"You're not getting any feedback that would challenge those unhealthy beliefs or assumptions." You can also feel like you're alone, which often spirals into depression and eating disorders, Peat says. "When you close yourself off, you become victim to only your own self-deprecating thoughts and messages," Ressler says. Brennan has patients who have a really tough time with holidays like Christmas and New Year's because they feel pressure to eat and see people.
Whether you're afraid you'll go hog-wild on the margaritas and mini hot dogs or that people will comment that you're not, isolating yourself to focus on weight loss-related pursuits is a red flag that your focus is getting too narrow. "We've seen a great increase in mid-life women-now about a quarter of our patients are in their 30s and above," she says.Ĭheck the following signs that your healthy habits may be swerving into unhealthy territory. Â And if you thought eating disorders were limited to teenage girls, you're wrong, says Adrienne Ressler, licensed master social worker and vice president of the Renfrew Center Foundation, one of the country's top treatment centers for eating disorders. "It's easy, especially for people with perfectionist tendencies or a genetic predisposition, to slide across the spectrum from 'normal eating' to 'disordered eating' to 'eating disordered.'" "Engaging in these behaviors can be a slippery slope," says clinical psychologist Stacey Rosenfeld, PhD, author of Does Every Woman Have an Eating Disorder? ($17 ).
But then the mission starts taking over your life. You're trying to drop pounds, so you're running more, laying off pizza, and even wearing a fitness tracker to chart your progress.