Bit philosophical, but, how do you think you got so heavy?

[Tyraboots]

If I really try to put my finger on it, the crux of why I got so big, I would say it is an addiction to food. Definately an addiction. I use food the same way someone would pick up a drink of a cigarette. It was definately my drug of choice, and it is still here. I can't do the quantities I used to do, but I am still doing it. How to stop it though....

 

[tink75]

I gained weight the same way - I have never smoked or drank so I guess that food has always been my stress relieve also. I am falling back into that trap but I'm determined to beat it this time round!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to start a food diary on here tomorrow and I am going to write down EVERYTHING I put in my mouth. Hope by seeing it on paper it will break the bad habits xxx

 

[phatmomma]

I got this big by eating crap and not getting off my butt to burn it off! When i think of how i used to eat, i'm ashamed of the amount of fast food i used to eat!

But as you say it is also an addiction, like drugs or drink! How many of us (myself included) have a bad day and don't reach for low fat hummus n rice cakes, we reach for something unhealthy!

I'm starting a new policy, i won't buy it in then i can't eat it! Apart from crisps which i have to buy for my girls lunchboxes when it's not school hols... But then crisps have never been my drug of choice, chocolate is! I remember the excitement when the machine gave me 3 x twix and the exact amount of money i put in back as well I hope to never get so excited again, but i can't promise!

 

[Louanne79]

I'd say similar really. That and the fact that I'm an emotional eater, and that as I'm quite picky, I eat too much of the wrong things. When I was younger, I burnt off my excesses, but after having surgery on a skin cancer on my leg in my mid-teens, then a broken knee cap in my late teens, I stopped exercising, but carried on eating.
Also, I come from a family where you have to finish what's on your plate. Consequently, I think I got used to over-filling my stomach. It stretched, and now I can fill it more.

 

[Tyraboots]

If we had watched our best friend,or someone we loved sabotaging themselves like this, we would step in and try to talk them out of it. Why is it we don't extend the same care to ourselves?

 

[Janeywanttoloosealot]

I was definately a comfort eater used it as stress release. I find it hard now working out ways to cope with stress but exercise helps. janey

 

[tink75]

Good question TB - it's worse because my famly tried everything they could to support me and help me see the weight I was gaining. I wonder if with hindsight what we would do to change the past - me I think nothing - as much as I regret the weight, health problems and low self esteem. My bad experience after surgery has made me a stronger person that values her family soooooooo much. Before surgery I was a work a holic - now - I still manage to do it all but it comes second to my husband and children. It is very true what lessons we learn from our mistakes. Sorry this was a little random - but hey that sums me up perfect lol x

 

[thinnerangela]

Too much going in and not being able to do any exercise.

Cakes were my downfall - but not regularly - it was definitely too many calories going in

Angela xx

 

[BandyEmm]

stuffing my face too much, not shifting my rear ending,

No excuse thats how it happened.

 

[phatmomma]

Because we don't love ourselves as much as we do our families...

We need more self love and not in a dirty way before the filthy minds start xx

 

[Stellap]

Mine was a combination of bad eating habits (eating too high fat, too late at night, no exercising) and genetics. To be honest I wasn't a huge eater and regularly used to leave food on my plate but I did eat high fat, lots of takeaways and a large amount of carbs. I used food to cheer me up, to celebrate a victory, to mark an occasion and to socialise with. I was also a no breakfast, very late night eater. My whole family have a weight problem - not one of them are slim, and my brother is a vegetarian so doesn't eat the same as I do. We also have diabetes and hypothyroidism in our family history so I think its a combination of both. Even eating a fraction of what I used to I still lose slowly so that has reaffirmed that it wasn't the volume more what I used to eat. I wish I could view food as just a fuel and not as a lovely treat but there you go. Its all a learning curve and getting to know your body and what works for it I guess.

 

[marky v]

like everyone else, i liked, no, loved food, end of, happy, sad, bored you name it, i ate too much and did sod all...no excuses...those feelings of always wanting to eat have gone for me since surgery, i eat now because i have to, not because i want to, i now excercise because i want and have to, and i mean have to...whereas before i'd sit and do bugger all, i enjoy the buzz of sweating my arse off now from hard work at the gym, i'm achieving something from my life, i have been given a 2nd chance, and i've got the bull by the horns and gonna ride this sucka for dear life

 

[Grace]

It's just so complex. I can't put my finger on one element.

But comfort eating and no exercise has been a huge part of it.

Self-hatred and abuse is another huge part.

I am of the firm ppinion obesity is an eating disorder just as anorexia or bulimia....just as complex, just as difficult to treat.

But Thank God weight loss surgery has become available as a treatment option!


At last there is a light at the end of the tunnel....but a second chance has to be seized with both hands and not wasted!

 

[Kerry Jo]

Well said Charis, mine is over eating carbs and not enough exercise plus i graze, when making kids sandwiches i would give myself a piece of ham or cheese to each piece i was putting on the bread

 

[PoppyCorn]

Unlike most of you guys I've always thought of food as my enemy.

I have Binge Eating Disorder (BED).

When I was 12 and a little chubby I started starving myself for days then when I couldn't take it anymore eating until I felt sick - then actually being sick. After a few years doing that I stopped being sick after a binge.

Each and everyday I used to start by telling myself that I wouldn't eat and by 4pm I'd be starving and imaging all the 'goodies' I could buy on the way home from work.

An addiction - where a person seeks out what they 'need' wasn't what was happening with me.

My life revolved around avoiding food and failing, then feeling so awful about failing, that the only time I felt 'good' was during the time I was failing (AKA eating).

 

[cherry]

I to gained weight the same way! but when i left at 16 i joined the miliatry and i suddenly had my own money to buy things, i also had this awful habit of not being able to eat in front of people so id starve all day then gorge at night.... really not good!!! thats how i put it all on :-( x

 

[wombat]

I am not going to blame anything/anyone - I just love food. Any food and lots of it! And I could stuff my face up with it 24/7 (and not necessary bad food! I love tuna salad as much as I love Mc'Donalds and I love strawberries as much as I love chocolate).

And if before pregnancies I managed to keep myself on track and shift whatever felt too much, since my first pregnancy I just couldn't stop eating. And being stay at home mum didn't help either.
All those kids leftovers (shame to throw away) and things in the fridge which needed to be eaten...

I am a human hoover!

 

[emergingbutterfly]

The reason is very simple....DIETING. That is what got me to my biggest.

Having to finish all the junk food on a Sunday evening so that I could start "again" on Monday and sticking to it for a day or so, then breaking out, feeling so guilty that I ate more and it was just a vicious circle. I am so glad to be done with all of that!

 

[Kerry Jo]

emergingbutterfly i can relate to that, the first diet was my down fall. I always used to say can't do it till this day or that day, usually a monday, or ill do it after so and so wedding or after my birthday, then i could only do the diet for a few day because if i ate something i shouldn't i went awl and ate everything i shouldn't xxx

 

[Grace]

The reason is very simple....DIETING. That is what got me to my biggest.

Having to finish all the junk food on a Sunday evening so that I could start "again" on Monday and sticking to it for a day or so, then breaking out, feeling so guilty that I ate more and it was just a vicious circle. I am so glad to be done with all of that!

Oh Yes! dieting is just a nightmare. If I could turn the clock back I would never begin the first one!