No Compliments, Please

I have never asked a DA or FA for their view on something in this forum because I don't want it to seem like I am using anyone but there is one last piece of the puzzle that I am trying to find, to help me get a full grip on what happened in my relationship with my ex (FA I believe). I know that he is an individual so there won't be a blanket answer for my concern but I am curious if any of you have ever experienced what I am about to describe below. And, if so, is there anyway I could have dealt with this in a better way?

I would also like to note to any disgruntled Anxious people out there that this is not an invitation to go all "open season" on avoidantly attached people. I have the utmost respect for them as individuals and human beings. Anxious people I respect you very much too but I would actually prefer that no Anxiously Attached people comment on this thread, unless you can identify with the feelings of not wanting to be complimented. If you can't, then please, respect my wishes and just sit back, relax and try to learn something. 

If it makes a difference, if you are avoidantly attached and you would like to respond to my post in private, you can feel to private message me if the public board is uncomfortable for you. I am really trying to understand and I really would like to hear from you.

I was VERY secure when I met my ex and we began dating. He was the one to take the lead. Every day I would wake up to a text saying how amazing he thought I was. How wonderful he felt, how happy he was to have found me. This was all new to me. No one had ever spoken to me that way before. At times it was a bit uncomfortable because it was new, but he wanted to express himself in that way so I allowed it. It seemed to make him feel good. But I never asked or demanded it from him. It was just how he was with me.

When I started expressing how I felt, and I would compliment him or tell him what he meant to me he would give me very clipped kind of canned responses like "you are kind" or "you have a kind heart". Its sounds fine but I guess there was just a difference between the way he would talk when he felt comfortable and when he was uncomfortable.

I noticed this every time I would compliment him and I asked, "Why does it feel like you are pushing me away whenever I compliment you?"

He said, "I don't like to be complimented. It makes me uncomfortable. It's not sincere."

So I said, "But I am being sincere. And when I compliment you and you go cold on me, it makes me feel like maybe you think I am lying. It makes me feel good when you say sweet things to me, I want to do things that make you feel good too."

He said that he would try to do better with accepting the compliments. But it never really changed. The more we got to know one another, the more I was falling in love with him. I feel like love needs to be expressed. He would express it to me, but I felt like I was not allowed to express it to him. This was  a constant source of pain for me.

I tried to explain to him, "When you don't allow me to fully love you the same way you express to me, then I feel like I am not really wanted in this relationship. It makes me wonder why you keep dating me if you are allowed to love me but I'm not allowed to love you back. It hurts me to feel like I can't truly be a part of my own relationship."

He tried to explain, "I don't know why but when a person gives me affection I don't want to give them anything but if they don't do anything then I want to do everything for them."

I did my best to be ok with that. So I responded, "So if I do nothing, then you will give me what I need emotionally."

He said, "Yes."

I tired so hard to 'do nothing' but I wanted to be able to give too.  That is what being in a relationship means to me two people who give to one another, Otherwise I could just go back to being single. I was content with that. But having someone who says they love you so much and not being able to love back in the same way, felt very lonely. Not giving felt like I was using him, taking advantage. Doing all the taking. Being an emotional vacuum.

By the time he finally broke things off he told me that I had done nothing wrong, he wasn't angry with me, that he considered me perfect. He cares about me and I matter a lot to him but he just wasn't "In love with me". That his feelings were genuine at first but he just changed his mind and he didn't know why and I had to accept that sometimes things just don't make sense. It just didn't work out.

That was very hard for me to accept for a very long time. I feel there are always reasons, if we really want to know. But, at this time, this is his truth and I have to respect that.

Does any of this at all sound familiar to anyone? If it does, would you mind helping me to understand your feelings about this?

Thank you so much in advance guys!