Signs You've Taken Your Weight Loss Too Far

It might sound strange, but losing weight can give you a buzz. Most people concentrate on the effort that is required to lose weight and so look forward to the day that they can ditch the diet and get back to living their normal life. However, when you are losing weight you like seeing a slimmer version of yourself and enjoy being able to go shopping and find fashionable clothes that fit. You also appreciate receiving the compliments that people give you about your weight loss, although you could find yourself becoming increasingly obsessed with losing more weight.

This can lead you to take your weight loss too far. You get into a routine of watching what you eat and keeping active. As you lose more and more weight you have to work harder to keep shifting the pounds, so that you find yourself eating less and doing more exercise. Eventually, instead of being complimented on your weight loss, people start to demonstrate concern and may even tell you to your face that you're getting too thin. However, you may simply dismiss their concerns and tell yourself that they want to stop you reaching your goal weight, even though you have probably moved the goal posts.

When you get into the mindset of dieting and weight loss, you think nothing of counting calories, as it is something you normally do, just as standing on the scales to weigh yourself is. You like seeing the numbers fall and become fixated on how much you weigh. Clearly, this isn't healthy. There is more to life than weight loss, but if you are unable to see this it may be an indication that you are in the grip of an eating disorder. You may convince yourself that what you're doing is actually beneficial for your health, because you eat healthily and exercise regularly, when really it is not.

The chances are that you have a distorted view of your own behaviour. You may want to believe that you're eating healthily, despite the fact you should be eating more, and that you're doing enough exercise to keep fit when the reality is that you exercise until you are too exhausted to do any more. You may not see what everyone else sees when you look in the mirror, as you concentrate on how much fat you have to lose when other people can see that you're extremely skinny and frail.

If you continue losing weight having passed your initial target a long time ago and keep setting yourself new targets, you may have taken your weight loss too far, especially if your Body Mass Index (BMI) – which takes into account height and weight – is below 18.5. When you start falling ill all the time and are unable to shake off minor bugs, it is evident that you're not providing your body with enough energy and that your body has very few fat reserves to fall back on. If clothes are hanging off you and your bones protrude, then you may have lost too much weight.

Having previously been overweight it can be difficult to acknowledge that you have taken your weight loss too far, but being underweight poses a number of health risks, just as being obese does, and so it is not something you can ignore. It might be hard to break out of the weight loss mentality and so it is probably a good idea to seek help from a medical professional, especially if you have reached the stage where your quality of life is suffering.