Childhood sex abuse and weight struggles (addict, effect, addictive, overweight)

[srcckj]

I have always thought that there was a connection between being abused as a child and being overweight as an adult...I know its not 100 percent but I wonder what percentage of overweight adults were abused as children...I can answer yes to both and I would like to hear opinions from others....Thanks

[Hedgehog_Mom]

I am overweight and I was not sexually abused as a child. My sisters are both overweight also, and neither of them were sexually abused. My mother was sexually abused as a child (by her brother) and she is not overweight.

Not saying your theory isn't valid for some people, I just don't think it's as common as you might think.

[brightdoglover]

I think a lot of overeating/compulsive overeating is mood-related, and overeating can be a self-soothing activity for any number of upsets, including but not limited to abuse. There is the fat/sugar/carb mix that hits a lot of people like addiction (lights up the same part of the brain as cocaine) and then it is a cycle of overeating for the soothing effect.
I wonder if OP is wondering if there is unrecovered memories of abuse in certain overweight people, and offhand, I'd say that is way overrated as an actual event and as a reason for a person's compulsive overeating. I emphasize that I think overeating is a self-soothing measure, which works in the short run, and not in the long run (like most addictive/compulsive activities).
I have worked on a trauma service for abuse people, and their bodies come in all sizes.

[Mightyqueen801]

I have a friend who was sexually abused as a child by a friend of her parents, and she has never dealt with it. Her parents are still friends with this person, and she doesn't want to rock the boat. I think I am one of only one or two people who know about it. She saw a therapist once but only went three times--blamed the therapist but I'm not sure it wasn't just that she didn't want to face up to it. Not only that, but when this same woman was a child, her friend, a neighbor girl of around the same age (7 or 8) was raped and murdered by another neighbor.

She is very much overweight, but even worse, she made her daughter fat. Around the time the girl turned eight years old, she went from a normal, healthy weight to a fat kid in six months. The mother would bring the girl food and stuff her full of french fries and other fattening things even though she had just had lunch. She would use the excuse that only she could tell that her daughter was hungry because that the daughter was "too shy" to ask for more food. (Meanwhile the daughter had a loud mouth and would speak out very disrespectfully to adults--yet the mother was always claiming that her daugher was SO shy.) It was bizarre and sad to watch. It was obvious to me that she was overprotecting her daughter and making her as fat and unattractive as possible to keep away any predators. The daughter never learned to ride a bike or skate. The mother did all her homework for her, was still putting the kids' sneakers on and tying her shoes when she was 13, and finally when the mother couldn't keep up with the daughter's homework in high school, the girl dropped out. By the time my daughter and her other friends had graduated, the girl was nothing but a big blob who sat in the house and watched TV and ate all day. Now she is almost 21, and finally this past year has learned to drive, got her GED, and is looking to go to a trade school. I think the grandparents intervened.

[looking4answers12]

As I mentioned in another thread, there are many reason why people become overweight.
Sexual abuse can be one, but I know there are many others. I don't think the percentage would be too high.