Why do you overeat? (long)
I've been reading Dr. Phil's Weight Loss Challenge book and I love it. He says that before someone loses weight, they need to figure out what's going on inside them...why they're over eating. So, I took a long, hard look at my life and I have always known why but until now, I have never really admitted it to many people....just my closest friend. So, here I am, bearing my heart out to you all, so that maybe others will feel comfortable in admitting what's on THEIR insides. I'm giving everyone a chance to do it...only if they choose. Which, today, I have chosen to do so...
MY STORY
When I was a kid, my parents divorced when I was 7 years old, leaving me and my sister with my father. He was an alcoholic, and very physically and verbally and emotionally abusive. I learned at 7 how to fry porkchops and how to do minor baking. Anyway, later in my adulthood I learned that my dad also had a gambling problem, which is why he never had any money. That and his addiction to alcohol. We always ran out of food. One year, for a week straight the only things we had to eat were stale ice cream cones and thankfully it was Hallowe'en cuz we also had our Hallowe'en candy. Sometimes my dad would get rations from the military by stealing them, but he couldn't do that regularly in fear of getting caught. When I started to babysit when I was old enough, I loved it cuz then I could eat whatever food they left out for me, and boy would I eat it all in fear of not knowing when I would eat next.
I was a tiny kid. I was scrawny. When I met my husband, I was under 120 pounds and I was 5 feet 9 inches, and people thought I had eating disorders, but I didn't. I was just really thin and had good metabolism - that and I didn't eat a whole lot of junk.
So, I firmly believe it carried over into my adulthood. I know it's psychological and I'm pretty sure Dr. Phil would have a hey day with me, telling me "like it is" and telling me to get over it, but when a child has been traumatised (for a lack of a better word) I strongly believe that it carries with them. Sometimes I have to force myself away from the table. I have to tell myself that tomorrow the food WILL be in the fridge and that I CAN save it for another day. But it's still sometimes hard.
I don't know why I'm admitting all this. Please don't think I'm trying to get pity..because I'm not. I just thought that if I admit to why I THINK I over eat, then maybe I can start solving my problems, and maybe even get some help from others in the same situation. Maybe others feel the way I do and are just scared to open up in fear of losing respect from others. But I'm not scared of that. Because I believe that you all respect everyone, no matter what kinds of things they have gone through in their lives.
So, before this becomes a novel, I'm going to go now, and let this all sink in. Just something to think about, ya know?
Thanks for letting me get it off my chest.
Shawna
P.S. I'm slowly learning that I'm the one who controls my food and that my food does not control ME.
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