It's fairly hopeless here, too. I am pre-diabetic, well controlled with diet and exercise. My FBG is now in the 70-80 range every morning. There are two guys at my office who are both pre-diabetic, as well. One struggles to stay on a high carb/low fat diet, the other just stopped drinking regular soda but continues to eat all the crap he's always eaten. Their reasoning, even though they see how well I'm doing and I show them my numbers, is that they do not need to lose weight. I've stopped trying to convince them, because it's a choice they need to make. I answer questions when people ask them, but that's as far as I can go.

As for me... I was on the "ignore it and it will go away" train. As long as I didn't step on a scale, look in a mirror, or wear clothes that didn't stretch and have elastic waists, I did not have to admit how big I was getting. Accountability keeps me in line, and as soon as I gave that up (pregnancy, in my case... I used that as an excuse to eat what I wanted) the weight came roaring back on, after managing to keep it all off for 4 years.

Note to self: It does not go away if you ignore it.

I see ya man. I guess I was best classified as an exercise bullimic before I finally understood. I would eat tons and tons but between 2 hours of judo 4 days a week, walking to class, hiking and lifting every single day I burned it all off. I was never skinny but I was at a nice comfortable "overweight" classification.
Hello 50 extra pounds in 2 months.

MizKitty, YOU are incredible! Amazing testimony and so glad to hear of your health improvement. Really an inspiration to me!

--Betty

Thank you, TheBetty! So are you, I'm chasing you on the pounds lost!

Thank you too, Lose100UK, and BTW, welcome to the board.

I can't be the only person here whose mental self talk was "I'll take care of this when...", except "when" never came. Can I?

Hi, I want to thank you all for being here on the Forum. I am working on lossing a hundred pounds for the fourth time in my life. The question of regaining the weight has haunted me. The emotional high of shopping in THIN people clothing stores was great until I began to think that all my food problems were over and the DIET could stop! I returned to my binge eating of carb foods. My addiction took over and the weight returned quickly. I joined the Forum in May of this year. Knowing that other people understood my weight problems and shared similar histories has helped me begin the battle again. Please GOD give me the SANITY this time to know that this is a life style change and not just another diet! AMEN ...

Isn't it interesting - you never hear of anyone who got fat by overeating meat, fat and fish. It's always the same darned culprits that make us overeat - carbs, especially but not only the sweet ones.

I used to think I could eat an unlimited amount of bread, cake, chocolates etc. Not meat, though!

A year ago I was really frightened because I simply could not stop eating. My weight had risen to about 330lbs and I was terrified of becoming disabled, yet still I could not stop overeating.

Now, I have to force myself to eat sometimes, and sometimes I feel positively anorexic. Now my body has excellent nutrition it isn't constantly seeking more food. I have my meal, and I am satisfied for many, many hours. Previously I'd be making a dozen or so trips a day to the kitchen looking for nibbles.

How did I get there? ...by dealing (but in actuality hiding, ignoring & stuffing down) all my emotional issues & insecurities with food..and not realizing it at the time. And by not loving myself enough to realize I deserved better.

I started to gain weight when I was 12 years old, after my mother's second divorce... food made me feel good. My family always denied me a second helping (they were all thin)...and teased me a lot...so I would just trot down to the corner store and shoplift all the junkfood I wanted, then eat it alone in my room.
My mother sent me to a child psychologist who told her I ate out of spite for my family.

By the time I graduated highschool I was 164 lbs. and felt like a total failure. I was never given any guidance, or shown how to dress nicely to make me feel good about myself.(Oh, to be 164 lbs. again! How cruel people can be.)

When I was 21 I married the first guy I could to get out of the house. He was a "feeder" who said he wanted to keep me fat so no other men would look at me.(It worked)If I ever put myself on a diet and had success, he would shrug his shoulders and say, "Whatever. You look the same."
By the time I divorced him 6 years later I weighed over 280 lbs.

I moved to a new town with my dog and started walking 4-5 hours a day and started a dog-walking company.(which I still have) I started Atkins and shrunk down to a muscular and healthy 197 lbs. (I was also doing weight training.)I finally plateaued up at about 215 lbs. and I was OK with it. I felt good. I felt sure this was a weight I could maintain...not as thin as everyone else...but manageable.

Well, in 2004 my dog passed away and the world fell out from under me. Everything stopped. Eventually, my BF of 5 years left me as well...as he was always a "fair-weather" friend and couldn't cope with what I was going through.

Jump forward to last week. I weighed myself at 303 lbs. I cried. Then I cried some more. I realised that overeating, or eating badly is really (for some) a slow form of suicide.How much did I have to hate myself to put that crap in my body?? I was still walking for hours each day, but now I was eating pasta...and up to a pound of chocolate a day sometimes...(easy!)...I found it easier to order take-out than to cook for my "stupid-old-self."

Enough is enough. I went out last week and stocked up on low-carb delights, and now I feel back on track. I feel freed somehow. It's a relief. I went and had my blood pressure checked and was surprised to learn it was 117/74...I thank all the walking I do for that.

There's my story, which I've never told anybody before.Thanks for listening!

Gosh Stephanie. I'm glad you could share all that here. I agree with so many of the comments you have made esp slow suicide!

Helena

Oooohhhh, Stephanie.....here's a hug for you . I totally know about that free feeling. That's exactly the way I felt when I started Atkins 16 months ago. For the first time in 10 years, I felt like a fog had been lifted and I was now in control of my life.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Everytime I hear the Weight Watchers mantra 'nothing tastes as good as thin feels', I think WRONG! I never dealt with emotional issues by being thin!

I did it eating strict Dean Ornish style. DH and I were averaging 847 calories a day and he lost weight of course, but I gained and gained and gained. After 60 lbs I said enough!
Still carbed it up with super low fat though.

So many health problems with those carbs!

It's so weird, too. When I tell people that I gained on their idea of a 'healthy diet' (fruits and grains), they don't believe me.

People keep asking me where I get my willpower... it's just survival skills. I want to live.

I get the same thing too.

Of course finding out that I'm allergic to those grains, completely gluten intolerant explains it for me.
Still, people don't see what that has to do with anything.

My body, my brain, they can go fog out by themselves