How do people become obese?

[Truetoself]

Before someone is obese, they are overweight. Their clothes sizes also change. Why do they wait until they are obese to try and lose weight? Do the majority of obese people have mental health issues?weigh

I've taken a scientific approach to this question, and using Granny's hand-held vanity mirror I have established that the exit hole for consumed food is considerably smaller than the one for entry and so one must conclude that is the primary cause.

My best friend is morbidly obese, she’s honest about and dosent make bullshit excuses like having big bones or not being able to afford vegetables and then going out and ordering £20 domino’s pizzas. She dosent give a fuck that she’s fat and fair enough.
I get that when you’re depressed you don’t care but I roll my eyes when I hear vegetables are expensive or they just have big bones

What is known to cause massive weight gain pls? Is it all 3? Which HRT and anti-depressant medication has made you put on weight? So I can look up the research that says this. Thanks.

@BarMonaco

Now we use food as a crutch instead

Nail on the head! People don't tend to smoke anymore, they don't tend to drink as much, so their only "crutch" is food. It's what one of my best diabetic nurses said many years ago, that most of the diabetics she saw didn't drink and didn't smoke, so they used food as a crutch instead. She said virtually none of her diabetic patients also had alcohol, drug nor smoking issues. She was a very wise woman indeed in lots of ways, and it really struck a nerve with me to help explain my poor relationship with food behaviour and really helped me to get on top of it and start to have a more healthy relationship which ultimately led to significant weight loss.

This is so interesting! There were also Mothers little helper drugs given out to bored housewives like Quaaludes and Valium in the 60's and 70's. Of how I wish we had those now. . .

Wasn't slow for me. I was thin till 30s and then I had a velcro baby who wanted to breastfeed constantly and insane sleep derivation and I piled on stones in a few months and have never managed to lose it. I've never gotten any bigger in the years since, but never lost the weight either.

I’d be interested to know of the research on this too.
I’m on antidepressants and HRT and think I’m well informed but I’ve not heard of these side effects, and haven’t experienced them.

For me it was denial.

also I was very good at losing weight could drop a few stone quite easily so I was always one “ill start on Monday” away from sorting it out.

Then I got depressed, stressed and older so metabolically I was never gonna drop a few stones as easily as before.

Oh well, sorting it out now. No injections, just consistency. 1.5 stone down and a few more to go. It is what it is, thankfully I’ve always been healthy. I don’t touch alcohol and I run 10ks.

It wasn’t the end of the world for me. My husband also still wanted to shag me too so I never had that incentive. I’m just adored for being me basically.

(And I don't eat trash, either. My diet is very healthy from scratch food I just find it impossible to eat for the body I want as the drive to maintain weight is so strong.)

And in the 1930s they had meth chocolate called pervitin to help housewives with chores and Nazi soldiers used it in Germany. Please bring the pervitin back 🤣

I don’t think drug induced housewives were as common as made out online, at least not in the uk. The USA might be different they’ve always loved legally medicating themselves more than us

They don’t cause weight gain in themselves they just alter our ability to regulate food consumption and in some cases how our bodies use the food we eat.

I had a prolactinoma ( pituitary tumour) that is associated with insulin resistance. I gradually put on weight over 5 yrs, about a stone in weight, when I started treatment the weight dropped off in a matter of months.

When I was taking HRT I found it much easier to lose weight. Maybe because it sorted out the brain fog and the constant internal anger I was feeling due to hormones being all over the place. I eat when I’m not happy.

I take Aromatase inhibitors which block hormones. Again it’s the effect of zero hormones on my metabolism that causes the problem. After researching I worked out that I had to eat less. In addition being diagnosed with breast cancer is not fun and normal eating is not really on the agenda. There is a part of you that emergency eats, knowing that you may not be able to eat soon or that you may not survive so fuck it.

Perhaps we do disaster eat. A bit like preparing for a disaster we also try to gain as much weight as possible when it looks like food may not be readily available for some time. I have always wondered if it is a genetically programmed reaction to stress. I’m sure our ancestors increased calorie intake during times of feast so they could survive the famine. We no longer go through these extremes as a species but some have not realised that yet.

@InfoSecInTheCity no all that’s happened so far is I’ve spoken to a nurse over the phone and I’m going to get my blood’s retested in another month or two. I did ask if I could try reducing my sugar levels myself before being put on medication. So that’s what’s happening I believe. Obviously I’m trying to eat less sugar than before.

It must depend on your individual body. The additional oestrogen from my HRT compounds the insulin resistance of my PCOS because the body produces more oestrogen in fat cells. It’s an endless cycle. Metabolic and endocrine disorders are complex and cause sufferers to experience different effects from typical people. If you don’t have these disorders or side effects, you’re lucky, carry on as you are. But don’t judge women who experience different effects from you and which make no difference to your life. I am constantly baffled as to how another person’s weight can affect an individual's life to the extent that they even think about it, let alone feel moved to mock, judge or belittle someone else. It speaks only to insecurity, I’m afraid.

Oh bore off will you with these goady posts!!

I have a number of health issues. Obviously was aware I had put weight on and wasn’t happy about it but difficult to shift it and keep it off. I got married, had kids, no family support didn’t want to play tit for tat with DH in terms of exercising and or socialising in that he does one exercise thing for several hours one night, I do something another night, he has a weekend away so I have a weekend away. The kids rarely see us together as mum and dad. So sharing a nice meal together at home is one of the few pleasures we have.

How does asking for more information make me judgemental? I think you meant to direct your comments at another poster.

What I’m reading is a lot of parents put weight on when they have babies and are generally surviving vs. living. I used to see parents to young kids when I was in my twenties, and think ‘why do they look like such crap’. Then I didn’t sleep for 5 years and spent half my free time in paediatric A&E - that’ll do it. I’ve realised it’s really important for my mental health to eat well and exercise as hard as I can, sleep deprived me couldn’t bear to go running, but they probably should have.

Using stones as opposed to kg (like most of the rest of world) is one reason why the weight stays on so stubbornly once it's on.

Here we may say that we "just put on two stone" but that's 12.7kg which is substantial for a woman of average height (5ft4) and won't come off without a massive intervention and huge lifestyle changes, which simply isn't often easily achievable for people with busy lives.

Conversely, women in mainland Europe using kg would have the same awareness of weight gain after putting on 1-2kg which is much easier to respond to with minimal lifestyle changes.

For me.. firstly I was on Epilim for my Epilepsy from the age of 20 which did increase my appetite & when I hit 25 / 26 on that drug I found that it was a lot harder to lose the weight. My weight kept creeping up until my early 30s when I hit 13 stone.
And I also admittedly had issues with binge eating & binge drinking which I didn’t seek help for.
Then I had a psychotic breakdown at 36 & diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder - first I was put on the anti psychotic Risperidone & actually put on 1 stone in a month without eating much.. then was changed to high dose Aripiprazole which was supposed to be ‘weight neutral’.. turns out now that it’s not!
I stopped drinking immediately as you can’t drink on that.
My Epilim was changed to other anti epileptic medications luckily.
After a few years of calorie counting I did actually lose 2.5 stone & looked & felt really good at 11 stone.
I’d also managed to more or less stop binge eating by replacing the excess food with sugary fruits eg grapes then cutting down on that.
But… then Covid lockdown came along, I was redeployed to another workplace & got very paranoid, my Aripiprazole was increased again & my weight increased too.
I hit 14 stone in 2023, the year my Mum died, and have been quite mentally unwell until recently. My anti psychotic was changed to quetiapine which initially made me very hungry until I was 14.5 stone.
So now Im 49 & I’m trying to lose weight- I have to eat 4 x a day approx to keep my blood sugar steady.(quetiapine affects the metabolism & I’m pre diabetic now). I’m peri on HRT & the contraceptive pill.

I do generally eat a healthy diet. I had phone calls from an NHS dietitian who made assumptions about what I eat. But she was shocked at how healthily I do eat for my weight. I already eat small portion sizes.
I walk every day. I have joined a gym but I’ve been feeling too drowsy to go.
Im nervous about WLI as I’m scared of hair loss (I already had huge hair loss in 2011 which has taken years to regrow) and I’ve heard that it can make people on anti psychotics even more drowsy.

Sorry for the essay but I want people to understand how certain meds can really affect your weight and health.

I used to be slim - in fact I was actually underweight and I was an exercise addict.

Became ill with a brain tumour when I was 23 (found out exactly 2 weeks before my wedding day) - that tumour basically triggered a firework of other complex health issues and yes I did notice I was overweight before I became obese but I was constantly changing and using many different medications (still am) and then developed mobility issues, but before I was obese I was still exercising, working full time, eating healthily etc - but my hormones had gone haywire as a direct result of the brain tumour and affected my weight before you even factored in the side effects.

I'm now 49 and absolutely despise my body and am doing everything to lose weight (bar jabs or surgery) but I despise other people judging and thinking they know my story even more,

I am about 8 stone more than I should be. I am a lazy fat cow who goes to the gym 3 times a week, has low blood pressure and no sign of diabetes (yet). I was married to.an abusive man for over 20 years who commented on every aspect of my appearance and everything I ate. It takes it's toll.

I am not obese but could easily see it being in my future, I am 3kg overweight and I have no ability to say no. I love wine, chocolate, cake and beer. It doesn’t enter my head the fact I will put on weight. I was always a size 6-8 until I got married. I am forever thinking I will eat less and say no, but I never do. It stems from not wanting to miss out and being part of the group…. as I never felt wanted or part of a group.

Idk about that American use pounds (without stones) and 600 pounds sounds absolutely enormous but it doesn’t stop people over there weighing 600lbs

I’ve just always been overweight or obese. Don’t eat a ridiculous amount but I’m not active enough (office job, do 2x 5-mile walks a week but that’s about it). I am only 5ft2 so obese at 11.5 stone.

I was very very stressed and impulse a load of chocolate. I couldn’t help it.

In my case it was a gradual climb in weight over many years. I didn't always worry about it because (i) I enjoyed excessive food and alcohol and (ii) I didn't think I could do much about it, so mostly accepted the way I was. No significant mental health issues really. I've lost a lot of the weight now and do wish I'd done so earlier.