Airys Mind Fitness Blog

Today, I will talk about disorders not necessarily related to eating, but to stay fit: bigorexia and orthorexia.

Bigorexia

Basically, this disorder is known to be like an inverse anorexia. In anorexia, people, mostly women, try to look smaller, thinner. In bigorexia, people, mostly men, try to look bigger, more muscular. Bigorexia happens more often among body-builders, so as anorexia is more common among models and show related people like actresses or dancers. This disorder is not considered an illness itself. Among medical community, is placed within the Body Dysmorphic Disorder category. Body dysmorphic disorder happens when a person doesn’t like their body and become obsessed with those defects they have. These defects might be real or imaginary, but they cause so much anxiety to the person that, he or she will do anything, in his or her power, to change them.

It’s true that, some men would work out a bit harder to show off some muscle at the beach on spring or summer. There is nothing wrong with having a built body. People with bigorexia will never reach that goal, because no shape is enough to fill their ideal of the body they want.

In order to achieve the goal of their desired body, they may even abuse of drugs, like anabolic steroids, to increase their muscular mass. This may lead to other problems like muscle, liver and heart damage and/or failure. Or over-exercising, exceeding their body capacities, causing injuries and an extra consumption of calories that may unbalance their bodies.

This in not, necessarily, an eating disorder. People with this problem might restrict their diets to a hazardous point, but I would consider it more like a fitness problem, because eating is not the main concern of this disorder.

It’s important to make a difference between someone who over exercises to lose weight and someone with bigorexia, who exercises to gain muscle mass. Bulimics, for example, may over-exercise to lose all calories gained at a binge episode. This situation is related to food intake; that’s why bulimia is considered an eating disorder. It’s important to note that, a person with an eating disorder does not necessarily have body dysmorphic disorder.

Orthorexia

Another disorder, not so common and a lot newer than any of the ones I have already described, is orthorexia. Some researchers and physicians don’t think this could be considered a disorder. It, basically, consists of eating ‘over-healthy’.

When I first heard about it, I thought: “what is the problem of being extremely healthy?” The problem with orthorexia is that is not healthy at all. People with this disorder think they are eating healthy by eating, only, certain foods. Progressively, their diet gets very restricted to only certain nutrients. When someone decides to become a vegetarian, for example, they need to supply the lack of meat nutrients with other sources of these nutrients, and eventually do so. They can have a very healthy and nutritious diet. When a person is orthorexic, they don’t supply the missing nutrients in their restricted intake and this can lead to undernourishment.

Being orthorexic goes far beyond preferring raw, organic food or non-animal products. People with this disorder get so obsessed with healthy food, that they get to think everything is hazardous to their health and start avoiding foods containing vitamins and other important substances. This disorder can be a predecessor of anorexia and it is important to detect early signs.

There are certain things that we might consider not so good to our body, but we need them o might not be that bad. For example, recent studies show that caffeine is a protection factor against Parkinson’s disease and may decrease symptoms of migraine.  Coffee and chocolate have caffeine, as well as many antioxidants that prevent premature aging and aging related impairments. The important thing is to have a balanced diet and NEVER abuse of any kind of food.

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Well, after these past four entries I have given you a brief description of most common fitness disorders. It is important to note that they are more common than we may think. They are very hazardous to our health because they compromise the energy intake that our organs need to function properly. These disorders are considered to be psychiatric. Unlike type II diabetes or hypertension, that are considered metabolic syndromes related to a poor way of life, fitness disorders have to be treated differently than just medication and a change in our diet. It is important to identify them on time to avoid further problems. If you notice that you are very unhappy with your body, even if there is a real reason like being 10% heavier than your recommended weight, ask for help. Talk to your physician and tell him or her, which are your worries. He or she will provide you with the advice you need. Considering psychological therapy is a great option too. It’s never too much having someone to talk about these specific concerns that affect you and that you just don’t feel like sharing with someone else. Plus, a psychologist, as a health care provider has to be familiar with fitness related issues and be able to provide professional guidance. I have worked coaching people to achieve a healthy weight in a healthy way. So you can ask your therapist to help you design strategies, so you can reach you goals and feel better about yourself.

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Thank you for your patience! I know it’s annoying to see the same old post every week. I will try to write more often, even just a few, but useful, lines. I really hope you had found this information useful and if you have any specific concerns feel free to ask. In later posts I will talk about drugs to lose weight and different lifestyles like becoming vegetarian. I you have any idea for a topic be my guest to suggest!!!

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Ps.- Thank you Sarah for your comment and for following my blog. Your question is very interesting and important because guilty feelings are the worst in compulsive overeating. I will first recommend to talk to a health professional.

Keep always in mind that a treat every now and then, is very important when trying to lose weight. People who has some treats, lose more weight than those who strictly follow a diet. Plan a day when you can have a treat. And always think than you deserve it.

I think that there are two main strategies to overcome guilt. First you have to accept you did it. You have to admit, even out loud, that you just ate something you shouldn’t and tell yourself “I ate more than I should… so what?!” Sometimes, we regret it so much that we keep in our mind the thought: “I wish I wouldn’t have done that”, “I’m very sorry I did that” and we don’t give ourselves time to admit we had a step back. Apologizing won’t undo what is already done.

The next thing to do is planning. I consider that planning and discipline are very important in every aspect of life. If you anticipatingly plan when to have these treats, you won’t feel bad about having them at all!!

In case of compulsive over-eating, we should think: “Ok, I admit I did it, and it won’t affect me because I’m already taking actions to keep it from happening again (or to go back to my lifestyle)”. This actions may include, (as you might already know):  having more healthy snacks ready at home, having 6 healthy meals ready to eat during the day, setting an alarm to respect every scheduled times for meals, identifying when exactly did you have a binge episode and even keeping a diary of them, so next time you will avoid that situation. Don’t even think about exercising more or eat less the next day. What is done is done. Those calories are already in your body and trying to get rid of them immediately it’s not different from thinking “I’m so sorry I did it, I don’t have control over myself”. You do have control, so much that you can have the commitment that it won’t happen again.  This helped me a lot and it’s theoretically and empirically supported. Has been useful with aggressive people, so I think this might help you too!

Have a beautiful week!!