Please don't be offended...
gust1247
Posts: 23
This is a genuine question I am asking because I am very interested in obesity and morbid obesity, specifically WHY and HOW. I am also a nursing student, and I understand that factors X, Y, and Z play into obesity. But here is my question, and I would really appreciate honest answers from people who truly understand:
How does a person "let" himself or herself become so heavy? How and why does a person put on 300, 400, 500 pounds? I just do not understand and would really like to "get it" so in the future, as a nurse, I can better help those struggling with this issue.
Thank you
-Nicole
How does a person "let" himself or herself become so heavy? How and why does a person put on 300, 400, 500 pounds? I just do not understand and would really like to "get it" so in the future, as a nurse, I can better help those struggling with this issue.
Thank you
-Nicole
0
Replies
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I am not obese, morbidly obese, or even over weight. I just need to tone up and maybe lose a couple lbs. However, I can see how it happens. How people "let" themselves get that way. It isn't the same reason for everyone though. Here are some of the reasons I have noticed over time by knowing people that are obese.
1. Lifestyle: They grew up eating food, and lots of it. It doesn't even have to be "junk" food, they just consume way too many calories because that is what they have always done. I had a couple of friends like this. I could easily be this person too, but was blessed with a decent metabolism and now I just know better.
2. Depression: Some people use food to fill a void and to make themselves feel better. They also quit caring about their appearance, they think they aren't worth it.... so why put in the effort to exercise and work off what they are eating.
3. The weight came on for various reasons and it's just too hard to get it back off: Be it pregnancy, something medical came up (surgery, sickness) that made them gain weight. Again, its too hard to get it off so that individual just accepts who they are now and moves on with life.
I don't think anyone "lets" themselves get like that. I think that a lot of people grow up not understanding the importance of eating right and staying fit. Then they wake up one morning and think, where the heck did all this come from?
Like I said I don't know from personal experience but I could easily fit into the first 2 categories, and I know at least 1 person that fits into each.0 -
that's more of a psychology and sociology question. probably for a host of reasons, but question why / how people become so addicted to gambling that they lose all their money, or addicted to meth, alcohol, cigarettes, etc. people tend to do that. it happens.0
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As a nurse I think you know there are medical factors that also play a role in people being over weight as well as for myself ..I was undiagnosed with an inactive thyroid for years while having no insurance and Always being active and eating fairly healthy0
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You will learn in school about why. Eating becomes an addiction. Yep, psych.0
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First, the definition of obesity is very vague as a person my size (5'1" and 205) is "morbidly obese" even though i'm porportionate.. and ive never put on 300 pounds.. but at some point you stop caring.. and you use food as your wall to keep yourself from being hurt. some of it is genetics.. as i've always been the bigger girl in all my classes. also, i wasn't taught proper food habits. so there's many factors that are different for everybody..0
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Read responses later.0
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This is a genuine question I am asking because I am very interested in obesity and morbid obesity, specifically WHY and HOW. I am also a nursing student, and I understand that factors X, Y, and Z play into obesity. But here is my question, and I would really appreciate honest answers from people who truly understand:
How does a person "let" himself or herself become so heavy? How and why does a person put on 300, 400, 500 pounds? I just do not understand and would really like to "get it" so in the future, as a nurse, I can better help those struggling with this issue.
Thank you
-Nicole
Not caring about how I looked. You gain slowly, 10-15 lbs per year. Over the span of years of overeating, you look up and you've gained a lot of weight. I gained 140 lbs over a 11 year span.0 -
i really like what ready2bhealthy said. i agree with all over those reasons. i think just how you are brought up, things that have happened to you in your life, whether they be traumatic or not- those things ALONE are such a huge part of it.
i am almost 300 pounds. the reasons i am fat is because when i was growing up, my family was really poor. my mother made us eat everything off our plates, she did not want us to waste food. she also hid food and didn't let us have junk, making me sneaky about it. those reasons alone have so much to do with how i am today. i am the same way and do not like to waste food, always clean my plate, and still do this days feel "guilty" when having junk food.
being over-weight and obese or whatever has so much more than simply having no control. its literally an addiction for some, and food is the only way they can cope with things.
i hope this helps you understand a little better and have compassion !0 -
First, the definition of obesity is very vague as a person my size (5'1" and 205) is "morbidly obese" even though i'm porportionate.. and ive never put on 300 pounds.. but at some point you stop caring.. and you use food as your wall to keep yourself from being hurt. some of it is genetics.. as i've always been the bigger girl in all my classes. also, i wasn't taught proper food habits. so there's many factors that are different for everybody..
Exactly. I'm 5'3" and 226lbs. I was an emotional eater and went through a few rough years and put on 40lbs. Then it was hard to care.0 -
For me, a couple reasons.
#1, I was fairly content in my life. So I ate what I wanted, and didn't give a *insert random obscenity here* about my weight. I've always been chubby to husky my entire life. After 21, it was all downhill from there. I hit 320 and finally said "oh hell. I should probably do something about this." There wasn't anything that was specific, like high blood pressure, etc. I just kinda stopped and realized that maybe this wasn't the best.
I've always figured 100% of life ends in death - might as well enjoy it how I want to. Now rather than wanting to eat whatever I want, I want to ride roller coasters. So that's my next journey. Right now I can fit into all Disney rides, so my next step is Universal Studios rides, and i'll work my way down til I can fit into Six Flags and Cedar Point rides
I'll never be a toned, fit, exercise-religiously kinda guy. That's not fun to me, and I don't want to live like that. But I think being healthier isn't a bad thing at all.0 -
For me, I've always been a foodie. Went to Culinary School. Worked with food, wrote a cookbook.. Lived my life all about food.
Then I had a tragic accident that robbed me of 75% of my sight, which lead to depression and more weight gain. It is going to be a long walk back to good health.
I am turning my food addiction into an addiction of making all my favorite things into super healthy meals.0 -
For me it was a combination of things:
1) My mother prepared very unhealthy foods that would feed about 20 people... and there were 4 of us. So we would eat and eat and eat. Lots of calories and growing up in dawn of the video game age with limited activity packed on weight pretty well as a kid.
2) As I got older I got very active in football (coaches love to put a stocky and strong fat kid on the line) so I was able to maintain my weight for years but granted I had to eat more to do so due to the increase in activity. After my playing days were done, the activity level decreased again but the caloric intake didn't. I blew up to my highest weight which I estimate to be around 485 pounds.
I made somewhat healthier changes and got down to my playing weight (around 330) which is what I maintained and carried around for years because it just felt normal to me. I've yo-yo'ed a couple of times in the last couple of years, but overall I'm down around 50 pounds from what I walked around at and 30 pounds since the end of June.
I carry my weight well, but it's because I was heavy all my life and my body just adapted to that.
I hope you're able to help people reach their goals... good luck!0 -
Usually no one LETS themselves get overweight.
Some ppl have been overweight since childhood thanks to overindulging parents who think 2nd at every meal should happen and should be as large portionwise as firsts. Educate parents on better food choices.
Some people are undereducated as far as food choices, budgeting options, and consequences of picking fried foods over baked (a poor example, but you see what I mean.) Educate folks on better food choices within their budgets as well as an overall food consultation on basic nutrition, like a dietitian would.
Some folks have emotional drives for eating and don't consciously connect the dots that emotional binge eating equals weight gain which equals depression which equals emotional binge eating. Vicious spiral. Suggest psych counciling to help address issues and/or find different coping strategies like light/moderate exercise (walking, etc)
Some people see they are overweight and give up promptly at trying to live better, the higher the number the more prone they are to thinking they will be unsuccessful. Education AND a healthy support system could help this.
**disclaimer: Not stating scientific facts, just stating what I believe to be the causes of obesity based on my own experiences prior to Jan 2012 My first conviction is a proper education could save people a lot of weight gain AND a lot of money since quite a few people think eating name brand health foods is the only way to be successful at eating better. 0 -
People often find comfort in food when they are profoundly depressed.0
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i am also a nurse. and i think the answer you are looking for is, empathy. empathy can only come when the person is non-judgemental. there are several factors to consider when looking at why people "let themselves" go. complacency, depression, lonliness, fear, emotional abuse, health issues, genetic factors, low self esteem and the list goes on.....all play a factor. sometimes they play alone and sometimes together.
i've never met someone who has said....i want to be fat. i have known people to have self esteem issues and avoid being "attractive" for fear of rejection from the opposite sex.
i have known people who eat very few daily calories and remain "thick". they are also the people who have under or un-diagnosed medical conditions.
in a nutshell....giving my 2 cents and then some.....i can say this........don't judge a book by it's cover. get to know the person you are assessing before making the assumption they are overweight for no reason. just as with anything in medicine....there is always an underlying factor.
BTW....my field of practice is mental health.0 -
As a nurse, I think it'd be GREAT for you to understand that for MANY people (not all!) ... it's an addiction. Like alcoholics, smokers, drug abusers, shopaholics ....
For many people, like me, depression can lead to eating disorders like binge eating, bulimia, and anorexia. And just because there isn't a specific official name for every 'eating disorder,' doesn't mean some are not as serious or dangerous as others.
As I said, this is NOT the reason for everyone, but I think it is for many.
Lots of people loathe the way they look, feel, etc about being so overweight, but it's a vicious cycle when you are depressed and have an ED. You hate the way you feel and look which leads you to eat more, and thus gain more, and thus hate how you look and feel even more.
Quitting is nearly impossible... just as with drugs / alcohol, the first step is to 'admit you have a problem'
It's VERY hard.0 -
I was almost 300lbs. PCOS (insulin resistance), hypothyroidism, and severe depression were what got me there. I got treated for the insulin and thyroid, and the depression left, and I lost 25 lbs in 1-2months time. Then I got pregnant with my first, and threw up for the whole pregnancy, (hyperemesis gravidarum) so that brought my weight down a lot. Now it's finally coming off naturally and healthily.
So yeah, it's not that I "let it" happen. Which should prove true by the extreme weight loss as soon as I got treated for those. Depression kicks in sometimes, but I do not use depression as an excuse for over eating anymore.0 -
Here is the how obesity is a illness just like alcoholism! It is not a new topic at all the bible talks about it as a deadly sin, gluttony! But see our world ignores the issues of this and it has been accepted! So if you or anyone suffers from being a sinner should understand! We all have our problems see gluttony is one that is worn on the outside!0
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i know it's a REALLLLLY stupid thing to say it makes no difference what size you are(if you are over weight) that you know you are a little over weight but you just don't realise how bad you really are, you have blinkers on! :noway:0
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For me it is the sedatary lifestyle (when involved in a project I can sit in front of a compter sceen for hours without getting up) and what is now called 'carb sensativity'. My body treats carbs as jewels to be put away for when the famine comes, that the famine does not come just means more gets put into storage.
My beloved wife who passed away in March 2012 was a tiny thing weighing barely 100 pounds @5'2". But if we went to a all-u-can-eat place she would outeat me by three or four platefuls, especially desserts. And she would sit at her sewing machine for hours then get up and go to a meeting where she would sit for several more hours.
Long winded answer that boils down to it is a combination of nature & nuture, and how the two intertwine. IMHO
Cliff {:{)0 -
As has already been stated in some of the responses....its psychological more than physical. Both play a huge part but for me its the emotional eating that gets me. I ate and still do for comfort, for love, because I'm mad, hurt, pissed off..you get the idea. Its been this way my whole life. When I got my lap band I knew it was just a tool...when the tool was gone I was terrified because I knew I wouldn't be throwing up anymore which meant the calories I was eating would actually make it to fat. Ironically, to mark the anniversary of getting the band I got a tattoo of a rose vine around my wrist which signified the "journey". Each rose represented a wow moment in the weight loss, each thorn the pain and the encircling of my wrist the fact that its a never ending journey. Two weeks later the band was taken out and I almost died. Now as I look at the tat I recognize the journey is far from over. I started writing in my journal again. I'm learning the emotional triggers that send me running to the fridge. I didn't "allow" myself to get morbidly obese....I allowed my mind and body to get out of sync and I fell out of love with myself.
I sincerely hope this somehow helps you and doesn't totally confuse you. As a nursing student, you will be working with larger folks. It is my hope you will have a better understanding of what makes us tick and that we are more than just hopeless eating machines..there's a reason for the weight.0 -
I agree with all of the above PLUS:
Too many pair of elastic waisted, stretchy pants and skirts.
A house with no full-length mirrors.
Moved to a house with no room for a scale in the bathroom.
It isn't hard to put on a half-pound a week -- suddenly two years has flown past, and you're 50 pounds overweight! It happens fast, and yes, it is comfort eating due to a full-out food addiction.
But everyone's reasons are different, I suppose. I've been a yo-yo all my life.
Best of luck!
Blue0 -
The human body is amazing - I suggest you watch some amazing human body shows on the Science Channel. First we have gone through millions of years of evolution. And with that our brain does not like starving, but prefers to hoard extra calories so that we may survive during periods of drought and famine - that used to be much more prevalent. It is in our DNA. Now in this day and age for many people in the Western world, extra calories are very plentiful. For some people it is easy to avoid these extra calories, but as we can see with the obesity epidemic this is not the case for most. Then tack on the depression that typically ensues when someone does get obese, and you have a viscous cycle. Furthermore, when a person does gain extra weight and then loose that weight, the body adapts and becomes very efficient. That person will have to eat less calories and exercise more than someone who never gained the extra weight. Plus the brain will push that person (through a release of a hormone) to eat more, the cravings can become very intense requiring a great deal of willpower to overcome. Those who loose weight and are able to keep it off, typically become somewhat obsessed with watching what they eat. It is one thing to loose weight, but completely another to keep it off. FYI: Food releases more happy hormones than kissing, which is why we seek comfort in food.0
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As a lot of people mentioned, for myself is started in childhood. And this is an excuse that I'm not happy to admit to, but depending on your levels of self-confidence, but self anxiety in social situations due to being overweight, and (or combined with) the tendency of the many *kitten* of the world to make fun of overweight people when they are exercising or out in public in general, can tend to drive a person back home to the couch. And again, as others have mentioned, the various levels of depression that can go along with these things can often lead to binge / comfort eating. There is not a person alive without some vice or another.0
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For me it was a combo of starving and doing fad diets with my mom because my grandmother thought I was getting fat (wore a size 6/8 in middle school). I also grew up with an alcoholic, so there would be times that we didn't have any food and we'd have binges when grocery day finally came after going without for however long.0
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i've been wondering the same.0
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Here is the how obesity is a illness just like alcoholism! It is not a new topic at all the bible talks about it as a deadly sin, gluttony! But see our world ignores the issues of this and it has been accepted! So if you or anyone suffers from being a sinner should understand! We all have our problems see gluttony is one that is worn on the outside!
random bible item of the day
Did you know that the 7 deadly sins are not listed anywhere in the bible as such? They're not in the bible at all as we think of them. Fascinating isn't it?
/random bible item of the day. Now back to "why we're overweight".0 -
Quite simple for me, I was depressed and wanted to kill myself. didn't want to do suicide so being over weight was a good way to shorten my life0
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Speaking from someone who weighs over 300lbs I just didn't wake up one day and put the weight on and as a nurse you should know well that there are also medical factors to come into play. I was always quite active until a few years ago and I didn't necessarily want to 'let' myself get to that size neither desire for it to happen.
So here are below are my reasons.
1. I have asthma and 25% of the year I am on steroids which increases weight
2. Three years ago I had a car accident and couldn't move neither do any exercise for 8 months as I was waiting on back surgery, on worse days I have morphine injections for the pain. Because of the accident I had depression and anxiety attacks and to an extent I comfort ate due to my condition
3. I also have pcos
4. Recently been diagnosed with diabetes which is why I am here to lose weight and to get my life back.
There are a number of reasons, medical or otherwise why a person gets to my size or over.0 -
I used to be 250+lbs, and if I'm completely honest with you, I have no idea how.
Laziness and a lack of physical activity, I suppose. The bigger I became, the more withdrawn and self-conscious I became, and it perpetuated the problem. I didn't want to go out looking like a whale or having people stare at me trying to run (a problem I've only recently overcome, minus over 100lbs later) or be at the gym and wonder if people were wondering why someone like me was even there.
The foods I ate growing up weren't spectacular, and they got worse as I got older. I barely knew how to cook until I moved out, and I disliked most vegetables in their more natural flavours. Dinner was often something from a takeaway or a pizza, or something else that had no remnants of anything healthy left on it.
I don't think I ever emotionally ate, at least I can't recall doing so, and I don't think I've ever been depressed (just awkward about my size).
School and mandatory P.E classes didn't help, they just made me feel worse about my inability to be as physically active as I wanted to be.
None of my family were physically active, and nobody I was friends with ever shared my interests, so my sports fascination was only useful in front of a screen, or sat in a seat somewhere.
For all intents and purposes I should've been fit as a fiddle, given my propensity to care too much about other people's opinions and my love of sports. I never should've gotten as big as I did, and ruined my body as I did, but I did... and I'm guessing my story isn't that different to most others.0
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