Why are YOU Fat?

[donali 57]

Wow, Nykee... (((((hugs)))))

Amazing story, fabulous survival skills. Congrats on all your accomplishments and for never giving up.

(((hugs)))

[Nykee 13]

Thanks.. This is pretty much my last stop.. lol

[Guest TexMama]

Would you believe that just before I was born, the doc told mom that I might be stillborne. No heartbeat. Ibviously I came out ok, but could NEVER gain weight. I was put on every regimen they could think of to try to get my weight going. I grew up in the 50's when tv was king. After I became glued to the TV, I hardly did anything active again. The boy next door an I would compete to see who could eat the most. My mother made very sweet tea, and we drank plenty of it. We were not poor, really. My parents made sure we always had food on the table. Lots of gravy, etc. My mother was always over 200#s and the only thing keeping her sister from doing the same was because she had a doctor who kept her stocked with diet pills. I was put on a diet at 16 which did well until I was 19 and had to diet through a doctor again. 2 babies later, more dieting. I have averaged a major diet every 2 years as long as I can remember. Each time gaining more, and each time as I got older much harder. At menopause, forget it. 20 lbs is my limit before giving up. I would give anything to be at the weight I was when I began most of those diets 20 years ago.

Overeating is the acceptable vice, socially. You meet friends or relatives - you eat. Reunions - A LOT OF EATING. Even functions at church - covered dish. Holiday gatherings - eat your a@# off (wish we really could do that). Now, if we were alcholics, why, people would go out of their way to make sure it was not at our disposal. But, hey, have another slice. Aw come on, you can diet next week. Live a little.

You see, if you have quit the smoking habit or booze, you just stay away from it. We canot just stay away from food. And people want us to eat, just cut back. Can you just cut back on drinking or smoking without falling off the wagon? I don't think so. We just have to 'control ourselves'.

TexMama

[DeLarla 22]

Wow. It's been too long since I visited this thread. These stories really tug at my heart. Nykee, I can relate to you. My mom never did drugs, but she went through her wino phase. But the dysfunction was similar. She took us to the grocery store once every couple months and stocked up on frozen chicken, liver, powdered milk, dried Beans and yogurt. As an adult, I could make a nice stew or pot of delicious Beans, but small kids didn't know what to do with that stuff. She was never home. We woke up alone, came home from school alone, put ourselves to bed alone. About once a month she'd cook something horrifying and force us to eat, so we gagged a lot. Example, she'd take a frozen bucket of liver and drop it in a pan of steaming Water then serve it rubbery with no salt, no bacon, no onions. Just boiled liver. Or she'd put 5 different dried beans & grains in a pressure cooker with no flavors, no garlic, no onion and cook them till crunchy (she believes cooking things removes the Vitamins so she fed us uncooked raw things.) We had healthstore Peanut Butter, but no jelly so she'd make it with rubber celery that was near molding. On birthdays she'd splurge on a pizza, and we'd have huge eyes and drooling mouths, but then she piled on raw zucchin and raw garlic till it was 4 inches high, and we couldn't eat the pizza without the raw stuff. Kids can't eat that kinda stuff, they gag. Takes years to develop a grown up palet. Now I love fresh veggies.

Midnight showers were the worst. Three kids asleep, and she'd dump Water over us at 3:00 a.m. cackling "midnight showers" like a luney loose from her straight jacket. I wish I could say she resolved her "issues" but she's much worse now. My mother made millionaire status 10 years ago, but she's a bag lady. She doesn't bathe, and when she does it's from a kiddy wading pool in the front yard. She smells of rancid garlic and mold, and she blames her odors on the IRS. She says they force her to spend her life fighting them from their evil ways so they take away the time she should be spending on personal hygiene. She eats dandalion greens from the yard and brown rice and is known as the screaming crazy lady in her small town. Cops are there all the time, but nobody bugs her because they don't want to deal with her. Her shoes are piled high with pigeon poop, and she blames my brother since he built some kind of overhang where pigeons now practically live, and it just happens to be over where she wants to keep her shoes on the porch. So instead of moving her shoes, the pigeon poop gets higher and higher as she screams at my brother. World's biggest martyr.

[Nykee 13]

My MY... These are the days of our lives..huh!? lol

I love that you shared that..

Thank you!

[alatina 1]

I was born to a heroine addicted mother-she would leave my siblings and myself alone in the house for weeks at a time-we would sneak out thru floorboards in the closet to underneath the house and cruise the local dump late at night and early morning to get food so for me food is still a thing in my brain that makes me desperate to have in case its the last stuff I get-i know its not but its a weird process that goes thru my head.I was luckily adopted when I was 4 but I still have issues with things like that and sexual abuse that happened to me by the time I was 4.I have always battled food addiction my whole life it just never showed on me physically til the last 10 years.

[scottygyrl 1]

I am also fat because I LOVE food! I always wondered why anyone would smoke when it causes so many health problems, but when I thought about it, why would anyone eat like me, it was gonna cause a heart attack or something! I was also killing myself! Eventhough I have only lost 22 pounds and I am kinda stuck there, I could never eat the way I used to. Every meal was fried and had a regular pepsi with it. When I was 15 I wasnt even fat, by the time I was 20 I gained 100 pounds, and then kept going all the way up to 280 (I am 26 now). I am 258 now and hopefully after my next fill that will come down!!

[2bthin 0]

I love the title of this forum: Why are YOU fat? After giving this a lot of thought, I have to be honest and say the reason I'm fat is because food has given me such comfort throughout my life. For whatever reason, I have always been outside the "in" crowd. I was never really obese in high school or college--usually weighing around 150 pounds, but I have a "german build" (whatever that means-- thick waisted) and at 5'7" tall, never looked "thin" like my friends. (of course not--they all weighed around 100 pounds! :-) ) I was not popular with the boys--I was the type of girl that was your friend--not someone you dated seriously; didn't date at all in high school or college (I was also the quiet, shy type) and married my first "real" boyfriend out of college. After a very rocky 25 years of marriage, in which I had gained 100 pounds, I finally left.

I met my present husband, who, for whatever reasons looked at me the very first time, said, "you are beautiful," and my heart way his forever. We have been together for 11 years (married this month for 9 of those years) and as much as I love him, I still continued to gain MORE weight! During that time, also, I've had my gallbladder removed, and have become hypothyroid (being completely dependent upon thyroid medications because my thyroid--instead of being the size of a walnut, is the size of a very small pea and is not producing anything!). I love my husband very much and want to live a long and happy life with him, but I have another love--food! It doesn't even have to be good food!

So, here I am, looking forward to being banded on Tuesday, June 7th in Mexico with Dr. Rumbaut. I know that this isn't the magic bullet, but I know that this will enable me to make better choices. I've been on a liquid diet for the past several days in preparation for my surgery. I've seen my cardiologist, who did a stress test (my heart is normal--thank you, God), my general practitioner, who isn't very encouraging and I think a little upset that I'm having this done in Mexico.

My wonderful husband, who, at 16 years my junior can still eat anything and not gain weight is so supportive. I am hopeful. I have a good attitude. I found this wonderful forum yesterday, and I am prayerful that this will help.

Keep me in your prayers, everyone. I must succeed with this. I WILL succeed with this.

2BTHIN

Dr. Rumbaut

June 7th, 2005 :-)

[Zoe 6]

Good luck, 2B. You will love Dr. Rumbaut. Travel light, and with a light heart! I know you will succeed. For most of us, our band journey is not on a completely smooth road, but we keep moving in the general direction of our goals (with a few steps back or to the side).

You are very lucky to have such a supportive (and young!) husband. His love and encouragement will help you. Good luck, and let us know how your surgery goes.

[2bthin 0]

Oh, Thank you. I've heard so many wonderful things about Dr. Rumbaut. I'm so anxious to meet him. I've spoken with Dr. Gonzalez, who is the pre-op doctor, and he is so nice. Everyone associated with Dr. Rumbaut has been so professional and helpful.

His US contact, Cathy, is a doll. She has been my rock these past couple of weeks.

Joan wanting

2bthin;)

[josygirl 0]

To me the question is WHY am I fat? not why am i FAT?, I hate how I look, I hate being fat so why do I do this to myself? I've done well with the banding but i've had some work stress this week and my eating is out of control. I hate that I do this to myself.

Guess everyone has their own individual battle. We have similarities to what we experience but we each fight our own battle. It's scary to be so alone with the food demon isn't it?

[mom2mygirlz920 0]

Dear Bandsters, Why am I fat......Hmmmm. I am 5'7 and 231 lbs this moment. But up until about 6 years ago, I was 170. Overweight but no drastically. I had my 1st daughter in 2000 and went up to 260 day of delivery, back down to 230 after. Stayed there. Went back up over the next 3 years to 240, pregnant again and went up to 290 during pregnancy. After my 2nd daughter in 2003, stayed around 257 until day of surgery. Being overweight for me started with having my kids but sure didnt end there. I could eat 3 packs of cherry poptarts easily up until 2 weeks before my surgery. I ate to deal with emotions boredom and what not. Hubby ticked me off, let's go have some ice cream. Kids driving me crazy, ugh, whats there to eat. Always a reason. I have also had 2 knee surgeries in the past 6 years. One in 1999, minor arthoscopic to clean up some arthritis. Another in 2004 (a year on the 12th) where I dislocated my knee cap by 2.5 inches. And no that wasnt fun at all. It hurt like hell. I took vicoDin starting then and realized that in april of 2005 I was still taking them. For different reason. To feel better about myself, energy. happiness. I stopped ans said OMG. I looked into the lap band for my mom, who also takes pain pills every day, is overweight from 3 pregnancies and has lost and gained weight back many times over again, and in her I saw me. I love her but not her way of life. I thought about this band and told my husband i was considering it. He said, Honey i love u, whatever makes u happy and healthy. SO we went together to a meeting on April 28. I had an appointment for the 30 with the surgeon. at this point I was still a little skeptical. i left it in fates hands. I told my husband that if insurance approved it I was doing it. I had all my tests on May 4th, endoscopy on May 19. They called me May 20th and said I was approved. Well holy crap. they gave me a surgery daye of May 31st and here I am. Banded. I started in April at 257, I am down to 232 and SMILING. Hardly any pain meds, no more knee or foot pain and I am enjoying my girls to the fullest!!!! YOU ARE ALL TO THANK AS WELL. YOU GUYS ARE SUCH AWESOME SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NEONATAL RN 0]

Oh, I am so glad someone else knowa the pleasure of deep fried dill pickles. I live in NYC now and they have never heard of such a thing. It is amazing how anyone in the south lives past 50, and that they are all not 300 plus pounds. My band has helped me stop the overeating but I still don't know what "full" feels like. Either I am eating or I have overeaten and have to PB. Maybe there is no happy full feeling anymore, but thats okay. I have 3.3cc in, have lost 80 and am struggling to lose the rest. Of course if I would exercise it would happen, but.....

[DeLarla 22]

I'm still just as fat today as I was when I weighed 70 pounds more. My head hasn't changed, so I'll probably lose my band eventually.

I admit it, I'm a bad Bandster. Well, I'm not bad, I just don't follow the rules because my obsessive-compulsive-overeating-binging-addictive nature doesn't give a damn if I'm hurting myself. Put a Band around a smoker's lungs and they'll smoke anyway.

How much do the Mexican doctors charge for that lobotomy?

This, my friends, is why I'm always laughing. There's no reason to cry; this is life, make the best of it, fat or thin.

[DeLarla 22]

And I realize this is a huge hijack, but deep fried pickles are wrong, wrong, wrong. No, no, no.

A group of us ordered a massive take-home meal from a popular rib joint in Las Vegas. We all tore into the FRIED ZUCCINI first, then we all ran around the house spitting out the rancid, spoiled appetizers. It was truly disgusting, so we called the rib joint who told us they removed zuccini from the menu and replaced it with deep fried pickles, which NOBODY in Vegas has ever heard of. Nasty, nasty trick.

Maybe if we knew they were pickles they'd have a chance, but I"m ruined for life.