Please, please, please don't do bariatric surgery when your main issue with food is emotional. I have SO many friends who have had surgery, lost huge amounts, and gained it all back and more because emotional eaters can easily eat through the limitations on a surgically modified digestive system. And now they have issues with malabsorption of nutrients and other side effects.

I am a HUGE emotional eater self-medicating a lot of childhood trauma, and believe it or not, what has worked for me is intermittent fasting. Google Dr. Jason Fung and The Obesity Code. I had been 100+ pounds overweight for 20 years and thought that I would just be resigned to that because I was not willing to get surgery (and have all the ill health effects plus rush regaining it all.) I am shocked and delighted that I have lost so much now that I understand how I got fat in the first place.

Therapy is absolutely essential, and you may find some help with support groups like OA. But you might get huge success just changing *when* you eat, and if you're like me, it might lead to later changing what you eat as well. Even with occasional emotional binges, I still lost a substantial amount of weight in the last year, going from the "morbidly obese" category to just obese, but just two columns on the BMI chart away from "overweight". And still moving. Youvcan do it!!!

Get the surgery, OP. All the other posts aren't applicable to someone 100+ pounds overweight. NIH agrees with me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been obese probably since I was eight years old after a childhood trauma.

I'm female and I'm 26 years old. Right now I'm perfectly healthy numbers-wise, resting heartrate of 52, very active with workout classes twice a week and walk 4 miles 5-6 times a week. I can (very slowly) run/jog a 13 minute mile. Can't do a pushup though. I have a lot of mental health issues (obviously goes along with the weight) but physically day to day I feel fine and don't hate my body which is why I don't have any urgency to lose the weight. I also see myself as much less fat than I am.

I once got down to 195 on the horrific HCG diet in 2 months. Gained it all back in a year.

I need real talk on how long before being 100 pounds overweight is going to have grave health implications. Wondering if I need to look into weight loss surgery.

Of couse your labs show you as "perfectly healrhy". You are 26. In 10 years, I'd bet money you will be 300lbs and at a bare minimum prediabetic with major joint problems. At 46, i bet you will be on disability and unable to work.

You seem to have a bad, almost arrogant attitude. Good luck, you're gonna need it.

I wish you had offered me that bet- I would have won your money. i had basically the same stats as OP at 26. At 36 I was basically the same- definitely not prediabetic with majro joint problems. Now in 40's I have gained another 20lbs- but no where near the dire picture you paint. I am very unhappy about the weight gain- but it does not impact daily activities.

Because you probably have no daily activities. Of course they won't be impacted.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been obese probably since I was eight years old after a childhood trauma.

I'm female and I'm 26 years old. Right now I'm perfectly healthy numbers-wise, resting heartrate of 52, very active with workout classes twice a week and walk 4 miles 5-6 times a week. I can (very slowly) run/jog a 13 minute mile. Can't do a pushup though. I have a lot of mental health issues (obviously goes along with the weight) but physically day to day I feel fine and don't hate my body which is why I don't have any urgency to lose the weight. I also see myself as much less fat than I am.

I once got down to 195 on the horrific HCG diet in 2 months. Gained it all back in a year.

I need real talk on how long before being 100 pounds overweight is going to have grave health implications. Wondering if I need to look into weight loss surgery.

Of couse your labs show you as "perfectly healrhy". You are 26. In 10 years, I'd bet money you will be 300lbs and at a bare minimum prediabetic with major joint problems. At 46, i bet you will be on disability and unable to work.


You seem to have a bad, almost arrogant attitude. Good luck, you're gonna need it.

+1. You’re young now, but it will definitely catch up with you as you age. Learn how to eat healthier, OP. Your future health depends on it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you are getting a lot of support from posters here. It is especially motivating (to me at least) to read about those who have lost large amounts of weight and kept it off. But the bottom line is that you are the only person who can motivate yourself to take the next step! Have you tried any other weight loss programs other than the HCG?

You're right, I'm actually really surprised with the great and kind responses I've getting. It is very appreciated.

I've tried to do good old myfitnesspal/calorie counting several times but I get demotivated very quickly. I balk at it because I find it so depressing and unnatural. It makes me feel very deprived and anxious. Not a good reason not to do it, but the truth. The same with any super restrictive diet like keto, paleo, Whole30. I've tried them for a few days but just don't have the mental strength not to lean on food emotionally. I've never tried any other more formal program like Weight Watchers. The idea of having to go to meetings terrifies me.

I am in therapy although I hate my therapist but I am hoping soon to embark on a more intense therapy journey (DBT) in the new year. I certainly have a lot to consider and a lot of reasons to try to be less fat.

Have you ever tried weight watchers? If you go to the meetings, you will make friends who will support you. Very easy to follow and the new freestyle plan sounds great.

Op there is one plus to being this overweight: small changes will initially result in big losses which is motivating.

You should probably log EVERYTHING you eat daily for a week. Don't change anything, just eat how you eat. Figure out what your daily calorie intake is. My guess is much higher than the 2300 you assumed. Probably 3k to maintain your weight.

When you have a baseline, simply cut back initially by 500 calories a day. This will net you at least a pound a week of fat loss as at 3k a day or so, it will be so negligible as to hardly be missed.

When you've gotten comfortable there you can cut some more. Ideally you'll get yourself to maybe 2k a day.

Find some activity you like. Bikini Body Guide would be a good place to start- only 28 minutes 3x a week and you can do it at home.

You will likely need therapy since you have a huge emotional connection to food that will need to be addressed to do this. Your life will be so much better 50-75-100 lbs lighter.

Immediate pp here. I noticed you mentioned more than once the anxiety and depression around starting a diet or restriction. Start there in therapy. See where it takes you. Make sure you have a great therapist who supports you and is nurturing.

OP it seems to me that food is your source of emotional comfort. So it makes sense that any restrictive dieting, like whole 30 etc, would make you feel very very vulnerable, and on some level back to the scared lonely girl who.lost her mom so young. That is deep pain.

I think your job in therapy is to work through grief, eventually finding other ways to feel safer and loved. Eventually eating nourishing food and taking care if your body will feel like more self care than eating but I think until you grapple with some very powerful emotional patterns (and some dependencies on sugar and carbs) diets won't work long term.

I hope you can find a great therapist. You seem ready to do the work. I am rooting for you.

Anonymous wrote:OP, you are getting a lot of support from posters here. It is especially motivating (to me at least) to read about those who have lost large amounts of weight and kept it off. But the bottom line is that you are the only person who can motivate yourself to take the next step! Have you tried any other weight loss programs other than the HCG?

You're right, I'm actually really surprised with the great and kind responses I've getting. It is very appreciated.

I've tried to do good old myfitnesspal/calorie counting several times but I get demotivated very quickly. I balk at it because I find it so depressing and unnatural. It makes me feel very deprived and anxious. Not a good reason not to do it, but the truth. The same with any super restrictive diet like keto, paleo, Whole30. I've tried them for a few days but just don't have the mental strength not to lean on food emotionally. I've never tried any other more formal program like Weight Watchers. The idea of having to go to meetings terrifies me.

I am in therapy although I hate my therapist but I am hoping soon to embark on a more intense therapy journey (DBT) in the new year. I certainly have a lot to consider and a lot of reasons to try to be less fat.

OP, you are getting a lot of support from posters here. It is especially motivating (to me at least) to read about those who have lost large amounts of weight and kept it off. But the bottom line is that you are the only person who can motivate yourself to take the next step! Have you tried any other weight loss programs other than the HCG?