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Hello.
I'm 40 years old and have been overweight since about the age of 8.
I've made several valliant attempts over the course of my life to lose weight... Fit for Life, Grapefruit, Zone, Atkins, South Beach, Sugar Busters, You On a Diet, Dr. Phil's Book, etc etc etc..
Never over the course of any of those plans did I really sit down and acknowledge the fact that I'm a food addict and an emotional eater. I'm a compulsive overeater.
I don't eat like most people. Ever since childhood I've associated food with comfort and blocking out feelings. Also with good times, holidays, etc. The highs and the lows. Food is always there.
My worst nemesis is the snack machine at work. Not only are you mainling sugar from those snack cakes and candy bars, the machine is a money vaccuum cleaner.
I've binged. Back in my professional food addict days, I would feast on whole pizzas, half-gallons of ice cream, bags of donuts. It's not like I didn't know what healthy food is. It's that my brain didn't care. Plus I could always stop tomorrow.
A buffet is like a personal invitation to gorge. Did you ever look around inside one of those places? It's like some of those people are having their last meal. Yet, I've been there too. There's no logical reason to pile on ham, meat loaf, mashed potatos and maccaroni and cheese on one plate..
Family functions, well in my family no one questions you going back for 2nd or 3rd plates of food. Come on, where do you think I learned all this from anyways??
Now, I've been addicted or nearly addicted to other things along the way, but as I've left those thing behind me, the food issues remain. You have to eat right?
Try telling an alcoholic "Gee, you can only drink 3 times a day, but only drink half a drink, and you can't get drunk off that..mm kay?" They couldn't do it. Now, I'm not trying to compare the physiological affect of alcohol to food, as everyone has their own level of addiction. There are probably those who find the pull of a Big Mac value meal to harder to kick than alcohol or even coke or heroin..
You can't give up food all together, which makes it a really tough thing to deal with. And if you use food to cope, you have to find substitutions, or else you'll find yourself running screaming to Dunkin' Donuts at the first sign of stress.
The low-carb diet is great for combating the physical cravings, No doubt. I lost a TON of weight on Atkins. But I gained it all back. No "low-carb high" could fight the stress bombs that started going off in my life.
I can't approach weight loss like I have in the past, as a "physical only" thing. The addiction is just too strong to ignore the rest.
Thanks for listening,
MJJ
I'm 40 years old and have been overweight since about the age of 8.
I've made several valliant attempts over the course of my life to lose weight... Fit for Life, Grapefruit, Zone, Atkins, South Beach, Sugar Busters, You On a Diet, Dr. Phil's Book, etc etc etc..
Never over the course of any of those plans did I really sit down and acknowledge the fact that I'm a food addict and an emotional eater. I'm a compulsive overeater.
I don't eat like most people. Ever since childhood I've associated food with comfort and blocking out feelings. Also with good times, holidays, etc. The highs and the lows. Food is always there.
My worst nemesis is the snack machine at work. Not only are you mainling sugar from those snack cakes and candy bars, the machine is a money vaccuum cleaner.
I've binged. Back in my professional food addict days, I would feast on whole pizzas, half-gallons of ice cream, bags of donuts. It's not like I didn't know what healthy food is. It's that my brain didn't care. Plus I could always stop tomorrow.
A buffet is like a personal invitation to gorge. Did you ever look around inside one of those places? It's like some of those people are having their last meal. Yet, I've been there too. There's no logical reason to pile on ham, meat loaf, mashed potatos and maccaroni and cheese on one plate..
Family functions, well in my family no one questions you going back for 2nd or 3rd plates of food. Come on, where do you think I learned all this from anyways??
Now, I've been addicted or nearly addicted to other things along the way, but as I've left those thing behind me, the food issues remain. You have to eat right?
Try telling an alcoholic "Gee, you can only drink 3 times a day, but only drink half a drink, and you can't get drunk off that..mm kay?" They couldn't do it. Now, I'm not trying to compare the physiological affect of alcohol to food, as everyone has their own level of addiction. There are probably those who find the pull of a Big Mac value meal to harder to kick than alcohol or even coke or heroin..
You can't give up food all together, which makes it a really tough thing to deal with. And if you use food to cope, you have to find substitutions, or else you'll find yourself running screaming to Dunkin' Donuts at the first sign of stress.
The low-carb diet is great for combating the physical cravings, No doubt. I lost a TON of weight on Atkins. But I gained it all back. No "low-carb high" could fight the stress bombs that started going off in my life.
I can't approach weight loss like I have in the past, as a "physical only" thing. The addiction is just too strong to ignore the rest.
Thanks for listening,
MJJ
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