My story...an end to emotinal eating!

MandaPanda78

I posted this on the Introduce yourself board but thought it maybe more fitting here. I imagine there are others that have similar stories here and we could help motivate one anohter.
Hi, I am fairly new to mfp. This is my story, sorry if I am a little long winded. My brother passed away a couple of years ago after a short but painful battle with cancer. He was my best friend and it was the hardest time of my life. I began gaining pounds while going to hospital after hospital sleeping in weighting rooms next to vending machines scared to death of losing my dear brother. I would find myself eating in the hospital cafeteria in the middle of the night as an escape. After he passed away I was so down, and so busy after just delivering twins and having a 2 year old as well. My brother left behind a 2 year old and a 5 week old. So life was crazy for awhile and I did not lose the weight. Then the next year my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. And the nightmare began again. What did I do? I turned to food. I traveled with my dad to all the appointments and ended up living in another state for 5 weeks with him at a hospital while he underwent a clinical trial. So I was living away from my husband and 3 little children for the first time ever. I aslo was dealing with so much stress as I watched my dad suffer through a treatment that they only gave him a 50% of surviving the actual treatment and only for a small chance that it would even work afterwards. So I ended up once again hitting vending machines and cafeterias at the hospital I was living at just to escape the room and the stress as I watched and prayed my dad would get through the treatment. While we were there we received a call that my Grandmother (who raised me and was basically my mother) had a heart attack and died. So I had to fly home and bury her, the only person I had left at that point that did not have cancer had just died and left me. To make it even worse I had to go into a hospital room where my sick dad was fighting for his life and tell him that his mother whom he lived with had just died. My brother and dad's cancer had been too much on her heart. So once again I was beyond greif stricken and ate more and more. Hundereds of people brought comfort food in the time of her passing. The first 3 days I couldn't eat at all. I think I was in shock. After that i began eating whenver I would feel like crying..A few weeks ago I looked in the mirror and didn't even recognize who I was. I am now the heaviest I have ever been, even heavier than I was at full term with my twin pregnancy. It finally clicked that this is not what I want for my children, my husband or myself. So I got an elipitical, trashed all my junk food and have done really really well the past 2 weeks. I know that my brother would not want me to be unhealthy. He would want me to be here for as long as possible. I promised him on his deathbed that I would always watch out for his little girls. So that promise is helping me stay motivated. I must be healthy so I can be around to not only watch my 3 precious children grow up but also his. I am working very hard to teach my children not to be emotinal eaters. They are very healthy and active. All are in sports and live off fruits and veggies. Its funny, I made sure from day one that they only eat a clean organic diet but I was eating horribly. I gave them water but then I would drink sodas. I now realize that as they get older I must not only tell them how to live but I should show them with my example. Sorry this is so long... I would love some friends if anyone would like to add me. I am 34 years old and have 70 pds to lose and I am trying very hard to overcome emotional eating