The secrets of overweight people

[ColouringPencils]

I mean this in a light-hearted way, but I guess it might also be helpful to us to see where we're getting it from.

I'll start:

I always serve myself the largest portion, and often nick a few extra bites in between the cooking and serving stages.

I eat a full meal whether I am particularly hungry or not (then often have seconds).

I gave up sugar and doubled my cheese intake (then I went back on sugar too).

Speaking of which, no meal is not improved by a generous topping of grated cheese.

I could quite happily drink a bottle of wine a night, although I don't let myself. On my 'good' nights I drink hot chocolate/ couple of beers and eat crisps instead.

Sometimes if nobody has seen me eat my first slice of toast, I'll put a third one in. This is especially the case when it's white bread, the 'only one' I could buy in the corner shop.

When DH is away I love to read and eat chocolate in bed.

Anyone else got any good tips to help me continue to sabotage my weight loss efforts?

When I was 20 stone I never ate in front of anyone (apart from partner and kids), it was so embarrassing that people could look at me and judge. I bet this happens a lot. My eating was all done once the front door was closed on the world!

I rearrange my shopping bags so that the healthier stuff is on the top just in case I bump into anyone I know

I know obesity is a world wide crisis and all the rest of it but I do think there's certain peculiarities with Brits and their eating habits.

It wasn't till I moved abroad how deeply ingrained the whole carb /spuds with dinner is. It's as if you can't have a meal with potato, bread, rice etc.

And the clear your plate mentality is so deep - it's really hard for me to leave food. I've re-educated myself to put leftovers in the fridge for the day after, rather than finishing every sodding morsel. This definitely is an effect of rationing (even though I'm the grandchild of that era!!)

WeAreTheWeirdosMister Eat peanut butter out of the jar with a twix

OMG that sounds amazing!!

I tell bare faced lies to my weight watchers app

Ffs. If this thread was about alcohol anf not food everyone would say they had a problem, but somehow this is just waved away as 'hee hee naughty me!'

You're joking aren't you, alcohol threads are full of "wine o'clock!" "Cheeky few glasses" etc.

It's just a jokey front. I think we all realise how damaging it is but it's hard to stop something so ingrained.

I mean the sneaking extra food while no one is looking. Having salad only at work to keep up appearances. It doesnt count if no one saw etc. That would be classed as alcoholism so what is it if it's food? Not bashing anyone but I just think it's sad that alcoholics get judged so badly (here and in rl) yet the exact same behaviours with food are just 'naughty'.

I can relate to this thread so much, and whilst it's not great that such destructive eating is so common, I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one who has such a messed up relationship with food!

I used to binge eat in secret a lot, I'm still very self conscious about eating in public because I know people are judging, I never answer the door to takeaway delivery people because I don't want them to judge me.

I started low carbing on the 1st January and so far have lost 2 St 5lbs, I've low carbed before with great success but the key is not to go back to carbs or I'll become addicted and binge again!

Still another 8 stone to go till I hit my target, I wish I could lose weight by the "everything in moderation" way but I can't because sugar is my trigger and the only way to keep on track is to cut it out completely.

I certainly don't feel 'naughty'. I feel shit. Disgusted. Pathetic. Useless. Worthless. Is that more like it? Because that's entirely true. I've never told anyone the things I've written on this thread because I'm utterly ashamed of them. And I bet I'm not the only one here, and please don't kid yourself that overweight people don't get the shit thrown at them in real life because I can tell you they do. Being called a fat piece of shit when I'm walking along minding my own business is great fun.

I think what people are saying about dieting making it worse is so true.

So many of these posts are people saying they pretty much starve themselves in the day then eat loads of crap at night, but of course you do your body is hungry!

Rockbird no one deserves to feel shit, I really wasn't trying to shame anyone.

My secret is: either VLCD or binge eating. No in between. I can be very disciplined and lose weight. Then I put it all back on with some extra. I lost nearly 4 stone, then went on holiday and put on half a stone due to booze (mainly) and eating ice cream all day long. First day back and I’m trying to convince myself that I don’t need to punish myself for that with a week of binge eating. Trying really hard...

My top tips are fall for all food marketing. A new flavour of chocolate bar means you must taste it.

Also ensure you don't go to bed early enough so you make bad food decisions the next day through tiredness.

Have an aversion to food waste so eat everyone's leftovers.

Be really uncomfortable feeling hungry.

I have no food issues, have never dieted and was always slim-ish...until the last 2 years and I'm growing daily!
I don't snack, and I don't care about chocolate, but I just love food!
I'm a good cook too so I spend a lot of time thinking about recipes, or thinking what I have in and what I can make.
And then I make it. And eat WAY more than I really need. While thinking about the next meal...
The main reason I'm getting tubby though, is I have gone from working a fair distance away and walking loads and loads to working 3 minutes from my house...I have realised I need a ton of excercise to offset the calories, because no fucking way can I diet.
I had a brief thought that I should give up bread, then got so upset thinking about it that I spent a whole day looking up bread recipes and baking..
There really is nothing better than fresh bread with butter.
Gah!

Rockbird Don't feel shit, you're not. Food is the hardest addiction to deal with because we need it to live!

Reading this thread has made me hungry

As far as I'm concerned, absolutely everyone has areas in their lives where there are issues.

Some can't manage without a man (nope!)
Some love a drink (nope!)
Some shop osessively, clean overly much, and so on.

I don't feel at all ashamed to admit that my downfall is foodfood.
Why should I?
Yes, I disgust myself regularly with my greediness, but self loathing is never a good way to improve anything, I've found.

So, to each their own; nothing at all wrong with discussing it in a variety of ways, and if it offends others, I'm not the slightest bit bothered.
Self acceptance is key.

This thread has been a comfort, I've never read so many posts and nodded my head to. It's nice to be able to be honest as it is a really secret habit most of the time, full of shame and guilt.

I actually think its a really positive thread because people are publicly acknowledging their bad habits, when as we have seen from so many posts, a lot of the bad habits centre on secret eating. I have been on any number of weight loss threads here over the years where people have said for example:

Crisps are my biggest weakness.
I pigged out on three croissants and jam this morning.
I pick at what the DCs don't eat.

I have said many such things myself. However I have never said on here or in real life that I buy junk food in the supermarket and eat it in the carpark or that I stop on the way home from work nominally to buy a newspaper but actually to buy crisps that I will eat before I get home. Or that my first thought when I get a day to myself at home is what can I eat while everyone's out. I need to acknowledge these habits in order to try and break away from them, so I thank everyone that has posted here.

We need a gang name!

Oh, so many come to mind!
The thing is though, are we going to try and break some of these habits?

The thought of not having lots of food fills me with dread to be honest..

I've always maintained that overeating and obesity are eating disorders as much as anorexia and bulimia are. In fact I wrote an assignment to that effect during my specialist nursing course.

One of my exes was obese, two of them actually. They both ate less than me when they were with me and I didn't understand how they could be obese. Both were cyclists with the heaviest one cycling every day to and from work, and also cycling around whilst at work going from site to site. I figured he must eat a hell of a lot when on his own because no one gets to 17 stone by eating 3 average size meals a day and cycling 60 miles a week. Although he did have an energy drink addiction. Cheeky bastard made fun of me when I for once ate an entire veggie pizza. He never let me forget it either. I was 9 stone ffs.

Bunnyfuller. I hope you recover soon x

My relatives (aunties) have:
Leg amputation via diabetes(age 52)
Stroke via diabetes (age 55)
My nanna died aged 54 of stroke (she wasn't diagnosed with diabetes, but had eating disorders was v. Large).
I'm 45..scary.