Why I Get Fat

January 20, 2013
by Brenda J Helm

My weight yo-yo's from 125lbs up to 160lbs, or at least it did regularly up until a few years ago. I have no problem gaining weight! I can do that in the blink of an eye or over the course of one delicious summer. Losing it, however, takes months and months and it's very hard to keep it down once I'm back in an acceptable weight range. I swear, sometimes it seems as though I gain weight if I so much as look at food!

I started really noticing my eating patterns and those around me and comparing them to weight loss and gain. My conclusion, I get fat for two primary reasons:

Food insecurity
The fear I will not be able to get the foods I want when I want.

Food availability
Eating foods I don't really want just because they're there and convenient.

I find these two unhealthy eating factors come into play especially when I travel! I have put off eating until I could find a place that served what I wanted, and wound up not getting dinner that night because all the places closed before I got there. I hate being hungry! So, I usually wind up grabbing bar food or something big and greasy from a fast-food joint. I tell myself that I'll make it up to my diet tomorrow. But, by the next day, I'm so nervous I won't get anything to eat, or enough to sustain me for the day, that I wind up continuing the unhealthy eating pattern. Buffet breakfast, here I come!

I'm still finding ways to handle this food insecurity and availability issue, but I've got a few tips that are working (so far!) for me:

• Carry healthy snacks in your purse or the bag that's usually with you, such as:
  • dried fruit
  • nuts
  • crackers & cheese
  • dried meat
  • granola or snack bars
  • dry drink mix packets
• Save a goodly portion of your meal when you eat somewhere you like.
  • It helps keep me from overeating at the restaurant, too!
  • Most hotels have refrigerators, and it'll keep on the backseat floor of a car for hours.
  • If you don't eat it by the time you get home, re-purpose the food as you would regular leftovers (soup, stew, etc)

At home, I cook big meals and huge vats of soups and stews. I find myself often overeating, just because the leftovers are there. To help combat this bad habit of mine, I put leftovers into quart-sized and individually portioned containers and get them into the freezer as soon as the food is cool enough to do so. This keeps me from gorging, makes defrosting for future meals simpler with less leftover leftovers, and gives me reasonably-sized portions to share with family, friends, and neighbors.

I'm learning to take big bags and boxes of snacks and portion them out into individual portions and put the rest away from me into the cabinet or pantry. It makes me more aware of how much I'm eating.

I still eat the foods I like. Even the ones on the BIG no-no list!

I will try not to eat food that I really don't want just because of food insecurity and availability.

No food is forbidden as long as I use moderation. I don't have to clean my plate: Leftovers mean I have something to eat later.

I must remember that food insecurity does not control me! I will eat what I want, even if it isn't right now.

What do you do to work with food insecurity and availability issues?