How to not obsess?

Mominator · April 2012

I've had more than one person express concern that they think that I might be obsessing about my weight loss/dieting/exercise. I don't want to be that person, but at the same time, its such a huge part of my life. I really want to be a happy go lucky type, but it's hard. My weight has yo-yo'd so much my adult life, that I'm really trying to focus this time on not only attaining my weight loss goal, but also learning ways to make sure that I can sustain said loss. So, how do you draw the line between obsessing and just living a healthy lifestyle? Any tips?

jillybean222 · April 2012

Obsessing about anything is unhealthy. There has to be a happy medium where you can be conscientious, but not obsessive. If you are incapable of that, you probably need help - maybe get help from a dietician, a personal trainer, etc. Also, not everybody is interested in talking about diet and exercise - just as not everybody is interested in talking about kids or sports or whatever - try not to be too one-dimensional.

Are you at your goal weight and trying to maintain or still trying to lose? If you're maintaining, you can definitely let your guard down a bit - I've been maintaining most of my adult life and I eat ice cream and have chocolate and I eat pizza too. It is not about extremes at all, just balance GL!

MrsLokiAngel · April 2012

It depends on who is saying it. I've had my lazier friends tell me I'm obsessed, and my more fitness-focused friends say I can do more. They may or may not be right.

Tell us a bit about your routine, maybe? I mean, yes we're a bit biased but we can give you some perspective.

LilMissLadybug · April 2012

I try to keep my daughter in mind when I feel like I'm obsessing. She's 6 and watches everything I do. I know that isn't much help but it seems to bring me back to reality and focus on something else.

JReeds9 · April 2012

I'm having a hard time with this also, so I don't have any advice. Just know you aren't alone. I find,the more I try to back off and not focus on it, the worse it has gotten. I'm probably going to be talking to someone about it because DH thinks I've gotten out of control. Maybe take a week and stop logging calories/exercise ( if you are keeping track)?

hikerbeth · April 2012

I had an obsessive time in regards to workouts/weight loss. I would count every calorie and had strict limits about how much I'd eat at one time (whether or not it made any sense). I would put off time with friends in order to get certain workouts in. I had a physical reaction (nervous, jittery) if I had to miss a workout (even if it was for a good reason). I got up at 4:30 am for my first workout and generally did workouts 3 times per day. I stopped getting my period for 3 years. I was obsessed.

Currently I am in some pretty strict training for the CrossFit games. I have cleaned up my diet to the nth degree and I have 1-2 workouts per weekday with my team in addition to the group fitness classes I teach. I am completely focused on fine-tuning my body and my skills for the next 4 weeks.

But I have plans to drink some beer and celebrate when I'm done

And I still have a clean house and a happy family, so there is a balance between my current fitness routine and life. I am not obsessed.

Mominator · April 2012

MrsLokiAngel:

It depends on who is saying it. I've had my lazier friends tell me I'm obsessed, and my more fitness-focused friends say I can do more. They may or may not be right.

Tell us a bit about your routine, maybe? I mean, yes we're a bit biased but we can give you some perspective.

See, I don't really think that I am obsessive about what I'm doing, but like you alluded to, I probably talk about it too much. And it's not even irl per se, but I'm a frequent poster on another board, and I'm thinking my posts may have been focused on my weight loss more lately than not.

The basic gist of my routine is this: Average 1400 calories per day, more on days I do cardio. Run 3-4 days a week (2-3 miles a time), bike twice a week (6miles a time), swim twice a week (1/2 mile a time) and lift weights 2-3 days per week. I'm training for a Sprint Triathlon, so some of those cardio sessions are brick training.

I still have another 30-35lbs to lose to get to my goal weight. I was within 10lbs of my goal weight last summer and then completely fell of track because of life issues I had going on and gained back 35 pounds. I've dropped 10 of those pounds so far, but know that I still have a long road ahead of me. According to my BMI I'm obese at 5'1" and 160lbs and its so frustrating because at the end of the day, I'm still down 76lbs from my all time high weight. Andplusalso, I have a hard time swallowing the "obese" pill when I wear a size 8 pants and a medium top, but whatevs.

kimsy · April 2012

When I find myself obsessing over weight/appearance, it helps me to shift my focus to a performance-based goal (i.e., working up to 50 pushups, or setting a new race PR).

lauren060306 · April 2012

I have struggled with this recently. As the weight loss has gotten harder towards the end of my journey, it went from a fun/healthy lifestyle change to somewhat of an obession. I was doing 2x a day workouts 5 days a week. From Jan - now I was totally fatigued and it started to effect my life (couldn't concetrate at work, etc). I was really sick (fainted) from dehydration in Feb and got Norovirus. That didn't stop me...I was back at it. It took a flare-up of an auto immune disease I have to really take a look at things. As a result of the auto immune disease I had to go on Prednisone, a drug that is supposed to make you gain weight.

I was actually freaking out over the past few weeks, worrying the drug would make me gain weight. I had to get the drug through IVs at first, and that made me gain 8lbs of water weight.

I took a full week off of exercising, and now I am limiting myself to 1 workout a day (1.5 hours). I feel so much more energetic, and so much better emotionally too. I also started eating MORE (healthy food though).

The funny thing, since the I made the changes of reducing exercise and eating more, I have lost 3-4lbs and the scale is moving again. I feel so, so much better. Even happier.

I kept a blog through this time, purely for my own benefit, as I was thinking through regaining balance in my life. I will share the blog even though it is pretty cheesy and was originally only meant for me, because it is my though process of training myself to be "kinder" to myself and not obsess throughout being very sick recently.

http://stregnthandbalance.blogspot.com/

McFelix5711 · April 2012

MrsLokiAngel:

It depends on who is saying it. I've had my lazier friends tell me I'm obsessed, and my more fitness-focused friends say I can do more. They may or may not be right.

I agree with this completely. I had a few people tell me I was obsessed when I was counting calories, not drinking any alcohol, and working out 6 days per week. I was not obsessed - I was firmly focused on a goal of losing weight. After losing 40 lbs, I relaxed a litte, starting drinking alcohol every now and then, and a few lbs have crept back on. (I continued exercising diligently).

I think it becomes an obsession when it's all you can talk or think about.

kat.in.the.hat · April 2012

Mominator - want to be friends? We're twinsies in a lot of ways. Kiddos, training for our first triathlons, and I'm 5'2" and 156 with about 20 or 30 more pounds to go and I've already lost 30 lbs.

For me, the line between being normal and being obsessive is when I start to not have fun anymore. I did two workouts this morning and because of working out, missed the chance to eat lunch at home. If I was obsessive, I probably would have skipped lunch all together. But I like to think I'm normal, and so I had McDonald's for lunch Wink Yeah, it didn't fit in my planned calories for the day but I'm not worried about it because I know more than likely, I'll make it up somewhere the rest of the week.

I think if it starts making negative changes in your life, then you're crossing into obsession. Other than that, you're a normal woman trying to lose weight the healthy way, which to a lot of people, looks like obsession because damn, this is a lot of hard work.

How to not obsess?

Re: How to not obsess?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards