"Why" do we eat ourselves to obesity?

[SandraC]

Hi All ~ I guess there are lots of reasons we eat ourselves to obesity. For me, it started in puberty. I was a thin kids until about 12 years old....then I'd gain and lose 30-80 lbs for 30 years.

I guess my eating came from stress. I come from a long line of alcoholics. Since I don't drink much [maybe 5-10 glasses of wine a year...if that], I turned to food as my addiction.

I've had my share of stress....we moved A LOT as a kid/teen, my parents' stress rubbed off on me, my dad died at 61, and my dd was born with major heart defects that can not be repaired.

On the bright side, I have a lovely family and great friends. I try not to stress too much...in fact, the only time I stress is under circumstances beyond my control....and even then, I try to see the bright side of every situation.

Now that I'm "dieting" again, I'm feeling like I have control of my weight and it's a big part of my life.

How about you all? Why do you over eat? Blessings, Sandra

 

[dare2dream]

Sandra,

I was the Red Team captain for WISH Biggest Loser 3 and personally did nothing with the challenge. I lost zero pounds. As a team captain I felt like a hypocritical failure as I congratulated and encouraged my team members.

I was determined to do better with WISH BL 4. Guess what? I am once again failing miserably. I have been asking myself why am I allowing myself to still engage in behaviors that I know will not lead to weight loss. In the past week or two I have had some personal revelations.

* I have no hope. I just can not ever realistically picture myself as healthy. I know I will never be thin or beautiful. I would like to be comfortable with my body because right now I loath myself. I honestly can not ever see myself being able to accomplish this in my lifetime.

* I am doing this to myself because this is the life I feel I deserve. This statement sounds absolutely insane and some days I feel that that is what I am. I have always had self esteem issues. As I look back on my childhood and can not pin this issue on the way my parents treated me. They never told me I was worthless or made me feel worthless. I did this to myself. I have always been heavy and never felt 'normal' or accepted. I know I do things to myself to just make myself miserable and I know that overeating is one of them.

* I have a tape recording in my head that repeats 24/7. It says 'Brenda, you are the stupidest, ugliest, fattest, laziest woman on this entire planet." Until I fix this recording that is what I will be.

I have many mental issues that I must deal with to heal myself. The last time I went to a church therapist he said when I was depressed to imagine being in the accepting arms of Jesus Christ. I did not do well with this advice because I believe that Jesus Christ just doesn't care too much about me and my problems. He is too busy with His other children that he really loves.

So until I decide that I am strong enough and worthy enough I will keep shoveling food in my face to punish myself. It is easier to eat the junk than to say no. I am the one who buys the junk and brings it into the house. I am the one who controls the situation and I have chosen this for now. Hopefully one day I will have the energy to fight but for now, for today, I have given up. Maybe tomorrow will be better, but right now that looks highly unlikely. It takes a lot of strength to crawl out of a hole and I am very very weak right now.

 

[lisaviolet]

Sandra,

I was the Red Team captain for WISH Biggest Loser 3 and personally did nothing with the challenge. I lost zero pounds. As a team captain I felt like a hypocritical failure as I congratulated and encouraged my team members.

I was determined to do better with WISH BL 4. Guess what? I am once again failing miserably. I have been asking myself why am I allowing myself to still engage in behaviors that I know will not lead to weight loss. In the past week or two I have had some personal revelations.

* I have no hope. I just can not ever realistically picture myself as healthy. I know I will never be thin or beautiful. I would like to be comfortable with my body because right now I loath myself. I honestly can not ever see myself being able to accomplish this in my lifetime.

* I am doing this to myself because this is the life I feel I deserve. This statement sounds absolutely insane and some days I feel that that is what I am. I have always had self esteem issues. As I look back on my childhood and can not pin this issue on the way my parents treated me. They never told me I was worthless or made me feel worthless. I did this to myself. I have always been heavy and never felt 'normal' or accepted. I know I do things to myself to just make myself miserable and I know that overeating is one of them.

* I have a tape recording in my head that repeats 24/7. It says 'Brenda, you are the stupidest, ugliest, fattest, laziest woman on this entire planet." Until I fix this recording that is what I will be.

I have many mental issues that I must deal with to heal myself. The last time I went to a church therapist he said when I was depressed to imagine being in the accepting arms of Jesus Christ. I did not do well with this advice because I believe that Jesus Christ just doesn't care too much about me and my problems. He is too busy with His other children that he really loves.

So until I decide that I am strong enough and worthy enough I will keep shoveling food in my face to punish myself. It is easier to eat the junk than to say no. I am the one who buys the junk and brings it into the house. I am the one who controls the situation and I have chosen this for now. Hopefully one day I will have the energy to fight but for now, for today, I have given up. Maybe tomorrow will be better, but right now that looks highly unlikely. It takes a lot of strength to crawl out of a hole and I am very very weak right now.

Brenda,

I'm in tears. Big time.

Every week in the BL I sigh with a big "Thank goodness for these ladies that are keeping this together week after week." And every week I smile as I send you my weight. Even a gain. It's like a soft spot for me. It's like here is someone who takes my weight week after week and doesn't judge me. It's so important to me. Crucial.

Also, some of your words changed my life. They came at actually the right time for my ears to hear. I don't remember word for word. But you stated very early on that we don't need to judge ourselves when typing our weight. That we are here to support weight loss, maintains and gains. And that of course there will be gains. That's what I heard at a deep level. It changed me, hopefully forever. Because I was one the biggest critical voices for myself whenever I didn't lose. I would sabotage and want to hide in these moments. No more. Your words meant the world to me.

It saddens me that you can say how weak you are at the same time that you are blessing someone with strength. But that's how #@#$ed up, excuse the language, we all are in the world, eh? Me too. We don't understand how we affect others and our worth.

Thanks for sharing. I hope I have shown you how you've changed me. How important you are to me. Really. I am thankful.

Lisa

 

[lisaviolet]

I have to run out right now. But great question Sandra. I have some things to write. Thanks.

 

[SandraC]

I am deeply moved by Brenda and Lisa. You have my support, encouragement, prayers and positve thoughts.

Brenda, please change your "little voice recording" to; "Brenda, you are beautiful."

Blessings, Sandra

 

[gaia2009]

For me it was a mix of "not my fault" and "defintely my fault". I developed Wolf Parkinson's White syndrome at the age of three and didn't discover it until age six when the heart pain began. I had gained about thirty to fourty pounds in those three years, and when they diagnosed me, I had to stop taking P.E. and sit on the sidelines eating potato chips and drinking Gatorade. Not sure why, but I had to drink tons and tond of Gatorade, and something about the salt in potato chips was supposed to help. I had my first surgery when I was eight, then had to have another one a few days after my ninth birthday. All this time, I'd gotten used to everyone catering to me and not having to have healthy habits, that when it stopped, I started getting dramatic for attention.

Middle school came, and the depression. I was 125 lbs at eight, 200 lbs at 12, and eighteen is when I hit 300 lbs. At the moment I'm 297, and honestly, I'm kind of wondering when all this happened. When I just gave up. I've always been more energetic than like my 400 lb dad or the other overweight kids at my school. Besides huffing and puffing after running and tight movie theatre seats, most days I don't feel that different. But when I try to eat right or exercise, I panic and begin making huge pots of pasta or rice and cheese and wolf it down. That's happening now, and I'm not meeting any of my goals.

But I'm breaking them down into much smaller ones, trying not to tackle too much. After a few weeks, I'll add some more, building up a healthy lifestyle instead of jumping on it and then getting bucked off.

I agree with Sandra. That negative voice recording is completely untrue. We're beautiful in the struggles we face and overcome, and I hope you always feel beautiful.

 

[donac]

Brenda and everyone else,

I don't know what to say. I am in the same situation. I did BL3 and only lost 6 pounds the last week to show a loss. I wasted the entire time doing nothing to help myself. I feel I am at that point now. I don't know why I get home from work and can't stop eating.

I know I am a strong confident women and my weight is my last problem I need to cure. I am hoping that I can find the right combination to do it.
'
Good luck to everyone here. You can do it.

 

[Raenstoirm]

I am sitting in the same boat with you guys. I started to gain weight right before puberty and just never stopped. I think it was a combination of being a teen girl is hard, my parents got divorced when i was 13 and my mom and I were forced to move, leaving all of my friends and my lifestyle behind. I grew up very wealthy and with the divorce, my mom did not come out on top. I went from having 4 bedrooms of my own (one for each season and yes it was sick) to sharing a very VERY small townhouse with my mother and personally worrying about money a lot and watching my mother cry and cry over the lack of ability to pay the bills. Then of course there was my mother's pressure. I was a child model and she could never get over me gaining weight. When I was 11 or 12 and started to gain that beguine baby fat that goes away during puberty (least it is supposed to go away) she would always tell me I was "so beautiful" and what was I doing to myself. Every girl gains weight at that point, it is natural and goes away, but that is when I started to fixate on weight.

Nowadays I take lack of dip in the scale as a personal failure, despite my best efforts. But I am trying to stop that. I decide this time around I will focus on the psychology of losing (and gaining weight) to help me deal with my unhealthy body. It is really hard though, harder than focusing on food and exercise. Before starting my new me plan this time around, I went out and bought an entire new wardrobe size 14 I'll have you know (need to be a 6 or and 8). I have always waited to buy clothes till I could buy a smaller size, so I have not bought clothes for myself like that in YEARS. Now I look good every day and I can honestly tell myself that. Larger than I want to be for sure, but still stylish and attractive. When (not if) these clothes no longer fit, I will chalk up the cost of them to the effort to get my confidence back and in turn, accomplish all my goals.

 

[SandraC]

You are all inspirations.

I was in denial about my weight for a very long time. I never liked the idea that life-issues made me fat. I think eating too much makes me fat. Whenever I tried to think of the reasons I ate too much, I couldn't think of anything. My life is perfect, I would say to myself. Nothing is wrong....nothing makes me eat other than I love food.

But then my dad died at 61. I forced myself to "un-perfect" my life and be honest. I lived in the world of "positive-thinking" all the time. But there is a flaw in that. I do love myself....however, loving my 232lbs body and accepting the weight wasn't healthy. I had to admit that 232lbs is not healthy and I would die young like my dad if I didn't do anything about it. So here I am....214lbs and facing the un-perfect me....still in love with myself, but needing to get healthy.

Another interesting life-moment story.....in 1994, I was 210lbs....my dd was 4 years old and recovering from her third heart operation. Doctor said, "Well, that's it, that's all we can do surgically, now go home and enjoy your life." Eight months later, I was 122lbs. I got fit and healthy and stayed that way for years.

In 2003, dd developed serious and life-threatening complications due to her heart problems. I went from 122lbs to 232lbs in mere months. dd battled the complications for years.....in Dec 2007 all tests showed remission to the problems.....and guess what....I was 232lbs in Dec 2007 and now....6 weeks later, I'm 214lbs. My dh thinks I hold on the my weight as a protection when dd is very ill. Food sooths me when I'm despritely stressed. We go back to hospital in March 2008.

Blessings, Sandra

 

[3DisneyKids]

You are all inspirations.

I was in denial about my weight for a very long time. I never liked the idea that life-issues made me fat. I think eating too much makes me fat. Whenever I tried to think of the reasons I ate too much, I couldn't think of anything. My life is perfect, I would say to myself. Nothing is wrong....nothing makes me eat other than I love food.

But then my dad died at 61. I forced myself to "un-perfect" my life and be honest. I lived in the world of "positive-thinking" all the time. But there is a flaw in that. I do love myself....however, loving my 232lbs body and accepting the weight wasn't healthy. I had to admit that 232lbs is not healthy and I would die young like my dad if I didn't do anything about it. So here I am....214lbs and facing the un-perfect me....still in love with myself, but needing to get healthy.

Another interesting life-moment story.....in 1994, I was 210lbs....my dd was 4 years old and recovering from her third heart operation. Doctor said, "Well, that's it, that's all we can do surgically, now go home and enjoy your life." Eight months later, I was 122lbs. I got fit and healthy and stayed that way for years.

In 2003, dd developed serious and life-threatening complications due to her heart problems. I went from 122lbs to 232lbs in mere months. dd battled the complications for years.....in Dec 2007 all tests showed remission to the problems.....and guess what....I was 232lbs in Dec 2007 and now....6 weeks later, I'm 214lbs. My dh thinks I hold on the my weight as a protection when dd is very ill. Food sooths me when I'm despritely stressed. We go back to hospital in March 2008.

Blessings, Sandra

Thanks so much to Sandra and Brenda and everyone for sharing your stories. We have all failed with weight loss before...that is why we are here. I have lost over 100 pounds...never at one time, mind you! I keep saying that I have lost the same 10 pounds 10 times over! I just need to "connect" all of those ten pound losses!

Sandra--my DD (now 5) also has a critical illness...and for two years I stress ate like you only read about. She is currently 100%, thank God, and we are just in a monitoring phase. So now I can focus on ME, which is what I am doing.

The trick, I think, is to make sure that I can keep this focus even if she gets sick again or another life stressor comes out. I cannot turn to food for support or encouragement...it only makes me feel worse in the end, right?

Hang in there...Brenda and others who are having a hard time getting started...start with baby steps...and ones that have nothing to do with food, For example, spend an entire week just saying..."I deserve to be happy and healthy. And I deserve to have a great life" ten times a day. Or come up with whatever positive mantra works for you. And say it once an hour all day long. That is it for week one. Don't think about food...don't worry about exericse...just work on the positive message for a week and see what happens. Then you will be ready to take the next baby step.

 

[dare2dream]

That is what I tried to change the recording to in my head. It really helped me get through the day. As I made choices yesterday I would ask myself 'Is this what a beautiful woman would do?" or 'Is this how a beautiful woman would spend her time?'

I am a procrastinator (I do it to punish myself) and I completed several projects yesterday that I have been putting off. That made me feel great, like I really was a beautiful woman.

There is hope today and I will get more things done and feel good about myself.

Thanks to all for your help.

 

[lisaviolet]

I've had some interesting realizations lately. All through my hard work and through therapy.

I've heard Bob Greene, Oprah's man, say a hundred times that he will not take anyone on unless they know why they overeat and that they are on the road to taking care of that issue. I now understand his statements fully.

I do think there are people who simply get into bad habits, or have situations that add weight like quitting smoking, taking the BC pill etc. Ie. It doesn't have to be about emotions for every single person that needs to lose some weight. I have been there with all three. However, I am in essence not one of those people where it just comes down to lifestyle etc. I am an emotional eater. Or on a positive note, used to be. It certainly doesn't infiltrate the way it used to.

I've spent years ignoring the fact that I was continually sexually abused as a child. Not really ignoring but I did not want to let it be the reason for anything. Some of my negative traits, issues with sexuality, weight. I've since discovered it's had an effect on many aspects of my life and I'm forty. That's what's wrong with this world. To simply look at it like that means victim for some. You know the live life, move on crowd. It's like you suffer more because you are simply looking at your suffering. The thoughts. But it's not a victim stance. It's a friggin' reality stance. Just is the straight facts. The simple facts of how something affected your thought process, sometimes even brain chemistry and then of course your life. Sometimes in ways one can't even stop, sometimes my body shakes and I can't stop it, without looking at the issue. The facts can't be simply ignored. And it's been empowering to see where it took me, where I took it and what I don't want for life. MY life. Because that's what it really feels like, right now, finally my life.

I also have always been, and will always be, a big girl. I'm tall and have a very large frame. I am not the average stature. I know a lot of overweight people believe this but it's the truth with me. I have a joke with one of my BL buddies that I would make a killing in stuff animals at those guess your weight fair booths if I had the guts to get on their scale and report the number. I swear I look 35-50 pounds less that I am.

So this has always lead me to overeat. My size. Sounds ridiculous. But true. I just never was or will be "that girl". I cried, well sighed and tried not to cry openly, a couple of years ago when I heard Alphaba sing her "not that girl" song in Wicked. Surprising. Came out of nowhere, the emotions, that night at the theatre. There are times when I wasn't even overweight, many times, and I thought I was huge. High school. I was a size 11 and that was huge compared to all other girls. Unbelievable. My doctor wrote clinically obese on my university physical first year. You would laugh in hysterics if I posted a picture of that time. Laugh. Totally normal size. Big girl, but totally normal size. Relatively fit. Idiot I can say now by basing his findings on a simple number. Really an idiot. But at the time, honestly, I think I was getting pretty close to an eating disorder because of being shocked and saddened by those words. I weigh more now than I did then and I'm relatively happy with my body right now. So . But of course I took it all in.

I recently found pictures where I lost some weight at 13. I must have been so thrilled. So thrilled. And I looked sick through my eyes, rational eyes, now. Ie. the weight didn't fit the bones. Yuck. Not attractive. And the irony I bet everyone around me was so pleased and thought I looked great. That's our world.

People have told me great things about me. But it doesn't matter. It's only about my negative voice. See Brenda, you are obviously not alone. Obviously.

The abuse has been interesting. It gives me the absolutely opposite effect with weight. So I'm continually on a push pull. I am at the weight, by weight I really mean size, that I start to feel bad. Very uncomfortable with myself. Like I want to put on weight not lose it. So weird. Like I'm exposed. Or naked. And I've known this for a couple of years and it's still here. But I'm working on it. Working on not sabatoging myself because I feel so uncomfortable being smaller. Very interesting if it wasn't my life. The reverse psychology/thought process of it all But I know I'm not alone. I heard Ricki Lake talking about that exact thought process regarding sexual abuse and her weight.

The one thing that I love about my choices for me, and please know that I know that everyone is different and has chosen what's best for them, is what I decided years and years ago. I will never diet. I will never eat food that I don't like. I will always include food that gives me pleasure even if those foods are high in calories or whatever. Always. Daily. I will not document my food. I will simply eat and whereever that lands me is whereever that lands me. I'm okay with that. It's how I want to live my life. And it's worked slowly over about ten years. Ten years of losing very slowly with ebbs and flows and lots of maintaining.

BL has been a change because I've been very stubborn about doing anything about my food intake. Ie. paragraph above. Exercise is not a problem. But I have been a bit more open to compromise. Compromise!!! Nasty compromise!!! Eating everything in the world, nothing of limits, but in smaller amounts. Obviously, I had to make some kind of change to get through months and months of plateauing. I also refuse to make any change that I can't keep up with for the rest of my life.

I am very happy about where I'm at and very happy about where I'm going. I mentioned therapy only because there seemed to some kind of block that I've accessed and got through lately that has changed me on many levels. And I am very thankful.

Thanks for listening everyone. It's really helped me to read everyone's stories and thoughts. We certainly need to be our biggest cheerleaders.

Lisa

 

[lisaviolet]

That is what I tried to change the recording to in my head. It really helped me get through the day. As I made choices yesterday I would ask myself 'Is this what a beautiful woman would do?" or 'Is this how a beautiful woman would spend her time?'

I am a procrastinator (I do it to punish myself) and I completed several projects yesterday that I have been putting off. That made me feel great, like I really was a beautiful woman.

There is hope today and I will get more things done and feel good about myself.

Thanks to all for your help.

Big thanks to you Brenda. I don't think I would have released what I just wrote without seeing your courage in your post.

So thanks. I too am a procrastinator. I just finished the taxes. And they aren't 2007. It's really not funny. But I'm finding it so.

 

[lisaviolet]

And thank you once again for starting this thread Sandra. It came at a great time for me. But that's the world, eh? At times truly magical.

 

[disneygals]

I grew up thinking I was fat..a curvy girl in a ballet world. I wasn't fat.

Over the years I have been at the high end of the "healthy" weight for my height. Three kids born 92, 94 ,96 gained and lost all the weight.

Starting in 2000, tragedies and traumas allowed me to excuse my emotional eating and gain 40 pounds.

The other day, I realized this when wondering how I can stand myself at this weight. I realized that I have always hated my body, so there is no difference in hating it at 10 lbs overweight vs. 40 lbs overweight.I hope this is the year I can make changes. Good wishes to all who are trying.

 

[lisaviolet]

The other day, I realized this when wondering how I can stand myself at this weight. I realized that I have always hated my body, so there is no difference in hating it at 10 lbs overweight vs. 40 overweight

I think that's so smart, so incredibly insightful of you disneygals. I hope my "wow" doesn't come off condescending in any way. I certainly don't mean it that way. It was just a "wow". All the best to you.

Lisa

 

[JudyS]

Hi All ~ I guess there are lots of reasons we eat ourselves to obesity....Why do you over eat?...

I am obese, and have technically been morbidly obese at times, but I don't believe that I overeat, and I certainly don't think that I "ate mysef to obesity." In fact, I would say that for pretty much my whole life, my diet has been healthier (by far) than the average American's diet, and I rarely if ever eat more than needed to satisfy my physical feelings of hunger (and I usually eat a lot less than needed to satisfy my physical feelings of hunger.)

I believe that body weight is largely genetically determined. This is one reason why I am not even trying to get down to what society considers a "normal weight" for my height. It is also why I am willing to use pharmalogical means (Byetta, stimulants) to lose weight. Otherwise, I am simply fighting my body's natural tendencies and will be doomed to fail.

 

[simpilotswife]

to everyone on this thread.

I would just like to say that we are all beautiful. Every day and every weight. No matter what you think there is always someone out there who thinks you are beautiful and loves you for who you are, the trick is learning to love yourself for who you are too. It makes my heart hurt to read that you guys don't feel that way about yourselves (especially you Brenda because you're such a sweetheart and have been such a great BL captain ).

I guess for me my problem with my weight was that I do see myself as beautiful. It just didn't seem to be all that bad for me. I like to eat, a lot, and unfortunately I am not blessed with a wonderful metabolism so once past the lips forever on the hips is my life story. I would just look at the scale going up and not really think too much about it other than not being happy that I needed to buy new clothes.

In the past year I had come to realize that my weight was really starting to affect my health in a bad way. I will be 50 next year and I would really like to be fit when I do that. I made up my mind that when the kids went to school this fall I would start using the extra time in the mornings to exercise. So I came over to the WISH board and found the BL3 thread. Weighing in really helps to motivate me and keep me on track so I am happy to have a place to do that.

Just remember guys we have a bigger hurdle to face than most other people with addictions do and that is that we need to face food every day. Other people can avoid what they are addicted to like cigarettes, alcohol and drugs but we can't. Unfortunately every day we must battle our addiction in a way that other addicts do not. No one expects a drinker to drink a little and then stop, they can't. Yet each day we must force ourselves to eat a little then stop, that is an extremely difficult thing to do for people like us. So the next time that you make a wiser food choice or stop yourself after eating a few bites of something really fabulous love yourself a little more....you've earned it.

 

[donac]

You guys have really made me think about this journey I have been on for 3 years.

I was heavy in high school and slimmed down in college (yes I lived at home). I was pretty slim until I had my first son and even then that is the weight that I am trying to get back to now. After ds2 was born each year I put on a little bit more and more.

Three years ago my school ran a Biggest Loser contest. When I stepped on the scale I was amazed at my weight. It was the highest it has ever been in my life. I was determined to lose the weight. The first month I lost 10 pounds and was the women's winner. Over the next couple of months I lost another 6. I stayed at this for almost a year and then I started losing again.

I got down to my lowest weight in a long time in summer of 2006. At one point I had lost over 30 pounds from my highest weight. A friend asked if I had been sick or had been dieting. That really hurt. Why not you look good. My dh never said a word about me losing 30 pounds and that hurt also. The killer was that after all the hard work and dieting my cholesterol level was the highest it had ever been and I had to start on Lipitor.

That was the end of things. I started to put weight back on because I felt like the effort was useless. I never got back to my highest weight for which I am greatful but this thread has inspired me to think about how I feel about my weight. I can't please anyone except myself. This journey is not about firends or even dh. It is about me and what I can do for me. My doctor''s appointment last week showed that even though my cholesterol was low my liver enzymes were high so I am off Lipitor and need to think about how to keep the chol. low without drugs before she starts me on another drug.

I want to thank everyone on this thread for being so open and honest. Reading things like this helps me to start getting my head on straight.

Thanks

 

[JudyS]

When I made my first post on this thread, I was in a hurry and hadn't had a chance to take a close look at the posts other people have made. Reading others' posts now, it makes me sad that there are people here who are so down on themselves about their weight.

The reality is, people come in different shapes and sizes, just as they come in different colors and heights. Our society gives people -- especially women -- a hard time about being large, and it's really unfair. All this concern about weight is supposedly because being heavy is bad for health, but really, the health risks from excess weight are not that great unless one is quite obese, and even then, it's mostly men who are at risk -- and yet, men tend to be far less concerned about their weight then women are.

Generally, it's extremely hard to lose weight and keep it off. It's much easier to lower one's blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol than to lower one's weight. Hardly anyone loses more than 10% of their body weight and keeps it off long-term. Even losing 10% and keeping it off is rare. I was looking at Weight Watchers' own studies, the ones they trumpet in their marketing literature, and only about 1 in 5 people who stuck with their program for a year lost 10% or more of their starting weight. And, in another Weight Watchers study, only about 1 in 5 people who lost 10% of their weight kept it off for 5 years. Putting those studies together, that means only 1 in 25 WW participants will lose 10% of their weight and keep it off for 5 years, and that's not even counting the huge number of people who start WW but drop out quickly. (Less than 1/2 of WW participants make it to 6 weeks in the program.)

Most women are unhappy with their weight, but hardly any of them can lose weight and keep it off. If you can't lose weight and keep it off, that doesn't mean that there's something wrong with you psychologically -- it's just normal.