Your family

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I am not talking to those of you who want to lose 10 or 20 pounds to look better in your clothes.

I am talking to the folks who have to lose enough weight to impact their health.

Do you know that those who love you worry about you every day?

Do you know we feel that we are watching you actively commit suicide and feel helpless to intervene?

Do you know that while we have been enabling you by performing the tasks that your restricted mobility disallow, we feel conflicted about it?

Do you know that when you lie to us about your health, we know? And worry even more because now you are a liar?

Do you know that we worry every minute of every day that you will die?

Do you know that all of the health warnings or diagnoses that you ignore and refuse to treat make us think that your need to overeat is more important to you than your own family?

Do you know that your weight is not just YOUR problem, it is a primary stressor to everyone whom you love and anyone who loves you?

Do you know that even your adult children worry about becoming orphans?
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Replies

  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    No one else feels this way, watching a morbidly obese loved one kill themselves? Really? I am the ONLY one living this day to day? Doubtful.
  • abdavison1
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    You are not the only one that feels that way. My mom is very overweight. We have tried to talk to her and she will not listen and does not want to help herself. Her father died at 61 and she is now 58. I am very overweight myself. I just wish I had figured alot of things out earlier in my life so I wouldn't have gotten so heavy. I am thankful that I have figured a lot of it out (slowly) and am taking action to get healthier. Sometimes people can be in denial about how bad it has gotten also. Do your best and set a healthy example for your family.
  • llmcconnell
    llmcconnell Posts: 344 Member
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    To be blunt and honest and trying to be respectful, you didn't need to post this. Obviously, people have joined this site have already realized the issues you bring up, so your observations help no one already on MFP. Of course we all have people in our lives we worry about, but I don't understand your point of posting this rant on MFP.
  • Bunski
    Bunski Posts: 27 Member
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    To be blunt and honest and trying to be respectful, you didn't need to post this. Obviously, people have joined this site have already realized the issues you bring up, so your observations help no one already on MFP. Of course we all have people in our lives we worry about, but I don't understand your point of posting this rant on MFP.

    Yuuuuuuuuup!
  • morticiamom
    morticiamom Posts: 221 Member
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    My family made my weight, their problem in a very different way. My mother physically and verbally abused me, and left me behind on family vacations because she was ashamed to be seen with me because I was 'so fat' (I was 5'6" and weighed 150#). She was also paranoid, and accused me of doing everything from stealing her jewelry, to trying to seduce my stepfather. I later found out that this was because of the amphetamines she abused to keep her own weight down. So...that particular part of my family can die and I won't care.

    Point is...this wasn't the place to post that.
  • 12skipafew99100
    12skipafew99100 Posts: 1,669 Member
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    I think this is an important post. It is a point of view some do not think about. Thank you for posting.

    I need to loose 50 to 70 pounds. Just enough to still be mobil but also enough to make a very negative impact on my health.

    Thank you for helping me see through my family's eyes. I know they love me.

    Just as I wished my parents would stop smoking and they didn't. I know my family would love me to get healthier. I will NOT dissapoint my family.

    Thank you again for your insite.

    I know you are hurting. Keep trying. That is all you can do.
  • Melolicious
    Melolicious Posts: 71 Member
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    I think you have someone in your life that YOU really need to go talk to. Go deal with that. People need to be ready to start their own journey, nothing you can do or say can make them do it. Just be sincere in your offer to help and speak from a good place. You cannot help someone who is not ready to help themselves.
  • Advaya
    Advaya Posts: 226 Member
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    I agree with the last post that this is the reason so many of us are here and that this post was fairly unnecessary. That said, I agree with abdavison too. My mother is overweight, on statins and watches hours and hours of television every day after work. I have made a lifestyle change to get fit (I have about 50 lbs to lose) and I am hoping that I can inspire her. She wants to lose the weight, but she believes in fads and "dieting" and then loses hope.

    This is all actually part of why I'm going to school to be a nurse practitioner. Besides the fact I have been very poor (living far below the poverty line), I have also been overweight, and I think this prospective brings a lot of understanding to how I will run my practice. I will have seen both sides, and understand many of the difficulties.
  • beautsarah
    beautsarah Posts: 151 Member
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    To be blunt and honest and trying to be respectful, you didn't need to post this. Obviously, people have joined this site have already realized the issues you bring up, so your observations help no one already on MFP. Of course we all have people in our lives we worry about, but I don't understand your point of posting this rant on MFP.

    ^^^Agreed. Most people on MFP are trying to change their ways. It seems like your post might've been directed at someone in your personal life. Why don't you take it up with them instead of criticizing those who are making an effort to change their lives. You're lucky that you only have 18 lbs to lose, but even you were two lbs under your window. Yes I have to admit I wish I would've made an effort to lose the weight earlier, but when I see people on here who are losing twice the amount I need to lose I look at them and see how far they've come, not could they have done that to themselves.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    To be blunt and honest and trying to be respectful, you didn't need to post this. Obviously, people have joined this site have already realized the issues you bring up, so your observations help no one already on MFP. Of course we all have people in our lives we worry about, but I don't understand your point of posting this rant on MFP.

    I am not criticizing YOU. You are on MFP and working towards a healthier future.

    But many of us are related to people who are not working at managing their health or weight. Those individuals like to believe that their weight is a personal matter and affects no one but themselves.

    I am calling BS on that, as being significantly (not cosmetically) overweight affects everyone in your life! Especially those to whom you are related. I am damned sick an tired of watching my mother kill herself. I am damned sick an tired of her lying to me about her health. I am damned sick an tired of worrying that she could be dead when she doesn't answer the phone. I am damned sick an tired of driving 6 hours round trip because she can not actually make a trip to the Post Office or the grocery store or vacuum her house all due to her weight. I am damned sick an tired of wondering what she is lying about to me today about her health, and wondering if I need a court order to get her medical records. I am damned sick an tired of her refusing to leave the house because she thinks she will be badly received anywhere other people are present. I am damned sick an tired of the fact that she has not seen any house I have ever purchased or lived in because that would require EFFORT and STANDING ON HER FEET. I am damned sick an tired of making excuses for her at funerals, weddings, christenings, etc, because she would have had to do a few feet of WALKING to attend.

    But mostly, I am damned sick an tired of watching her actively try to commit suicide while I am supposed to applaud.
  • morticiamom
    morticiamom Posts: 221 Member
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    I am damned sick an tired of wondering what she is lying about to me today about her health, and wondering if I need a court order to get her medical records.

    And what would you do if you had them? Her weight is her issue. Do you realize how much you sound like the child of an alcoholic? Your making excuses for her is called 'enabling', your making her problems your own is co-dependence. I recommend you get therapy to learn how to separate yourself from her issues. That doesn't mean you can't grieve, and care, just that you quit feeding into the dynamic.
  • Kippie1985
    Kippie1985 Posts: 11 Member
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    I am so sorry =( I understand where you are coming from. I lost my Dad to substance abuse because he couldn't get clean. Years and years later (14 to be exact), I now understand that my Dad suffered an addiction, and while he tried, it got the best of him, and he did love me. It was a hard road though.

    -hugs- for you... and, for everyone saying this shouldn't have been posted? I think this is a site dedicated to dealing with weight and health. This post is about weight and health. Yes, it's not about the numbers, or NSVs, or carb contents. It's about the grueling mental aspects of dealing with weight, family, and life. Lets ease up on the OP shall we?
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    It is not an unnecessary post. I live this EVERY FREAKING DAY. I get the panicked calls from my siblings every single day and have to talk them off the ledge. (We rotate who will go do basic daily living tasks for our practically immobile due to obesity, mother) We are all in terror of becoming orphans any second. We're all conflicted at the ways in which we enable my mother's disability due to weight. I am the only one who can stand to be at her home for more than 12 hours and even I am hideously depressed by it.

    SHE HAS ABSOLUTELY NO CONCEPTION of the stress she puts us under. NONE. Not at all. I sincerely doubt she is the only morbidly obese person who blocks out the idea that people who love her are under incredible stress, every day.

    Call me whatever you want to call me. Say I am nasty or bullying or whatever. I still say, there is a large portion of obese individuals who think it is a personal issue while their loved ones are in crisis. It's not a personal issue unless you are incredibly isolated. If there is ONE person who loves you it's not a personal issue,
  • PilotX
    PilotX Posts: 233 Member
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    sounds like you should be seeing a family therapist
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    I am damned sick an tired of wondering what she is lying about to me today about her health, and wondering if I need a court order to get her medical records.

    And what would you do if you had them? Her weight is her issue. Do you realize how much you sound like the child of an alcoholic? Your making excuses for her is called 'enabling', your making her problems your own is co-dependence. I recommend you get therapy to learn how to separate yourself from her issues. That doesn't mean you can't grieve, and care, just that you quit feeding into the dynamic.
    Tell me, how is this different? I really don't think it is. In all honesty, that is how I regard her. She knows that her behavior is killing her, ruining every aspect of her life, yet is powerless to stop it. The named poison is irrelevant the model is the same. And yes it's textbook case for raising codependents. Difference is that I am aware of that and she has no clue
  • KatKisses
    KatKisses Posts: 296 Member
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    To be blunt and honest and trying to be respectful, you didn't need to post this. Obviously, people have joined this site have already realized the issues you bring up, so your observations help no one already on MFP. Of course we all have people in our lives we worry about, but I don't understand your point of posting this rant on MFP.

    Because she wanted to
  • CincinnatiDEIFan
    CincinnatiDEIFan Posts: 188 Member
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    Im sorry you are hurting.

    I am assuming your not a minor and an adult since it is a 6 hour round trip. Therefore, you won't become an orphan. Any of us could lose our parent at any given time. It could be a car accident etc.

    My parents are 16 hours from me. My dad is addicted to smoking. Has my entire life and has had a massive stroke.

    I spent 38 years of MY life living within 10 minutes of them.

    It took MY daughter being sick due to the environment we lived in for me to realize it was time to live MY life for MY kids and husband and stop worrying about taking care of my parents (I am an only child).

    So while I do see where you are hurting and upset. . She is making this decision herself. At some point you need to live your life and realize that she is living hers (despite what you feel is a bad way to do so).

    *Hugs to you* I am glad you have siblings to help you. I wish I did. Especially while my dad was laying in a hospital bed.
  • morticiamom
    morticiamom Posts: 221 Member
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    Tell me, how is this different? I really don't think it is. In all honesty, that is how I regard her. She knows that her behavior is killing her, ruining every aspect of her life, yet is powerless to stop it. The named poison is irrelevant the model is the same. And yes it's textbook case for raising codependents. Difference is that I am aware of that and she has no clue

    My point is, that it isn't different. It's exactly the same, and I'm telling you what I would tell the child of an alcoholic. GET HELP. If you're aware you're co-dependent but doing nothing about it, it's like being aware you're obese and doing nothing. You cannot change her. You cannot control her. All you can control is your emotional response to her behavior. In fact, she may be doing it to subconsciously feed off that emotional response, and your getting therapy to learn how to quit feeding it might be the only way to help her.
  • meeper123
    meeper123 Posts: 3,347 Member
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    I am the fat one in my family they are all very supportive. I am not sure what to say love you can only lead the horse to water so to speak
  • smile4char
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    I am not talking to those of you who want to lose 10 or 20 pounds to look better in your clothes.

    I am talking to the folks who have to lose enough weight to impact their health.

    Do you know that those who love you worry about you every day?

    Do you know we feel that we are watching you actively commit suicide and feel helpless to intervene?

    Do you know that while we have been enabling you by performing the tasks that your restricted mobility disallow, we feel conflicted about it?

    Do you know that when you lie to us about your health, we know? And worry even more because now you are a liar?

    Do you know that we worry every minute of every day that you will die?

    Do you know that all of the health warnings or diagnoses that you ignore and refuse to treat make us think that your need to overeat is more important to you than your own family?

    Do you know that your weight is not just YOUR problem, it is a primary stressor to everyone whom you love and anyone who loves you?

    Do you know that even your adult children worry about becoming orphans?

    i can't even imagine living with this like you have for so many years. i know people in the same situation, and as much as they don't want it to happen, resentment enters & slowly takes over. keep loving your mom & taking care of her b/c she's your mom & that's the way it should be. but you have to use this sadness/frustration & turn it into energy & focus for YOU. congrats to you for taking charge of your life & deciding to become healthy! you can DO it! pray for your mom, love your mom, and care for your mom...but stay on your journey! you will be so proud of yourself! & remember, actions speak louder than words in all scenarios! she'll be hearing by watching you...even if she doesn't admit it! keep going!! :)))