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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The first stop is therapy. If you treat all the emotional issues that got you to this weight and has kept you at this weight, you will lose weight without dieting. 
-- Trauma survivor and formerly obese person with 20-yr eating disorder who did EMDR + CBT (and a LOT of it). [/quote]

I don't want to take over this thread with my own question, but I'm curious about your experience. Did you know that your untreated trauma was the reason for your weight issues? I'm also very overweight and I know I have unresolved trauma from my childhood. I've been thinking about finding a trauma therapist and working through it. I have a hard time understanding the connection between my emotions and my weight, but I'm sure there must be an emotional aspect to it. When you started to feel better about yourself, did the eating healthier and being more active come naturally or is it still a constant struggle?[/quote]

Hi, i’m the PP who wrote this comment. 
I had a major trauma at 19 and became a binge eater - and bulimic. I did some therapy, but not enough. One clinician suggested in-patient treatment; in retrospect i regret not doing this (will get to why). I was able to stop throwing up by about age 30. My relationship with food was never normal, but I felt like I had sort of moved on. The bulimia alas also meant you “couldn’t tell” - I remained a completely average weight, neither thin nor fat. 
Well, then a variety of awful events in my 30s did a number on me, and I began binging at a rate that caused me to gain about 100 lbs in three years. I lived that way for a decade because I just couldn’t handle staring down my trauma(s) TBH. But I eventually knew - like deeply knew - I had to treat both the trauma and the binge eating. The EMDR was for the trauma. CBT for the eating disorder.

I pretty much lost 50 lbs in a year without trying, then the rest of it by trying. The work is ongoing because without the binging, I felt the full force of my anxiety (that the disordered eating had “medicated”), and it was rough. I am now on both an antidepressant and an anti-anxiety medication. I am strict about exercise and sleep because I learned that anxiety messed with my sleep, and when my sleep is messed with, I’m much more likely to binge. I’ve come a long way on my trauma and am still plugging away at it. Although I am a healthy weight, I’ll always be looking over my shoulder a bit, and I have accepted as much. There was a period where the binge eating was under control but I started picking at my skin, for example - it’s all the same thing, and meant I had more work to do.

There are a lot of well meaning people on here who are like “yep I had no idea how much I was snacking but once I started logging my pretzels and wine I lost 30 lbs!” and that is great and all, but for those of us who have been 100lbs or more overweight, there was absolutely a mental health issue at play far, far beyond “stressful day eating” that needs serious treatment. Good luck OP. [/quote]

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