REPULSED BY FOOD 2

thanx for seeing your doctor. You did the right thing.

Just don't fall into the trap of beliving that your evulsion is ONLY psychological and therefore not a problem. It could quite conceivably become a psychological habit ... then it would become a real problem. But, as your weight and your body composition are being monitored regularly that possibility is well reduced. I am happy that you went to see your doctor. Keep on tri-ing....tah...

If you are experiencing no interest in food at all, I agree with the point made in post #1 that you may be working way too hard. I overtrained last year, and spent a month or two prior to completely becoming depressed having decreased appetite and increased gastrointestinal distress. Eventually, I became disinterested in training altogether. Overtraining causes hormonal and neurotransmitter imbalances.
It is not normal to be working out frequently and lose your appetite. I would recommend that you take a serious rest break before you lose your season - particularly if the doctor found nothing wrong with you physically.
Just my two cents from my experience...hopefully you will be fine!

JB

Some of my friends look at me and think I am getting overly compulsive about not eating. What they are missing is that I am not eating junk (like them) when we are out and instead eating more healthy when I am not with them. Working out at this level has definitely altered my view on what I eat and sometimes I cannot eat junk food knowing how hard I need to work out to get it off. I eat a lot now, much more than I have in the past. I was restricting to a 1800-2000 cal intake but with the increased exercise it wasn't enough. On hard workout days it is up to 4000 cals of good food now. I am not perfect and do occationally join my family during festivities with the good eats. It is easier now because I know I eat well most of the time, so an occasional splurge is fine. I can see how easily it can become an unheathly addiction. My body fat scale helps on making sure weight loss is in the right form of fat loss and I am not sacrificing muscle by accident. I saw show a few weeks ago on exercise compulsion. A few olympic hopefuls and serious athletes way over on the overtraining. It scared me into getting a hearbeat monitor and tracking my resting (sleeping ) pulse for any sign of overtraining. I know in the past from the serious fatique, I often went to far. It is all good now. If you stick with your plan, take your rest days and eat enough good food, thats awesome. I would not say your normal, your a triathlete. Much better than normal. Compulsive about working out? Me too.

Wow, your post sounds like something I could have written! I have not been to the doctor, thankfully, but ever since my sister's bout with anorexia my parents have been wary of me. I have to say, I am quite obsessive about working out. Sometimes I think I do have an eating disorder, but then I just get very frustrated that my body doesn't seem to be showing the results I want even after months of working out, etc..before I recently started tri-training. In any case, I feel your pain. I can't decide whether being obsessive is a good thing or not. I really don't want to pay any attention to what I eat and just exercise like there's no tomorrow, meanwhile I get rid of every ounce of fat on my body! (note the exaggeration there...)Ah well, I'm starting my new, non-South Beach regiment tomorrow, which requires a caloric/ grams monitor system for my meals. I'll just have to see how things work out...
In any case, I'm glad to hear you don't have an eating disorder!
~Dorian (the "oh so excited" rookie)

Wow, I'm impressed with everyone's honesty and helpfulness. I too have already experienced this "aversion" to certain foods. I know that I was 20 lbs overweight/overfat when I began (I got a body composition done by professionals). I really wanted to lose the fat, gain muscle, and be healthy. Those were my main goals. I started noticing 2-3 weeks ago a stomach reaction when thinking of "fatty" foods (burgers, fries, junk foods) and really started watching calories and fat grams. I don't go for the low fat stuff, I just try to eat healthy foods (fruits, grains, a little meat, veggies, dairy) enough for my body. I cheated today and went to Burger King and now I'm paying for it with indigestion! Yuck! That's why I'm posting now, cause to a certain extent it must be mental. I visualize the fatty tissue growing. Kind of weird. Anyway, it's best to do things in moderation, but I really enjoy training, but I take one day off per week of total rest and recovery, and it's been good so far.