Sunday, February 10, 2008

Bordering Compulsion

I am afraid that I have shifted my compulsion. As I have said, or eluded to, in the past: I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and up until this very second of realization my compulsions were mainly cleanliness. Don't get me wrong, I cleaned my house yesterday and it gave me a euphoric feeling but in the past I would clean EVERY part of my house and wouldn't/couldn't stop until it was done. I did not mop the kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room, I did not dust any of the bedrooms, and I let the windows continue to sport little paddy marks.
My new obsession is the gym: I go 5 times a week and I never work out for less than 1 hour (various combinations of free weights, weight machines, & cardio machines) I should be losing weight right? I'm gaining weight and my clothes still fit the same--WTF. What I'm about to say is not politically correct in this messed up advanced western world we live in: I am happy with my body, it really isn't bad for having 2 kids and a blossoming figure due to my arch enemy, birth control. In the last 2 1/2 years I have returned to a size 7/8 (haven't seen this since pre-marriage, obligatory gyno visit and the damn prescription) and have not as many stretch marks as I should considering I weighed in at 198 lbs with my first kid and 211 with my second (I am really sick throughout the pregnancies and when they finally find meds that will help I make up for lost time: another story). I want to have a flat stomach (I have never had one, even when I was like a 3 in high school), I want my arms to not jiggle, and above all else I would like to be healthy and why not I'll probably contract skin cancer and I'll need to be in tip top shape for the treatments, right?
Sorry about the tangent: I'm gaining weight and no, it's not because I'm turning fat into muscle and muscle weighs more (don't give me the bullshit my mother gave me), my clothes would fit different if this was the case. My gym nazi husband (refer to past posts for description of nickname) pointed out that my habit of eating chocolate cake like it was my last day on earth was probably not helping. I decided to keep a food journal to see what kind of caloric intake I had, oh and to guilt myself out of pig outs when alone. An article in Glamour magazine talked about how this is key to weight loss and gave a couple of websites (nutritiondata.com & calorieking.com) to check the calories of everything under the sun. According to the site I am to eat 2233 calories to maintain my weight & about 1733 calories to lose weight in a healthy way. I don't even want to know what I was taking in before I started writing this shit down, but when the information is staring at me from a notebook on the counter, I feel guilty and ashamed. I have been eating about 2020 calories a day since I began my journal, I am hungry all the time but it is eye opening to all the junk I ate/wish to eat now. FYI, one normal size of chocolate cake (like Betty Crocker out of the box) is 2000 calories. Next time I sit down to indulge in self loathe and a pan of chocolate cake, I need to remember that I cannot eat anything else ALL DAY long. WHATEVER!! I will continue with my obsessive working out and writing down of calories. I will look forward to the day I can wear a two piece and not have a muffin top. And there will be a new compulsion somewhere down the line; however my cleanliness one lasted about 12-14 years (yes, I've seen a shrink. He saved my marriage-my OCD was much worse than what it is now)

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