Body Dysmorphia
I've been having some serious issues lately with body dysmorphia. I have the physical evidence that I'm smaller: down two pants sizes, waist size is smaller, compliments daily about the weight that I've lost. But when I look in the mirror I see this huge person. Even larger than before I started losing. I've become much more aware of my rolls and cellulite which were things I didn't really see before I started losing the weight. I'm spending too much time looking at myself in the mirror and criticizing my imperfections. This is shit I never used to care about. I'm not sure how to get out of this mindset. I can't just NOT care.
I'm so scared that it's going to keep going and it's going to get worse. Part of the reason I'm overweight is because I had bulimia in college and I vowed to myself once I stopped purging that I would love myself no matter what I looked like, and I would stop obsessing about food. And that worked for a while. Years even. I was not necessarily happy with my body, but it was strong and could do all the things I wanted it to do. I didn't count calories, and ate what I wanted. And I gained 30 pounds. I've been trying so hard to keep myself from slipping back into that but it's getting harder and harder the more weight I lose. My recommended calories keeps dropping and I'm finding it hard to stay full. I am returning to those dark thoughts about binging and purging. And it's becoming harder to fight those urges.
I want to seek out some counseling but I'm just so ashamed of all of this. It's one thing to spill my guts to a bunch of strangers on the internet, it's another thing entirely to tell those who are close to me. Why am I not strong enough to keep losing in a healthy manner? Am I really so weak that I can't resist seconds or dessert? Why am I, a woman with a computer science degree, in an IT field with less than 10% women, who can run 3 miles, who can bench 150 pounds, who can build furniture, who can sew quilts, knit a scarf, can pickles, grow tomatoes, tap maple trees, bake amazing cookies, who has an amazing relationship with her husband, and his ex, her parents, her sister, a gazillion friends that she adore, and with a LIFE that is so amazing and outwardly happy, obsessing over something as meaningless as body weight? It's obvious that my weight has not kept me from achieving my goals. Nor has it kept me from being happy. Aside from this detail, I am happy. I am BLISSFULLY happy. Why is this single thing clouding my life so?
I am going to keep trying. The weight loss for me is not as important as my happiness, though if at all possible I would like to have both. I am going to keep working at this, but if the looming eating disorder jumps to the forefront, I'm out. I refuse to live like that.