When you’re trying to lose weight, you might start running more, cutting back on pizza, or using a fitness tracker to see how you’re doing. However, problems can occur if this goal starts to take over your life. It’s easy, especially for perfectionists or those with a genetic tendency, to move from what’s considered normal eating to having disordered eating habits.
Here are some signs that your healthy habits might be shifting into unhealthy ones. If you’re weighing yourself before and after meals or constantly adjusting your posture on the scale, this behavior could escalate over time. Unless advised by a doctor, weighing yourself once a week is enough. Weight can fluctuate throughout the day, so if you’re checking daily, try doing it first thing in the morning for more consistent results.
Keeping a food journal can help prevent mindless eating, but it also might lead you to choose foods based solely on calorie content, ignoring important nutrients and your own satisfaction. It’s important to focus more on balanced eating rather than just counting calories. A healthy plate should include half veggies and fruits, with a quarter for lean proteins and a quarter for whole grains.
While aiming for weight loss to address health symptoms or risks is okay, believing life will be perfect at a certain weight might indicate deeper issues. Changing something external like your weight doesn’t automatically improve self-esteem or personal relationships. This kind of unrealistic thinking can hinder dealing with other life issues healthily.
Judging foods as strictly good or bad can be a warning sign that you’re too focused on weight loss. No food should be labeled as entirely good or bad because all foods provide different nutrients. Instead, consider food as fuel for a healthy body. Achieving a wide range of nutrients is important, and variety will help meet those needs. Our bodies need a mix of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and fibers to function well. If you’re cutting calories without professional advice, you might be moving toward disordered eating. Restricting foods too much can eventually trigger binge eating due to nutrient deficiencies.
Avoiding social gatherings to stay on diet plans can isolate you, which is unhealthy. Feedback from friends and family is important to check any budding disorders, so staying connected with others is crucial. Participating in healthy social interactions can help prevent narrow weight-loss focuses from taking charge.
Having strict eating rituals might suggest an unhealthy preoccupation with weight loss. If you must adhere to specific eating routines and feel bad if you don’t, it may indicate disordered eating.
Regular exercise is great, but it can become excessive. You shouldn’t ignore family, work, or health just to fit in a workout. Missing a session shouldn’t cause stress, and exercise shouldn’t overtake other aspects of life, including sleep.
Constantly researching diets can keep weight and appearance at the forefront, limiting other pursuits. It’s important to appreciate qualities in others beyond physical appearance, like humor or kindness, to help with self-acceptance.
Being overly strict with diet rules, without flexibility, can be dangerous. Orthorexia, an obsession with eating only healthy foods, can become pathological. While eating healthy is beneficial, it’s troublesome if it’s just a means to control calories.
Using strategies to suppress hunger, like drinking excessive water or chewing gum, interferes with normal hunger cues and proper nutrition. It’s important to eat real food when hungry, rather than using substitutes that might increase cravings.
Tracking food and activity can help stay honest, but excessive monitoring can lead to associating exercise purely with numbers. It’s better to enjoy activities for the sake itself, rather than being driven by trackers.
Negative self-talk after perceived failures, like missing a workout or overeating, can be damaging. This mindset often results from diet failures rather than personal shortcomings. Social media can worsen these feelings, as comparisons to others can affect self-esteem based on likes and comments.
Preferring homemade meals could be a control issue if it prevents you from enjoying meals elsewhere. This behavior can isolate you further. Healthy social interactions often involve shared meals, which shouldn’t be overshadowed by strict dietary habits.
If being thin is your primary focus, you might neglect other important aspects of life. This singular pursuit can leave little room for developing hobbies or interests. At midlife, this lack of passion can make dealing with aging more difficult because weight becomes the only source of worth, leading to pressure to stay thin even at the cost of health.
It’s perfectly fine to want to lose weight, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of your overall life and well-being. Seeking advice from a mental health professional familiar with weight-related issues may present helpful options if such problems persist.
