4 years ago I was 31 and almost 300 lbs. I have 100% become disdainful of people that use medical excuses or claim that they can't lose weight.
Ah, yes, the "reformed whore" syndrome. I must say, you DO wear it well, dear NVL (peace to you!).
I was skinny ALL of my life. UNDER-weight. To this day I marvel that boots, no, SOCKS... even stay up on my legs. I grew up having to wear RUBBER BANDS to keep my knee-highs up at school! I weighed 117 when I had my first child. She weighed 8.7 of that. I weighed 124 when I had my second. He weighed 7.2 of that. My "normal" weight was 103 from the time I was 16 until I was 38 (although, besides pregnancy, I got up to 106 one summer when I virtually lived on Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream pops... after getting tired of everyone telling me I needed to "gain some weight". And it all went right away as soon as I let the pops go (I went down to 98!). But... we're talking a pop a DAY for close to 3 months... and I only gained 3 pounds!).
Now, at age 50... I am overweight, "mildly obese" some would say. Although, everyone SAYS "you don't LOOK overweight" (how can that be, when the "charts" say...??). But I am, if the "charts" are anything to go by. My weight is NOT the result of being "fat and lazy" however (those who know me say I am anything BUT lazy - in fact, I am often asked to sit down!). Mine is the result of a VERY common... but SERIOUSLY overlooked causation: medication. Which I personally believe is the LEADING cause of weight gain and obesity in this country (and all of the other "side effects"... which require even MORE medication!! Is anyone really LISTENING to the disclaimers on the drug commercials... I mean REALLY listening? "May cause..." and now they're up to "lymphoma, carcinoma... even death"...).
What medication resulted in MY weight gain? Glucocosteroids. Taken topically... in the form of a clear lotion. Starting slowly from age 24 (after I had my son)... then ramped up at age 35... continuing to age 45. A drug that wasn't SUPPOSED to be taken for more than ONE year... and certainly not more than 5 years! And EACH time I would tell my doctor(s) my "symptoms" (severe and SUPER fast weight gain (60 lbs the year I turned 39!), severe hair loss, severe pain in my abdomen, breathing problems, gargantuan fibroids... and, finally, DIA-FRIKKIN-BETES)... I would be told "Oh, that doesn't happen if you take them TOPICALLY; it only happens when you take them ORALLY, like Predisone."
And yet, Barry Bonds took HIS steroids... topically. Yep, through a "clear lotion." I ask you, dear NVL... did HE gain any weight? You BET he did. And it was finding out that he took his TOPICALLY... that made me quit. I mean, for YEARS I ask about it... and fought with by doctors about it. For years. To be told, "Oh, no, you REALLY need to use this; nothing else will work for you. So here's another prescription. And do NOT stop taking it because serious harm (including death!) could result if you do."
And I tried... and TRIED... to wean myself off over those years. But that was a NIGHTMARE. Finally, about 4 years ago... I did it. After hearing about Barry Bonds and how he went from a skinny pip-squeek to Iron Man... by taking steroids TOPICALLY... I just stop taking it.
By this time, however, I was taking diabetes pills. I cannot describe to you the PAIN my body went through... oh... my... God. My internal organs... ALL of them... literally screamed. Crunched. Over... and over... and over. And to this day I don't know if it was one (the steroids) or the other (the diabetes pills... which, BTW, cause... you guessed it... weight gain... legs cramps... and chest pains!)... or both.
TODAY, though, although I am overweight... I am steroid... and diabetes pills.. FREE! The pain in my body finally "calmed down"... and, having now been diagnosed as a Type I Diabetic (vs. a Type II - "Adult Onset")... I take insulin (NO side effects, other than coma if you take too much - I know - can't "win" - LOLOLOLOL!)... and aspirin/Tylenol. Nothing else. And I walk, fairly regularly... but the weight has not come off. But... I don't hurt anymore. My chest doesn't hurt. My guts don't hurt (omg, praise JAH!). My legs don't hurt. I am virtually PAIN free!!
And so if my choice is pain... or weight... I'm going with weight. Because I can live with that a little easier.
I hope that helps "enlighten" you a little better... and perhaps even help you dial down your disdain just a tad. Because, just like alcoholism, drug addiction, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other "physical" ailments... obesity, too, can have it's origins in causations, onsets, and malfunctions of the physical body... vs. merely absence of will.
I bid you peace.
A slave of Christ,
SA