Since I have been ill the past two days, I have been lurking about the board, reading many posts. I have been paying close attention to the whole "can we change" posts, and it put me in a philosophical mood. So, as a mostly new member who is unknown to all of you, I thought I would throw in my thoughts.

I have not always been "fat". I have, however, for most of my adult life anyway, been slightly to moderately overweight. I didnt know nor care much about BMI 15 years ago, but know it now, I can say that for most of the past 20 years, I have been between 26 and 28 BMI. It was only in the last 4 years that I suddenly went from pleasingly plump to obese. At 197 pounds, in fact, I had just broached into morbidly obese. I have to agree with kaplods statement that while there is a mental thing involved, with self image and all that, it is only a part of it. I too, have always been assured, self reliant, and all that. That is probably how i managed to get to the point of morbid obesity. I just didnt see it happening. Honestly, I can say, I simply wasnt thinking about it. I ate without thinking. If I was enjoying something, I had a bit more..if I walked past a candy dish, I grabbed a piece. It was almost like reflex..not a clue I was doing it half the time.

I realised the problem perhaps a year ago, and started to fret about it. But it was only this past february that I got my mind into the right place to start doing something about it. I think this is where the mental really comes in. You can want to lose weight, your family can want you to lose weight, but until you get yourself into the "zone" it is not going to happen. I hit my zone when I was walking to the convenience store, and noticed a very uncomfortable pain in my hip. I got home, weighed myself and sighed. A small voice inside me said "you are going to be dead before you hit 50 years old if you dont do something". I hit the computer, printed up charts, graphs, found fitday, and dietpower, and set up my plan. 3 months later, I am down a bit over 30 pounds, and still going strong.

I know why I am fat. It was such a simple thing, but still hard to overcome. Its a bit draining to constantly have to be thinking about what I put into my mouth. One wouldnt think it would be. But after 20 plus years of eating whatever I wanted (and sometimes didnt even want, specifically) its hard to always be mindful.

So I am curious.I know we are all different..the paths that brought us all here are different. So if you want to share, I would like to hear your ideas on why you are here, and when you hit that "zone" that allowed you to finally make the change. And as another quick question, what do you do to keep yourself in that zone?

Why was/am I fat? Because I had horrible eating habits. I could polish off half a bag of Reese's pb cups in one sitting. I never ate breakfast, and at lunchtime I'd be starving. I'd eat until I was stuffed and then some. I eat because I'm bored (in fact, my binge this weekend was because I was bored), or emotional. I had no self control. I'd go back for seconds and thirds, etc...
I hardly ever ate fast food, though.
I finally made the decision to lose weight because I was miserable. I still have my moments of weakness, but I guess that's a cross I'll have to bear.

I will have to agree with you tornado siren.... You only get into it once you get in the zone... I have been pushed and nagged about it for almost ten years now but I only got into thr "zone" when one day I was lying down on my bed watching tv and I galnced around to cheack something and I saw my body in the morror and I was disgusted at the layers and layers of fat...I decided to take an initiavtive that day and since then have been loyal to myself more than the diet as you can always cheat in your diet but you can't cheat yourself!! There! I think I got a bit philosophical in the end myself! Hehehe

why was i overweight?

cos i really liked the wrong types of food, and did not care about how much i would eat off them. when i first moved out of home and mom's healthy kitchen, i had free pass to all the things she bought in very limited quantities for us, like chips and chocolate.
my own cupboard meant i could have 6 bars in there and they were all mine, and i didn't have to think of the rest of my family before grabbing one, two, or even the last one.

even though i never made it to the "obese" classification, worst known bmi was 29, i was heading there very fast.

what put me in the zone? wanting control and quality of life, wanting to love myself, wanted to feel proud!

grrrkgrrrl

I am fat because I ate more than my body needed for the amount of activity I was doing. I am not being a smarty pants even though it prolly sounds like it. I wasn't terribly oveweight until I quit smoking. And instead of putting a cigarette to my face, I put food there. And didn't get much exercise. And the more I ate and the more I gained, the less I felt like exercising. But I felt for a long time that the quitting smoking was my top priority and wanted to make sure I didn't relapse from that.

On Feb. 20 of this year, after bieing quit from tobacco since August 27, 2008 I decided I was tired of being out of breath climbing stairs, hurting all over from carrying 90-ish pounds of extra weight around and hating the way I looked...I decided to eat well and get active. I've done better than I expected, but there are days when I just think I will never be smaller again. I am often ready to give up, but I tell other chicks not to, so how could I not listen to my own advice?

I wish I would hurry up and get thinner! I wish I hadn't eaten with reckless abandon. I wish I had been more active. I can't change what I did then, nly what I am doing now.

Barb

Angel, its funny you should mention hurting all over from carrying 90ish extra pounds, because I was definitely at that point too. When I see women who are even more overweight, women in the 150 to 200 lbs over category, I have to wonder how in the world they manage to function! This is not, in any way a slight on them at all. In fact, I have to almost be in awe of it, because with only 80 extra on me, I was constantly at least uncomfortable, and frequently in actual pain. At that point, I think, and for me, another 20 pounds probably would have put me at that level, it becomes even harder to get out and about. I think once you pass a certain stage, you feel trapped. It hurts to get out and exercise, and the couch is comfortable. Kudos to all who work through that and manage to get it done. I am glad I started when I did, because another 20 pounds or so, and I dont think I would have had the strength.

I'm fat because I chose to be. Sounds funny, but it's true. I'm a smart girl and I knew what sitting around on my butt and stuffing my face would lead to...being fat. And I did it anyway. I, like many others, was really in denial...I knew I was kinda chunky, but I really had no idea how big I was. It took seeing a few unfortunate and unflattering pictures to really make me see the light...and then I was mad at myself because it really was all my fault, I put myself in this particular mess.

There has never been a point in my life when I didn't just know better. No one has to really be told not to eat a carton of ice cream at a time...but I did. So I have to accept responsibility for it in order to fix it. And I struggle with this. It WASN'T an overnight weight gain, it WASN'T inexplicable, it WASN'T an "oops" and I WASN'T made to be this way. I ate myself to obesity and now I have to do the opposite to get away from it. People don't really become obese by having a few too many snacks every now and then or by simply neglecting to exercise...there are a lot of individual choices, decisions and actions that pave the way to becoming overweight.

My two cents anyway1

OMG! This is on the 40 somethings board...I apologize profusely. I didn't look...sorry ladies. I just totally jumped in on your thread...

So what do we do when a 20 something posts in a 40 something thread? I would suggest boiling in hot oil, but this is a weight control forum after all. We cant use oil. Poach her in lemon juice?

I have to get to a point of Disgust before I'll do anyting! I'm just hoping I'll remember how horrible I feel when I'm Overweight. Shopping is a horrible experience. You can see something Cute.....by the time you get it in your Size......It's no longer Cute! I tried a bunch of clothes on today. Nothing looked Good! I'll go back after 20 more pounds & try again!

Poach her indeed. ROFLMAO! Thickandpretty, I am sure it will be fine. I oops into the 20-something every once in a while and it makes me feel old and not so smart. I bet you are welcome here anytime.

Barb

How I got fat - Gained the extra 100 lbs. the year I was 30 by taking a job that required eating all meals M-F in restaurants/fast food and nights in a hotel room.

What kept me fat for the next 19 years - a bit of an "oh well" attitude. I was already fat so why not eat everything I wanted? From always losing/gaining the same 20 lbs in my 20's, I knew it would be a ton of work to lose 100 and I just wasn't that interested in doing it. Except for feeling bad about my weight I lived exactly the life I wanted to live, I didn't feel it was holding me back.

What put me in the zone - Deciding it was time to put the effort into it. At age 49 I could no longer use the "fat but healthy" reasoning.

P.S. Not a 40-something anymore, turned 50 six months into this adventure.

I don't think the why's matter nearly as much as we tend to think.

I've started seeing my exercise and dietary changes, like good oral hygiene. No more or less important, just something I do because I want the best results I can get.

Some people do not take care of their teeth very well, and still have healthy, strong teeth: few cavaties, healthy gums....

Other people brush and floss and see their dentist, and they still get cavities, gum disease, erroded enamel and toothloss...

Most people fall somewhere in the middle. Behavior matters, but so do factors largely outside our control.

I wasn't born with strong teeth (my dentist says) and I wasn't born with a natural resistance to obesity. Which means I probably have to work harder at dental care and at weight loss than other people (and there are a lot of people who have it much worse than I do).

I can feel sorry that it's so hard. Or I can fee grateful that I don't have it worse. Mostly (now) I just try to do what I have to do, to make it better - knowing that I'll always have to work as hard as I'll have to work (so thinking about how much work it's going to be is uneccesarily overwhelming).

It is what it is.

You know, I haven't really analyzed why I eat. I just eat. It's not because I'm hungry. At least not very often. When it's morning, I eat something for breakfast. When it's noon, I think I have to eat lunch and when it's around 6 pm it's dinner time. I have been conditioned to eat at these times regardless of whether I'm hungry or not. I also eat to avoid work or something that I don't want to deal with. I don't like the way I look in clothes. It's bad enough to not look decent without clothes, but with them..not a good feeling. I know it's vanity, but I like to look nice. I also have just recently started having knee pain, so the added weight isn't helping. It's just not fun getting older.

I was talking to my beautician once and was telling her that I think that a lot of us eat because we are hungry for something other than food. We are trying to fill a void. There is something inside of us that isn't getting fulfilled or satisfied. Does that make sense or am I crazy?