Does anyone have any issues with over restricting their eating?

Ever since the first time I started watching what I eat, I've slipped into very restricting eating habits, lose a lot of weight, fall off track and gain it back.

When I was in highschool, I started cutting out this and that, which turned into cutting out meals, until I was only eating a bagel everyday, and that's it.

In my early 20s (after having regained the weight) I began cutting things out. First mayo, then cheese, and so on and so forth...until I was literally eating a saltine cracker with a pickel slice every day. What is that, like 10 calories? Gees, I don't even know how I got out of bed every morning.

Of course I regained the weight. A year or so later, I cut out everything but veggies and fruits. That's all I'd eat. Again, massive weight loss, and then gain it back.

Its more than just restricting down to super low calories or only certain food groups, its guilt and anxiety that comes with eating outside my weird rules. And I never know how long it'll last until I give up and eat, eat, eat, until all the weight is back.

It definately is a lot of what I imagine anorexics go through, only I never hang in long enough to get very thin. Maybe that's a good thing.

But now that I'm back to watching my weight, I see it. More and more restriction. Today I ate one (100 cal) serving of oatmeal, a can of the light progresso soup, which I didn't finish, and a half a can of plain pink beans...oh and a cup of coffee with half and half in it. Gees, typing it out make me see how ridiculously little that is, but in my head I feel like I ate too much and I won't let myself eat anymore today. Plus it 9pm, and I absolutely allow no eating this late. UGH!! I hate trying to "eat healthier" because I just end up starving myself. Or the pendelum swings in the other direction and I eat out of control and all the time...I know this isn't normal, but I can't bring myself to stop.

Does anyone out there deal with this too?

Oh yes. Definitely. I could have written your post. I have to be very vigilant to not allow myself to not eat enough. One thing that has helped me is calorie counting. I eat 1200 calories a day for weight loss and I force myself to eat that amount of calories every day. Otherwise I'd be right back to starving myself this time around as well.

I truly understand your struggle. Mine started at a young age, long before I was overweight. I thought I was, but I was probably actually underweight. When I was 13, I spent an entire summer eating only lettuce and drinking lo-fat milk. I become food obsessed when I try to think about eating better. It's mentally something, that at 47, I am trying my best to understand and get a grip on.

I wish that I had words of wisdom for you. I still struggle with exactly the same thing. Best wishes in your journey.

milmin2043, I'm going to have to start calorie counting for that reason. Just last week, in one day I was eating a small bowl of cheerios for breakfast, a turkey on wheat for lunch and a meat with veggie for dinner. In just a week my "menu" has dwindled down to nothing. I think when I don't count calories, I have this idea in my head that I'm over eating. If I can count calories, maybe it will help me see that I'm not over eating.

Its weird, because I am completely aware of my issues. I have total insight into them, but it doesn't matter. Its still a struggle. I had truly hoped this would go away, but I'm starting to see this is going to be a life long battle.

I think I will try to start calorie counting tomorrow to see if it helps. Thank you.

One of the huge problems with the diagnosis of eating disorders, particularly anorexia, is the use of BMI. A doctor has a checklist of symptoms including (but not limited to) excessive food restriction, loss of menstrual cycle, and an "underweight" BMI. This is incredibly damaging, dangerous, and even life-threatening to those with eating disorders whose weights never become that 'low', and is a major problem with eating disorder recovery. Now I am not a doctor, and as such cannot diagnose anything (and neither can anyone or anything on the internet). It is extremely important that you bring up this behavior with your primary care physician or seek the advice of an impartial third party (such as a counselor).

This is very common behavior, particularly among women, so you are definitely not alone! It is important to rule out a more serious medical issue (such as EDNOS) before you repeat the cycle. Good luck, and don't feel like you have to punish yourself for any of your feelings or actions related to your eating habits. You are human, you are beautiful, and you deserve the best!

First off, big for you! Secondly, perhaps writing everything you eat down as the day goes on would help? You said writing out what you ate today made you realise how little it is, maybe writing it out as the day goes on and looking at what you've written every so often will make you say, "Hey, that's really not a lot." That, along with the calorie counting, might help you to still feel in control of everything, without going overboard with the restrictions.

Yes.

For 20 years, when I dieted, I went ALL OUT. If other people could do 1200, I would do 1000 or 800! I was tough, iron-willed, desperate to get the weight off, I could do ANYTHING.

And, I was always successful in the short term. Short term fasting always give me energy, and an exceptionally clear head (it's no mystery why religious types fast and feel closer to god, to me).

I always crashed though, hard. Binging, restricting, binging MORE.

Feeling like a failure, feeling weak. Feeling like a no will power loser. Wondering why everyone else could diet and I just couldn't. Feeling doomed to failure, destined to be fat.

This time, I really wanted to be successful long term. I decided to work WITH my body. I know my body wants to keep me alive, it's literally the raison d'etre. If I restrict, it will eventually make me binge. It doesn't understand why I would restrict! So, I concentrated on eating the healthiest possible foods with a goal of long term health. If it would help, I recommend the book that set me on this path: Super Foods Rx: 14 Foods That Will Change Your Life. I concentrated on what TO eat. Not what foods NOT to eat. The author did a great job of making the science of nutrition accessible to me. I wanted to eat blueberries for a powerful brain, spinach for great eyes, tomatoes for healthy skin.

For the first time, I dieted without being hungry. Eating very good foods. My cravings, binges...disappeared. It was easy...not just in the beginning but it's been easy the entire time.

I feel great, I'm slim, I'm healthy and I EAT.

*raises hand*

If I start calorie counting (in my head) and religiously watching what I eat, I almost always end up over restricting. It starts with one or two things, white products (white bread, white sugar etc..) then progresses to no cheese, or just 1/2 a serving, then it goes to saying, well, I had breakfast, so no lunch for me... and before I know it I'm eating once a day.

But, I also end up over eating too. If I "cheat" even by those very strict standards, I end up going crazy and over eating, which makes me scared to eat things, which leads to over restricting.

I find that I HAVE to chart my calories on an online planner daily. I HAVE TO. If I don't eat enough calories, I will add in more the next day, or I'll have a snack to get me where I need to be if it's that bad of a deficit. If I over eat, I have to calm that anxiety and tell myself tomorrow is another day and that I WILL NOT flip out.

Since I've been on this site, I've developed a much healthier view toward food. I used to purge if I ate too much, which, I'll be honest, was as recent as this past summer, and being a part of this community has really held me accountable and helped me deal with things in much better ways.

Uhmm, I beat anorexia for a reason. I am at the other end of this issue. I like food, good food! Lean steak, pork chops, grilled chicken, but my downfall is "noisy food" peanuts, chips, celery with peanut butter, chips, crackers, etc.

Heck, toss me a prime rib, medium rare and a salad and I'm a happy camper!

Only a few weeks ago I was a big over-restricter. I started not just charting my calories over the day but also having a minimum for each meal and snack, and a big tick chart on my fridge where I had to put in that I had successfully eaten each meal and snack. Success changed over from the minimum possible food intake to meeting the targets I had set for myself. It's not like it suddenly became really easy and that I don't still have moments where I look at something and think who would eat that? That I don't look at my consumption so far and think only 800 cals today - bonus! But I do try to make sure I top it up to at least 1,000 with quality nutrition because I'm investing in my body, I'm not "losing weight" this time I am "eating properly", that is the target.

Ah, yes, the "all or nothing" mentality. I can very much relate to this. In the past I've either been losing quickly or gaining quickly, no middle ground for me! Lately I've done well with the eating part, staying within my calorie range and not starving myself when it's going well or binging like a fiend when it's not.

For me, I have really had to put the scale away and start weighing monthly. It's like when I get on it more regularly, I start to panic if it doesn't say exactly what I want every time. Then I start thinking, okay, I have been eating well, but what else can I cut? I must get this weight off immediately! I tried a couple weeks ago to weigh weekly, and seeing a 0.5 lb loss, my thoughts right away turned to, oh no, what did I do wrong this week, time to cut WAY back, argh! I know a loss is a loss and I lose in a whooshy fashion, but that scale really plays tricks with my mind. I"m back to weighing less often now, and I feel back in control. So weird, just thought I'd put it out there.

GlamourGirl, I have done that! And this is why for me weight and body image is something that reflects how I feel and how stressed I am and how much I want to control my life. For the past few years my weight has been rather normal/overweight borderline and sometimes I would think I am fat, other times I would think I am fit, this is irrelevant of my actual weight. I have done tea/fruit diet after which I ate enormous amount of food so I concluded that if I don't want to binge eat I will have to eat whether I like it or not. When I restrict food I just go out of control after that. Also when I lose weight quickly my mind goes omg you are so thin, eat, you are gonna die... and we are talking no less than 148lbs of weight... it is all mental.

Thank you so much for this post because I think I was planning a starving day (veg soups and low fat, I don't even count calories I think it will drive me crazy) and I know I need to eat for things to work and if I really want all my weight off quickly it is probably a mental control issue. Why wouldn't I wait, it is loving and caring for my body if I do it slowly. And it is the ONLY way to do it in theory, lets see the practice.

I know the problem. I think there is this wonderful high that comes from when you are 'in the moment' and restricting and everyday you wake up, skinnier than the previous- and that heightens the high that was already there.

Then, eventually biological drives quick in and make you eat (usually a lot). And you have no control any longer.

Yeah - biology nearly always wins in this case. I'm trying to break myself of this habit as well. I just have to keep reminding myself that, while I may see short-term results, in the end, it doesn't work.

YES, I'm so glad I found this thread! You just described exactly what I'm going through. Once I focus on my diet and losing weight, I do exactly what you do. I am critical of everything I eat and cut way too many things out. And then I see the numbers drop on the scale and I think it's working. But it never stays. So I keep losing and gaining the same 20 pounds.

I need to find a way to break this. I've been reading everyone's suggestions about calorie counting and it sounds like that might work for me. How do you know the calories for all the food you eat? And do you write it down somewhere or do it mentally?

Yes, exactly! The numbers seem to drop so much quicker with this kind of restriction than they do with eating "normally" and exercise. You're right though, in the long-term it definitely does not work.

I mentally struggle with this too. I can feel myself starting to obsess over every bite, over every calorie and wanting to cut back in every way possible. When I get close to 1,000 calories I balk at eating anymore. If I exercise for an hour, I worry it's not enough. But, I realize this is unhealthy, so I've told my husband and a friend who used to have a eating disorder. They both keep me accountable and I tell them honestly when I'm struggling. I'm in this for the long haul and I want to do this the healthy way. I make myself eat the calories I'm supposed to be at for my weight for healthy weight loss. But, I do struggle, so I hear ya...