"Hello, I've always had trouble with my weight. But I think it has more to do with having fun. It's also a matter of self-worth. Food was always a reward or something that made me happy. Food brings people together, like on holidays, when we go out to eat, or when I get a sweet cake on my birthday. Even when I was a baby, I'm sure I was fed when no one paid attention to me.
Diets are one kind of limit. When someone says they are "on a diet," it's like telling everyone around them that they are trying to lose weight. People around them are being told that they can only eat certain foods... That food is what the diet is about. It's a way to put limits on someone you care about. Now, they have to show how much they love me by keeping me on a diet. With a "diet," it seems easier for someone to see me sweat and work out harder to reach the new weight goal I have set for myself.
I think that's one of the reasons why I'm overweight. A bottle is given to a baby to make them happy and stop them from crying. I even use food to make myself happy. I have learned how to enjoy eating.
Now, a diet is a plan for what food to eat for the rest of your life to keep a certain weight. OK, the rules have changed, and now I feel better about myself and like I'm worth living. Yes, it's a matter of life and death. If I eat too much, it could kill me.
The story of being fat isn't easy to answer or talk about, of course. There are many other things that affect how I feel about this. It's not as simple as that. Quite a bit more.
And this great website and you ladies are helping me. In many ways, women need to have more self-esteem. Women can be happy and should be."
People who are emotionally dependent on food find it much harder to lose weight than people who just need to eat less and work out more. A lot of people are overweight because they are having trouble with something on the inside. They will fill their emotional needs with food. Only because they are sad do they want to eat. They have mixed up being hungry with being sad. They feel calm when they eat, which is their drug. Like a drug addict after a fix, they will eat and lose track of time. They will also get on the roller coaster of feeling bad about themselves. Hating the fact that they were hungry again when they didn't need to be.
People who are obese but have lost weight aren't sure what to think. When they're thinner, they feel like someone else, and they live in fear that they could go back to eating too much at any time. The other mind is one that is filled with self-hatred and has a weakness for food. People who are addicted to food both like and dislike food. Again, I'm not sure what to do. They try to explain themselves by saying bad things about people who don't have food problems. They will drive by fast-food restaurants and talk to each other, which will only make them want to eat more. What this does is make them eat even more than usual. They always have to decide if they should do something or not. I should not, but I really want to. It's a never-ending loop for them.
People's whispers and snickers as they walk by are one of the hardest things for obese people to deal with. They know from people's reactions that they are disgusting, but that isn't enough to make them stop eating. People who are overweight are often made fun of in public, and they lose many relationships because their partners can't understand their need to eat. Food addicts will even ignore the fact that every bite they eat that they don't need kills them. Like any addict, they choose not to think about it.
Some people say that getting rid of food addiction is as easy as telling people to stop being lazy, start working out, and stop eating too much. Food means so much more to them than just giving their bodies nutrients. Their addiction will completely overpower their natural desire to take care of their health or to look good for society.
Some of the main things that lead to a food addiction are depression, low self-esteem, a history of abuse, poverty, obesity in the family, and an emotionally difficult childhood. People are desperate to fill a void, as I said earlier in this article. Food is the easiest way for them to feel full, which is what they want. People who are obese become addicted because they feel emotionally empty.
With all the ways that have been shown to help people lose weight, you would think there wouldn't be a single overweight person. However, the number of overweight people is growing faster every day. Obesity is one of the few health problems that we know how to fight and stop, but we don't.
What gives?
Is it because FAT is a HUSH word?
Do we ignore other people's weight problems so as not to make them feel bad?
Are we doing them any good when we act like being dangerously overweight is fine?
Do we think that if they like themselves that way, who are we to say anything about it?
Do we sometimes think, "Better them than me"?
People who are addicted to food and drugs are locked up just like anyone else who is addicted to drugs. There's only one way to stop using drugs, and that's to ask for help. They must also want to stop using this drug for themselves. They just want to be happy with who they are. To get to that point, they need to work on their self-worth and deal with the things that are holding them back. I made womensselfesteem.com because of this. This is one way to get to a place in your mind where there is no addiction.
As you can see from Peggy's post, she has finally started her journey to become a better person. She wanted to tell other women who have the same problem with food about this. It can be won. You just need to want to start fighting.
