I don't know why it took me THIS LONG to realize it, but I am. Here lately, all I think about is getting thin, being thin, feeling better, looking better, "how-many-calories-are-in-that", does "this" count toward my daily exercise, etc.
I'm driving myself slowly insane, with horrible intervals of sanity.
There's MORE to life than dieting. I KNOW THERE IS. Or at least, there USED to be.
I feel the same way. I spend between about 10:00 and 6:00 every day, looking at the clock, calculating how long until I eat my next meal and what it will consist of and what nutritional requirements will be met and how many calories I'll have "left" for a treat at the end of the day...it's a bit maddening, isn't it?
I had gotten to a point like that and my weight loss had stalled now I just go about my day making the best food choices and exercising when I can and my weight has started to drop again - my thought now is to take it day by day as I have the rest of my life to loose it/maintain
I'm the same way...I'm always thinking ahead to my next meal, snack, et cet. I'll plan my days around work outs and eating and my "go to" conversation piece is diet, fitness, weight loss...whatever! Whew, it's exhausting when I write it, and I must be exhausting to listen too. I think the solution for me is to hide my crazy and hopefully it will go away when my "diet" turns into a "way of life".
ME TOO!!!!!!!!!!! I think about it constantly,I think if I eat something is that going to jepordize me? will it matter? I usually end up sharing everything with DS,so he gets close to 1/2 of anything I put in my mouth lately,yes I think I'm obsessed too, I think about it all the time and sometimes I feel like I'm going bonkers.......but I can not help it,I want to be thin,and that's pretty much all I have my sights set on......
I also obsess, but I try to counter that with a plan. I have a diet journal ( I know many of us do), and before breakfast I write out 3 daily goals (which may have to do with diet & exercise or not), my menu and calorie count for the day, and sometimes a daily mantra ("a moment on the lips = years on the hips!"). When I do have a plan, I know that okay, in 3 hours I can eat lunch, and I try to focus on other stuff for those 3 hours. It is quite difficult, though. I'm in the midst of trying to find other "comfort" activities, you know, that have no calories. One is cruising around this site.
I just wonder...will I ever be able to eat food & NOT think about it? I mean, you know.... the break down of carbs, protein, fat, calories. Is "this" on the plan? Can I have "just one"? Etc.
Seriously - I cannot eat anything without dissecting the dickens out of it!
Sometimes I feel like I'm really missing the whole point here.
I am too...i have been told Im obsessed, but when Im not "obsessed" I let other mindless habits get in my way of eating healthy...i dont know if its a bad thing? I met a lady a few years ago, who was very active and healthy...and I said to her "how do you do it" She said, shes lucky because she has never really struggled with her weight but she "makes makes conscious choices every single day" I remember her saying that, cause I was like "what???...you mean...you have to think about it all the time?" Well, after my little struggle....I realize...I too, have to make daily concious choices...maybe thats what we have to do??? I dont know, until it becomes habit..and or second nature...or...easier??? I dont know...i too am obsessed...about everything in the food aspect of my weightloss journey...kinda wish I was more concerned about getting more excerice...and how much!! oh...the journey of weightloss. Im sure after some time...it gets easier...or more second nature...hmmm...
Sigh. I don't have anything to offer besides "yeah, me too."
And it bugs me how much brain capacity it takes up whenever I get like this. It seems there are only two settings for me: 100% on plan and obsessing all day long, or off the wagon and aggressively avoiding all weight-loss related topics (oh, and it's not that this denial takes up less energy).
It does get better when I'm busy with other things, working towards other goals. I've found that I have more energy and think more positively when I'm on plan, so I've been trying to use that energy for projects such as learning a new language or working on my fitness goals - the latter has helped me a lot, actually: e.g., I've started the Couch to 5k running plan last week, and it makes such a difference to feel like "I'm doing this because I want to be able to run 5k at the end of the program", as opposed to "I'm doing this to burn 234 calories."
Me too! It was really bad the first couple weeks, but closing in on 6 weeks and I obsess less. I still think about ti constantly but I feel I am actually thinking about it less. It has become more of a habit but it's not an issue. I think, hmm okay what's for dinner. And I don't have to convince myself every day that papa murphy's "deLite" pizzas aren't THAT bad. I just avoid it and it doesn't effect me the way it use to. I think I will always think about it though.
Yeah... I know what you mean... I've had times like that, especially when my loss has gotten stalled. Every minute is frustration with trying to figure out what to do to MAKE it happen the RIGHT way...
But there's something else to consider--and that's the fact that for years, many of us with weight problems never thought at all about what we were eating, beyond the fact that it tasted good.
Wasn't that what life was all about? Eating whatever struck your fancy? Having food to feel better?
Well, now we have to think about it. And it's easy to think that that's an obsession, when it's really just paying attention, isn't it? "Yes, a rack of baby back ribs has a zillion calories! Whatever were you thinking?" And so on...
As time goes on, one gets more used to paying attention. You have weighed and measured and calculated enough that you very quickly can see from looking at a plate of food how much of it you can eat. No, not ALL the mashed potatoes! Not the WHOLE 12-oz. steak! Not three rolls WITH butter. Maybe no rolls and no butter! It's up to you. A 600 calorie dessert? Hm. Can you split it with someone? Can you be prepared to leave most of it?
(I did this just a couple weeks ago. I had a dessert and I didn't like it, so I left it. Just left it.)
The point is, it's not going to be an obsession forever--but it's also not a "diet" that has an "end point." Remember all those tedious statements about "lifestyle change"? Well... there you have it. Ignore it at your peril...
I feel so validated reading all these posts!! THANK YOU EVERYONE.
re: the obsession -- for me it is chronic too.
I sometimes stop and realize I have been to busy to "go there" for the last 45 min. that's always a pleasure.
Maybe mamac has a point - we may not be all that different from "skinny" people. It is very likely that they obsess just as much as we do. I like feeling like I have something in common with supermodels!
Losing weight is all I think about
