to hear you love it. It definitely started killing me, hah! Should it turn on you, keep fighting the good fight. There is an exit (take that, Sartre).
  • tk2222
    tk2222 Posts: 199 Member
    edited March 2019
    Lol, its me vs Foucault at the moment...

    Congrats on getting it done! That's huge.

    Back on topic...

    Yeah, I don't know how to balance it - I feel like a recurring motif I see here on the forums for people who like go all in and make these huge changes and now run their own yoga studios...whereas, I'm, like - I've got my passion all sorted, for the moment. I'm fairly happy with life generally and I don't want to mix it all up. But I do really need to eat less chips.

    Can I *just* find the psychological hack for that, without becoming all-consumed by calorie counting and fitness regimens and new styles of cooking and whole deep personal growth stuff about my entire relationship to my body and my food and my clothes and my health and my family and my sexuality and capitalism and just have it work?

    ...eh, only so so, it turns out.

  • EeeKatZet
    EeeKatZet Posts: 7 Member
    tk2222 wrote: »
    relationship to my body and my food and my clothes and my health and my family and my sexuality and capitalism and just have it work?

    ...eh, only so so, it turns out.

    Hahahaha you ARE neck deep in Foucault aren’t you?! Nothing wrong with that. He cameo’d more than once in my diss.

    I’m on a terrible tip about being a traitor to anti-mass-culture ideals by spending more time on this than doing what I love. But this is important too, right? Sigh.

    Anyway. I’m sheepishly extending a friend invite so this thread doesn’t become an obnoxious one-on-one critical theory ivory tower. Happy to support and/or commiserate. Thanks again for responding. Sometimes it seems hard to feel a sense of belonging even with 300k+ community members.
  • garystrickland357
    garystrickland357 Posts: 598 Member
    I'm a teacher and I can relate to the "all or nothing/ obsessive" behavior. I've had to learn how to deal with that mentality. To answer your question - yes it gets easier - at least it has for me. Logging is just habit at this point. Daily weigh-ins are just data and I don't have an emotional response to the scale. I make time for exercise just like laundry and eating. Hang in there.
  • EeeKatZet
    EeeKatZet Posts: 7 Member
    garystrickland357 wrote: »
    . To answer your question - yes it gets easier - at least it has for me. Logging is just habit at this point. Daily weigh-ins are just data and I don't have an emotional response to the scale.

    Appreciate your weighing in on the matter (pun not intended but now duly noted)! How long did it take for you to stop obsessing and start incorporating?

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