Comments on: Wearing Your Weight As Armor

By: Mike Mass

Mike Mass — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 12:36:50 +0000

The only thing i could say about building muscle fast is by training intelligently. Nobody wants to waste their precious time while getting little to no results right? You could apply advance techniques such as explosive lifting, drop sets, etc. in order to change the stimulus that your muscle receives and in turn, leading to more muscle gains. There are many ways on how to build muscle fast but in the end, it's all about getting the will to do it.

By: truth fairy

truth fairy — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 04:28:08 +0000

Dear Muscle Building:

Thank you for your suggestion.

I think my habit of eating (or chewing) is a way of soothing my body from emotional pain, yet you’re saying that working out can do the same thing.

I find that doing housework or picking up around my apt can have that effect, as can reading something or watching something on TV that inspires me (although my TV viewing is too limiting time-wise, exercise wise and social wise perhaps.

Thanks for thinking about this, and for your insight and experience.

truth fairy

By: Vicki

Vicki — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:36:59 +0000

Such a great post! I have started to research more into this and see that there is some more on the subject over on EBT News:

http://ebtnews.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/the-secondary-gain-of-body-size/

By: Gretchen Paules

Gretchen Paules — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:08:36 +0000

The Let Go…Let Peace Come In Foundation is a newly formed nonprofit with a mission to help heal and support adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse worldwide. We are actively seeking adult survivors who would be willing to post a childhood photo and caption, their story, or their creative expressions to our website http://www.letgoletpeacecomein.org. By uniting survivors from across the globe we can help provide a stronger and more powerful voice to those survivors who have not yet found the courage to speak out. Together we can; together we should; together we NEED to stand up and be counted. Please visit our site for more details on how you can send us your submissions.

Thank you for everything you do!

Gretchen Paules
Administrative Director
Let Go…Let Peace Come In Foundation
111 Presidential Blvd., Suite 212
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:04:05 +0000

I was abused by my own brother. I was in good shape in high school, played three sports, but then I gained weight and when I start to lose it and look good I cannot take it. I have been with the same person for over 25 years and he never says a thing about my weight (180) lbs. I would love to lose the weight and feel better about myself.

By: Helen

Helen — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:28:07 +0000

I finally feel like someone understands

By: shelly

shelly — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:55:45 +0000

My daughter is very overweight – I do not know of any abuse, but in high school all of her boyfriend relationships ended poorly. She is 24 and hides food and eats in secret a lot. I don’t know how to help her. I am afraid to say the wrong thing, but feel I need to do, or say something to help her. Any suggestions?

By: A. Capers

A. Capers — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:43:38 +0000

This phenomena is not limited to children. As a young child I ate a lot to get my parents attention because they spent an inordinate amount of time forcing my younger sister (by 13 months) to eat. Therefore, I ate toprove I was the good child. However, I slimmed down around 18 and was then subjected to a world of dating and date rape. I subsequently gained a lot of weight and continued to gain after each encounter until I reached the point where I no longer received unwanted advances. I am now comfortable with my armor but my body is breaking down. The doctors keep telling me to lose weight or I will be subject to hip and knee replacement surgeries in the near future.

By: Betsy

Betsy — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:48:16 +0000

I’ve known I had this problem, but I’ve never seen it written down. I was abused by my step-father for 2 years. I blocked out the memories until I was 16, but I ballooned up to almost 400lbs before I even got out of high school. I had a nervous breakdown when I remembered and finally told my mom when I turned 18. The weight started dropping off as soon as he left. I’m now 21 and almost to the 300lb mark. I’ve never had a real boyfriend though (couldn’t handle getting that close), and I’m afraid that I’ll freak out and gain the weight back that I’ve had as a shield since I was 12.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:13:45 +0000

I think this article is spot on. I was sexually abused at 5 years old, and never told my mother lest I should be punished. I was always a bit chunky as a child, and found it so difficult to make friends. Thus I was a loner. I turned to books (good) and food (not so good) for comfort. My first sexual encounter… I thought I wanted to, but was scared, and told him “No!” It ended up that he date raped me. I was 15…

Married at 21, he was as abusive as hell, divorced about five years later. Three weeks after that divorce was final, I met and later married the 2nd ex, who was completely emotionally unavailable for me. I had lost weight from 210 to 155, but during this relationship regained all the lost weight and then some.

Over the course of time, I ballooned up to 300#. I finally had gastric bypass, and as the weight and fat started coming off, I finally had nowhere to hide… Either I could stay on the antidepressants I was on at the time, or I could start facing life.

Thank G-d I started facing life.

I am once again single, working and going to school, preparing to enter university. I am so thrilled with life, although it is very hard at times. However, I am learning ~~

By: broadbrush

broadbrush — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:19:04 +0000

i think i was abused when i was younger, but cannot remember – and when i married, my husband said i wasn’t any good at sex,
i have been over weight (obese now) all my life = for as long as i can remember it has been an issue and negative remarks and innuendo to outright insults have been thrown at me. the neighbours never look at me when we talk but at my fat thighs, butt and hips. their eyes always stray – i want to hide and never see anyone

By: Diana

Diana — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:15:01 +0000

this article is very accurate. I was sexually molested by one of my aunts husband since I was 8 and suddenly I started gaining weight. When I went to highschool, I started being in shape but any time that I have a romantic set back, I always gain around 30 pounds. Now I understand that I have been protecting myself all these years. I was also abused when I was 27 by a coworker, and I also gained weight back then. Now I am going to a nutritionist to make life changes and learn how to take good care of myself. I do want to get rid of this emotional burden that I carry with me.

By: JtotheP

JtotheP — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:11:42 +0000

This article was really helpful. I’ve always had an emotional eating problem, since I was a teenager. When I was young both my parents failed to teach my brother and I the importance and basics of healthy eating, but they lacked the knowledge as well from their upbringings. Now that I am an adult I’ve really taken it upon myself to try really hard to gain more knowledge about nutrition and fitness and the effects it has on your body. I try to remember the bad things that happen to your body when you consume really bad food. However, the emotional eating still wins out, and I still battle it. What has helped me during an emotional eating frenzy has been to replace the bad food I normally gravitate towards with healthy, yummy tasting alternatives. I still fall off the wagon. Its hard to give up Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream from Ben and Jerrys. You just have to do the best you can.

By: Jobeth

Jobeth — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 18:17:39 +0000

Oh yes. True, true. Several years ago I was a real fatty. I received medical and emotional support and I began to lose the fat. As it came off I began to remember the abuse I had received. The memories came as pictures. Dropping each 8 to 10 pounds brought new memories. Tears flowed. With counseling I was able to forgive. Please get help and heal. YOU are worth it!

By: michigan

michigan — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 17:57:53 +0000

Ihis article is great im an emotional eater and i know i have been through alot in my life and to see all these people have the same issue its heart warming to know theres more than me out there i know i need to lose the weight im a 28 yr old single mom of 4 ive been rapped divorced twice ive had abusive relationships all my life my oldest will be ten this month and i know i need to change so for everyone out there that is an emotional eater we can do this we conquer what ever comes our way dont let no man or person bring us down