I'm terrified of restricting

amother

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 7:45 pm

Many years ago, I had an ED. I was eating less than 700 calories a day, and counting every one. I got high off the sense of self control and denial.

For the past many years, I've maintained a healthy-ish weight by intuitive eating, and exercise. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but I never went back to restrictive dieting, even though I find myself craving the control at stressful junctures.

Fast forward to now: I'm gaining weight, fairly quickly. I started a form of birth control that works for me (the evra patch, if it makes a difference), but I'm definitely climbing the scale. And stress is also making me eat more.

I know that I should restrict my eating, and increase exercise. I'm afraid of falling back into bad mental habits - I know it's just waiting there in my mind, and I'm under emotional stress right now.

What is the right thing to do?

amother

DarkYellow

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 7:49 pm

I don’t think you should restrict eating. I think you should work with a HAES aligned dietitian to find a good balance but restricting is not the answer here.

BrooklynBee

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 8:56 pm

Restricting is never healthy (or successful long term- look up the research). Especially post ED, it could be disastrous for your MH.

amother

Amaryllis

Sun, Jan 21 2024, 12:48 pm

Why don't you go on a low carb diet? You can eat all you want of protiens and fat, but have the control of restricting carbs.