Exercise is good for you. This shouldn't come as shocking news to anyone; the risks of a sedentary lifestyle are abundant and well reported, particularly as the country faces a public health crisis in which one-third of adults and 17 percent of children are obese.*
However, like most things in life, you can get too much of a good thing when it comes to exercise. Compulsive over-exercise is characterized by frequent episodes of excessive physical activity. Individuals will go to great lengths to fit exercise regimens into their schedules, even if it means skipping work, cutting school, avoiding social events with friends and family, even exercising in secret. Instead of supporting health, excessive exercise, inadequate rest and recovery time between physical activities can damage a person's body and overall health, causing joint injuries, tendonitis, stress fractures, muscle tears, exhaustion, fainting and dehydration.
Compulsive exercise often occurs alongside eating disorders, as the motivations underlying the excessive physical activity often stem from food-, body- or weight-related issues. Many over-exercisers will do so as a result of guilt or shame from just having eaten or binged or to give themselves "permission" to eat. (The latter was recently the target of much scrutiny from the eating disorders awareness community when the idea was used humorously in a Yoplait commercial.) In fact, exercise bulimia is a subset of bulimia nervosa in which an individual is compelled to exercise at an overly excessive level in an effort to burn calories and fat. Just as individuals with bulimia purge calories through vomiting or laxative use, exercise bulimics use physical activity as their compensatory behavior. Over-exercising behaviors can also accompany anorexia nervosa when used in conjunction with severe food and calorie restriction.
In addition to the aforementioned health risks of compulsive over-exercising in and of itself, intensive exercise behaviors can result in medical complications such as bone disease, cardiac distress and organ failure. This is due to the insufficient nutrition that generally accompanies anorexia and bulimia.
Exercise is common and encouraged as part of a healthy lifestyle. However, because the negative outcomes of compulsive over-exercising can be subtle, easily hidden or downplayed by exercise bulimics, it can be difficult to determine whether a friend or loved one's level of physical activity is worrisome or not. The best way to gauge if behaviors are out of control or symptomatic of an eating disorder is to understand the warning signs of exercise bulimia, as well as those indicative of anorexia and bulimia, since compulsive over-exercising can occur with these illnesses as well.
Warning signs of exercise bulimia
Warning signs of anorexia
Warning signs of bulimia
Also, learn about the eating disorders treatment resources available in your community, and encourage your friend or loved one to seek the guidance of an eating disorders professional. Treatment for an eating disorder can range from outpatient appointments as necessary to inpatient, hospital-based care for those who are medically compromised from their unhealthy exercise and eating patterns. A trained professional can guide individuals into the right level of care at a treatment center that meets their recovery needs. Chat live with a master's-level eating disorders clinician about concerns for yourself, a friend or a loved one here.
*http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
Follow Kenneth L. Weiner, M.D., FAED, CEDS on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EatingRecovery
Are there that many OCD people out there ?
Doens't anyone stop at the mirror long enough to conider all things ?
I was overweight before I became anorexic, then exercise bulimic AND anorexic. For several months no one would have guessed I had an eating disorder, because I was still classified as overweight but was losing. Someone on the street would see me and think nothing of it, they wouldn't have been able to tell that the night previous I had classified strawberries as a 'bad' food (I eventually would only eat unsweetened grapefruit, all other fruits were banned along with almost everything else) or power walked 17 miles and having to wear double socks to help staunch the blood from my feet.
You really need to wake up and learn that your words, and everyone else's, due impact others who have or are struggling with ANY of the different kinds of eating disorders.
No one was saying these aren't serious issues.
However, at the societal level, they're hardly a blip on the rader compared to the obsesidy epidemic.
And there is something like a sickness (don't get offended here) where a sertain type of person would rather fixate on anerexia, bullimia, and over-excersising than the broader problem which is obsidy/a fat population.
Underatandably, as someone who's experienced these disorders (or one of them) you can identify with them, and they are a larger part of YOUR WORLD tham they are a part of the world.
(1) walk about 4 - 6 miles every day in some form at no less than 3.5 miles per hour but not more than 4.5 miles per hour).
(2) restrict your calorie intake to no more than 1500 - 1700 calories per day (depending on your height and weight) after subtracting 75 calories per mile for each mile walked.
(3) eat a balanced diet of vegetables, protein (preferably eggs, fish or cheese) and limit your sugar intake to a couple of sweets or half a chocolate bar per day or one glass of wine.
Do that and I assure you all will be well.
Forsooth, I have many problems. But I can tell you with an uncommonly high degree of certainty, dear readers, that this is not one of them.