How To Tell If You're Dieting And Exercising Too Much

If you've neglected your health and fitness over the years then deciding to do something about it can be a positive step. Eating a balanced diet and making sure you exercise regularly can help you look good on the outside and feel better on the inside, yet sometimes people can take dieting and exercising too far. This is understandable when you receive compliments from friends and family about how good you are looking, and you don't want to let them down by regaining weight. You therefore end up pushing yourself harder and harder, but making yourself feel worse in the process. Before long, the compliments you were receiving can turn into anxious concerns.

The most obvious indicator that you have been dieting and exercising too much is your shrinking size. There are people who approach weight loss sensibly at first, losing a pound or two each week, but who become addicted to losing weight and the praise they receive. They make a few alterations to their diet so they consume fewer calories and increase the intensity and frequency of their workouts to enable them to lose weight even faster. If you take such action you could be on the verge of developing an eating disorder, as you become preoccupied with controlling the food you eat and doing a certain amount of exercise at specific times of day.

As soon as your routine is disrupted you can become irritable and anxious. You may avoid eating out, as you want to know exactly what you're eating and so feel uncomfortable in situations where you are not completely in control of the calories you consume. Whenever friends invite you out you try to avoid it because you feel that you can't afford to miss a gym session, otherwise you might jeopardise your weight loss.

Your whole life seems to revolve around diet and exercise, and because it is your sole focus it can have a detrimental impact on the people around you. They may feel neglected and may not even like being around you because of your obsession with weight, diet and exercise. You probably have low self-esteem which you project to other people, and may feel depressed because of the amount of pressure you're putting yourself under. You won't allow yourself a rest day and won't partake of any 'treats' and you start to question why you're trying to lose weight anyway, yet you still can't break from your routine.

If you feel that you are no longer in control of your eating and exercise habits perhaps you have taken your commitment to dieting and exercise too far, especially if it starts to have a detrimental impact on other areas of your life.