Heather grew up with an abusive father, and constantly eating cakes, snacks and pies was just her way to deal with the abuse. There was no one around to talk to and she had to deal with her feelings one way or another.
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“My father was abusive and anytime something bad happened, I would run to the fridge and would eat whatever hostess cakes, snacks, pies, or cookies I could find, because they were his and I guess in my head that was my way of fighting back when I physically couldn’t. “
“I never really talked about it to anyone. I just felt embarrassed and ashamed, so instead, I would just eat my feelings and would continue to do so over the years.”
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Heather’s first job was working as an assistant in a hair salon, and it did required a certain level of activity. However, instead of getting better her eating habits just got worse.
“I would never eat breakfast and then I would eat whatever I wanted for lunch. Whole sub sandwiches, pizza, Chinese, you name it because in my head I thought oh I didn’t eat breakfast, so I can eat whatever I wanted for lunch.”
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“Also, was a huge soda drinker, basically would have soda all day long. Dinner time was just as bad, as I worked a lot of late nights. So, dinner for me was eating a two-cheeseburger combo meal, chicken tenders, and an apple pie from McDonald’s. I never cooked or meal prepped so I basically had taken out all day long.”
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We all experience the “enough is enough” moment and thankfully it happened to Heather as well. She started experiencing sharp chest pain and that’s when things got scary:
“I tried to ignore it thinking it would go away and continued to finish my client’s service. After I was done and still felt that pain and palpitations, I was so scared, and I left work early and my husband took me to the hospital. I remember feeling so embarrassed as they were literally taking my clothes off and putting all these wires and ekgs and I’m half naked in front of everyone. I felt like I hit rock bottom and all these thoughts in my head of ‘oh my gosh I’m going to die’ and ‘I’m too young to die.’
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