Behavioral component to weight control

[erick99]

I think the most important component to weight control is to get the cues under control that signal that it's time to eat. For a lot of people, just about anything cues that it's time to eat. Just as the smoker lights up when he gets in the car or sits down to a drink at a bar, the over-eater has many cues to eat and they get out of control.

The hard part about this is that we do have to eat so it's not like quitting smoking. But, you can take supplements that promote a healthy sense of being full along with other devices such as drinking 8 ounces of water if you feel like you are getting hungry at an inappropriate time.

When I was younger (I am 50 now) I had to do the opposite, I had to pay attention to cues to eat. I missed too many and got very thin - 115lbs at 6' 5". So, I began weight lifting and taking vitamins and even getting into a routine of using Creatine. So, I managed to re-train my behavior in terms of eating and got up to a healthier weight of around 200lbs.

-erick

(P.S. I really, really enjoy this stuff but I don't want to come off as a know-it-all. I have a bachelors and two Masters degrees in psychology and a lot of it was in behavioral research as well a functional neuroanatomy. It's jun plain fun for me.)

[BeFit4Free]

erick99,
If you've got a minute, I'd like to ask you a question for an acquaintance of ours. She's a woman in her mid-30's. This friend of ours has begun to think that she has an eating disorder.

She grew up with a very rough childhood, and has a lot of bad memories and abandonment / recurring trauma that is associated with it.

As a kid, she started eating as a way to "punish" herself, and to make her mother see that she had a problem and try to get her mom to care. Her mom didn't care about the eating, and it didn't help things...

Now, this friend of ours is realizing that she has perpetuated this cycle by gorging on foods that she is not hungry for, then "purging" so that she doesn't get fat.

We have talked, and I told her when she started the purging thing saying, "I'll just do it this once so I don't get sick" (due to allergies), I told her DO NOT START something like this that will cause you a dangerous and harmful way of dealing with your overeating. Now she finds herself doing it all the time...

How can we help our friend deal with this? When i heard what she was doing, i actually got angry, because I felt like she started a really bad and dangerous habit out of weakness, but i need to see it from her point of view i think.

What can we do?

[erick99]

Let me think about this and I'll post later today (it's 3am right now so I am heading off to sleep).

Take care!

Erick

[elvenrunelord]

This woman needs professional help. there are programs out there that are specifically designed for people with her problem. More and more teens are developing issues like this due to the size zero concept that has invaded modeling.

[erick99]

How long has this behavior been evident? If she has been doing it at least twice a week for the past three months than she is meeting the diagnostic criteria for Bulimia Nervosa. But, even if it hasn't been three months this is still very worrisome. This seems like incipient bulimia and I would like to see her seek some counseling while this is still in it's early stages (if it is).

The counseling process will help and she will find a surprising amount of support. It would help if someone would take her to her first appointment and sit in waiting room and wait for her.

What she does not need is anything judgmental or critical. Nobody could possibly criticize her more than she is doing so to herself.

There are so many causes for eating disorders that it is beyond what I can do in a forum message.

Let me know how she does.

Take care,

Erick

[erick99]

Originally Posted by elvenrunelord

This woman needs professional help. there are programs out there that are specifically designed for people with her problem. More and more teens are developing issues like this due to the size zero concept that has invaded modeling.

Absolutely correct. When you combine the unrealistic role models for figures out in the world combined with the dysmorphic tendencies that many woman have than it's not surprising that eating disorders result.

[erick99]

Please let me know how she does and if I can be of further help. I am a bit too far away to be her counselor but I would be happy to talk to her or someone close to her on the phone. Just pm me.

[BeFit4Free]

Originally Posted by erick99

Please let me know how she does and if I can be of further help. I am a bit too far away to be her counselor but I would be happy to talk to her or someone close to her on the phone. Just pm me.

Thanks a lot! I'll let her know! We appreciate having you on here!
Hey, you said you used to be into lifting heavy / bodybuilding, right? What do you think of these pics: http://www.befit4free.net/members/befit4free-albums.html ?

Andy Haman is a friend of mine who got his IFBB Pro Card. Really cool guy. He's got a profile on here too!
Health and Fitness Forums - View Profile: Andyhaman

[erick99]

Who is Andy? He looks like a biology experiment!! I was never anywhere near that - I am only 200lbs spread out over 6' 5" of frame lol

[BeFit4Free]

Andy Haman is an IFBB Pro Bodybuilder I know from Colorado Springs. I think he was 41 years old when he got his pro card. He's got a profile on here: View Profile: Andyhaman

I really respect Andy becuase he isn't stuck up or self absorbed like a lot of bodybuilders are. He's got a great family, and is all about the kids.

He's married to his High School Sweetheart and had some really cool kids! They all workout together, and perform together too!