Daily Post--2/17/08

All of the above.. emotional, social,medical... boredom.

Unlike many MO adults, I was completely normal in weight until I was 22. That fall (1972), my parents both died in a plane crash. They were in a small, private plane--my parents & another couple & 2 of the other couple's children--it was a rainy night--they were flying back from a weekend trip to PA--went down just minutes from home. There were no survivors of the crash. I was left with my 2 sisters (we have always been and still are very close), and the 1 daughter who did not go with the other couple was left the sole survivor of her family. Both families were from the same small town in IL, so our personal tragedy was also truly a community tragedy. I was a newlywed at the time, my older sister was married & lived out east, & my younger sister was still going to college. I was in my 1st yr. of teaching. My husband was incredibly kind & supportive, and I had some new friends in the town we had moved to just the year before, but my extended family and old, dear friends were not close by. Food became my drug of choice, my comforter; and I anesthetized myself with it daily. The next 3+ decades are a long story of self-loathing & despondency over my weight and all that was affected by it and my years of dieting (up & down, huge amounts), but there's not room for all that here! Jo

I was doomed from the start. My whole family is big......both my mom's and my dad's sides. So I was raised on oversized portions and food being the center of any celebration, tragedy, party or event. With everyone being big we had a lot of good cooks in the family so I developed a love for the taste of food early. I still have that. Between that and emotional eating I packed it on over the years. Never had any medical problems that attributed to the problem.

I guess there were multiple reasons for me. Of course I loved food and I loved to cook it just as much. I loved the attention I would get from family and co-workers when I would make something to share. Everything I made was always wonderful. My co-workers wanted me to open a resturant so they could all come eat there.......lol. So for me it was a way of being "accepted" by my peers. Because of my weight I wasn't one of the "gang", but man when I brought in something to eat the whole "gang" wanted to be around me that day.........lol. There is also the whole problem with being an emotional eater. I ate when I was sad, lonely, depressed, happy.....you name it. Unfortuntelly everything in my whole family centered around food. We couldn't get together for any occassion without having three times as much food as was needed. When I married my husbands family was just as bad, so that didn't help any. I think part of it is that obesity is also heriditary and I was honored to have the "gene". I also passed this gene to my children (all three of them) and if I could change that for anything I would. I hate that they stuggle with their weight. Sally

I think my issues were attributed to the birth of my brother when I was age 9. I was used to being the baby of the family, then lo and behold comes the surprise of the century, who is also the son my father always wanted. I had middle child syndrome and acted out in every way possible, and I mean every way. In jr high school it was worse. I would come home from school before anyone else was home, eat a bag of popcorn and a giant bowl of cereal loaded with sugar, then eat what was for dinner. I did this each and every day for years. I had an extremely low self-esteem, and don't know if this was due to being overweight, or if having a low self-esteem led me to being overweight? I alienated myself from all friends, and basically went through high school in a depression. The year before college I got in shape, lost weight, and my freshman year blossomed. I was outgoing, fun-loving, with lots of great friends. Unfortunately, as we all know the story, I gained it all back over the years. Now I am just so darn comfortable with my husband that it doesn't bother me as much to be large. He is worried about my health, but loves me as I am. At this point in life, I think most of my weight gain can be attributed to boredom and complacency.

Yup, everything. Molestation, emotions, hereditary. All of that. Not any one thing.

I was born a premie and was underweight till I was 5. I was considered normal for 1 year and then started gaining steadily every year till I was 12 and weighed 175 lbs. I saw a dietitian twice a week for a year, that was no help because she couldn't find anything wrong with my lifestyle or food intake. So at that point my pediatrician started me on a program with the local hospital. I ate food prepared just for me three times a day for a year and I gained 15 lbs. They didn't know what to do, just said that if I could stay at 190 then by the time I got taller I would grow into my body. I just kept gaining though. After years of begging, the US Army docs finally tested me for diabetes and I was off the charts. I was immediately put on insulin and metformin. Shortly after that the bp meds were added, then the insulin was increased. By the time I saw my surgeon about having the surgery I weighed 281 lbs and that was after struggling for months to get as far away as I could from the 300 mark. I was never an emotional eater, I never really ate anything that was bad for me, my only downfall was that I ate when I was bored. I always made sure that it was healthy food because of the diabetes, but it never really made a difference. Both of my parents have had the surgery, my father's was just a month after mine, and my mothers 1st one was back in 1978. She had a revision done in 1984 to make her stomach bigger because she was underweight. Now she is obese again and is looking into a 2nd revision. My entire family is pre-disposed to some degree, aunts, uncles, all of them are overweight or obese. I still find that I want to eat when I am bored, I am dealing with that almost daily, most of the time I win, but not always. One day at a time here! But I am down 87 lbs in 4 months with only 34 left to go.

I think I am an emotional eater, mad, sad, glad, all of the family gatherings are about food, so Ive always been big. Vivienne

Any occasion for me was occasion enough to eat! If I was sad, happy, mad, upset, disappointed, excited etc. I ate. There are no two ways around it. I loved (love) food and it was really my fault. I also ate the wrong things, I ate tons of chocolate and sweets etc. The good thing is that now, being a post op, I dont even miss the food I can no longer have. LB

I think i;ve had body dysmorphia all my life. I remember being 7 and not wanting to participate in my birthday party because i felt fat and uncomfortable, then i see the picutres from that day now and i dont see a fat little girl but i know i sure felt fat and i was 7! ..eventually my fat self image manifested into reality.