Fitness Addiction: Recognize And Conquer - Quality Of Life, Self-development

2023 Author: Oswald Adamson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 12:13

When we talk about addiction, we immediately think of something harmful. And fitness is a healthy, useful thing. But “good” things can be addictive too

Some of the things from which addiction is formed are not always harmful. Let's say that shopping and shopping are absolutely necessary in our life. What if a person becomes addicted to purchases, if, under stress, takes money, goes and spends it on something that he does not need? Such a person is called a "shopaholic". And this is already an addiction.

Or, for example, work is a wonderful thing, a guarantee of all kinds of success. A work addict is called a workaholic. Workaholism takes away from a person the joys of life, relationships with loved ones, and often health.

Fitness can become an addiction

For many who go to gyms, fitness is a truly rewarding business. Let's say a girl thinks: it's time to lose weight, correct her figure. And she goes to the gym for a while. Then she may not go there. She knows that if she wants to, she will go there again. But the man goes to the gym regularly. He understands that he may not train, but he likes to train. He doesn't feel that it is his duty to train in the gym. This is a hobby, a pleasure.

Now imagine that there is no life for a person without a hall. That he suffers if he is temporarily unable to go there (for example, while on a business trip). He feels guilty if he didn't go to the gym when he is tired or sick. This person feels that it is his duty to constantly increase the load.

He despises those who do not live like him in training. To achieve success in the gym, you need to eat appropriately, diet. A fitness addict will immediately object: "This is not a diet, this is a healthy diet!"

Fitness addiction is about focusing on your own body image. It is no coincidence that among those who visit the halls, there are always people with eating disorders. With bulimia, for example

Bulimia is a repetition of the cycle: gluttony - actions so as not to get fat, - gluttony … It is known that sufferers of bulimia induce vomiting. But there are other activities, including training. In general, people who constantly overeat often think so: “I’ll start going to the gym, and the opposite will happen. Now I am constantly overeating, but I will be exercising all the time. Sometimes women with eating disorders even become fitness instructors themselves.

Why is exercise in the gym called a sport? For specific actions: a person trains. But in its meaning, in terms of purpose, fitness is a beauty service. This is the appearance.

Sport is when a person needs a trained body in order to jump higher, swim faster, and dance better on ice. In the case of a beauty service, the body and its appearance is an end in itself. Classes are needed so that the appearance of the body evokes admiration, so that it becomes flawless.

Dreams That Don't Come True

People who depend on the gym see success in fantasy. They believe that success will come when they achieve the desired look. And in the mirror they see over and over again something not beautiful enough.

Self-esteem is inside a person, not outside. And if a man becomes addicted to the gym in his pursuit of masculinity, he lacks in his soul the recognition of his masculinity and strength

And no matter how much he sways, he will not see himself courageous enough. A girl, no matter how much she looks at herself in the mirror, no matter how much she trains, she always sees herself fat.

Such people are very fond of posting photos of themselves on social networks: pumped up, lost weight, exercising. On the beach - among dozens of other, not so slender people. And they collect "likes" in order to raise self-esteem, which falls again without "likes"

Fitness addiction, like other addictions, is a dubious path to success. Since a person became addicted to fitness, he most likely no longer grows professionally. Does not receive education if he has not received it earlier. Money and time are allocated so that there is enough for training, sports nutrition, and the right diet.

The man thinks: all women will be at his feet when they see how pumped up he is. The girl believes: all men will be at her feet when they see what a beautiful figure she has. But the relationship is worse, not better, than before. First of all, because most people have a different lifestyle.

Fitness addiction, if it has developed, limits the possibilities of sharing leisure time with other people. Including eating together.

Both treating a guest and eating together, if you are a family, have long been important rituals that improve contact between people and bring them closer together. But now, let's say, a girl begins to live with her boyfriend. She cooks for him, unhealthy, according to her ideas, food. He eats, she watches him with disgust. And she eats separately something completely different.

A partner who is not as good as the addict does not live so well, sometimes they try to improve and fix it. Compliant partners meet who agree to this. Here is a guy who brings his girlfriend to the gym so that she can lose weight, get pumped up, dry up there. “If you want to live with me, be worthy of me,” he says.

However, not every adult will agree to be corrected so that he is not always good enough. Over time, even an obedient partner will develop dissatisfaction. This is why fitness addiction destroys relationships, not improves them

Fitness addiction does not improve health. Many people are well aware that too much exercise is no longer a daily norm for an ordinary person who is not a professional athlete and is not preparing for the Olympics.

When is it time to see a psychologist

Do you know what the trouble with fitness addicts is? They believe the problem is something else and fitness will help solve it.

Here are some phrases that signal a problem:

• "I have low self-esteem - I go to the gym and improve it."
• "I will improve my figure and the relationship will go well."
• “Get rid of my eating disorder through fitness. I will have a perfect figure, I will not need to starve or induce vomiting."
• “I will be perceived as a man if I train hard. I will be confident in myself."

People do not understand that at the moment their problem is precisely expressed in dieting and training. That in their case fitness does not get rid of the problem, the problem thrives in it. Most likely, if such a person comes to a psychologist, then the psychologist will hear something like: "Help me finally lose weight so that I stop hating myself."

When can fitness addicts benefit from seeing a counselor? Only if they set the task of learning to value and respect yourself. Then there will be hope for new relationships in life, and new successes

Expert opinion

Elena Tuhareli, practicing psychologist, certified specialist in art therapy, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, teacher, full member of the Professional Psychotherapeutic League

Negative aspects of addiction. Any addiction is not only a potential harm to health, since any excesses are not useful, but also limitations. It is no longer we who decide whether we go to the gym, whether we want to study or just take a selfie in front of the mirror, our addiction decides for us. There is a shift towards external, that is, not ours, but imposed from the outside motivation.

To work with fitness addiction, and with other similar addictions, it is important to realize your true goals. Why are we doing this? What do we really need?

Let us analyze the obsessive desire to lose weight by all means: "I will go to the gym - I will lose weight - I will build a relationship." In this situation, there is a shift in motive and purpose. There is a desire to visit the gym not to maintain health and general tone, but to improve relationships.

Here you already need to figure out how to achieve the true goal without violence against yourself. Look for alternative routes. When the number of options for solving the problem increases, there is no longer such an acute need for an object of dependence, since alternative and adequate ways to achieve the true goal appear.

It is very important in such situations to be aware of the secondary benefits. Ask yourself the question: "What do I get from this addiction?" And allow yourself to answer this question as openly as possible.