I am getting obsessed with walking and don't even want to sit down for a minute, I need serious advise, please?
On a daily basis I walk a bare minimum of 45k steps a day and I never sit down even for a short second and now the step count is becoming worse, I’m an anorexic in recovery and I know doing this really slows down my weight gain, I want to gain weight fast but I really can’t get rid of the obsessive walking. I’ve read articles that sitting too long leads to muscle loss and weaknesses and I’m just scared of that. Please, any tips on how to get rid of these thoughts? I can’t continue doing this for long I’m so desperate for help I can’t do this on my own. Too much of anything is bad.
You are smart enough to be able to see that you have a problem and you seem to understand your problem. That’s the first step in solving your problem. Now you need to make a goal and a plan to reach your goal. Seeking professional (medical doctors and physical therapy experts) help is a good idea. For 4 decades I was into long distance running and racing. It damaged my heart (causing atrial fibrillation). I had no idea that and I didn't even realize I was hurting my heart with extreme running. After I was brought to my knees with a-fib I learned that I had to stop running. That was very hard. I missed racing full marathons and triathlons so much. But I just walked away from long distance running. I took up canoe paddling (low impact and easy on an aging body). I also suffer from anxiety. My doctor prescribed Lorazapam but I refused to take it. Good health to you. See a doctor for help. You need to talk to a doctor about your anxiety. Tell him what's been plaguing you. Tell him your issue. Yes, me too! I'm currently pacing up and down my house whilst browsing on my phone. If I stay sitting I'm buzzing my legs and fighting thoughts yelling at me to get moving again. It's a hard thing to stop! It can calm me down, help me gather my thoughts and make me feel better when I'm stressed or feeling low, it's like a coping method.
This past summer I was very active with walking and dedicated to my step count. Since September I've been battling a unknown/undiagnosed fainting disorder that makes me activity intolerant. As in some days I get winded walking across my living room. I miss walking and functioning normally. I urge anyone who reads this to treasure your body/abilities/ health. You weren't reading all the information, when you read that sitting too long leads to those things. They're talking about people who work sitting at a desk for 8-12 hours a day and don't get up, then commute home for 1-2 hours a day and don't walk/exercise at all. And, the results for those office workers happen over a lifetime of having every working day be sedentary. You're acting on, and are scared of, information that isn't the whole story and likely doesn't apply to you. My heart goes out to you, because I have been there. Walking 45,000 steps a day is not sustainable for most people, let alone someone with a history of an ED and who is (ostensibly) in recovery. Unless you are an athlete with long-term experience with conditioning and regular sports med check-ins with a team of physicians, that level of daily physical activity is extremely hard on your muscles, joints, and bones. Additionally, considering the fact that you mention that this level of exercise has become “obsessive” for you, I would really recommend that you speak with your treatment team about these obsessive thoughts and subsequent compulsions to over exercise (although it sounds like you are in recovery, but also doing this on your own? What does your support system look like, love?) I had a very similar (relapse) quasi-recovery experience in college, where I basically substituted a select few ED behaviors (became a little more lax in my restriction and forbidding myself from taking daily weights and measurements) for another (daily compulsive exercise). In reality, it was me just dipping my toe into recovery while finding another way to control my weight and appease my ED. Holy fuck. 45k steps a day. Your body is going to break down if you push yourself too hard. Joints will grind down, bones will grind down, muscles can tear, fractured can occur. I’m in pain and tired when I hit 17k. Please try to think about it from a science perspective. You can’t walk 45k steps everyday for the rest of your life so you mine as well start lowering it now so your body can heal.
I‘ve become obsessed, and I mean OBSESSED with taking walks lately to get my steps in and make room for extra calories. My daily goal is 20k steps and I‘ve noticed that I try to push myself further every day. I‘ve never experienced this before because I used to not exercise at all. NEVER. So the idea of being able to compensate for extra calories by taking long walks is new to me and I think I‘m becoming addicted. I don‘t even get to do my usual chores, let alone work on my term paper that I have to finish soon because I spend so much time outside just walking for the sake of it. Sorry for the rant, I just needed to get this out because I‘m torn between my new-found obsession/distraction and my responsibilities. Once during my exercise obsession/ exercise bulimia phase I went for a bike ride hung over. Big mistake. Totally threw up on a bike path. Thank god no one was around. I walked my bike most of the way back home and only rode a short way once I got closer to home so my parents wouldnt question me. Then I forced myself to eat a banana and drink water and spent the rest of the day lounging around, what I should have done in the first place. Yes! I've always been so... I can't quite think of the right word... I guess enamored, with the way moonlight and street lights (warm lights, not harsh LED ones) illuminate everything at night so gently instead of everything screaming at me visually during the day. I don't walk alone at night because I'm a girl and don't want to put myself in danger, but I've often gazed outside during the wee hours and fantasized about just wandering around in a deserted world. So quiet and dark and peaceful.
But, on clear nights these things are the bane of my existence! I am into amateur astronomy, have a telescope, but I can't drive and can only ever spot some stars with the naked eye around my apartment complex and the light pollution is so limiting.
Yes. I used to do a lot of night photography when I had more time. I still try to walk my neighborhood at night frequently, but my city has started changing to led street lights and it makes it a heck of a lot less pleasant.
I do compulsive walking. Maybe pay attention to what happens just before you feel the need to walk. Is it what you ate, a specific hour of the day, before/after a particular task, etc.? The more there is an association for your brain between an event and walking, the more your brain will urge you on to walk when the event occurs in the future. So the best thing you can do is do the opposite then. Don't walk. Or just walk later. I know in therapy they tell you to go cold turkey. But when I do that it turns into compulsive running (because the anxiety is higher) so I try to negotiate it down with myself, e.g. only to xyz park, only shopping, etc.
I have to be stern with myself. I do love walking and running and it’s a great source of calm for me, but I know I can easily overdo it for the wrong reasons. I also tend to walk rather than get on the subway because I’m a little claustrophobic. In therapy I’m told to decrease what they call avoidant behaviours, because in the end they’ll limit me. The most effective way of talking myself out of compulsive walking is to make a plan each day for what I need to get done, and reason with myself: «I need to get from a to b and do c. C will take x hours. If I walk back and forth, that’ll be y hours.. this isn’t efficient, you have other things to do with that time». And, to be frank, drinking a lot of water. Can’t wander off for hours if I need to pee every hour. I would recommend getting rid of step counting apps/whatever it is you ise to keep track, too. I’ve never known an eating disordered person who wasnt triggeres by the numbers.
That said, I would say that the claim that sitting too long leading to muscle loss…the phrase ‘too long’ is doing ALOT of heavy lifting in that sentence. They’re talking about people who sit ALOT. Your body is adaptive and will seek to balance the amount of muscle you have to the needs of your lifestyle, so if you’re not using it, your body tries to get rid of it because it consumes energy even at rest. But if you’re worried about muscles atrophying you’re talking about a SUBSTANTIALLY sedentary lifestyle. I’m a pretty lazy and sedentary person….and I’ve NO ISSUES getting up and walking around and so forth. You definitely DO NOT have to walk CONSTANTLY in order to prevent atrophy. That’s nonsensical. The fear of atrophy in your muscles is something EXTREME cases have to worry about. Try this – get a stopwatch. Sit down and engage in some calm activity – read a book or news article or something. Stay calm and enjoy the activity as much as you can. Don’t watch the stopwatch. When you get anxious and have to stand, click off the stopwatch. Next time, do that again, but just a bit longer. Extend your time very slightly each time. Adjust gradually.
Hi everybody! I wanted to share my experience with using my garmin as an activity tracker. I got my watch on november of 2019, I set my step goal to 10.000 steps and began walking, I was very overweight and I wanted to make a change, and I did, I lost over 50lbs and that's a lot for a 5'1 female.
On the 30th of december of 2019 I missed my goal by a few steps and I decided that I wanted to meet my goal everyday of 2020 and when january 1st of 2021 came I just kept going and as of today I'm 491 days into my streak, but I'm intentionally breaking it when I hit 500 days and here's why. The streak has become a part of my life but not in a healthy way, I have turned down plans with friends because I had to walk, I push my cart in the supermarket with one hand to make sure my steps count, I don't wear my old watches and I'm stuck with my garmin when I dress up, and I just feel like a walk is not a walk if I can't track it, I got a bike that I LOVE but I barely use it to run errands because of the damn steps. So I decided to break the streak on purpose, I plan to still use my garmin but I just want to get back some freedom, I maintained my weighloss for almost a year now, I have a diferent lifestyle, and I need to not feel so atached to a random ass number. I'm waiting to hit 500 because I don't plan on doing a streak this long ever again and I feel like that's a good number to part ways with this obsessive part of my life that needs to stop. I have to say, it's going to be harder than it should to break the streak, it's just a number, nobody cares, but it's a big part of my routine, I know I sound insane and that's why I'm doing this.
You are smart enough to be able to see that you have a problem and you seem to understand your problem. That’s the first step in solving your problem. Now you need to make a goal and a plan to reach your goal. Seeking professional (medical doctors and physical therapy experts) help is a good idea. For 4 decades I was into long distance running and racing. It damaged my heart (causing atrial fibrillation). I had no idea that and I didn't even realize I was hurting my heart with extreme running. After I was brought to my knees with a-fib I learned that I had to stop running. That was very hard. I missed racing full marathons and triathlons so much. But I just walked away from long distance running. I took up canoe paddling (low impact and easy on an aging body). I also suffer from anxiety. My doctor prescribed Lorazapam but I refused to take it. Good health to you. See a doctor for help. You need to talk to a doctor about your anxiety. Tell him what's been plaguing you. Tell him your issue. Yes, me too! I'm currently pacing up and down my house whilst browsing on my phone. If I stay sitting I'm buzzing my legs and fighting thoughts yelling at me to get moving again. It's a hard thing to stop! It can calm me down, help me gather my thoughts and make me feel better when I'm stressed or feeling low, it's like a coping method.
This past summer I was very active with walking and dedicated to my step count. Since September I've been battling a unknown/undiagnosed fainting disorder that makes me activity intolerant. As in some days I get winded walking across my living room. I miss walking and functioning normally. I urge anyone who reads this to treasure your body/abilities/ health. You weren't reading all the information, when you read that sitting too long leads to those things. They're talking about people who work sitting at a desk for 8-12 hours a day and don't get up, then commute home for 1-2 hours a day and don't walk/exercise at all. And, the results for those office workers happen over a lifetime of having every working day be sedentary. You're acting on, and are scared of, information that isn't the whole story and likely doesn't apply to you. My heart goes out to you, because I have been there. Walking 45,000 steps a day is not sustainable for most people, let alone someone with a history of an ED and who is (ostensibly) in recovery. Unless you are an athlete with long-term experience with conditioning and regular sports med check-ins with a team of physicians, that level of daily physical activity is extremely hard on your muscles, joints, and bones. Additionally, considering the fact that you mention that this level of exercise has become “obsessive” for you, I would really recommend that you speak with your treatment team about these obsessive thoughts and subsequent compulsions to over exercise (although it sounds like you are in recovery, but also doing this on your own? What does your support system look like, love?) I had a very similar (relapse) quasi-recovery experience in college, where I basically substituted a select few ED behaviors (became a little more lax in my restriction and forbidding myself from taking daily weights and measurements) for another (daily compulsive exercise). In reality, it was me just dipping my toe into recovery while finding another way to control my weight and appease my ED. Holy fuck. 45k steps a day. Your body is going to break down if you push yourself too hard. Joints will grind down, bones will grind down, muscles can tear, fractured can occur. I’m in pain and tired when I hit 17k. Please try to think about it from a science perspective. You can’t walk 45k steps everyday for the rest of your life so you mine as well start lowering it now so your body can heal.
I‘ve become obsessed, and I mean OBSESSED with taking walks lately to get my steps in and make room for extra calories. My daily goal is 20k steps and I‘ve noticed that I try to push myself further every day. I‘ve never experienced this before because I used to not exercise at all. NEVER. So the idea of being able to compensate for extra calories by taking long walks is new to me and I think I‘m becoming addicted. I don‘t even get to do my usual chores, let alone work on my term paper that I have to finish soon because I spend so much time outside just walking for the sake of it. Sorry for the rant, I just needed to get this out because I‘m torn between my new-found obsession/distraction and my responsibilities. Once during my exercise obsession/ exercise bulimia phase I went for a bike ride hung over. Big mistake. Totally threw up on a bike path. Thank god no one was around. I walked my bike most of the way back home and only rode a short way once I got closer to home so my parents wouldnt question me. Then I forced myself to eat a banana and drink water and spent the rest of the day lounging around, what I should have done in the first place. Yes! I've always been so... I can't quite think of the right word... I guess enamored, with the way moonlight and street lights (warm lights, not harsh LED ones) illuminate everything at night so gently instead of everything screaming at me visually during the day. I don't walk alone at night because I'm a girl and don't want to put myself in danger, but I've often gazed outside during the wee hours and fantasized about just wandering around in a deserted world. So quiet and dark and peaceful.
But, on clear nights these things are the bane of my existence! I am into amateur astronomy, have a telescope, but I can't drive and can only ever spot some stars with the naked eye around my apartment complex and the light pollution is so limiting.
Yes. I used to do a lot of night photography when I had more time. I still try to walk my neighborhood at night frequently, but my city has started changing to led street lights and it makes it a heck of a lot less pleasant.
I do compulsive walking. Maybe pay attention to what happens just before you feel the need to walk. Is it what you ate, a specific hour of the day, before/after a particular task, etc.? The more there is an association for your brain between an event and walking, the more your brain will urge you on to walk when the event occurs in the future. So the best thing you can do is do the opposite then. Don't walk. Or just walk later. I know in therapy they tell you to go cold turkey. But when I do that it turns into compulsive running (because the anxiety is higher) so I try to negotiate it down with myself, e.g. only to xyz park, only shopping, etc.
I have to be stern with myself. I do love walking and running and it’s a great source of calm for me, but I know I can easily overdo it for the wrong reasons. I also tend to walk rather than get on the subway because I’m a little claustrophobic. In therapy I’m told to decrease what they call avoidant behaviours, because in the end they’ll limit me. The most effective way of talking myself out of compulsive walking is to make a plan each day for what I need to get done, and reason with myself: «I need to get from a to b and do c. C will take x hours. If I walk back and forth, that’ll be y hours.. this isn’t efficient, you have other things to do with that time». And, to be frank, drinking a lot of water. Can’t wander off for hours if I need to pee every hour. I would recommend getting rid of step counting apps/whatever it is you ise to keep track, too. I’ve never known an eating disordered person who wasnt triggeres by the numbers.
That said, I would say that the claim that sitting too long leading to muscle loss…the phrase ‘too long’ is doing ALOT of heavy lifting in that sentence. They’re talking about people who sit ALOT. Your body is adaptive and will seek to balance the amount of muscle you have to the needs of your lifestyle, so if you’re not using it, your body tries to get rid of it because it consumes energy even at rest. But if you’re worried about muscles atrophying you’re talking about a SUBSTANTIALLY sedentary lifestyle. I’m a pretty lazy and sedentary person….and I’ve NO ISSUES getting up and walking around and so forth. You definitely DO NOT have to walk CONSTANTLY in order to prevent atrophy. That’s nonsensical. The fear of atrophy in your muscles is something EXTREME cases have to worry about. Try this – get a stopwatch. Sit down and engage in some calm activity – read a book or news article or something. Stay calm and enjoy the activity as much as you can. Don’t watch the stopwatch. When you get anxious and have to stand, click off the stopwatch. Next time, do that again, but just a bit longer. Extend your time very slightly each time. Adjust gradually.
Hi everybody! I wanted to share my experience with using my garmin as an activity tracker. I got my watch on november of 2019, I set my step goal to 10.000 steps and began walking, I was very overweight and I wanted to make a change, and I did, I lost over 50lbs and that's a lot for a 5'1 female.
On the 30th of december of 2019 I missed my goal by a few steps and I decided that I wanted to meet my goal everyday of 2020 and when january 1st of 2021 came I just kept going and as of today I'm 491 days into my streak, but I'm intentionally breaking it when I hit 500 days and here's why. The streak has become a part of my life but not in a healthy way, I have turned down plans with friends because I had to walk, I push my cart in the supermarket with one hand to make sure my steps count, I don't wear my old watches and I'm stuck with my garmin when I dress up, and I just feel like a walk is not a walk if I can't track it, I got a bike that I LOVE but I barely use it to run errands because of the damn steps. So I decided to break the streak on purpose, I plan to still use my garmin but I just want to get back some freedom, I maintained my weighloss for almost a year now, I have a diferent lifestyle, and I need to not feel so atached to a random ass number. I'm waiting to hit 500 because I don't plan on doing a streak this long ever again and I feel like that's a good number to part ways with this obsessive part of my life that needs to stop. I have to say, it's going to be harder than it should to break the streak, it's just a number, nobody cares, but it's a big part of my routine, I know I sound insane and that's why I'm doing this.
