Orthorexia and exercise bulimia

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Wonder if anyone else here suffers from either of these?

Here's the story - I was pretty overweight for most of my adult life (5'10/227, and very VERY pear-shaped), and about 10 years ago, began dieting at the insistence of a doctor both to lower my cholesterol, and to help my fibromyalgia. About halfway through my hundred-and-something-pound weight loss, I, in true Aspie style, developed a new fixation....exercise, and food. So basically, for the past near-decade, I've been a slave to the gym (no longer 5 hours a day, 7 days a week, but it's still pretty bad), and freakishly obsessed with eating healthy/organic/vegan/raw/low-cal. I didn't really consider the latter 'problem' to be a problem at all, even when I was tagged as 'orthorexic' by doctors, till other people started noticing and commenting.

Anyone else similarly fixated?

The trouble with dieting is that in can produce an obsession with food. It's better to just eat less and exercise a bit more. Maybe you got some OCD going on there.

I hate exercise. Doesn't the gym smell put you off?

Eat to live, not live to eat.

I wouldn't say fixated, but rather more aware, and that's a good thing. I never got into a strict set or rules about what to avoid, because that's unrealistic. Even trans fat is not totally avoidable in the US, but I look for substitutes for items that have a lot of it. I have established a link between what I'm eating, how much exercise I get and how I feel. I don't feel good if I don't move around enough. It seems that most people would be better off if they had better nutritional awareness, and kept their intake of various things within sight of recommended daily allowances. What distinguishes the nutritionally aware from the orthorexics? Why would getting too much exercise be a problem? Most people don't get enough, or they just diet and that can be a problem.

I have some of the same elements. I was overweight most of my life, but now am pretty fit and normal weight. I'm in between jobs, and have time to go swimming, gym workout, then maybe spinning or jogging. Still, nothing like 5 hours, maybe two. I eat a pretty clean diet. The thing that helped me most was OverEaters Anonymous, where I get 'restored to sanity', and let go of going to extremes.

Ron

i haven't really been obsessed with my diet but i have with exercise. it hasn't become a problem where it consumes my life... well it hasn't consumed my life any more than what is normal for a competitive athlete, so i'm fine with it. lately i've been a bit lazy but for the first few weeks after the rowing season ended i'd be in the gym at least once a day and i'd do that over schoolwork or socializing.

I came across the term orthorexia about a year ago, and it fits my mother almost exactly. She is obsessed with low fat no sugar foods. She criticises me for using enough margarine (smart balance) to cover the bread, she always uses the minimum of cooking spray to cook, if she doesn't have to cook for us, she lives on non-fat yogurt, soy nuts and raisins.