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I am happy, I eat. I am sad, I eat. I want to relax, I eat. Anyone else dealing with weight gain as a caregiver?

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I can certainly relate. I've been a fitness professional for most of my life. Teach classes, write articles, etc. and since I've been care taking my mother for the past three years, I've put on 23 pounds. I could argue some of it is hormones but that wouldn't be entirely true. I've read some of the other responses on this and most of those reasons apply. I eat for comfort because I'm sad, depressed, isolated, angry, lonely.....(fill in the blank). It's hard to talk about our lives with people who are not in this boat....that's why we're here.

I recently looked in the mirror and said, "ENOUGH!" While loosing some of this weight is definitely on my list, my focus right now is self care. That means feeding my body healthier foods, getting more rest, asking for help, saying no, and drawing some boundaries with people who just "don't get it."

Good luck to you my friend. Take care of yourself.
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Mort1221 Aug 2019
I agree! Self care will lead to weight loss. Love your response!
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I recently took off 20lbs I gained from compulsive overeating. I felt helpless to stop for a year.

I finally got ahold of it when I decided to fill up on low cal foods. I would eat baby carrots, pickled beets, salads and anything else was just a taste here and there. I shrank my stomach and stopped feeling hungry and the weight came off easily
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Sometimes, the life of a caregiver is a bit boring and isolating and that can lead to overeating too.

I guess you (and me!) need to find some healthier foods on hand for all that eating!
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Caregiver weight!
Funny thing I actually had it a bit more under control while I was a caregiver. It (weight) has gotten a bit out of hand because I can get out more, I am invited to dinner more, lunch more and since I had been cut off I go. So the weight comes on.
I have to get serious! And I will say it here so I can't back down.
I want to loose 40 pounds.
Loosing 20 pounds would make me happy.
Loosing 30 pounds would make my doctor happy (no ecstatic)
40 pounds would give me a Fudge Factor (and I love Fudge!)
So y'all are my witness
I will keep you posted.
Mort 1221 and freqflyer if you would like to join me we can lose together.
Any one else want to join in?....
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grammyshelper Aug 2019
I would like to join!! My weakness is eating when I am tired and can not sleep due to caretaking responsibilities. Most of the time I am not even hungry but chomping on food helps comfort my stress. Ugh! I am willing to join in the effort to fight caretaker weight gain lol.
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Raising hand.

I gained 30 pounds during the 7 years of trying to help my parents, not because I was eating more, but because I was too tired to exercise, before that I was a gym rat. And then getting a serious health issue due to stress thrown into the mix didn't help. That zapped all my energy.

My primary doctor has been after me for a couple of years to lose a few pounds but she doesn't understand that at my age, now in my 70's, it ain't coming off real quick. Doing lunges in front of the TV isn't on the top of my list. I'd probably fall over, anyway :P

So I am trying to cut back on carbs [bread and pasta both of which I enjoy].
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MargaretMcKen Aug 2019
The main reason for putting on weight is eating too much. Big plates, full of food, snacks between meals, sweet drinks, milk drinks, cakes, etc etc etc. Yup, you can keep it under control by a large amount of exercise, but unless you are a fit manual labourer, your body and lifestyle don’t need that much exercise. Changing the size of your personal crockery is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to help.
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I have gained SO much weight. What has worked for me now is taking my mom WITH me to the indoor pool and she counts for me as I do laps. I never really did swim in my adult life, but it is soothing, calming, and helps with weight loss. The best part is that Mom is there with me watching, so I don't have to pay for caregiving.
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anonymous272157 Sep 2019
Clever.
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I cook, bake, and can all the time to avoid gaining weight. It makes me not want to eat. Fortunately, I have people in my life who love my cooking and don’t gain weight.
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Yes. Exactly. I gained 20 lbs since I started caring for my mother with FTD dementia. I don’t eat all day cleaning up all the shit, pee, throw up, clothes, linens, bathroom, cooking, shopping, etc. I eat too much. Drink too much. Late at night when I can finally be alone. Even walking 10,000 steps a day did not keep off the weight. It just adds to the depressing situation. I am a vegetarian and still. I started eating nacho chips. It’s totally not normal for me to eat junk. The complete isolation from the real world and no one really understanding the horribleness of the situation. I tell myself everyday to take control of my own life and ignore all my mother’s insane behavior. Hasn’t worked yet.
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PER100 Sep 2019
That surely sounds like me...18 years later I still have the depression weight stuck to me and I'm the sick one...😥
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Just so you know, I gained back 50 lbs as a 24/7 caregiver for my DH. You are not alone.

The brain is a complex organ. I ate to keep my sanity and would gladly do it all over again as I brought peace of mind to my DH while I was gaining weight.
Just FYI, he was 96 to my 66 and the weight reassured him I was not looking for another hubby.

For me, if it didn't come in a bucket, I wasn't eating it. It started when he would ask for things and then not eat them. I couldn't afford to throw away food so I ate what he wanted but was unable to eat. The ice cream called to me and according to what I've read, it was from the stress I was under.

I would do it all again to still have him here with me.
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Ok..here goes. Since my post on the 27th and setting myself up for this "challenge" I have decreased my snacking and increased the length of time I am on my treadmill. Difficult to do with a bad knee!
I have lost...drum roll......2 pounds.
Notice no starting weight was given so I will just keep up with reporting pounds lost!
Anyone else care to report this past weeks loss?
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CarlaCB Sep 2019
Congratulations, grandma1954. I started on August 31 using the Lose It! app (thanks, lizmeson) and have not stepped on the scale since then. I don't plan to do that for at least a week and maybe longer. What I'm really looking for is a little roominess in my shirts - that's when I'll know I'm losing. Keep up the good work!
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