I know we all have emotional issues from being overweight and many of us can totally relate to the horror stories.
But like jennydoodle I didn't lose weight until I realized I had to separate all the emotion away and focus on what happened to my body when I ate different types of food.
At age 50 I weighed 204 pounds at 5'1". I realized that it was bread that really affected me badly, particularly wheat. By going wheat free I gradually lost weight and 10 years later I had gotten to 160. But I am very carb sensitive and also need a higher proportion of lean protein to lose weight. Since starting IP I have lost 15 pounds and want to keep on until I lose 15 more.
As for maintanace I know I will never include wheat in my diet again and I will have to limit fruit to two servings a day. Before IP I ate a great deal of fruit but veggies are a better choice because of the natural sugar in fruit.
So it is very much a careful monitoring of which foods do you in.
Wheat also makes me sluggish and I really have to force myself to move if I eat it. It also sets off intense cravings.
Pat

I agree this is a great post, and I'll chime in...

What bumps my weight up is a few things. Firstly, I just love food. I work in the food industry as a buyer for a specialty food store and am constantly being pressured to try samples of product. Sure, they're delicious, but looking back on it I was snacking on chocolate, bread, olive oil, pastries, salami, cheese, etc. all day long.

Secondly, I am an emotional eater. I eat when I'm bored, happy, sad, frustrated, lonely, celebrating... I'm hoping my three months (figures crossed on just 3 months!) on IP will help me readjust my emotional connection with food.

Jennydoodle, I am going to be on a cruise on Thanksgiving week. I was not planning on staying OP while on vacation, but exercising every day. It a 7 night cruise so I will be THRILLED if I can not gain more than a couple of pounds. Thanks for letting me know that it's do-able!

You're welcome! And it IS totally doable. Plus, have it in your head now that you WILL go back on Phase 1 immediately upon your return. Do not continue 1 extra day of vacation eating. In no time, you will be back in action and losing weight.

Enjoy your cruise! I know I could never go on a cruise and remain OP

Me....

simple - I starved myself. Due to family illness, I was not able to keep down food and went without for almost 3 months - living on coffee and an occasional handful of crackers. Once I started to try and eat again, I started putting on the pounds at about 5 per week until I was 60 lbs heavier... then it slowed but didn't stop. I needed a real plan to help me get healthy again and I am really loving IP!

For me, I am a food addict. Sugar and carbs are so addicting, it sends me to binges. It's like a drug...one day I have some and the next day I'll need more. For the first time in a very long time, I feel like I have control over what I eat.

Enjoyed reading everyone's reasons and sympathize with many.

Thought I'd come in from a different angle.

I had never been overweight and was a smoker, I gave up that unhealthy habit and started to enjoy food too much. People would comment that extra weight was healthier than smoking and so I kept eating.

As I was never "fat" I never saw a "fat" person in the mirror and had a wake up call when I saw a photo of myself.

I've tried to diet a couple times but as I never had to in the past I really didn't know how to, or, I would plan to lose xamount by a specific date and that date would come and go and I wouldn't have lost a pound!

I feel like I still have set a goal but haven't really "dieted" except this time the pounds are disappearing and I'm loving it.

I'm hoping that once I lose the weight I put on I'll be able to maintain it. I realize I have a few habits to change but think it is totally doable as the majority of the time I eat healthy - chips are my weakness but I can walk away from baked goods any day.

I never really thought about this until now. I was abused as a child by my father and brother. On top of that my father would literally make me eat; I think it was a control thing for him. I remember telling my mom when he committed suicide that I wouldn't be "fat" anymore because I didn't have to eat as much, and then the depression really set in. My mom was/is an unhealthy eater; she has diabetes and had them when she was pregnant with me. After my dad died, I had no clue how to eat so I continued how I ate in the past, and my mom would just give me everything I wanted. I remember being age 9 and wearing size 9 women jeans. I tried so many diets before and would lose a few pounds then I would plateau and could never get the scale to budge, get frustrated and gain it all back and then some, never learning how to really eat and what caused my stalls and gains. I discovered I had PCOS when we decided to try to have kids and couldn’t get pregnant. The fertility specialist I went to had me taking all these pills and go to a dietician and she told me what to eat and how to have a well rounded meal plan. I followed her guidelines and I ate as she told me, I lost 30 pounds in 3 months. When I went back to the fertility specialist he said it wasn’t enough and I needed to stop eating sugar. That pushed me over the edge because I had cut out “sugar” in the form of ice cream, candies and desserts but was able to eat pasta as allowed by the dietician. I had such cravings it would literally drive me insane from hour to hour to fight with myself not to eat anything that wasn’t allowed and never be satisfied. I told him that I cut out sugar and showed him what I ate and he told me I was lying and that I had to be eating sweets there is no other explanation. I was in tears and went home to my husband and said I was done. With not learning how to eat for my body I went from 225 to 318. The lightest I ever remember being is 180 in high school. I honestly don't know what thin is, I have never been. It scares me, but I want to get there for my health and to make my body the best it can be so maybe we can have children. I want to end this vicious cycle of not knowing how to eat and gaining weight. This is the first diet that is working for me, not having the intense cravings I normally would have, made me realize I am carb sensitive. I still have a lot to learn on how to eat but I’m learning, and with this diet, I fell off the wagon but I climbed back up which is a first for me. I’m feeling healthier, not sluggish all the time, and I know if I keep at it I will get there.
Sorry such a long post.

I am an emotional eater, picker, taster, grazer. Eat sweets...then cheese, then sweets again. Drank alcohol. Ate fast foods. I ate when I was angry. A self sabatoger. I was nice and slim as a teen-twenty yr old. Once I got fat I did not get attention or comments from pervies. I ate to hide myself. No more. Feels like I am coming out of an abiss of depression or something...finding myself again, letting go of crap and people in my life that torn me down. All of it gone. Once I made that decision the weight has come off...with Ideal Protein as help. Started IP August 2, 2011
sigh...relief to say this sigh

What made me fat? I am too an emotional eater. I medicated myself with food. Stressed out, worried, too much on my plate? Food was my answer. Somehow it made everything better(or sugar high knocked me out). And next day I would be disgusted with myself, and starve all day, and then come home at night ravenous and stressed, and repeat over and over again. I have been ignoring my body for most of my life, I think. I am not aware when I am hungry, I only know when I am ravenous. I am not aware that I had enough, I only know when I can eat no more. It is not only about food. It is about everything. If I am working, I tend to go on until everything is "done", no time for a break. If I would be reading a book, I will read through the night until I am done, and then it's time to go to work. If I am working out, it had to be full force and 5 days a week, and if I did not make it there, I failed in my eyes and "what is the point, you can't stick with it". In other words, moderation is not my forte, I have to work very hard on it, as well as on my self acceptance. I am working on respecting my body and taking good care of it. I need to remind myself every day that I deserve it. That my body will respond accordingly to my care. If I abuse it, it will fight back. After some self reflection I have realized I would never treat my friend or a child the way I treated my body....And we are the sum of our every day small choices that come to a big picture. I am doing pretty well in most areas. I am working on taking better care of myself. One day at a time, one meal at a time. What important is not that I would be making right choices every time, it is important that I will be making them MOST of the time.

What made me fat??? Good question to ask. I was a carb/sugar addict. I couldn't stop eating them. I would binge on fast food, 711 junk, cookies, candy, soda etc. I kept telling everyone, including myself, that i just had to have it. The cravings were so intense, I was not strong enough to fight them.
Now, i am week 4 of the plan and i feel great. I rarely have cravings now. I am thrilled. I see now how addicted and manipulative the carbs and sugar were to my body. Unbeleivable how much control it had over my life.
I also had the "self sabatoge talk" to contend with. I would get sad about something (like trying on clothes) then go eat fast food. Lots of it.
I am so happy i found this program. I think it is adding years to my life.

[QUOTE=jennydoodle;4077925]
I also found that wheat, wheat gluten and flour in general do not agree with my sysytem. I get very bloated and sleepy (like I am drugged) whenever I eat bread or pasta or any kind of pastry. So even when I am on maintenance, these foods will not be a staple in my diet, and will be a total occasional food. I am ok with that because I know how it makes me feel (like garbage!).

These symptoms sound a lot like what I was experiencing a few years ago, turns out I have celiac disease basically an intolerance to gluten, if you havent been tested you might want to because gluten free food (bread etc.) can be very expensive and if you are diagnosed with celiac disease it can be a tax write off, also be aware that some of the IP products have gluten in them. I have been 100 % gluten free for 2 years now and I gained a lot of weight when I went gluten free, be aware a lot of gluten free products pack on the calories. Anyway just thought I would share my experiences being gluten free.

For me, just eating unhealthy foods. I had a really high metabolism so could eat whatever, whenever and in the past three years I had a hysterectomy, moved and have been inactive so about 25 pounds crept on. I think as well, I'm not that tied up with how I look so it didn't really bug me (when it should have). Thankfully my sister lost lots of weight, I saw how great she looked, and she motivated me to get healthy before I hit menopause!

I totally realize now that i have been on IP that i was truly addicted to carbs and it wasnt an emotional addiction, but a physical one. I would get a headache, feel sick to my stomach until i ate a carb, and the faster the sugar rush the better i would feel. I think alot of us on here probably had that issue and didnt really know it.