How Did You Get Fat?

Do you ever wonder why fat people get fat? Yes, they eat too much. Do you ever wonder why they eat so much or so poorly? Some fat people don't eat outrageous amounts - just enough extra without movement. The reasons why people get fat are probably as varied as the people.

I know a lot of my 'triggers'. I know some of the things that drive me to carb rich, sugar and salt laden fare. Some are emotional and some are physiological. However, as I proceed on this new path, I am discovering even more triggers. I am posting this because most of us don't pursue fitness in a vacumn. We have lives. We experience triggers. If we don't recognize them, we will revert to auto-pilot and before long, we will be absent from Crossfit for months with a cookie hanging out of our mouths.

Lately, I have discovered how stress is a trigger for me. My plate quickly becomes too full, but I keep piling it high. My job is insane right now. I log-on at 7:30 a.m. and log-off at 10:30 p.m. I rarely stop. In addition, I want my friendships to continue to grow. That requires time, too. For me, the time available to socialize is usually around a meal (and you know how hard it is to eat well when you eat out). I am in a relationship with a man that I adore. He isn't overly demanding of my time but he is a high feeler - requiring a lot of emotional energy from me. I exercise four-six times a week - Crossfit and walking. Somewhere in there, I need to find time to run my life. Laundry. Groceries. Meal preparation. Cleaning. Bill payment.

I don't even have a family. I do not know how working moms do it. I really don't. What keeps getting ditched for me is eating. I either don't eat and get so hungry that I shove food in to get my blood sugar back up to a normal level OR I just eat what is around when meal time hits because I haven't had time to go to the store and I don't have time to hit it at meal time. That's been me these past five days. I just don't have time to get it all together so I have been eating whatever is around. It hasn't been good food. I need to get back on track but it feels overwhelming.

Amazingly, I am still losing. I suspect it is because I'm not eating enough. I am hungry a lot of the time. I just know I'm not being healthy and I don't like it. This is how I got fat. I just didn't make eating well a priority. It goes deeper though. I didn't establish boundaries. I am scared to say to work, "I can't work all these hours. You need to hire someone to help me." I am scared to say to my friends, "I can't hang out because I need to go home and get my meals set up."

I need to set these boundaries but they are scary boundaries to set. Until I do, my eating will suffer. Even as I write this, I think it's ridiculous to let my food push my boundary setting...but I suspect that is just the symptom that is identifying the bigger problem.

Well, people-pleasing and poor boundaries, those are my triggers right now that will keep me fat unless I deal with them.