Ben's Story

Wow! I am actually going to make this public along with some *amazing* before pictures...

Here is my story. I applaud my lovely wife for her honesty in what she shared.

Growing up from my childhood through my later teenage years I had never considered that fact that I could gain weight. As most teenaged boys, I could and did eat anything I wanted in whatever quantities were available. It took a lot of food for me to get stuffed.

As a young adult serving a mission in South Florida and the Bahamas I started to gain weight. It came on slowly,but my shirts and pants still fit (benefit of being a guy ;-). Good Jamacan food in the Bahamas and lots of driving contributed to this.

It was at this time in my life that I started to use food as comfort and reassurance of my worth. I was on my own for the first time and found that I actually had the freedom to choose all of my meals.

Upon arriving home I became more physically active and the pounds melted off steadily. The unfortunate thing was that I was so physically active that I could eat anything at any time (only 21 years old here) and I kept dropped weight.

At a reasonable weight and physical condition I met Karen and not long after getting married, life settled in on me. I subconciously used food as a way to express my independance and adulthood and would eat out as a way to show my independance and control. The weight came back and then some.

Since then (nearly 13 years of marital bliss), I have fluctuated up and down in my weight, having lost many pounds successfully and then finding them again when I got confident.

Only recently have I discovered some things about myself that have played heavily into my condition:
1) As an escape from dealing with my feelings, I turned to food as medication
2) I learned that the heart of my weight problem is emotional and spiritual, not physical
3) Attempts at losing weight in the past failed because I was only treating my problems physically and not their spiritual roots

I am committed to addressing the real issues that cause an unhealthy life and hope to see vitality return as I find balance to all aspects of my life.

Ben