Does anybody else eat while watching "My 600lb Life?"

Karen 

 Right back atcha babe.

I am glad for you that you do not understand. Becoming super morbidly obese is so much more than just a matter of quantity and the realization that we are eating too much. At 300 + pounds, I certainly knew I was eating too much. I was eating too much of everything, not just donuts, cakes, and pies. I was eating every negative emotion I had.

Let me draw the curtain back for you so perhaps you can gain some understanding. You may not mean to come across as judgmental, but you do. I ate to cope with a lot of trauma and pain. Some people abuse alcohol and drugs, some gamble, some shop, and some of us eat.

It is entirely possibly to know something to be true and logical yet not be able to implement it. I was well aware of exactly how fat I was and still had a difficult time following an eating plan. I could follow it for a short time, but not for long term. I was an emotional eater, a volume eater, and a binge eater. I used food to numb pain and comfort myself.

You are quick to wonder how anyone let themselves get obese, yet you had wls yourself. How did you gain weight? You say you did not eat fast food, yet you were 80 pounds overweight, so somewhere you were overconsuming something.

Perhaps you are one of those lucky people *****ally has never had to deal with significant, deep, emotional and physical pain and trauma. Lucky you. I will say that for my part, one of the many reasons I ate to cope is that I was raised in an environment of abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual), neglect, drug use, alcoholism, and general dysfunction.

I'm certain I was judged harshly for being fat, but not as harshly as I would have been judged (and sometimes was) if someone knew what my home life was like. The fat was actually the lesser of two evils. It was also insulating. It kept people away, and that was good. I had learned people were capricious and cruel, and I didn't want them near me. Being fat meant they were repulsed and stayed away.

So before you get on your high horse about how you were 'only' 80 pounds overweight, maybe you should stop and think. Then think some more. You don't know the situation. The problem with being outside looking in is that you get a small slice of the picture. Also, those shows are edited for sensationalism.

Kate - I think this is one of the most touching and eloquent posts I have read in a long time. I am so sorry for your truth here.  I wi**** didn't resonate so deep with me but it does.  Thank you for being brave enough to say it here to help others understand and to not feel alone with their own demons.  Big huge hug - Ash

 And  too

I never understand when someone who is 80 or 100 pounds overweight calls themselves a lightweight.  I was 60 pounds overweight and believe me nobody ever called me a lightweight.  I looked and felt fat at that weight and others saw me as fat.  I strive everyday to stay at my goal weight.  I never want to go back to being in the least overweight.

I was a bit too under goal for a few years but make sure that I don't go over.  I weigh daily and cut down drastically on food if I am up by more than two pounds.

In olden days they were just called "sturdy."

Yup.  

I eat while watching this show too, and my husband has no idea how I can sit there and watch actual surgeries without throwing up. I chalk it up to being in the medical field, hahaha.

I love this show and found myself talking to the TV "Just don't put that in your mouth".  Then I remember if it was so easy - I could have done that too.  I did screw up in the beginning right after my surgery but I will tell you I paid for it in the bathroom with foamies and throwing up.  I wish they would show that part of it when the people eat badly.  Surely one of them has had it happen?