What makes people fat?

I've been thinking about the reasons for putting on weight. As I've said before, I've struggled with my weight for a long time and I am trying to understand why as I think it would help me.

I know the facetious answer to this post's title is people eat too much and don't exercise! But what pushes someone into crossing the line between chubbiness and obesity?

I think conditioning definitely plays a part and this is worrying considering the childhood obesity crisis. I was raised in a house where you had to clear your plate or you couldn't leave the table. I have never done this with my kids as I think it teaches such a bad lesson by making your eat even if you feel full. My parents never ate fruit and never exercised. So the healthy role models were not there for me at all. There were always tons of biscuits and cakes in the house and no restrictions put on them either. Despite all this, I remained just chubby as a child. I was tall too so I could hide it easily.

Emotional eating is another huge trigger for people. Eating made me happy. If I was tired and fed up then I would eat three chocolate bars travelling home from work on the tube to cheer myself up. My first bad experience with Weightwatchers where I developed bulimia also sent me the other way. Dieting was making me ill so what the hell, I would stuff my face instead!

Overeating can also be something to hide behind. When my marriage broke up in quite hideous circumstances, being fat became a way of hiding from moving on. No one would want me when I looked like that. My warped mindset was also that if my ex husband could treat me like that then I just wasn't good enough anyway so food was my comfort blanket. It was at this point that I started to suffer from depression and my weight really did cross that line.

My mum died in 2006 from congestive heart failure due mainly to her unhealthy lifestyle. She also battled breast cancer twice which is also linked to obesity. Did this make me stop? No I just tried not to think about it.

I feel that control is also a huge issue for why people become fat. Over the last few years my finances fell apart and I had a lot of setbacks so eating was one thing I could control. I actually remember thinking to myself that this is killing me and oh well, maybe that would be easier. 

So what made me stop and decide to try and turn my life around? I'm not really sure. I had a couple of false starts but writing this blog was a huge factor. I thought by documenting my journey, it would make it easier for me.

There is clearly no one reason as to why people become fat but I suppose my conclusion is that whatever the reason, there is a way out of it and you can move forward. I hope I have proved that with my journey so far. Baby steps guys as long as they are in the right direction!

Speak to you soon

Love Erica xxx