Are YOU on a diet? and if so What do you like for breakfast /Lunch/Dinner and if not,Why not?

princesscookie19 wrote: Are YOU on a diet? and if so What do you like for breakfast /Lunch/Dinner and if not,Why not?

I'm into fitness . . . fitness entire pizza into my mouth.

Seriously, my "diet" is just "eat anything I want, but try to eat less".

I have lost 20 pounds in the last 3 years. I did this with 5 principles: avoid foods with many preservatives, eat lots of vegetables and fresh fruit, include lots of high glycemic index foods (especially oatmeal for breakfast and avoid sugary stuff), exercise regularly (okay, my doctor pushed me into that one), and let myself be hungry sometimes. I think it helped to have less stress in my life - eating is one way I respond to stress.

What would a diet consume for an person who has an eating disorder?

There's an interesting writer named Anne Lamott (Crooked Little Heart is her best known fiction) who writes humorous non-fiction essay-type books, and has overcome eating disorders herself. She says her doctor (specialist in eating disorders) said "You have to learn to feed yourself." Lamott is kind of aiming for humor ("I can feed myself! I can feed myself!") so she doesn't spell it out much, but I think the idea is to approach food as a kind parent, aiming for balance, nutrition, and some treats. The alternative is to approach food as a needy child who is always pushing against the restrictions and trying to indulge a need for being spoiled, or, alternately taking control of one's own body by refusing food. Bulimia and anorexia often go together, as you may know.

Eating disorders are often about power plays, and young people who don't feel they have been noticed, cared about, or listened to enough can be pretty needy. All the self-help stuff does make a difference: know you are loved, accept yourself, accept your feelings, forgive yourself when you don't meet your own expectations, etc.

One added element that I think matters is to give treats to yourself mainly in social contexts. As with drinking alcohol, indulging alone is pretty toxic. You get all the bad self-esteem of "breaking your rules" or even "failing", even while you build up a self-reinforcing habit of giving your brain chemicals a fix, which means the next time you are feeling needy, you want that same escape but also further lower your self-esteem so that your ability to use judgement gets undermined. So I would say, such a person should deliberately set up situations with some treats socially, but aim for variety. Sometimes sushi and sometimes Mexican and sometimes creamy ice cream. It's worth planning opportunities like church socials or inviting out people in a book club, or college classmates going to see a movie, or whatever. As the social side of the food enjoyment builds up, the needy child part fades to the background.

At least that's the theory. My demons run to other issues, mainly, but I have had excellent success with substituting connection for isolating spirals downward.

Yes I can defiantly know where your coming from in the "need" to be loved and to achieve a goal wheather its from control form a diet or outside from the whole "restricting " I think for me, I like to be in-control but when things go bad I just feel like crap and loose my appetite and not eat. When things go bad for me, I just go out for a smoke and read a book or somthing to distract myself from the abuse of living with other people in as a n IP. We all need TLC when it comes down to little to no food. Like I mentioned before its hard to sit down and eat a sandwich when you hear people yelling or screaming. puts me off completely

Makes sense. Yes, TLC is what we need. When I spiral out, it is also usually because things are going badly around me. Sorry to hear about the yelling and screaming. That has to be tough.

I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say an IP.

Have you tried to build up something else you can feel in control about? Like books is not a bad start, actually. Maybe set yourself a goal like remembering the basics of the plot after reading a story, and thinking how the writer might have had the story go differently? Just a thought.

IP (In Patient) For Bulimia and borderline anorexia. Iv been living in for the past 5yrs. But they kind a spoil myself and my SPA Breakaway is coming up soon and i get to go to a spa with staff @ early November . I do love having my own space by reading books and colouring.

Sounds pretty challenging. I'm a little confused, though. If you are living in IP, where does the shouting come from? Or is that only outside?

Enjoy being spoiled! What kinds of opportunities do they offer for "playing the parent role"?

Ya I do live with other mental illness patients and they somtimes have a bad day. Not sure but The SPa is nearly going to in the next month,