Problems with food. Do you think routines help?

Post Reply New Topic

So I've had this very unhealthy relationship with food for many years now. It started when I was about 16 years old (I'm almost 24 now) when I stopped eating as a way to handle my anxiety and depression. I barely ate for two years. I mean, I obviously ate some because I'm still alive but I really didn't eat a lot and I was completely obsessed with how much/little I was eating (I basically had an undiagnosed eating disorder). I only started eating properly again (though it took a long time before I could eat "normally") when I noticed my fingertips were blue due to faltering circulation.

Anyway, I'm not starving myself anymore but now I'm at the other extreme instead. Unhealthy food has become some sort of comfort thing. A way to deal with stress (though it doesn't really help me deal with things at all). I think it's some sort of a coping mechanism but also a result of a lack of routine and the fact that I'm so tired after having spent the day at university etc. I suspect that I, in order to be able to eat normally and healthy, need to get better mentally but also get some help setting up strict routines for when to eat and when to cook food etc. The routines I had for eating all disappeared when I moved away from home when I was 19. Since then I've found it increasingly difficult to take care of myself foodwise.

I really hate myself for all of this. I've gained a lot of weight over the past five years or so. I'm ashamed of it, it disgusts me and I want to stop.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this but I'm simply wondering if any of you have had similar problems that have gotten better when creating some sort of routine? Also, how did you stick to that routine? I wonder if that's something I could get some help with if I get a diagnosis. Not sure what kind of help I could get for this though. Perhaps I "just" need better self-discipline or something. It's just that sometimes I find it really difficult to plan and stick to that kind of stuff myself (I'm great at planning some things and less great at planning other things).

I used to comfort unhealthy food when depressed and gained weight which I hated. I tried changing my diet and it worked to lose weight but then I had no comfort food so you can imagine the mild depression just lasting much longer than it would've if I had munchies.

Then I started learning to cook and what once was unhealthy comfort food became healthy comfort food...but I realized that I got a lot more comfort out of cooking and trying new things rather than eating. I guess its a process of 'this gets my mind off my troubles a lot better and for longer than comfort food plus I enjoy doing it plus I make delicious food plus it even helps me socialize PLUS there's an internet filled with recipes to try out and tinker with' that made it work for me.

So in the end it wasn't much of a routine I had to keep up through discipline but rather a daily activity I enjoyed which was different every time (bfast/lunch/dinner) that let me eat healthier and be happier while at it. I also lost a lot of weight from not eating junk food any more.

Hi, you're not alone. I was scary thin from childhood to age 13 or so. I was so disgusted by most foods that I could hardly eat and my doctors were always hounding my parents about it.

Then, when I was about 14, I started gaining weight and I have not stopped. I mean, I've gone from binging to fasting here and there and lost sometimes 4-6 pounds then gained it all back.

Now, I am almost overweight and unhappy with my body but whenever I try to eat even a little less I feel too hungry and then I eat a ton just to get to sleep at night.

I take my vital stats all the time and they are always changing. I am right now five foot one, about 125-130 and I measure 39-28-39 and I wear a size 12 dress. I feel super fat and there is nothing I can do about it.

But I do not want to lose a lot of weight because I used to be too thin at 4 foot 10 and 73 pounds when I was in year 6.

Nutrition and physical training is an interesting subject.

A while ago I decided I had to stop eating unhealthy food and I managed quite well. I ate healthy and I went out cycling every day (I still cycle almost every day) but then I got really depressed (more than usual that is) and got right back into the comfort eating. Haven't been able to stop since (that was a couple of weeks ago).

I don't like cooking and for some unknown reason I'm really picky when it comes to food so I hardly ever try something new. I sort of just vary between four different dishes or something. They're not really unhealthy or anything, it's just that I'm often too tired or too depressed to cook so I eat candy or something instead and that, obviously, isn't good. Don't really know what to do and I feel like such a failure because of it.

I have some sort of strange eating disorder, and I would say a bit of an unhealthy relationship with food. I'm thinking that a lot can be solved by manning up and cook healthier, but it's hard to get to that.

Being stressed seems to make people eat more and lowers metabolism. And being disorganised doesn't help either. And most food sold is bad. And only cooking for yourself and not for a whole family can be a bit like it feels like a waste of time. So it's easy to get problems like these.

As far as I know here in my town, Habiliteringen has had some course and information on eating right. But I would guess it is on the level of "Salad healthy - chocolate unhealthy. Hard bread healthy - ice cream unhealthy". There is eating disorder clinics at hospitals, my psychologist said I could be referred as I have problems, but I look healthy, am normal weight, work out, and there are lots of anorexic girls needing help and half of the population being overweight ... so I figured the chance of being prioritised is slim. But you could try if you feel that you need help at such a clinic. Also your vårdcentral probably has a Dietitian you could see, and if they don't your landsting will have one somewhere else.

The key word you said is FEEL. You FEEL fat. That doesn't mean you are fat or you look fat. It's hard to tell without knowing your frame size, but 125-130 falls within the perimeter of normal weight, if toward the high end of the spectrum.

You can do something about it. Healthy eating and exercise -- in moderation -- are the key. You can eat more of a food that has fewer calories (fruits and veggies) so you'll feel fuller. Cut out soft drinks. They pack in a lot of calories and sugar and since they're liquid, you don't feel like you're pigging out. But do it for health and to feel better (and becoming healthier does make you feel better), not because of what others think.

Very few people have a "perfect" body even if they're within optimal BMI. People can have saddlebag thighs or fat rears or pot bellies even if they're a good weight. Advertising is geared toward making people feel fat and ugly. It's here to stay, I guess, and even if we ignore it, everybody won't ignore it and will continue to judge others by their small flaws and slight weight problems and make sure they know they're "flawed."

The main reason why I am focusing on it is that my acid reflux is getting very bad since I kept gaining weight. I had lost 6 pounds before and it helped but now that the weight is back, I've had some reflux again. So not healthy.