My Weight Loss Journey: I'm a Compulsive Overeater

Here I sit...I'm 30 years old and haven't been thin since I was 5 years old. From the moment I started elementary school until now, I have been addicted to stuffing my face. They say that there is an underlying cause to every person's overeating habits, but I have no clue where mine comes in. I can pin point a few events in my childhood where words stung me to the core, but I was already overeating and over weight. I had a great childhood. We didn't have a lot of money, but at that age, you don't understand that. I had 6 siblings that I had to compete for attention with, but I don't see how that would contribute to my problems, either.

I guess I'm just a big mess. Sigh. I've been on diets since elementary school, but nothing has helped me to overcome my addiction to food. People in the world look at people like me and think, "Why don't you just stop eating so bad?" I wish it were that easy. I wish my brain would just flip that switch and I was magically healed. The problem with food addiction in comparison to drug and alcohol addiction is that you cannot live without food. Another big problem is that almost every restaurant in the world serves way too much food for one person. One meal out to eat is usually equivalent to the amount of calories you should ingest in a day! We won't even go into the fat, carb, and sodium content! I challenge each of you to go onto your favorite restaurant's website and look at their nutrition information, it is a true eye opener.

I have learned that if I'm going to eat bad, that I should just order off the kids menu, because that is the correct portion sizes for an adult. Most restaurants do not allow adults to order off of the kids menu. I have found a few that do honor this request. Other people say, "Well, just eat half of what they serve you." That is like telling an alcoholic to only take a sip of the drink and that they cannot drink the rest of it.

Here is what a day is like for me.

I wake up each morning and my first thought is generally "What am I going to eat?" After I eat, I'm not satisfied and I keep thinking, "What else can I eat?" After I am done with that, I think, "I need something salty." After that, "I need something sweet." Then the salty craving comes back. There is no relief for me until my stomach feels FULL. Not just satisfied, but that stuffed feeling that most people have on Thanksgiving after engorging themselves with turkey, stuffing, and endless pies and sweets. After an hour or so, the cycle starts all over again. I start to think, "What am I going to eat?" Your entire world is surrounded by consuming thoughts of food.

People in the world walk around and make terrible jabs at overweight people. The looks, the giggles, the jokes, it is a miserable life sentence. It's a problem that our world and government needs to address. It's time for parents to start being more involved in what their kids eat and how active they are. Parents do not realize just how their influence will affect the rest of their child's' life.

So the next time you look at an obese person and giggle or think, "Why do they eat so much? Can't they just say no?" I hope this article brings to life a little bit of how the addiction is a little more than a problem with saying yes and no. It's not that simple. Everyone has their addictions, and they are a person just like anyone else. Probably one of the most compassionate people you'd ever meet, too.