Amen.

I was an extremely skinny child. Then I hit puberty and developed a pot belly.

My parents were always very health concious. We were not allowed junk food at all. In fact we didn't eat much meat either. We ate a lot of soya, fruit and vegetables.

As soon as the weight started to notice, my parents went ape. Fatty food was banned. I was allowed meals like weetabix, orange juice and banana for breakfast. Actually I stopped eating breakfast at about age 12 and it's only since LCing that I've started eating it again.

My parents weighed and measured my food and weighed me daily. The weight continued to creep on.

I was always quite an active person. As a family, we'd think nothing of hiking ten miles or more. I walked to school and back every day. We went swimming a couple of times a week. I played sports at school a couple of times a week, despite having asthma which could make it quite tortuous.

No matter, by the time I left home I weighed more than 200 pounds, though some of that was muscle.

I carried on eating two meals a day in adulthood, mostly low fat, high carb. I ate a lot of bread, pasta and tomatos, that kind of thing. Additionally, I discovered junk food and alcohol, which definitely didn't help. I'll also hold my hand up to being a comfort eater. So despite working outdoors in all weathers for most of my adult life, I'm well on my way to 300 pounds. With low carbing (stone age diet), I've stabilised and am slowly starting to lose weight.

I suffer from polycystic ovary syndrome and insulin resistance, and have also discovered I have gluten intolerance and casein intolerance. Caused by my obesity or a comlicating factor, who knows.

I'm just glad I finally found a solution. I'm the only overweight member of my family.