Hello my name is.......and I am OBESE

[caliotter3]

I have noticed a change from overeating that was easy to deal with to a compulsion to eat that seems physiological in nature. I suspect that I have crossed the line to diabetes. About six nights ago I kept tossing and turning and waking up the entire night with an insatiable urge to not only drink something, but it had to be sweet. I actually got up at 1:30 am and went to the soda machines in the building after I had hunted down every container that might have something sweet to drink in it. Not a happy camper about this at all.

[sunkissed75, CNA]

hmmmmm....definately food for thought!!

[llg, PhD, RN]

I am one of those 19 in 20 people who have regained most of the weight I lost a few years ago. I lost 40 pounds over a period of about 8 months. But I have regained 30 pounds over the past 3 years. Every day, I wake up with the intention of "being good" and losing a couple of ounces. But it doesn't happen. By the end of the week, I have gained another half pound. It's depressing.

[Benedina]

I hesitate to post this because I have no magic answers but I'm one of the 1 in 20 that has lost a substantial amount and kept it off. I think there are some things that have helped me and some things that haven't. I keep in mind that each of us is different. I just wnat to describe what my own experience has been with weight loss advice.

There are 3 basic schools of weight loss advice, one of which is, in my opinion, completely useless, one of which might work for some people and one of which might be of more use to more people, if given a fair try.

The completely useless school in my opinion is the one recommended as the basis of much, much advice to the obese: cut your calories, especially fat calories, and "be good" forever. I don't know a single solitary person for whom this has worked. If you are one of them, you have my awed admiration but I would never try this approach again. I got steadily fatter when I tried it decades ago.

The "maybe" school is the Atkins diet and its variations. Gary Taubes' research into the history of obesity advice is both startling and eye-opening. Advice on the treatment of obesity changed radically in the 20th century, and the rise in obesity rates tend to mirror those changes. Taubes' lengthy, heavily documented book on this is "Good Calories, Bad Calories" but he summed it up in a couple of articles in Science magazine and in a fascinating article in the New York Times, 2002, called "What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?" I found it hard to even read his book at first, but it was illuminating. Nonethless: I don't use the Atkins diet. What I did take away from Taubes was a conviction that the more I cut out refined grains and sugars from my diet the more weight I would lose and keep off. This proved to be absolutely true for me. I do know people who have lost and kept off substantial weight with Atkins, including a vegetarian friend in her 60s and my husband's doctor.

Nonetheless I eat chocolate every single day (exactly 1/4 ounce of extremely pricy Belgian dark chocolate; it melts on my tongue for almost 5 minutes and I absolutely love it) and if I want noodles, pie, cake, whatever, I eat them--but only a few tasty bites. It's the meat or fish or chicken in my meal that turn off my hunger, not the starches. I make sure every single meal I eat is delicious in some way: ripe strawberries, grilled eggplant, homemade hamburgers, scallops with pesto, etcetera, etcetera. That's what works *for me* and that brings me to the third, very neglected school of advice: the school that values food, flavor and eating as deeply human pleasures. What's important to this school is that no food be ruled out of limits, but that we don't simply eat without thought and attention either.

My mother was French and how I eat now is, to some extent, influenced by growing up with her delicious food: lots of fruit and vegetables, an absolutely fearless approach to eating real olive oil and real butter and cheese, no fake foods (croissants, oui, Twinkies, non), fresh fish often, and--I'm saying this twice--lots of fruits and vegetables. Delicious fruits and vegetables, with butter, salt and pepper or olive oil and herbs, as the case may be. Eating 4 times a day, but not between meals. Most of the time.

Some books that helped me with this third approach:

anything and everything by Geneen Roth, but especially "When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull up a Chair"

"The Skinny" By Melissa Clark (a New York Times food writer) and Robin Aronson [NOTE: This is not "Skinny *****" the single most repellant book of advice I've ever skimmed.]

"French Women Don't Get Fat" by Mireille Guiliano

French cookbooks that don't give food for special occasions, but for everyday eating. My two favorites: "Parisian Home Cooking" by Michael Roberts and "Simple French Food" by Laura Calder.

As for exercise, I seem to do just fine with 10,000 steps a day. I wear a pedometer religiously, and when I hit that number most days--my health and appetite tick along just fine. The single biggest behavior change that made it all possible was keeping a simple daily log of food and movement. To this day, when I keep it, I do fine.

Just my experience! But if it's of any help to you, I want to share it.

Dina

[C.Flynn]

I think that you should have your family involved and make yourself so busy and happy you lose your dependence on food because it cannot make you happy ALL THE TIME. I love food as well but I believe if I wanna eat alot it might as well be food for me which is HARD but it works. I recommend replacing soda with juice,water or even SMOOTHIES the chips with one's with less trans fat and limit the sweets to 1 every week. I'm no expert but I know if you practice its possible to keep the weight off.

[tewdles, RN]

Imagine if the alcoholic or drug addict "had" to have a little bit of their poison several times everyday...

My guess is that there would be very few "recovered" alcoholics and addicts.

We are bombarded by images and smells of food everywhere we go. You cannot turn on the tv without food overwhelming your visual and auditory senses. My spouse and my oldest child, both overweight, are avid fans of the "Food Network"...it is a love fest for food. You cannot drive more than a few miles in any urban setting without passing a variety of restaurants with the accompanying smells and delicious bouquets.

Too many of us eat for emotional reasons. Too many of us eat regularly without actually having to prepare the food or clean up the mess. Too many of us have no idea how to prepare a healthy meal without using prepackaged foods. Too many of us do not understand portion control and the strategies to reduce portion size and still feel "satisfied".

Obesity is a big problem in the USA...but there are a number of European countries hot on our chubby little heels.

Nice blog...

[LaurenBoog]

You should read the book Women, Food, and God by Geneen Roth. It talks about compulsive eating, and how compulsive eaters eat not to fill a physiological hunger, but an emotional hunger. Then, weight gain and overeating turn into a negative cycle of shame/self loathing/guilt which leads to more compulsive eating. It is not a diet plan and does not focus so much on what you eat or what you weigh, but more focuses on the emotions of why and when you compulsively eat. I just finished the book. It is definately not a "quick fix," but it has made me more aware of why I crave chocolate especially when I am lonely/depressed/anxious.

[tencat]

No doubt about it: Excessive weight leads to a lot of health issues. I am probably going to end up type 2 diabetic myself, but am trying hard to stay healthy. I could lose the extra weight if I went on a starvation diet....and I could become a very unpleasant person to be around being irritable, tired, and grumpy all the time. That's what life was like for me when I was a size 5 long ago.....I had to keep up the starvation dieting or I would not keep off the weight, even with exercise. It wasn't worth it. I tried the deadly Phen/fen thing, and was lucky enough not to hurt my health over it, but learned a valuable lesson about trusting the FDA to look out for our health. So, I am overweight, try to exercise every day, and try to eat ok. I have two daughters, and I do not want them to grow up to be obsessed about how much they weigh, so I do not diet any more and do not engage in diet conversations with other women. I find it to be a waste of time and energy. Unfortunately, I have genetics against me as all of my female relatives on both sides of the family are rotund. (5x5 we call it :) I feed my girls healthy foods and snacks, and curb the junk and juice. Sodas only once in a great while. I don't ban or forbid foods for me or my family as I think that leads to an increased desire to have the 'forbidden' fruit, as it were.

[Conqueror+, BSN, RN]

Its the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with. I come from a family of foodies and fatties but like the Dr said "genetics don't prepare your meals"

[Anne36, LPN]

I have gained a lot weight and totally understand what the op is talking about. I used to be thin my whole life until after I had my 4th child. Now it seems like I cant look at food without gaining weight. I have tried to "eat healthy" without extreme dieting and my biggest downfall is that I am just so hungry all the time. My appetite is getting bigger the older I get. Im starving when I wake up and hungry all the time if there is not something in my stomach. Carrot sticks and apples do not make me feel satisfied, can anyone relate?

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

I was losing weight, slowly, by just modifying my diet a little, shortly after I was diagnosed with type 2 DM. Then I started losing a lot, effortlessly. FSBS in the 300's. Thirsty all the time, hungry all the time, peeing all the time. Added Lantus to my metformin and gained 30 lbs in a month. Crap. Back to struggling to keep my glucose in control, although everything was beautiful when I first started the Lantus. So, clearly, need to lose some weight.

Those who think they may have or be close to DM, please do monitor closely. It sucks to be diagnosed, but even more to be undiagnosed. Don't wait until you're already noticing complications. The three polys are pretty clear indicators, although I'll admit polyphagia doesn't seem all that different from baseline overeating.

Good luck to us all. On the bright side, everybody dies of something.