Being Honest about Being Obese

For me, I have to constantly be aware of what I'm eating.  I think because my natural "lifestyle" or the way I really want to eat come out very easily if I stop keeping track of what I'm eating. 

I usually have no problem staying on track during the week IF I have my usual routine.  But, if I have to get up earlier than normal, have less to do or any change in my normal routine that day is usually a bust for me.  And, sometimes it takes me 2 days to get myself on track again. 

 While I'm not thin, I can't say that I'm obese.  So, I can't really identify with exactly what you are going through.  I will say, however, that I have noticed that when tackling any difficult problem (and changing old habits is difficult, no matter what they are), it's best to tackle one aspect of the problem, and not have the enormity of it overwhelm you.  I did once lose some weight by just changing one thing - I took a friend's suggestion and simply stopped eating bread and pastry. 

willowchow

For me, I have to constantly be aware of what I'm eating.  I think because my natural "lifestyle" or the way I really want to eat come out very easily if I stop keeping track of what I'm eating. 

Same here. I grew up in a BIG Italian family....big portions of fatty, starchy, good (lol), foods....and I we always cleaned our plate. I was a skinny kid growing up, so food was never a problem. But, then I got into my 20's and started gaining little by little....before I knew it my usual size 6/8 was now a tight 14. I'm a size 8 again, but it's defianly a struggle to stay on track, especially when I'm around my family (which is often) because somebody is always offering you food and if you decline thye just offer more, and more, and more...*sigh*...to say the least it is very tempting to just say, 'screw it! whats one cannoli???' but I'm starting to know myself better and my limits.

Jewlieee

I would bet $1M and say that your dh is thrilled to do activity with you. Let him support you and don't worry about feeling embarrased and such.

I completely, & totally agree with this statement!

My DH was about 25 pounds overweight.  He decided to make diet changes, but, even though I offered repeatedly, he refused to work out with me because he "didn't want to hold me back."  I finally convinced him to work out with me.  He gets a better workout, & I get to spend more time with him.  It's a win, win situation for both of us.

One thing to look forward to is the overall health benefits.  After I'd lost most of the weight, I did this free thing at work where we had our blood drawn and they did all sorts of tests.  When it came back, I was in the optimal range for EVERY single test!  That felt just as good as getting back into the same size pants I wore in high school.  I have health problems on both sides of my family, and some of the same problems on each side so the overall health aspect felt very good to me.  BMI, blood pressure, weight, HDL, glucose....all as good as they could be.  Also, I have noticed that since losing 20-25lbs I no longer have constant pain in my right foot.  About 4 years ago I developed chronic joint problems in this foot, which my dr's just all "arthritis" because nothing is broken, infected, or out of place yet there was constant pain and my body was constantly trying to "heal" this area.  I used to walk with a fairly noticable limp.  This was when I was 21 years old, and at my peak I weighed 152lbs (I'm 5'7";) so people bugged me a lot about that limp since I was supposed to be young and healthy.  For the past year, my foot has barely bothered me at all.  I think taking 25lbs of weight off has helped a lot, and perhaps my exercise has strengthened the joint (I mainly do elliptical so there's no impact).

Focus on how YOU feel and how YOU want to look.  For me, I kept track of numbers so that I knew what was working and what wasn't.  I don't throw them out there to be compared to everyone else, only to compare my own start to my own finish.  I don't care if I was not technically overweight even at my heaviest, I didn't *feel* good.  Now, I feel good!  Besides the foot thing, I sleep a lot better than I used to.  People also carry weight differently.  My SIL is what I would call thin, VERY in shape (runs marathons) and she weighs a decent bit more than I do.  I don't know how, but she just has a different body.  I envy her body even though she weighs more than me.  What helped me was to let go of all the emotions attached to weight like shame and jealousy and all that and forget about what everyone else has to say.  I have a target weight that I want to be, that I believe is optimal for myself as far as how I personally like to look and feel.

 Thanks for reminding me! I need to finish my bike. Lol. It was my winter project since I couldn't bring my bike from Calgary home. All I need is brakes and it'll be road worthy.

Feel lucky that your DH is willing to work with you.  Alex wants to ride with me but due to his injuries, he can't handle the bumps and jolts on a bike. I'm thinking of asking him to have a healthy snack ready when I get home cuz he so wants to help.

Liesje

...instead of spending all this time formulating diets and workouts and all that, when I opened the fridge I would choose to shut it again and walk away.  It was more of just focusing on that moment...

 That's what I do. I am very addicted to chocolate and sometimes it takes everything I have in me to walk away from the Oreos. Those and brownies are probably my biggest temptation. Luckily I have good genes, but I have to be careful because I do almost no physical activity- some days I don't even walk out the front door. Resisting temptation is what has kept me from gaining weight over the years, although I would like to lose about 7 pounds. I'm mostly thin, but I gain it all in my midsection. So anyway, I do think it comes down to impulse control when you get cravings.

Edited to add that I think the "100 calorie" snacks are great. Although, there are never, ever enough cookies in the bag!

daisyprincess

Basically I eat potatoes, rice , pizza, spaghetti, I make the best stuffed shells lol, raviolis, cottage cheese and noddles, perogies, corn, peas, pineapple , grapes,  white bread, chips, ice cream, peanut butter and jelly. I do drink water but not alot, I drink alot of orange juice lately I don't drink alot of soda and if I do it's sprite or nestle ice tea Thats about it

The first thing is if these are the foods you are going to eat - high carb and high sugar, I would suggest you tweek it a little. Eat multi grain pasta instead of white. Eat brown rice. Eat multi grain breads. Stay away from the 'white'.  The body just turns them into sugar almost immediately. Brown and multi grain carbs are released much slower into your system and will help keep your hunger at bay longer.  Also orange juice sounds healthy but it is packed with sugar.  Eat your fruits, don't drink them.

Not ALL suar is bad.  You can get fat by eating too much fruit as well - that is ALSO packed with sugar.  Yes, its natural sugar.... but can still make you fat.

Good luck with your weight loss plans, the_gopher. I know you can do it!!

But I gotta say...you speak of being honest about obesity, and I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to give my opinion on the whole "eating disorder" term. As a person who "used" to struggle with anorexia (I put the quotation marks because it never REALLY goes completely away), I do not consider overeating to be an eating disorder. An eating disorder, to me, is a planned restriction or excessive intake (and then purging) of food for a GOAL...i.e., to be unreasonably skinny, or unreasonably obese. Just a person who naturally doesn't require as many calories and stays skinny does not have an eating disorder, a person who chooses to consume large and unhealthy quantities of food does not, IMO, have an eating disorder. I really hope no one takes this offensively, I know there is sometimes more to obesity like underlying emotional issues. But I really, really worry when people just use the term "eating disorder" freely...it's a VERY serious and life-altering condition.

I do not mean you, personally, but there are lots of people who try to use the term eating disorder to provide an excuse for their unhealthy choices...in reality, no one who truly has an ED wants to admit they have an eating disorder. And I do think that there is a huge difference between excessively eating unhealthy foods at any time vs. a person refusing to eat for three days (as I, at one point, did).

I really don't mean to rain on your parade, though I probably did. Eating disorders juust hit a little too close to him for me, you know what I mean?

But.... Like I said, you are awesome for setting your goals and plans to achieve them. You go girl!!

IrishSetterGrl

An eating disorder, to me, is a planned restriction or excessive intake (and then purging) of food for a GOAL...

You might want to look up what eating disorder means.  Seems like what it is "to you" and what is REALLY is are probably two different things.

Someone who compulsively overeats and/or is addicted to food DOES have an eating disorder, even if they do so without any goal in mind.

I have looked up what an eating disorder technically is considered, and it is true that it does not rule out overeating as an eating disorder. However, does a person who chooses not to eat as much food as most people simply because they don't require as much have an eating disorder? No. Similarly, a person who eats more food than others simply because they want to does not have an eating disorder.

Now, if an individual was purposefully eating great amounts of food in order to become obese, that is an eating disorder. Simply allowing onesself to eat whatever they prefer, whenever, does not constitute an ED. If it was, a lot more people would have them!

I am 5'7" and in high school I was 135 pounds.  I do have wide shoulders and big buted.  I ha mumps my senior  year, dropped to 127 and everyone thought I looked like a pile o bones including my boy friend.  I was 135 when I got married a cople of yeas later and hubby almost classified me as skinny.

 I gianed weight hilepregnat ad had to drop 30 pounds after first son was born,  After 2ed son, I weigh less than I I got pregantnt--I put on 10 pounds and he was 9 pounds 5 1/2 pounces  Thru te years I would gain during the inter, up to 150, or so, then drop it dring the summe.  I had my last cigarette June 30, 1999.  I was smoking 2 packs a dayof Misty menthol 120's.  Gave up cigarettes and took up eacint chocolae an i went up to 190.

Then when I lost Hunter to ProHeart6 Oct. 16, 20003, I felt so guilty for having put him on it, felt I had killed him and I had trouble eating and sleeping and in 8 months I was back down to 150.  I varied between 145 and 150 til last June when I was dignosed with type 2 diabetes.    Funy thing--everyone thought I would be the lst person in the family to ever be diagnosed with it as I ate proper. Now I have to watch arbs and sugar--my sandwich for lunch is "open face"---one slice of bread, no matter what kindof sandwch it is.  I easalad or fruit rather than chipsmost ofthe time.  I hae gone down to 137 and hby s complaining about me being to skinny.

I use "fake sugar, I avoid braed for the msot part and avoid pasta most of the time, as well as potatoes.  I eat losts of tossed salad, and veggies. I only occasionlly eat chips.  I buy or make sugar free cookies.   I drink Coke Zero and very little actual juice. 

About hte only time I really go off my diabetes diet is when we got to Golden Corral once in a blue moon.  I do eat a b ig plae of tossed salad with all the fixings, a seak, mybe 2 firedshrimp, some soup, and I do get a little bread puddng and cobbler with ice cream.  I look aound and can not believe the amount of food people are putting away, plate afte plate, and y hbby who is about 40 pounds over weight is just as bad.  It is the same when you go to any all you can eat place.

I think more than 50% of the people we see on thebeachare ove weight, some grossly so.  And I have a grand daughter headed that way  I get so mad at my son and DIL for lettiner her eat the way they do. She just turned6 last month.  Th Christmas and Thanksgiving she was 3 and again 4, she refused to eat ANY of the food I had which included turkey and ham, several casseroles 2 different kinds of fruit slad.  They fixed her grilled cheese and corn chips both meals both years.  Last year I put my food down and said she ate wht we had or nt at all.

We were  at theri place  Satuday night for a big bbq to celebrate my DIL running in he Beach to Bay Marathon.  Son did chicken, sausdage, hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill.  Had like 8  couples over and most had kids and we took our other grand daughter with us.  There was also baked bean, potato salad, cole slaw, watemelon, cantaloup, chips & dips, and someone brought 2 pizzas.  There was a celebration cake and a brownie cheese cake.  Maddie wouldn't eat any of the good food, so DIL did some nasty chiken nuggets in the micro wave.  She aet the chicken nuggest, a hamburger bun ( she lives on bread) and a big slice of pizza and slice of cake.  Unless they can get things turned around she is going to be obese soon.  My other granddaugher eat los of veggies, fruits and is thin s a rail.

IrishSetterGrl

Now, if an individual was purposefully eating great amounts of food in order to become obese, that is an eating disorder. Simply allowing onesself to eat whatever they prefer, whenever, does not constitute an ED

I have to respectfully disagree. When I was a freshman in HS, we had to do a study on EDs, and give a full report to our class. Being obese IS a disorder. I hardly think ANYONE eats with the intent to become obese. Eating whatever you want, and not putting a healthy limit on it IS a disorder, plain and simple. A lot of people DO have that disorder, and they will not admit it. (ETA Link: http://www.healthlink.mcw.edu/article/933128126.html)

Diet is only half the battle of weight management. Exercise is KEY. I am a naturally slender person (5'8", 120#). I eat a LOT of food- but I am also extremely active. If I did not keep myself active, I'm sure I would be hanging on that obese line.

erica1989

IrishSetterGrl

Now, if an individual was purposefully eating great amounts of food in order to become obese, that is an eating disorder. Simply allowing onesself to eat whatever they prefer, whenever, does not constitute an ED

I have to respectfully disagree. When I was a freshman in HS, we had to do a study on EDs, and give a full report to our class. Being obese IS a disorder. I hardly think ANYONE eats with the intent to become obese. Eating whatever you want, and not putting a healthy limit on it IS a disorder, plain and simple. A lot of people DO have that disorder, and they will not admit it. (ETA Link: http://www.healthlink.mcw.edu/article/933128126.html)

Diet is only half the battle of weight management. Exercise is KEY.

Erica, I totally agree with you.

My cousin is 24 yrs/old and extremely morbidly obese, almost to the point where she can't walk at all. She's miserable with herself and very, very unhealthy. She is a diabetic and has high blood pressure among other things. She doesn't want to be obese, but she can't control it. She's a binge eater, and a closet eater. She's tried dieting, but can't stick with it for more than 6-10 months. And exercising...she really can't do very much right now. IMO, it has a lot to do with her psychologically. She has always been overweight but when her Dad, my uncle, was diagnosed with terminal cancer she started to eat to cope....and after he passed away she really spun out of control. It's so sad to see because she is so young, and she's really killing herself, but she refuses help (for right now) and gets very defensive very easily.