i don't think that i have a disorder, but i am curious to know if what i am feeling and thinking is something other people go through as well.

i am, and have been losing weight. i do have a few "cheat meals" on the weekends 2-3 times in a 3 day period.

my question is...is it normal to be extremely proud that i am able to keep my caloric intake at or below 1,000 calories a day most days of the week? sometimes i feel a little faint, but that's only if i am at work and don't get to have my mini meal every 3-4 hours. i take a suppliment too, to help with fat loss and it just happens to kill my hunger completely. if i weren't on an eating schedule, i probably wouldn't even remember to eat. i am supposed to cycle on and off of the suppliment, but when the hunger comes, i break down and take it other than risk wanting to eat, afraid that i will eat too much and ruin everything again.

i figure that it's not really a problem since i do have normal, rather fatty/carb filled meals a couple times a week. my boyfriend (who is a trainer) seems to be becoming more concerned as the weeks pass. sometimes i leave my food and exercise diary on the table and he looks at the open page seeing what i have eaten. i know that under 1,200 calories a day isn't the best, but i feel out of control otherwise.

is this normal? will it pass? will i stop thinking that maybe next week i will cut another 100 calories and i will lose weight that much faster?

I would be carefull if I were you Steph...sounds like you've been doing this for awhile now and you've got your BF worried. It's really easy after a certain point to get "sucked in". I would say that you are at a BIG risk of developing a problem-ESPECIALLY if your PROUD of you calorie intake and woory about having CONTROL over it.

Best of luck,
Jenn

I agree. Be careful. That's how I started... counting calories and making sure I was under a certain amount a day and the foods I did eat were never the best. I Just stopped eating all together after awhile. Not to scare you, I mean... just be really careful. You really dont' want to get to this point...
But I hope it all goes well for you.
~Mel

I definitely think that your mindset makes you very susceptible for an eating disorder. Just examine the phrase EATING DISORDER: It is a disordered way of eating, which is what you have. You don't look at food in a normal light and you are restricting yourself too much. That is not a good sign. Please, please, don't just be careful, stop this dead in its tracks. It may sound like fun and games right now, but I guarantee you will be regretting it if you continue like this. STAY HEALTHY.

I used to have eating disorders years ago. I am 30 years old now. I started by going on a crash diet, which basically brought me to borderline anorexia then I became bulimic. I didn't menstrate for 2 years, and I didn't care. I was bulimic for 5 years....

Anytime that a person is occupied with thoughts of something that takes up most of their time and day and it effects how they live etc,,,,It becomes an obsession. And an obsession is not healthy and can destroy your life. In my opinion what you are doing Steph is the beginnings of an eating disorder. That is how I started. I sought out behaivoral theray and it worked for me. Remember an eating disorder has nothing to do with food. There are other underlining issues that cause someone to obsess over a particular thing such as food.

If you didn't think this was a problem, you wouldn't be on this board asking.

I am not a professional, this is just my opinion.

Hey, how are things?

I appriciate everyone's feed back. I'm still doing my 1000 cals or less thing during the week and have some cheat meals over the weekend, sometimes even on Friday nights. I think I have been over doing my cheat days/meals, so next weekend I am either going to cut it way back, or not cheat at all. I have been doing weights 3 times a week and running too (intervals for only 20 mins), and have even been doing some Pilates.

The bad thing is that I feel like I am not doing enough because I seem to be stuck and even some days weigh more. Like this morning I weighed more than I did last night. I am so desprate to not get to a sticking point, it is so discouraging! I know that over training doesn't really help you lose faster, so I cut back the cardio I had been doing a few weeks ago (I was doing an hour on the eliptical everyday plus running another 30 mins. 3 times a week, when I stopped over doing the cardio I lost more).

I guess that I am in a way over correcting for my past over eating which got me to where I am/was. According to Friday's weight in I have 30 more pounds to lose and according to this morning I have 35 more to go. I don't ONLY look at the scale, I do measurements too, and I am losing. I just am so afraid that if I get to a plateau that I cannot conquer that I will give up and be doomed to be fat forever like I always have been.

This is the first time I have had control over my eating and I feel very empowered (I usually have trouble with the diet end, but have always been able to commit to exercise, I have no problem with that, there were just very slow results that way)! I do recognize that I am kinda playing with fire, but I know myself well enough to know that if I don't constantly see results I will give up seeing no point to all the hard work.

I am almost embarassed to even be worried that this may be a problem. I mean I weigh 165 pounds (as of this morning; 160 on Friday-water weight?), I feel like I don't even deserve to eat sometimes. I think that the weight should be pouring off with the way that I am eating. I feel really low today-and I was so encouraged on Friday! I would do anything to get this weight off, so I am just going to trudge through I guess, I'll get there if I keep at it!

Thanks everyone for your replies!