Body checking compulsion?

[neurosies]

I have an eating disorder as well as OCD and I have a couple of compulsions related to my obsession with my weight. One is body checking, where I stare into the mirror to see whether my body has changed since the last time I looked at it. I checked 23 times yesterday when I was feeling skinny. Today I feel fat and I've already checked at least 7 times and it is only 10 am.  I'm stressed because normally I take a picture so I can check in any room of the house but I forgot to take one before I drank my tea so I won't be able to look at how my stomach looked when I first woke up.

Staring at myself this often is extremely demoralizing and it is killing my self-esteem. Does anyone else have this compulsion? How do you cope?

[Gemma7]

I don't have this compulsion but have done many other checking compulsions. It's really all about understanding your problem, understanding that checking is not helpful in any way and like you say actually undermines your self-esteem. Try to remember other people do not take photos and check their body to see if it has changed, you don't need to either. 

I may have misunderstood your problem but have you looked into Body Dysmorphic Disorder? It's very like OCD but compulsions often focus around checking your body, just because if it fits your problem more, then it might help to read up on how to specifically challenge it. The recommended therapy for BDD is CBT too, so could be applied to either BDD or OCD. 

Edited July 24, 2018 by Gemma7

[neurosies]

1 hour ago, Gemma7 said:

I don't have this compulsion but have done many other checking compulsions. It's really all about understanding your problem, understanding that checking is not helpful in any way and like you say actually undermines your self-esteem. Try to remember other people do not take photos and check their body to see if it has changed, you don't need to either. 

I may have misunderstood your problem but have you looked into Body Dysmorphic Disorder? It's very like OCD but compulsions often focus around checking your body, just because if it fits your problem more, then it might help to read up on how to specifically challenge it. The recommended therapy for BDD is CBT too, so could be applied to either BDD or OCD. 

Thank you so much, you definitely understood my problem! I had never even considered that possibility before. After doing some digging, I believe it's an OCD thing because I have insight into the fact that I'm not actually fat, but I could probably be treated for BDD and it would work. 

Thanks again for your wisdom, it has been really helpful.