"Why" do we eat ourselves to obesity?

[disneygals]

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

Thanks.

 

[lisaviolet]

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.

Sometimes, yes. But I do personally have psychological issues regarding weight. A couple. And they are valid and real. And they did produce overeating and did produce, at times, too much weight on my body at certain points in my life. (For me. I realize that abuse/not accepting stature doesn't take everyone to a higher weight. It's how I dealt with things) And that has nothing to do with genetics. But in the end it's almost the same as what you are talking about. Circles around. In that, the more and more I understand these issues and let them go the more and more I'm content with my body. But then again my body has responded in tune to becoming smaller and more fit.

(Judy I enjoyed reading your viewpoints. I just have more words flowing from reading it.. So I'm going with it. )

I understand and am actually becoming more grateful for my stature. And that's fantastic. The uniqueness especially. Like I said now looking at my weight loss at 13....ugly. Weight didn't fit the bones. And I could rationally see it! Ten years ago I might have looked at the picture and thought, "wow, look how great I looked." Not anymore. And that's due to me facing psychological issues. It's because I've faced them head on. And funny enough it's often men that see me as "your size is what your body should be". I find that interesting. I often think that sometimes women put a lot of pressure on this issue of weight.

As for my other issue, surrounding the abuse, I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with being smaller and not feeling so "naked" about it. Working on it. So it's all good here. Very good.

So I see your point somewhat in that I don't want to tight fist my life around food and exercise. I refuse to. It's not living for me. Right now I'm just living normally, normal to me I mean, and whereever this all lands my body is whereever that lands my body. And that's fine. Just trying to be more and more conscious. Not by documenting or giving food that much thought but by simply being "here" when I'm eating. But I suspect that this journey will take me to a lower weight than I am now. Because although I know my stature means I will always be bigger I do not believe that I'm not meant to be somewhat smaller than I am now. And I'm including genetics. It's certainly not as much as I would have perceived in the past because I now know clearly that scale weight doesn't always reflect size.

Your post made me chuckle with a memory. One day on Larry King, Mehmet Oz was speaking about weight and Dr. Weil interrupted him and said, "Larry, Mehmet is failing to mention that he is genetically built to be a lean man". So there is certainly a tie in between genetics, stature and weight. But in my opinion, and in my situation, even that didn't stop me from having too much weight on at times. And it doesn't explain the majority's issues and reasons. Interesting conversation.

 

[lisaviolet]

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.

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.

I think this is so smart Dona.

Me too. It used to get under my skin, saddened me, if my family didn't notice a thing as well. Human reaction to be disappointed. But now it makes me chuckle and shake my head. A lot of things are making me chuckle these days. That's got to be good.

 

[3DisneyKids]

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.

While I agree with much of what you have said here, there are some points that I would like to challenge, respectfully of course.

Yes, I believe individuals have somewhat of "set weight" that is what their body says is "normal" for them. However, unless you have underlying medical condition, noone's "set weight" is 100+ pounds over the "standard." Our bodies are not built to get that large "naturally". Period.

As you correctly state, few people are able to get all the way to goal, and then even fewer keep it off. One of the main reasons for this is that we do not know how or why we overate in the first place. In order to be successful, we also have to be ACCOUNTABLE.

Maybe our reasons for overeating were valid...abuse, stress, boredom, tragedy...any number of issues. But the point is, we put the food in our mouths and we have to be accountable. An until we do that, we will have a difficult time being successful.

As for getting it off...I am in favor of whatever works. I say...if you are a candidate for surgery and that is a method you feel comfortable with...go for it! There is no shame in getting medical or surgical help in your weight loss journey.

But to just say..."Gee, I am 100+ pounds overweight, but it is not my fault...this is my body's set weight..." is a cop out. I don't meant that to sound harsh. If you are comfortable there and love yourself at that weight, great! More power to you! But for me, nope....I refuse to accept that I am "destined" to be heavy.

 

[JudyS]

...But to just say..."Gee, I am 100+ pounds overweight, but it is not my fault...this is my body's set weight..." is a cop out. I don't meant that to sound harsh. If you are comfortable there and love yourself at that weight, great! More power to you! But for me, nope....I refuse to accept that I am "destined" to be heavy.

I don't think I was doing anything wrong when I was 100 pounds overweight. I ate about 10 servings of vegetables a day, almost never ate junk food, exercised regularly, drank lots of water (have to -- history of kidney stones) and stopped eating before I was full. I do realize that some people eat when they are stressed, but I do not. When I am anxious, I lose my appetite. If I am feeling down in the dumps, my husband has to urge me to eat, because I just don't feel like eating when I'm depressed. So, how was that extra 100 pounds my fault?

I have now managed to lose 30 pounds, and am "only" 70 pounds overweight, but I didn't do it by changing my lifestyle, because my lifestyle was fine to begin with. Basically, I did it by taking medication, which was the only way I could reduce the intense feelings of hunger and dramatic declines in body temperature (down to 94.5 degrees, at one point) that I get when I diet. The medication isn't instead of dieting; the medication makes it possible for me to diet.

I get very upset when people assume that obesity is always or almost always caused by poor behaviors. There is overwhelming evidence that many people are in fact destined to be fat. (I will be happy to give you references if you like.) Surgery does help some of these people, probably by changing the hormonal signals that their digestive tracts send to their hypothalmus, telling the brain how much they have eaten. But, surgery has its own risks, and currently there is no way to tell in advance who will benefit from it, so I decided not to try that.

...However, unless you have underlying medical condition, noone's "set weight" is 100+ pounds over the "standard." Our bodies are not built to get that large "naturally". Period.

Many people's bodies were built for an environment where people got 7 or more hours of exercise a day and almost never could find enough food to satisfy their hunger. Despite that, even when living a stone age lifestyle, some groups of people still weigh considerably more than what would be considered "normal" by the current medical establishment. For example, many of the Yanamamo, who live in the Amazon jungle and get most of their food by hunting and gathering, are technically overweight, and some are obese. And, Pima Indians living traditional agricultural lifestyles in rural Mexico, where they spend 40 hours or more doing hard labor a week, still have high levels of obesity and diabetes. You put someone with those genes in a typical American environment, where food is always available and hardly anyone has 7 hours a day to exercise, and a lot of them are going to end up morbidly obese, no matter how hard they try to lose weight.

This varies tremdously by race. Western Europeans seem to have had the best access to food during past centuries, and they have about the lowest tendency towards Type 2 diabetes of any racial group, and some of the lowest tendencies of obesity (East Asians tend to be thin, but get Type 2 diabetes anyway.) Of course, given that the high-status group tends to be thin and that it is minority groups such as people of African decent and Native American decent (including many Latinos) that have the most tendency to gain weight easily, being fat becomes heavily stigmatized.

As for whether many obese people have an underlying medical condition, generally, anyone who looks closely at the physiology of very obese people finds that obese people have physiological factors that lead to weight gain. For example, when a normal person eats, their duodenum (the part of the intestines closest to the stomach) releases GLP-1, a hormone that tells the brain that food is being absorbed. In many obese people, little or no GLP-1 is released by the duodenum, and their brain can't tell that they have eaten until the person eats so much food that the duodenum can't absorb it all and leftover, unabsorbed food reaches the ileum (the end of the small intestine.)

In most cases, though, doctors don't bother looking for these physiological causes, partly because it's very expensive, and partly because until the past couple of years, there were no treatments for these problems anyway.

...But for me, nope....I refuse to accept that I am "destined" to be heavy.

I can't tell you if you are destined to be heavy or not. Set point seems to vary among people, not only in how high the set point is (i.e., 140 pounds versus 240 pounds), but in how strongly the body "defends" that setpoint (i.e., when a person loses weight, does their brain pull out all the stops to try to get it back, or not?) If you look at most people, their body temperature drops substantially when they diet -- it's one of the main ways that the body conserves fat. If you look at people who have lost a lot of weight and kept it off for years, though, their temperature doesn't drop when they diet -- their bodies don't seem to be trying to get back to their original weight. Maybe you are one of the few, the lucky few, who don't have a firm setpoint. For most people, though, when they try to lose weight, their body fights back to keep its fat, and it fights back hard.

 

[lisaviolet]

As for getting it off...I am in favor of whatever works.

Ditto. I'm pleased with my choices for my life. What makes me content and happy. But whatever works is whatever works.

 

[lisaviolet]

I don't think I was doing anything wrong when I was 100 pounds overweight. I ate about 10 servings of vegetables a day, almost never ate junk food, exercised regularly, drank lots of water (have to -- history of kidney stones) and stopped eating before I was full. I do realize that some people eat when they are stressed, but I do not. When I am anxious, I lose my appetite. If I am feeling down in the dumps, my husband has to urge me to eat, because I just don't feel like eating when I'm depressed. So, how was that extra 100 pounds my fault?

Wow Judy. That must be frustrating. But then again, honestly, I guess I shouldn't assume what people think. Maybe you were absolutely fine as in accepting of where you were at.

You know it's been interesting to listen to Whoopi Goldberg on The View. She says she often has her largest gains because/when she rarely eats. She could really care less about eating.

It's also been interesting for me to read your story. I'm smiling. It's interesting for an emotional/stress related eater to read that, despite carrying "extra" weight, you don't use food that way at all. I came on this thread saying that I knew not everyone has issues regarding weight; there are other factors. I've enjoyed reading everyone's perspectives and stories.

We certainly are not all the same.

 

[3DisneyKids]

Thanks, Judy, for a very informative post. I am sure it must be frustrating to be doing everything right and still be heavier than you would like.

I don't believe that I am one of the lucky few with a weak set weight...I know I have one and I know what and where it is. I also know that I can bust it. It takes a lot of hard work, but I have done it and maintained and will do so again. I am up right now for a variety of reasons...3 kids in 3 years (really takes a toll on your bod when you run them all together like that), and then my youngest DD was in renal failure for 2+ years (better now, thank God, ) and I stress ate like you only read about during that time.

So, I know exactly how and why I gained weight back. And I know that I can lose it and keep it off. It ain't easy. I am one of those who has to fight for every pound.

The thing about set weight is, though, that you CAN change it. You have to maintain the new weight (whether higher or lower than your original set weight) for long enough...and your brain clicks over and registers the new weight as the target weight for you. Just gotta re-set the clock. Again, it may be harder for some to reset than others.

It sounds to me like you may be one of the few who has an unnaturally high set weight? Just a thought.

As for all of anthropological studies....interesting information definitely, and I can refute each of them in turn, but alas...you are better than I when it comes to typing stamina! I don't have the energy to type it all out!

Have a great night, everyone. Keep believing in YOU and do it for YOU.