The straight up facts about obesity

Obesity defined

http://www.obesity.org/subs/fastfacts/obesity _what2.shtml

Lots of facts about women & obesity

http://www.obesity.org/subs/fastfacts/obesity _women.shtml

I wish they could find a straight up cure.  Not sure why it is so blasted hard to lose weight.

I don't necessarily agree that weight is hard to lose - it's just slow to lose. I want to be a hot little babe... yesterday.

For me, it's about mindset: I will do this one day at a time and thanks to the ticker, I can see how I am doing and for how much longer my calories need to be low enough to allow me to lose.

For me, it's also about the will to live. My maternal grandmother had diabetes and had her first heart attack at 50. She died of a heart attack at 61. My father is 55 and he's just had his third heart attack. My time is ticking... I'm 35.

Obviously, my motivation (a vapid desire to look hot into my 80's) isn't anyone else's motivation, but by gum, the weight is coming off and it's not hard.

The cure is inside you. Good luck!

I agree with Millington. I think the "problem" is psychology. I think weight loss is a LOT MORE than simply losing weight for most people. Find the root causes of the overeating, binging -- WHATEVER the person's particular problem is -- and you can lose it for good!

*Hem-Hem*

Pep Talk Time
------------------

The biggest gift you can give yourself is the gift of positive thinking. Every message you give yourself sticks in your mind, so when we use language that undermines ourselves, we have to overcome our own negativity.

"I still fail a lot" is a negative message. You deserve better than this. Instead of giving yourself a message that weakens you, give yourself a message that strengthens you:

"I succeed a lot."

Toot your own horn. Sing your own praises. There is no blessing in undermining self-talk. Tell yourself: I am a person of value. Prove it to yourself by taking pride in every success.

I believe in you. Your profile shows you have already accomplished the moon! You can believe in you, too.

"positive" Thinking.

:)

There is one thing I have learnt.  Never say never.  You can succeed.  I can't believe I'm here at this point in my life. 

Passing the sticky notes around that say " THINK POSITIVE "

Loosing weight is easy, its keeping it off that is hard!! HEHEHE..

too often we choose short term pleasure over long term health.

It isn't one cookie that makes us fat, its several cookies, plus chips, plus ice cream, plus fried stuff, plus no fiber etc.. 

Weightloss is only 25% physical, 75% mental. Before you can change your waistline, you have to change your relationship with food, and how you view it.

I think Education is very important in battling obesity or overweightness. All the chemical reaction in our body, our sensory etc, they are not what govern the human body. What's in control is the human mind. It is not easy to master the mind, but once you grab even some control of it you relize how powerful it can be.

Think how it all started, when did you gain weight. It was a gradual process. The pounds don't come piling up in dozens overnight. I saw food I like, I smelled food I love, and in went the food into my mouth. And it felt good. And I was happy about it. My mind was not in control. It was giving free reign of the body to do what ever it thought it should do based on the sensory reaction. And on it went for days, weeks, months, and years.
Why?
Although the fact of life was in front of me, people being overweight, I just didn't think of it. Majority of people just can't learn by simple observation, and had to have the knowledge shoved right in front of their noses and down their throats.

Knowledge built awareness. And with awareness comes decision. What you are going to do now? Do or not do something. It's now your chance to grab reign of your mind.

I learned a lot since I came to my awareness. A slap on my face. Oh, I still follow my nose to the pastry shops, and the visual of chocolate displays still lit up my face and put sparkles in my eyes (heh... even a stranger if being around me just for a day will notice that one me). I indulge my senses, but I didn't act upon it. Because now, I know better.

I am glad that there is a noticeable effort now to educate the masses on child obesity. It is a growing problem (no pun intended), and abundance of food should not be blamed for it.
For I see it first hand with my cousin's daughter. She was adorable, but she was gaining weight faster than she grows. It breaks my heart one day when I heard her said, "I'm too fat... my pants doesn't fit me anymore..." *and she sighed and looked kinda embarassed* And that was the truth. Her pants was so tight around her round tummy, which bulge out too far to be called cute. Her mom of course knows this and also said her daughter was overweight. But she only saying it not doing anything. Even after saying that, about 15 min later she turned and asked the daughter if she wanted to grab a McDs chicken nuggets.... @.@ And I know the kid still full. We just had our lunch...
So there. All the Master Degree & PhD in the world won't make a person automatically smarter in all aspects of life. I hope someday she will learn to curb it, and act upon what she already know before the kid suffers in the long run.


^_^;;; Sorry for the looo~ng post. I was reading the articles on the links you guys posted and I just gotta put down my long-kept thoughts.

I gained over 100 pounds in 1988.  That wasn't technically 'overnight' but it felt like it.

This happened, I think, because I spent my teenage years starving myself (500 - 600 cals a day) and exercising like a fiend - basically teaching my body how to survive on little sustenance.  So when I went away to college and had to work my way thru (in a bakery for my first job, no less) my body took the calories I ate, which I doubt was ever that much over 1500 to 1700 a day, and stored them all as fat.

For the last 18 years I have struggled to lose this weight, which has fluctuated with fad diets and pregnancy and depression and divorce and surgeries and injuries.

Has any of it been easy?  I would not say so.  Does that mean I can't do this?  I would not say so. 

I'm very very glad that losing weight is easy for some people. Extremely glad for you.  But until you've walked in my shoes, I don't think you can say what it's like for me. 

However - easy, hard, joyous, or hellacious - I don't care.  I don't care whether it's easy or not.  I'm doing it. Because I deserve a healthy body, because I forgive my teenage self for not knowing any better, because I have a life and I want to really live it. Difficult or easy is irrelevant.

-waves hand at hellacious-

i have just spent the last 9 months losing and relosing the same 10 lbs.  sometimes i just don't know at all, and seriously want to consider the tummy surgery. and then realize I will have to change anyway, so damn it, i'm going to change without the surgery.

i don't have the answers but I know that it is hard as hades trying to change.

i am shocked at the links on the effects on the brain with the dopamine.  another piece of the puzzle, and i still don't know how to fix me :(

You go nomo! And everyone who sticks to their routine!
It is an effort - with a capital E - to do so. I've stuck on to my 'newly acquired habit' for only 50 days so far. Not even 2 months! And this is the longest ever for me.
Human is such creature of habits. Hard to break one you've developed for so long, and I think that's part of the challenge in loosing weight or to get into a new lifestyle.
I'm glad I got my bad eating habits out of the way, sure I regret it - a bit, but it is out and done with. Think for the present and be positive for the future, right?

luzing - u on the right track. No surgery can help if you can't change your lifestyle for the better. And we are all here to give support.

Talking about knowledge, I am currently feeding infos to my sis to motivate her further into loosing weight. Most of the links here I fwd to her. Thanks! ^.^

sweet.  how is your sister doing?  does she resist talking to you about this stuff? i know i do except when i'm ready to try.  and i don't hear suggestions well.  my first response is always no.  why is that?

luzing - sis will always be a sis, especially baby sister ^^;
So it's a tag of war game kinda with us. I feed her something, she would be defensive, so I pull back like 'so if you don't wanna hear it fine' attitude, then she will reach out again. *sigh* She is like on-off-on-off cycle. At least she is up to going to gym with me now (currently on gym-vacation until next year). It is the eating part that is so hard to get her to swallow.
I think suggestion sometimes easier to bear when it comes from a non-family. You are so close to your family that it's like 'eh, whatever' kinda attitude :) With others, you often have to be polite and without rejecting it first-hearing, you can't help but taking it in even a little. ... well, at least i hope we can be polite to strangers lol.

united - holycow, woman lol you are on google-fire! ^.^b