My overweight and eating patterns changed the summer when I was 13. By that time I had been sexually abused by family and friends. I had spent the summer at a friends and torn ligaments in my right leg and my knee popped out. I was starting high school and felt out of place being Mennonite and epileptic. I was never a petite girl and started putting weight on gradually from that time. I ballooned up from 130-185 in the next couple of years and didn’t enjoy school and was a dropout in grade 11. Keeping secrets and feeling shame thinking I had to have done something wrong. I left home when I was 17. Lost weight, down to 122 my life was happier. After my son was born when my husband’s family moved in with us for 10 years went up to 210 lbs.
Over the years I have changed my eating habits and been changing things in my life.
I have started drinking water, which I hated and made me nauseated.
I have reduced eating products with sugar and wheat and more aware of my carbohydrate. Very seldom have bread, noodles or pretzels and gradually removing gluten from my diet.
I eat and enjoy more dark green leafy vegetables and salads
I have a green protein smoothie for breakfast and increasing my protein intake
Eating more regularly and not skipping meals
These things and decreasing medication are contributing to my weight loss of 16 lbs in the last five years.
Many times I think I do not want to eat because I will gain weight and think it will help me lose weight. I know from what I have been learning that is not true and binge and eat late in the night because I am bored or hungry. Other things that cause me to stay overweight are that:
I skip meals because I am not hungry,
I do not get my 8 glasses of water in every day
I do not get enough protein daily as I do not like meat
I eat and drink to many carbohydrates
I eat more salt and savory snacks in my than I should
Increasing and eating more high protein, low carbohydrates meals would help me to lose weight. Eating eggs, fish and supplementing with protein supplements is my goal.