I'm a 24 year old woman who still lives with her parents. It's not a bad thing by any means, and my parents have actually asked me to stay, but unfortunately, all progress for me tends to get thwarted at home.
Both my parents have been super morbidly obese, and me and my sister have been too. We were a food household for sure. My mom gained a lot of weight when she married my dad, and my sister and i were raised with no healthy eating habits.
My mom lost a lot of weight the past few years, and she's really gotten on track. But my dad was always the same. He was addicted to drugs in his youth, then alcohol and cigarettes. He quit all those, but formed this addiction to food that rubbed off on me. Whenever I tried eating healthier, he threw a fit. "Well what am I supposed to eat for dinner?" "I don't have to follow what you do so why can't I get the snacks i want from the grocery store."
We ended up enabling each other - me and my dad. We only talked about food, we only bonded over food. We celebrated with food, we ate when we were sad. We both had insomnia and would eat entire meals at 2am together. He'd try and diet, but would get so angry, like an addict not getting his fix.
2020 changed all of us, but him especially. He has diabetes, COPD, and is elderly. He was scared of the pandemic. He retired from his job after 35 years. He found this new love for life and family. He picked up hobbies. He got interested in bird watching. Every single day he would get himself outside and fill the bird feeders.
He started eating less. Like, a lot less. He said he just wasn't really interested in it anymore. He used to look forward only to the next meal, but he had other things to look forward to now.
He had a health scare the other day, and took care of it as soon as possible. Last year, he had a partial amputation due to diabetes, and he was scared to lose anything else. He caught it fast, they gave him antibiotics, and he's already doing better. But they weighed him, and he's lost 60 lbs. He hasn't been trying to, but his new love for life made it happen, and with how he's eating and moving around, he's gonna lose more fast. Today, he started crying because he put on his socks without my mom's help for the first time in 20 years.
I, on the other hand, have been opposite, and now we are meeting in the middle. He weighs 10 more lbs than me right now. Ten. We are the same height. I gained so much weight this year from depression, and I've had to come face to face with my own food addiction.
Last night, my parents sat me down and we talked. They wanted me to address my own mental health, and they could see I've been trying so hard to hide my struggles. We talked about wanting to change our lives as a family. For the first time ever, we are on the same page. We want to be healthier and happier. We want to support each other.
I've tried losing weight dozens of times, but this is the first time my dad has been with me. I love my dad so much. He's been such an influence in my life. Because of that, i really think this is going to be the one.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/kwufo4/my_family_and_i_are_on_the_same_page_for_the/
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