Especially for those of us who have been overweight since our teen years, what lies were you told that you believed?

I had two biggies. First was that no man would want to marry me if I was overweight. I was just a LITTLE overweight then... but my mom made me feel that I had no hope and men would find me revolting. That was HER hang up and she passed that on to me. FWIW, I met my husband when I weighed about 195 and he was thin. My weight was a nonfactor.

Second lie my mom told me was that it was nearly impossible to lose weight as you got older - that it got harder and harder. It gets harder after having kids. It gets harder as you get close to middle age. It gets harder after menopause.

Well, I've dropped weight at 20s 30s and 40s and if anything, it's gotten easier as I've matured because I've gotten smarter about it.

And of course, there have been the lies that weight lifting will make you big (it's made me smaller) and that exercising makes you hungry (it makes me less hungry) and that eating low fat is a healthy diet. Well, my 'low fat' diet got me to 275 pounds. I replaced all fats with carbs which for me led to big issues.

So, what lies were you told and you believed?

This isn't so much a lie as a reinforcement of negative thought patterns and self-defeating actions (wow, I'm really on the psychobabble train today!), but, when I was around four, I got pudgy. I hadn't been before; it just sort of happened. Obviously, as I was four, this wasn't something that I personally had a lot of control over. I mean, I was still trying to suss out the finer points of zippers, you know?

Well, my dad was worried about this, and so, basically from about the age of five and going forward, I was perpetually on a diet. Of course, being a kid, I didn't really understand it. Moreover, my family didn't change their eating patterns; they just kind of expected me as a kid to eat less. This doesn't really work. To top it off, my dad was a yeller, and big on the hurtful lectures.

Well, humans are really good at avoiding pain, and I'm no exception. I think I figured out at a young age that eating in front of my parents--mainly my dad--would get me yelled at, whereas there were no consequences for eating food in secret. So, you know, I'd eat very little at dinner, and then sneak food later. Because, you know, calories that no one else sees don't count.

Now, when I was a kid, this wasn't that bad. I was always a bit pudgy, but from puberty on, I wasn't really fat. Then I hit college--the place where you can get nachos every day, and no one's gonna yell at you. It was sort of downhill from there. I never learned how to eat normally, and it had weighty (heh!) consequences.

Also, I remember my grandma telling me that grapes were fattening. I don't think they were as fattening as my bagel and cream cheese that I had with them. I could be wrong, though.

This!!!! I've lost more than once in my teens/early twenties but never successfully kept it off and not that much. This time has been so much better (albeit slower) because I've learned what works for me and I've matured.


As for lies:
- the following meals are "healthy": pasta, muffins, cereals
- that you have to do all things in moderation (this works for SOME but not ALL)
- weight lifting will bulk you up
- it's impossible to lose weight as you get older and after having kids
- breastfeeding makes you lose weight!
- yogurt is healthy (it is but for me flavored yogurt is a MAJOR trigger food)

I'm sure there are more but I'm tired.

@running from fat, Personally when I was breast feeding I lost just over half my baby weight althought my girl loved a but boobage haha.

The lies I have been told are if your a 4 out of 10 you will end up in a relationship with a 4 out of 10 or lower because you cant get anyone better with being fat.....I proved them wrong, Im with a fit, energetic, handsome guy who treats me like a princess, loves me for who I am...oh and he has a little 6 pack...dont believe these things, I wish i hadnt, I spent my teenage years always feeling I would never be good enough for anyone.Now I feel so loved,happy and secure.

End of the day people are cruel.

Apart from the nice people at 3FC xxx

I was told ever since puberty, no man would ever want me. No one wants a fat chick....I swear my family was stooooooopid. I had no problems in getting a man. Maybe what they should have said is, you won't get a man who is a shallow, judgmental deadbeat loser (like all seven step fathers...bwaaahhhaaaahaaa)

I've got to say though it was the only thing they ever commented as far as my weight goes. Maybe that's why I stayed fat for so long, no one really cared.

If you exercise you can eat anything you want!

Yeah that's why I didn't lose any weight after exercising like crazy, right?

I'm not sure all of these are "lies" per se. Some of the things--e.g., the exercise makes you hungry, that pasta, and other carbs are good to eat, and that moderation is key---are truths to me.

I think the biggest lie is that one particular type of plan will work for everyone. That's one that the dieting industry has been telling for quite a long time.

They are absolutes and well, you learn that there are no absolutes in most anything. Exercise makes some people hungrier, not all people. About carbs... well, I do believe that white carbs are junk food. I don't care if it's pasta or bread or rice. They give us very little nutritionally, but are there for filler. I bought into the whole "low fat" lifestyle, but for me, it made me hungrier, so I ate more carbs and then, too much because carbs don't keep me feeling full. Some people can fill up on it and not be hungry, but not me and not many. Again, it was a 'lie' that low fat was the "only healthy way to go".

"Exercise isn't going to do anything for you, it's pointless. Just look how long it takes to work off a cookie!" Well, yeah... it takes about 40 minutes. I have 40 minutes. And besides, I exercise to keep my body stable, not to lose weight. That's what the calorie counting is for.

"You should take up smoking to lose weight. It'd be healthier than being fat." Thanks mom... by the way, how'd you get that chronic cough?

Any sentence that includes the words "You just need to..." is, in my opinion, a small lie. There's never any "just" about it, is there?

Soooo true

"It's normal to gain a bunch of weight when you are pregnant!" "You have to feed the baby!"

I was hopelessly ignorant and that is where it all started...

You have to clean your plate "Think of all the starving kids in China"

Larry,

Breastfeeding helped me lose weight

Breast-feeding "can" help, but it's a lie that it "will" help. I gained a lot both times while breastfeeding.

That I've lost too much weight when I was 150 at 5'7". Not true. Could have done away with 15 lbs more and would have looked fantastic.