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01-17-2014, 05:32 PM
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#16
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Just Me
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Maryland
Posts: 14,707
S/C/G: 364/--/182
Height: 5'6"
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diamond, as always, I think 'why we are fat' is multifactorial.
Why am I personally fat? I think again, multifactorial. Partly genetics, both my parents were obese. I grew up eating a pretty unprocessed diet of fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, dairy, grains (mostly rice), etc. Yet I was chubby by age 6, obese by age 10 or so and when puberty hit, I gained 100 lbs within a year. Now I will say I was a kid with average activity. I walked a fair bit, rode bikes, swam, played games outdoors, took dance classes, etc, etc.
I believe hormones, genetics, overeating (large portions) and what not played into my early weight gain. Later on, inactivity, continued large portions played into further weight gain.
Weight loss has been because of limiting my portions, eating better, and increased activity.
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01-17-2014, 05:35 PM
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#17
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 594
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Diamond,
I totally agree with you that American food culture's shift towards convenience and cheap food in the past thirty years provides the bulk of the explanation of the current obesity epidemic. I also agree that Americans are more sedentary now than every, even if we are "exercising" more. Americans didn't need to exercise in the first part of the 20th century because many were working non-sedentary jobs and they didn't spend most of their evenings huddled around the television or computer like we do today.
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01-17-2014, 05:41 PM
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#18
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Guest
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Nellie,
Of course it is multidimensional, could not agree more. I in fact did start exercising slightly before changing my diet. But changing diet really helped.
Locke, yes. I agree on that also. Many more sedentary jobs now which compounds the impacts of bad addictive food.
Last edited by diamondgeog; 01-17-2014 at 05:57 PM.
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01-17-2014, 06:02 PM
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#19
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 3
S/C/G: 270/248/150
Height: 5'3
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Unhealthy food is so abundant in our culture it's hard to ignore. That being I have a self destructive relationship with food. I have to develop a better relationship with food to succeed.
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01-17-2014, 07:32 PM
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#20
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Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 82
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I think we're fat because our portion sizes in this country are seriously out of whack. People still had burgers and fries and pizza 50 years ago, but they didn't eat the monster portions of these things. Burgers were half the size, a slice of pizza was smaller and people ate maybe 2 (smaller)pieces instead of 3 or more person. A serving of french fries was smaller than what comes in a kids meal today. Americans associate the quantity of food with value, so they are served monster portions at restaurants(that usually is enough food for 2 or more actual servings), and then go home and think that's normal and do the same at home.
I, personally, really enjoyed the e-book called "The Overfed Head" by Rob Stevens. You can download the pdf for free if you search for it. It made so much sense to me...if you're not hungry, don't eat. You don't need to eat until you are bloated and full, try ending the meal when you're satiated and comfortable.
I've been following this for a few weeks now I've lost 6 lbs so far and it really has been effortless. I can still eat anything my heart desires, but everything in moderation.
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01-17-2014, 07:36 PM
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#21
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: USA
Posts: 128
S/C/G: See ticker!
Height: 5'0
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I've realized that most, if not all, of my weight came from eating seconds at dinner my entire life. One plate of something healthy is easily a good 500-600 calories, and I use to eat two full plates unhealthy food that was probably a good 700-1,000 calories a plate, plus whatever else I'd eat during the day that wasn't always healthy. I don't mean one more scoop of something here or there, I mean two huge plates of pasta (both with a slice of garlic bread), two cheeseburgers on the grill with sides, etc... This is just how my family eats (all of who are overweight as well) and I did the same for as long as I can remember. It was automatic for me not to feel satisfied on only one plate, no matter how big or filling the meal was. I've been eating seconds since I was probably about 7 (though I've been fat since I was 4, so it's partly genetic too). Realizing where my excess was coming from my entire life has helped a lot with my journey so far. I still ate seconds at dinner sometimes until recently, but with calorie counting and healthier options, I was able to stay on plan.
I've been seconds free since the 1st though. I'm excited to break the habit that caused most of my weight gain in the first place. It's tricky sometimes not to go back for seconds, even when I'm full. But I think breaking this habit, in addition to the other good habits I've built over the past year or so, will help a lot. I think finding where those extra calories are coming from, whether is be emotional, snacks, sweets, etc... is really important. Because even when you can't stick to plan 100% (like if you skip counting calories for a few days), avoiding your main areas of excess can still help lose weight or at least maintain even when you're not trying too hard.
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01-17-2014, 08:00 PM
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#22
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banned
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 45
S/C/G: 25/21.6/0
Height: 5'8"
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I think it's a combination of many things...
- heredity
- environment (both learning poor eating habits as well as stressful living conditions)
- sugar/salt/fat addiction
- more sedentary lifestyle
- and, of course, emotional eating
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01-17-2014, 08:21 PM
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#23
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Food and Wine Lover
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 312
S/C/G: Goal Weight: 125
Height: 5'3"
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I think that it's just too easy to eat crap these days. Going to buy a 99 cent cheeseburger for lunch seems cheaper and easier than spending $2 on a head of lettuce, $5 on chicken breast and $$$ on other veggies for the salad...then we have to actually take the time to make lunch. Not to mention our lives have become sedentary....internet, smartphones, everyone driving everywhere...we've become terrible lazy. I'm guilty of it myself. I would rather drive to the supermarket that is only 4 blocks away than walk.
I also used to eat a lot more because of depression...it wasn't the eating, it was the drinking. I drank a lot of alcohol to "self-medicate" which of course stimulated my appetite. And when you've had a couple of bottles of wine, you're not reaching for anything healthy. I drink in moderation now and eat much better, but back in the day, I never touched a vegetable.
Interesting topic.
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01-18-2014, 10:45 AM
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#24
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There is no try.
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Nebraska
Posts: 1,274
S/C/G: 281/T/140
Height: 5'6"
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re:
I think society in general is more overweight now then in the past for a few reasons:
the change in food
availability and price of poor food
technology
more drugs with weight gain side effects
the changes in traditional family structure, including the movement of women into the workplace
However, each individual though has their own specific reasons. For me, it's just that I love sugar and carbs and have an extremely difficult time stopping once I start eating them. How do I deal with that? I honestly would be very unhappy giving them up completely, so I avoid them as much as I can by not having them in my house. I still have them in the places they show up (the office, restaurants, etc) but not having them in my house has made a difference.
Last edited by Vex; 01-18-2014 at 10:51 AM.
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01-18-2014, 11:51 AM
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#25
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Blessed Person Here
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Under the hot tropiks ;)
Posts: 551
S/C/G: Going/Still going/Gone
Height: 5' 1''
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I overeat because for the few minutes I'm eating, I forget all my emotions. I overeat because I can't separate my emotions from my eating. I eat when I'm happy, I eat when I'm surprised, shocked, angry, lonely, sad, annoyed, disappointed,bored...The least emotion sends me in front of the fridge.
There are times I stand with the fridge door open and then I wonder WHEN and HOW I got in the kitchen in the first place. I seem to be opening the fridge door and the food drawers in a compulsive way.
I remember this sentence on Oprah: "WHAT ARE YOU REALLY HUNGRY FOR?" Finding the answer to that question helps me to remember that I'm almost never hungry for food. I still overeat, snack without being hungry but then I understand myself better. I just started seeing a therapist too. Hope it helps.
Last edited by thirti4thirty; 01-18-2014 at 11:54 AM.
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01-18-2014, 12:07 PM
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#26
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 259
S/C/G: 212/156/145
Height: 5' 4"
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Quote:
Originally Posted by diamondgeog
Were Americans that different 50 years ago? Were they less emotional, more in control, somehow fundamentally differently in brains and moods? No. So I would argue it isn't mostly emotional for most people
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Love your posts. LOVE! (Not just yours, tho, there are several others but I just C&P for brevity)
I'll be honest, I don't want to do a lot of soul searching about why I wanted to eat all the time or why I couldn't identify true hunger. I'm just gonna chalk it up to that's just my body and I just know that I can identify hunger now and I'm not going to eat mindlessly. For some people, that comes naturally.
If I could eat perfectly on "time" I would but who does? Frequently I hear people say, oh, I forgot to eat, or, I just wasn't hungry. It never occurred to me that that is okay, not something to focus on.
lol, yeah, what is that? I have yet to be able to walk into a store and identify from the ingredients the attributes I'm looking for for what is healthy. I am not paying for something just because it SAYS the word "healthy" or "organic" on it and that is exactly what I think is going on in marketing these days. While still eating bread, I was always on the lookout for something labeled "whole wheat bread" that still seemed to actually be WW when I read the ingredients. Much easier for me to just give up the bread altogether, even the "bread" substitutes that some people make.
Last edited by Mad Donnelly; 01-18-2014 at 12:22 PM.
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01-18-2014, 12:30 PM
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#27
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: California (southern), United States
Posts: 121
S/C/G: 242/232/110
Height: 5ft7
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My birth mother was only a little overweight and birth dad has always been skinny. So cant blame genetic in any part. What happened for me was. I started to get depressed and became more aware of the tastes of food. I fell in love with tasting. Now I have fallen out of love and don't have an obsession with taste anymore.Whoo! I just realized there are better things in life than pleasing my taste buds.
Last edited by imabehot; 01-18-2014 at 12:31 PM.
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01-18-2014, 05:32 PM
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#28
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 146
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To answer the original question...
I ate because I was hungry.
Seriously, for a period of 6 months, the time when I gained most of my weight, I was hungry...so whatever was available quickly and tasted good, I ate it. I did not control anything about the food, not the type, quantity, or timing, not the reason, not the method. I gained 50 pounds in 6 months.
Same thing happened with money at the same time. I gave no mind to controlling my cash in any form whatsoever. Went officially bankrupt a year later. I was 22.
But, here's the rub. You can say...aha, there it is, she did not control herself! So, you see, everyone, we must have restraint.... However -
My Ultra-Binge came on the heals of Ultra Deprivation. Prior to 22, I had starved, binged, purged, and exercised from 8 years old, not because I was fat or ugly, but because I wasn't thin or pretty enough. It was encouraged by my family of origin - diets were a weekly affair. Both my mother and father liked to look good and they liked it when other people looked good. It was encouraged by my peers. Looking good was a commodity to them as well. I adopted their desire, but failed to resonate with Why.
I was terribly disconnected from the Why. I did not know for whom I was to eat well or control my money, other than because it's what I was told to do, other than because looking good made people want to be around me, which for people who value appearances, is not an untrue statement.
I have since learned that my appearance is okay TO ME. It may not satisfy everyone else, may not be used to coat billboards across the country (well, maybe someday - but I will refuse Photoshopping of any sort!), but if I were on an island by myself and had no regard for the negative opinions of my peers who weren't able to see me, when I look in the mirror or down at myself I see nothing but creation. This body is pure beauty. This face is God-given.
That's not arrogance. That's gratitude.
My lifetime of deprivation...food deprivation, spiritual deprivation, of only ever being told No, of always being controlled and restricted and insinuations (by self and others) that I wasn't good enough...was unbalanced. At some point, the scales were destined to swing to the other extreme.
I have since discovered that my beauty is perfect as is and that my power is innate. Nature is by far more incredible than my mind can totally grasp. Nature makes my spine move...it sends out neurological impulses. I did not have any say in that. I cannot change a nerve signal just by sheer will. At the same time, I believe that there is a natural drive in me...the nourishing instinct...that knows exactly how much to eat, when, where, how, and why. To rein in that instinct by force to me is disrespectful of the power of the body and the Creator that made it. The hard part is being vulnerable to it in a sea of people who believe you ought to have self-control and look a certain way, people that I want to be loved by, people that are necessary for validation.
I ate because I was hungry. I was hungry for ME. My body was broken. My spiritual bank account was shot. I was bankrupt in every way possible. I ate and my weight swung fast and hard to a place I was afraid to go. But, in that place I learned more about myself than I would have ever learned otherwise. I found me and the "swing" leveled out. One day, I just stopped eating fast food, my daily meals, cold turkey. I didn't want it anymore. I was saved. And now, I have gratitude and I trust.
Last edited by Mazzy; 01-18-2014 at 05:33 PM.
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01-19-2014, 04:07 AM
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#29
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Del Mar, CA
Posts: 28
S/C/G: 206/199.2/135
Height: 5'7"
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I overeat because I always thought that's just how people ate, especially as teenagers.
Being 16, I don't see people eat well, and I live with my morbidly obese father and I grew up with his eating habits. I just never learned any better and thought that maybe this is just how all teenagers eat. It was all denial.
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01-19-2014, 06:48 AM
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#30
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: New England
Posts: 1,877
S/C/G: 180/ticker/129 or so =)
Height: 5'6.5"
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In my personal case, it's because I end up eating too much.
I get fat on food that most people would consider extremely healthy. Basically no fast food, few meals eaten out, no desserts or sweet snacks, no refined grains or potatoes, etc. etc. But I will eat too much, too often.
I got a reality check one day when I was over a friend's house. She had cooked a family meal and pressed me to sit with them and just "taste" the food (Indian). I did, and I was shocked at how my "tastes," which I thought were tiny, were not much smaller than their full meal servings!
Some people point out that healthy foods (except healthy fats: nuts/avacado/etc) have lower nutrient density and it's hard/impossible to gain weight on them because you get too full before you eat too many calories. That might be true for celery, but believe me, even with a diet that most people would consider beyond healthy, it is possible to get used to eating large enough quantities frequently enough to gain weight.
If I exercised more or if I didn't have a history of yoyo dieting or if I had different genes or if my psychology were different, I would probably be able to lose or maintain just by eating the types of foods I eat.
So, for me the focus has to be on reducing the frequency and/or quantity I eat, and I'm doing that with an eating window. Oddly, the window approach has helped me reduce both the quantity I eat at one sitting as well as the frequency I eat. Other approaches I've tried for maintenance have not proven to be sustainable. Crossing my fingers for this approach.
Last edited by yoyoma; 01-19-2014 at 06:52 AM.
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