Re: Which came first- the disease or the food= used to be be...

[Guest guest]

I know just what you mean .. I have had friends who were very lean

and trim.. and their diets consisted of cheeseburgers, fries, milkshakes,

pizza, colas, etc.. They were also very healthy and had normal lab readings..

However, I also saw some of my friends struggle with their weights and

eating " skinny " ... lots of water, salads, fat free dressings, baked,

broiled meats, low carb veggies.. steamed.. and had cholesterol out the roof,

other health issues as well as weight problems.. morbid obesity..

I think you are right.. we have to deal with the hand we are dealt, and I

truly believe that genetics plays a big part in our being morbidly obese.. We

have a disease, and this surgery we that we have all had is just the tool to

put the disease into remission.. We have to continue to work the tool in

order to stay in remission and remain as healthy as we possibly can..

Life is not fair.. and also is too short to be playing games here.. Our

surgeries give us a life saving tool, not a brain thing.. Sure, we still like

the way fried chicken smells, apple pie smells and tastes, ice cream tastes..

but we know the consequences of eating those things .... weight gain and all

the co morbidities we have conquered.. Is it really worth it to return to

that.. I dont think so .. more worth it to stay healthy..

Hugs,

from GA

open RNY 12/12/00

Revision 04/18/01

Revision 02/07/02

St wt.... 392

Cw.......187

Wt loss..-205

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/20/03 3:21:22 PM Eastern Standard Time,

vickilines@... writes:

> I think in my case I had a double whammy. Obesity runs wild in my

> family,

I'm not so sure it was " what " you were served. At least for me. I think the

biggest issue, for me, was that I was taught to use food to give myself

pleasure and was not provided with any other alternatives for pleasure. It

is still that way in my house. Everything is about food. No other forms of

celebration/joy/recognition are " allowed. " It took me about 10 years to work

through this -- first came the realization, of course, and then came like

years and years of building a life beyond food.

se

Baltimore, MD

Open RNY 11/22/99, Dr. Sweet, Reading, PA

http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/profile.phtml?N=L951569336 " >http:\

//www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/profile.phtml?N=L951569336

11/22/99 324, BMI 51

12/6/99 301, BMI 47

1/27/00 280, BMI 44

2/22/00 270, BMI 42

3/16/00 262, BMI 41

5/31/00 244, BMI 38 (no longer extremely obese... just plain obese)

7/22/00 224, BMI 35

9/23/00 220, BMI 34 (and still obese)

10/16/00 216, BMI 34

11/7/00 210, BMI 33 (65 pounds from goal!!!)

5/8/01 196, BMI 31 (new goal 157; I am 5'7 " that would give me a BMI

of 24.6; 39 pounds to go)

9/13/01 196, BMI 31 (Stuck!)

1/24/02 190, BMI 29.7 (slightly overweight!! have lost 80.2% of my

excess weight)

4/2/02 200, ARGH! Very frightening moment. Hopefully I can lose back

down to 190 quickly!

4/28/02 201 (started a starch-free, 4 hours a week of exercise

program...weighed in at the gym)

9/22/02 Tummy Tuck, Thigh Lift, and Lower Back Lift, Dr. Shermack, s

Hopkins, Bayview,

Baltimore, MD -- 12 pounds of skin removed!!

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/20/03 8:23:38 PM Central Standard Time,

vitalady@... writes:

<< We're issued the hand we're dealt, you know? >>

------------------------------

Yeah, and sometimes circumstance serves to help make the hand worse. I think

the Great Depression had something to do with the family dynamic in which I

was raised. My dad ran away from an abusive foster home in rural Sweden and

came the the USA knowing not a word of English. Got taken advantage of many

times, not paid for work, gypped, robbed, etc. As he got older and got a

handle on things, he toughened up, but he was " Thursday's Child " and had far

to go.

Anyway, when the depression hit, my mom's folks lost their farm in Nebraska

and her family moved to Chicago. Mom met Dad, and the early years of their

marriage were spent in the Depression. It seemed to have affected my dad a

lot more than my mom. He often recounted, with great bitterness, a period

just before they married when he literally had only a donut and a cup of

coffee to eat each day for about 3 months. Now, that's not long, and it's not

exactly starvation. But whenever Mom would try to limit what my brother and I

ate, Dad would get on her case and warn her NEVER to deny his children food,

bcuz he knew what it was like to want something to eat and not be able to

have it.

As a kid, I remember dinner almost always consisting of meat, potatoes,

salad, and a vegetable. Not bad, really, healthwise. There was ALWAYS dessert

of some kind. And whenever there was extra money, food was a celebration. The

whole family would go to ville (Swedish naborhood in Chicago) and

visit 2-3 delicatessens and Signe Carlson's bakery. We would come home with

smoked eel, smoked chubs, 4 or 5 deli salads (dripping with mayo), and a

week's worth or more of bakery stuff. And ALL of it would be gone in a day or

2: family pig-out!!

And of course we were always expected to clean our plates. If we didn't, we

got no dessert. To this day, I have trouble throwing food out. All those

starving children in..............(wherever), y'know. BTW, Mom & Dad were

both obese. Brother avoided it for awhile, but he is now too.

Carol A