Comments on: Compulsive behavior

By: Purple Girl

Purple Girl — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:28:04 +0000

LOL–$23,000 in debt is exactly where I was two years ago! While I don’t think I’m regularly a compulsive shopper or compulsive eater, I’ve certainly had episodes of both–hence my credit card debt and my fat debt!

At least with the shopping I can return things a couple days later when I ask myself, “Why did I buy purple plastic flamingos for my non-existent yard?” :)

By: Kathy

Kathy — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:48:44 +0000

I can totally relate to this article. I have both a compulsive spending problem and a eating problem. Both in a bad way. I am trying to deal with my eating issues at the moment but the financial issues I just can’t seem to get a hold of. To top this off, I have OCD which makes the spending and eating even worse. I try not to think of my eating plan as a diet but as a “lifestyle change” because I hate the word diet. I feel that I am being deprived of something. With my “lifestyle change” I can make reasonable choices which can include foods that I love.

By: Zentient

Zentient — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 08:28:57 +0000

http://www.king5.com/health/stories/NW_022207HEBbypassaddictionsLJ.2751096.html What are we seeking through our over- everything? Eating,spending,drinking,drugging,doing. How difficult it seems at times, just to be an ordinary human with a balanced life. I used to call that boring.

By: hanlie

hanlie — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:14:51 +0000

I believe that all addictions have an underlying emotional cause. Therefore, on our weightloss journey we need to constantly take note of our achievements and the changes in our lives, so that we can adjust our self-esteem accordingly. We are working hard for what we want, hauling ourselves out of a deep hole, and we need to develop respect for ourselves along the way… (if you allow yourself to become obese, there’s clearly not a lot of self-respect).

It’s been well documented that people who have weightloss surgery very often develop other addictions… be it shopping, sex, alcohol, prescription drugs, whatever. That is because they have not learnt to deal with the emotional aspect of their addiction, they did not “overcome” their problems and the problems will out in another way.

My motto on my weightloss journey is “Balance, not perfection” and I have to repeat it every day to remind me that I’m becoming a normal person.

By: adrienne

adrienne — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:38:36 +0000

As you wisely resisted the temptation of the local Fall Festival, I'm slapping you with a meme: http://babytoolkit.blogspot.com/2007/10/8-random-facts-about-me-adrienne.html I thought you might enjoy it. If not, feel free to send me a nastygram.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:33:19 +0000

So true…everyone’s got a little bit of crazy inside them. For the first two years of knowing my sister in law I thought she seemed incredibly normal and well adjusted. I didn’t find out until later that she has severe depression and there are days she can’t even get out of bed…her parents have to drag her out(and yes, she’s 28 and lives at home…that’s totally normal here in Chile). She hid her problems so well.

Anyways, point being, you just never know what burdens other people are carrying. So many addictions are easy to hide, like compulsive shopping, so we may never know what that person struggles with.

By: Girl on a mission

Girl on a mission — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:40:19 +0000

Well, I guess I’m screwed. I’m a compulsive eater and I’m 50,000 in debt. I have 10,000 worth of credit card debt, 10,000 car loan, 30,000 worth of student loans. Dear lord…I must be doomed for failure. My spouse came in to our relationship with zero debt and money in the bank….i’m on the road to recovery with debt…and paid off over $15,000 since February….BUT, I have a long way to go with eating- and with debt.

I thought I was the only abnormal person out there.

I blog to write about emotions and how I feel…to curb my urge to run to the pantry…and I blog to write about how debt affects my emotions and my overall sense of happiness.

By: Mia

Mia — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:27:59 +0000

Oh holy mother of God, can just you imagine the trouble we’d be in if our food cravings were translated into shopping? I am thankful I don’t have ANY credit card debt, and as a grad student that’s a real accomplishment, if I do say so myself (!). However, if I walk by a cute store I’m tempted to buy something I don’t need, and often do; similarly, if I’m walking past a bakery I want to pick up a croissant or something I wouldn’t normally buy.

By: the veggie paparazzo

the veggie paparazzo — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:50:31 +0000

For me, learning to take care of my finances played a big role in setting myself up to be able to take care of my body. They are tied together in some ways in my mind and emotions.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:55:00 +0000

Wow, the similarities really are striking when they are listed side-by-side like that.

I would like to say that we have $30K of cc debt, but I don’t think I’m a compulsive shopper–we’re just really bad with money. About $8K of this was incurred while I was in college and we were broke. A few thousand was incurred when we needed furniture for our new house. Another $5K was incurred when our house desperately needed new windows. Several thousands are due to car repairs. A couple thousand is due to a vacation that we planned to repay immediately upon our return but then we were hit with a huge vehicle repair bill. Very little of it is due to us just wanting a new coat or new jeans or something like that.

I am happy to report that both of our vehicles will be paid off at the 1st of the year, at which point we are going to start methodically paying down our credit card debt. I can’t wait! I wish the 1st of the year was here now.

This isn’t really relevant to weight loss, I know, but I felt the need to explain. I’m sure people don’t understand (not that I tell anyone because I’m so ashamed) how we could get so far into debt, so hopefully this helps explain it somewhat.

PQ – I totally understand. I accumulated credit card debt after college and as soon as I’d pay some of it off, my transmission would break or I’d discover I had 12 cavities (because I didn’t go to the dentist for a year to save money, ha!). But, like with weight loss, you get rid of it a little bit at a time. It feels SOOOO good when you finally pay it off.