Why did you get fat?

itsMcKay

I'm so sorry you went through that. That kind of loss is certain to manifest in physical and emotional ways and I want to send you some hugs.

Mine is just simple: Because I was athletic in school. When I stopped doing sports but kept eating like I was burning thousands of calories everyday, it started piling on. Gained 10 lbs./year for a decade. Voila! 100+. Of course, along the way, there were realizations, denial, frustration, learning, etc.

I joined MFP in 2011 and lost 80 lbs. Kept it off for a few years and then put it all back on when I stopped being vigilant. Now, I'm back at losing again. This time, for good!

I don't even track calories using MFP anymore (because the database is so screwy) but the social aspect of this site is really beautiful. It's helped me see stories like yours and understand that some people have different reasons for their struggle.

Thanks for sharing it.

Rehabquilter

I am not sure there was any one thing that happened. I got married in my late 30 and was under 140 pounds. Life happened, changing jobs, stress with step family, and a hundred other reasons or excuses and I started gaining weight. Every 20 pounds I would go on a diet for a while and lose some weight and then put it back on plus some. I am 63 now and two months ago at just over 200 pounds I went for my physical. My cholesterol was up again, my triglycerides were up again, and my A1C was up. The PA said you have 90 days to get this under control or I will have to diagnose you as diabetic...that was a huge wake up call. I have lost 16 pounds and 5 inches. I realize I need to take control of this and it is up to me to make the changes. Thank you all for being there! I know I am not alone in doing this.

GaleHawkins

@Gozergirl you raise a good question. Clearly the huge painful loss like you experienced can cause some of us to eat more.

My view looking at how I got to a 35 BMI it was environment, physical sickness/pain and emotional pain.

Environment can start at home as a small child due to the type of food and its quantity put in front of us. Later it may just be we find ourselves with mainly carbs in our easy reach due to convenience and low cost.

In my case my physical health issues was a drag on me so I started grabbing a Dr. Pepper and Milky Way candy bar to 'pickup' my energy which caused weight gain so I had to keep doing more and more of it to keep up my energy.

As the arthritis crippled me more and more then the emotional pain of not being able to complete my life plans due to physical limitations became a huge factor in my eating lifestyle.

I am convinced NO fully physically and emotionally healthy person sets out with a overt goal to become obese.

Some say the "WHY" is not a concern but they are wrong. Until we step backwards to see the WHY it is very hard to stop the actions of the pass that are factors in our weight gains.

earlnabby

GaleHawkins wrote: »

earlnabby wrote: »

I got fat because I ate too much.

Yes this is true for 100% of us overweight. The question was more as to why we ate too much I think.

Because I like food.

lindamarg2807

Just age really. I've put on a stone a decade since my 40's. I am 60 now, so I was 8 and a half stone in my 40's and now 10 and a half stone. I'm not hugely overweight I know, just uncomfortable and my clothes don't fit. I don't want to put on another stone this decade. I developed a craving for chocolate which I still have to fight.

noahsmami524

I'm sorry about your daughter. I gained 60 pounds after losing my mother. Than continued to gain weight along the years and then got pregnant and continued to gain weight after having my son. It's just time for a real change now.

CSARdiver

Was running 6 mi/day and swimming 2mi/day, then had a thyroidectomy and transitioned from the military to a cushy civilian life. I felt like I was put on the sidelines and lost some great teammates while I was out and got really low. I still ate like I was in training although I rarely if ever worked out and put on ~75lbs over the past 14 years. I finally was able to grow from this, the final straw being getting my son in scouts and signing up as den leader - I was not going to set a poor example for my den and changed my habits.

For those who have lost loved ones, you have my thoughts and prayers as I simply don't know how I would cope with this.

idrinkalotofwater

Because I ate too much and moved too little

jswede1149

I gained weight because I felt so lost and unhappy. My weight bounced around for years. I was 219 pounds biking 30 miles a week. I sustained an injury and eventually crept up to 300 pounds. I went overseas and changed. I started tackling all the issues that caused the over eating. I've lost 134 pounds with 10-12 more to go.

Bonny132

I was never a skinny kid, but not fat, just a few pounds overweight and very active. When I moved in my early 20ies I stopped exercising and the pounds came on, lost my job during the recession and comfort ate everything in sight, and spent too much time down the pub to drown my sorrows. Very bad combination, I really do not recommend it to anyone. After beating my depression, I started to get my life back together again. I am now at a place where I am feeling a lot happier and ready to take on the rest. 45lbs down from my start weight with another 55 to go. Do I regret letting myself go? Yes, immensely, but I cannot change the past, got to work with the future x

mikeshockley

Mostly because food is really delicious.

boogiewookie

I was always a chubby kid so my sister had me stay with her for a few weeks and taught me proper nutrition and excersize. I continued to gradually lose weight then developed an intense mix of eating disorders and had an underweight bmi. then I got pregnant and into recovery but overcompensated and gained 80lbs. I've been up and down since. I'm an emotional eater and have been over 200lbs several times in my life. I get to the point that I'm so disgusted with myself that I give up. I can definitely relate to fat *kitten*, "I eat becase I'm unhappy and I'm unhappy becase I eat." I'm down 29lbs total and 13lbs away from my normal weight range, trying to finally break my self destructive cycle

JohnBarth

I was lazy. Pure and simple. It was easier to sleep in and not exercise. It was easier for my wife to stop and pick up take-out, fast food, pizza, etc. than it was to plan and prepare meals. Lazy.

idrinkalotofwater

mikeshockley wrote: »

Mostly because food is really delicious.

Haha ditto

aledba

I moved out of my parents' house for school (was 155 lbs) and got very lazy. I ate take out, drank too much, lazed around watching this cool new thing at the time called "On Demand TV"... Of course, I also stopped swimming. I let my lifeguard training expire and in hindsight, this was my demise. I let myself go and was always kind of skinny fat with a nice enough booty and big boobs. The cycle kept up - lazy student always eating fast food, add alcohol to that. I got to 225 at my heaviest.

In 2012, I'd been living with my now-husband a few years. We were more food secure and had more time to prep food properly; we overhauled our diet and shopped and cooked. In 2013, I started doing more physical stuff - hikes, bike riding, got back in the pool, started weightlifting. We walk everywhere. My husband loves to run and does many long distance races each year.

In 2013, I started focusing on wedding planning and getting nice and svelte. A month before we got married, I really messed up my ankle. I sprained it very badly; the tibia was bruised inside and some of my tendons broke. I couldn't work out, but I maintained my weight at 180 lbs for a few months. The injury took a long time to heal and I got lazy again, lost motivation and kept devouring food. I was 220 in June. Today, I am 212 and looking forward to losing the pounds again. This time for good!

rowrow1985

I was about 120lbs when I found out I had a huge ovarian cyst. After my surgery, I couldn't work out for 3 months. I ended up eating cake and ice cream every night because it's so delicious! I ate whatever I wanted actually. After the 3 months, I weighed 145lbs.

pondee629

One thing led to another and the next thing I knew I was 60 and 30
#s over weight. Call this change my mid-life crisis. I want to be young again so I'll try regaining my youthful weight. Cheaper than a Corvette.

ald783

Laziness and overindulgence in college and law school. I could go back to being chubby as a kid and suggest that I grew up with bad eating habits but once I went away to college and was living on my own, it was my own choices. The bright side is we can make our own positive choices as well.

allaboutthefood

I didn't love myself, I let all the bad/horrible things that I could not control, control me and thought I must of done something to deserve it and I was not worth anything or being truly loved. I now chose me and I love me and I now I deserve to me happy and healthy.

Unknown

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cwolfman13

I graduated college at 30 and started working for a CPA firm. Basically, I was always very active growing up and involved in all manner of athletics...in college I was still pretty active and didn't own a car so I rode my bike everywhere...when I took a desk job, most of that changed.

pepper1173

I was overweight after I had my son in 1999, my daughter was born in 2006. She had medical issues for 5 years, I ate my way through the stress.

busyPK

I've been heavy for as long as I can remember. Poor food choices, lack of exercise then later in life came stress of my job, focusing on my kids and a divorce. Finally putting myself in my priority list! Oh and I really just love food, lol.

meemaw423

I grew up with an Abusive Alcoholic father and a very dependent mother. I used Track and Church to keep my sanity.Then in my early teens I fell through a roof which lead to 2 years in and out of a hospital eventually having a fused hip..... Got married at the end of my junior year in high school and had my son mid-senior year. Graduated pregnant with my second child. When my second child was born I kept the weight I had gained with her. Then when she was 9 months old my husband cheated on me. I stayed with him but slipped into a pretty bad depression. The weight piled on. Then it stabilized not going up or down. Then in 2012 my dad died and Up it went again........ I'm at my heaviest now and I think i'm ready for a change!!

shrinkingletters

An abusive relationship with (bonus points) a chef, two deaths of people I was very close to, being laid off and then unemployed for 8 months, and the depression that came with all that.

emiliebecause

Comfort eating and caring for myself AFTER caring for everyone/everything else. Now I prioritise getting food I like and eat and I prioritise taking time to exercise before I care for someone else. A good example just came up yesterday that really illustrated how I am making these changes. My son complained of a sore throat and just not feeling well. I decided I would go and get extra fruits and warm tea etc, for him. But I had already planned a nice brisk walk for that time. I did the walk first and the other stuff second.

Thank you for asking this question and I am very sorry for your loss. It is good for us to know our triggers and be forgiving of ourselves so that we can care for ourselves in loving ways.

Ramla_J

I got fat because of sexual abuse since the age of four and I was raped at age 9. For some reason, I had a target on my back and had a number of abusers. The only way to stop the abuse and also comfort my damaged inner child was to eat and get fat. My fat was my shield. My fat was my protection. Food was my emotional teddy bear.

Don't feel sorry for me. I spent over five years in therapy and have positively dealt with the pain. I love myself now and realize that it's all experiences in life, positive and negative, that make up who we are now. So, this is who I am, accept it or not.

Yep, I'm still overweight. But I'm working on it - and I'm being successful. Even though we've accepted our demons, do they ever go away? Working through the head stuff is never-ending, but with a positive attitude, anything can be accomplished.

Bonny132

GaleHawkins wrote: »

@Gozergirl you raise a good question.

Some say the "WHY" is not a concern but they are wrong. Until we step backwards to see the WHY it is very hard to stop the actions of the pass that are factors in our weight gains.

This, if we do not examine the WHY what will stop us from falling back into the same trap that got us fat the first time around? The WHY leads us to understand and to learn. Great Question OP.

saraherren

I got fat because I ate way too much fast food and never enough at home growing up. I ran cross country in high school for a year and did gymnastics for both my high school (also for a year) and outside of school for 8 years. My weight was normal while doing those. Junior year of high school rolled around and I quit all sports but still had terrible eating habits. Then I moved to college in 2009 and continued with my awful eating habits. I also developed an unhealthy relationship with Starbucks (drank it upwards of 3-4 times a day my last few years of college). I did college gymnastics my first semester, but got hit by a drunk driver on December 4, 2009 and hurt my lower back and right shoulder, so I quit gymnastics. The only form of exercise that I got after that was walking around campus (which is one of the largest in the nation) and when I took 2 PE classes (diet & exercise and walking), even though they were only 50 minutes long and were 2 days a week. Besides that, my excuse for eating terribly was that I was in college majoring in biochemistry/pre-med and had no time and didn't care enough about cooking and eating at home/properly. I also got extremely depressed my sophomore year and was put on anti-depressants. I turned to food every time I was upset and definitely when I was stressed (which was all the time considering I majored in biochem/pre-med).

kosinski61

I have a condition called Lymphedema - 30 to 70% of my weight is water. With this condition I gain weight quickly - 23lbs in two months! I do not snack and do not keep items such as chips, cookies, etc. around, but I do skip meals. Going on this diet plan, I try not to skip any meals. I have tried everything to bring the weight down, but it is a struggle. I eat very healthy, I eat lots of veggies, very little meats. My research has shown that cutting back on protein is probably the worst thing I could do. So, I have increased my protein intake, adding protein shakes to my diet. Let's see how it turns out.