Am I The Only Real Overeater In This Forum??

[rebandit 0]

i watched a tv special a few nights ago about twins separated at birth and the most interesting part i found in the show was that the as they were reunited in thier adult lives , they were all the same size. The heavy ladies had a heavy twin even though they had lived completely different lives. the thin ones had thin twins. I mean they were almost all the exact same size as their twin that they had never met. I say genes have soooo much to do with it. I do believe that eating is an addiction but maybe the genes is what allows us (or me anyway ) to have that addiction. My mother and my 2 sisters all have morbid obesity. One of my sisters had the surgery the same time i did and is skinny now. lucky her. My 2 brothers look like my dad. Sometimes I think that maybe we learn from our parents how to eat and my mom ate a lot but I think if I was adopted and had the skinny genes , it wouldnt have mattered how much she ate or how she taught us.

[InTheCityGirl 0]

Hi all-I think I saw the same show rebandit and I picked up on that right away too:-))) They didn't mention it but I guess us people of heft notice this more than others.

I would say I am probably not addicted to food. I am addicted to bad choices and couldn't stop myself until the band. I was 48% fat on the day of surgery. I was eating at fast food restuarants ordering whatever I wanted 2 times a day. I couldn't get enough. I also suffer from depression and a painful childhood which has gotten worse in recent years. The food seemed to comfort me if only a little.

I think the fact that my weight issues did not start until my late 20's/early 30's is a sign that this isn't genetic for me and I would agree with Wheetsin, you really can find all sorts of reasons for our obesity on this board. I think someone started a "why are you fat" thread too.

Best wishes everyone on their journey over the holidays!!!

[Jeni 85 0]

I also think I'm a bored eater! At work I'm never hungry because I'm busy, but when I get home and I have nothing to do, I eat because its so much fun! food tastes so dang good, doesn't it?? LOL

Completely agree... (bored emotional emptiness... ect)

But these are the head issue that we have to overcome.. The band stops us from eating too larger portions but in the meantime when we do go to reach for food when were not hungry and we PB thats when we have to stop to think why did we want it in the first place and how could we stop this from a happening again.. i am almost 9mths post-op and still dealing with these head issues... but i must say it is getting a lot better and i am learning a lot about myself:p

[kacee 3]

An addiction is a lifelong affliction. When people ask me when I lose all my weight if I will be getting the band removed I tell them "No, this is a disease that is under control, but if the band is removed I will more than likely go right back to my old habits in a very short time." I am confused as to what you think the rest of us are doing that doesn't "qualify" as overeating. I am an overeating QUEEN. I not only can sit down and pack away a 7 course dinner, I can do it in about 5 minutes flat. I eat FAST, and a LOT, and I STUFF my face when I do eat. I actually ate a 32 ounce prime rib steak in one sitting (along with a baked potato, salad and several glasses of wine) once (a long time ago, tho). Of course this was all "pre-band". No more over eating now. My definition of overeating has been dramatically altered. But if I didn't have my band, I know exactlky where I would be.... eating two to three adult-sized dinners at a sitting and packing on the pounds. It is a compulsion.

[footballmom104 0]

I always figure the overeating addiction is like an alcoholic who is told he has to drink 1/2 a beer three times a day, no more, no less. It's practically impossible to maintain that without some outside help.

Excellent point - we're the only substance abusers who still have to take in some of the substance that causes us problems. I mean, either you drink, use, smoke, etc or you don't ... but no one has yet come up with a way to survive without some form of eating.

[footballmom104 0]

Sometimes I think that maybe we learn from our parents how to eat and my mom ate a lot but I think if I was adopted and had the skinny genes , it wouldnt have mattered how much she ate or how she taught us.

I am adopted as a matter of fact and I'd love to know where my "fat" genes come from! In my one conversation with my birth mom I told her about being Type II Diabetic and she said something like "That mainly affects fat people, doesnt' it?" But she could have been covering herself - she conveniently neglected to tell me about the alcoholism and drug abuse and other messed-upedness among my half-brothers. The one blood relative I have seen (on YouTube; it's a long story) was normal size. I know nothing about my birth father's family and from the little information I have about him, I'm probably better off.

As for my adoptive parents, my dad is morbidly obese and always has been (and favors my getting the band, BTW.) My mom is normal and not all that interested in food. She doesn't even like sweets - proof positive that we're not blood!

Anyway, I figure maybe I have an "addictive" gene that manifests itself differently from my half-brothers. Or maybe I'm still being the total Daddy's girl I've been all my life. Nature or nurture ... you make the call!

[April1972 0]

Hi All,

I would definately say I am a food addict. I would be eating one meal and be thinking about the next, go to bed at night and be excitied because I know I had a good Breakfast to wake up to etc. Now that I am 6 months post-op my thoughts on food have changed. I know longer think about my next meal because I don't look forward to eating the same. I eat to survive and that's it. I can honestly say that even if given the chance to eat a McDonalds combo (my lunch of choice pre-band) I wouldn't want it, the thought of that has no emotional control over me anymore. Sure there are days when I eat a cookie or a few chips, but just a few and then I am satisfied. Six months ago I never thought I would be writing something like this, so give it time, you'll see the head hunger gets easier.

I wish you all the best.

/a

[rebandit 0]

I realize that this thread should have been called "Am I the only food addict" not overeater. That is a whole other subject.

Footballmom- You really do have to wonder where it all comes from. WE were talking about genes vs. raising habits. Before my surgery my daughter was chunky not real fat just chunky but she ate when I ate. NOt as much as me of course. Now shes in high school and she slimmed down and so did my son when he started high school but now im wondering if maybe she stopped eating when I stopped eating. My poor children have a double serving of the gene. My son did slim down when he was in high school but now in his college years he has plumped up a bit. Now my Husband and son are definitely not morbidly obese but good and chunky. I sooooo pray that my daughter was more habit then gene. She doesnt have a frame that can hold a lot of weight. But that whole twin thing sure did make me wonder about the gene thing.

[kacee 3]

My mother said she could tell when I was born, compared to my brother and sister born later, that I was built dramatically different from the two of them. They had little butts and slender legs. I was round and plump with a big butt....the day I was BORN. She said she cold look at me and tell that the fat cells were just sitting in there waiting to bloom.

Neither of my parents were dramatically overweight. They also did not have bad eating habits and I was not raised with sweets or sodas in my house. There was no such THING as ME going into the refrigerator for food by myself...EVER. I ate what was given to me at meals, or what was allowed between meals. I never ONCE in my life "raided the refrig" at night. We had cooked meals, for every meal (except lunches at school). All that being said, I have been dramatically obese since the age of 7. By the time I was in the third grade, I was the second fattest kid in the entire school (which went up to 6th grade).

[rebandit 0]

<p>Are you saying you didnt eat y our weight? I absolutely know I ate my way to 316 lbs. We were extremely poor when growing up and we knew we had to eat what was on our plate . Or we thought we knew anyway. So if mom and dad could afford to make a cake we clipped it that night. The whole bunch of us ate like there was no tomorrow. I remember if we bought Cereal and milk ( which was not common for us) we would eat 2 boxes of Cereal and a gallon of milk in a day to make sure we had our share. we were some greedy little buggars. </p> <p> Im not doubting you but im curious as to how a person becomes large without sweets and binging.</p>

I was also the largest child i knew in school for most of my life

[Longhorn 1]

I can tell you how a person can become overweight without sweets and binging -- by dieting! There are studies that show that once you've lost weight, you will gain weight on fewer calories than someone who has never lost weight.

In my case, I went on my first diet when I was five pounds overweight! I thought I was being responsible. Then every time I was pregnant, I went on a diet to lose the weight gained from pregnancy. By then, I was in the seemingly never-ending cycle. Like a lot of people on this board, I blamed myself, even though I never binged and I rarely ate sweets. Four years ago, I lost 70 pounds on Medifast. This time was going to be different! I watched every morsel that went into my mouth. I exercised like crazy, even commuting to work by bicycle, 34 miles round trip! I logged my calories and exercise in an online journal. I had my resting metabolic rate checked at the University of Texas Department of Kinesiology by the department chair. He determined that I should be able to lose weight on 1800 calories a day. I ate between 1400 and 1600 and exercised and STILL did not lose or even gained. Even on Medifast, at fewer than 1000 calories per day, I was a fairly slow loser.

I realize now that I will not be able to lose weight on as many calories as the charts and tables say I should. And since I don't think I can make myself eat fewer than 1000 calories per day for the rest of my life, that's why I got the band. At my age, I'm fighting other sources of weight as well.

I think there are a whole lot of variables involved, too. I definitely believe genetics play a part. I also believe that the explosion of obesity is related to the unhealthy added ingredients in our food supply, such as high fructose corn Syrup, added to almost everything! Khaliah Ali and her doctors do a great job of explaining these issues in her book, "Fighting Weight." She and her doctor have been banded. And of course, we can develop bad eating habits, such as emotional eating and binging.

We don't all have the same reasons for being overweight, just like people don't all have the same reasons for getting cancer (and we don't always know the cause of cancer, either.) There's a difference between blame and responsibility, too. I don't blame myself for being overweight because I feel like I did the best I could with the knowledge that I had and I genuinely fought it, just like most of us here. I don't think most people blame themselves for getting cancer, either. But all of us are taking responsibility for losing weight -- in our case, by getting banded.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

I definitely think that genes play a huge part in all of this.

My daughter weighed 5 lbs at birth. She had gastic bypass surgery 2 years ago this month, age 25 at 325lbs.

My son is now almost 24 yrs old. He is 5'10" and weighs 140 lbs. He often will come over to use the computer in the evenings,

and will ask if I have anything to eat. I ask him what he has had to eat today, and he says he forgot to eat. I have never ( and neither has my daughter) ever forgotten to eat.

I raised both kids the same, by myself, because their dad died when they were 3 and 6 years old. They definitely have different

genetics.

[bandster_1007 1]

I recently posted a thread about overeating and the comments I got back made me think that most of the people in here might not really be overeaters just overweight. I know I battle something in my that wants food really bad. Thank God for the band I cant eat what I want. But I was banded for a year and a half and I did real well , then my band eroded and I had to be rebanded. In the time I waited for a fill , I wanted to eat the house and I just about did. I would have thought that my life had changed but the fact is that once I could eat again , MY old addiction came right back. I would have to live in fairy land to believe that you can be completely healed of overeating addiction.

if you research you will find several other cases that suggest this also. my band doctor believes it has a lot to do with genes (as i would assume most bariatric doctors do believe)..

but..this is my problem...no one in either side of my family are heavy....no one...except my dad..and he weighs less than me and is a foot taller. where in the hell did i get it from????????? lol....