How did you gain your weight in the first place?

orchidbutterflies

I've been overweight since I was young, probably 5-6 years old.
High School was rough, I didn't eat all day because I didn't want to be judged so when I got home I binged like crazy.
Once the anxiety got so bad I stopped leaving the house, I literally had nothing to do but eat and sleep. So I did that for almost 7 years and wound up closing in on 400lbs.
I spent a lot of that time on a reverse sleep schedule so I always found myself in the kitchen at 3am making a whole box of Kraft Dinner loaded with margarine. Of course I was hungry while I waited for the noodles to cook so I could easily eat a huge bowl of cereal and a peanut butter and jam sandwich (or two) while I waited. If I didn't do that, I would ask someone to go get me McDonalds which consisted of a double quarter pounder, 20 nuggets, large fry, large rootbeer and a mcflurry.

I ate until it was too physically painful to put anything else in my stomach without having to throw up. That was the only way I felt satisfied. Enjoying the food and having to focus on the pain of being so full kept my mind off of everything else.

freesiasun5

Eating. Glorious, glorious eating.

CooCooPuff

My parents let me eat whatever I wanted.

As I got older, I continued eating whatever I wanted and led an extremely inactive lifestyle.

ModernRock

I was always thin as a kid, developed a fair amount of muscle in college, and my weight has steadily increased over the past 12 or so years. Less walking, biking, and weight lifting, and more sitting, but the same (or more) amount of eating. I've never had an issue with yo-yo dieting or quick gains or losses, so it was a slow steady creep. I actually eat well in terms of nutrition, but I simply eat too much. I'm sure there's some emotional aspects to it, most notably my aversion to going to bed on anything other than a full stomach. That's been the toughest part so far.

SuggaD

Got pregnant, blew up (100 lbs), didn't lose it all when I had my kiddo. Never put any effort into losing the rest until 2013. Had a pretty good relationship with food so didn't gain all that much weight after that, and only after I moved and became pretty sedentary. Developed some poor habits after I lost the weight (don't understand that) and am almost over that (eating well past hunger late ate night).

shrcpr

Alcohol and the bad food choices that come when drinking alcohol.

kshama2001

jemhh wrote: »

I became less active but didn't adjust my food intake downward when I was in my early-mid 20s. At a certain point I lost weight and then when I was very close to a healthy weight got pregnant. As much as I didn't like being fat, I wasn't uncomfortable enough to make any changes for a few years after that.

Yes, this is a subset of my "not being mindful" - going from being a full time yoga teacher to having a desk job and not adjusting food intake accordingly.

Queenmunchy

Chubby kid from just eating too much and not being very active. Lost the weight around 11 years old, then gained some weight when I was pregnant and lost it a year later.

lyndahh75

Good Question- My first time around, it was simply ignorance that led to my obesity. Then I got smacked with gallstones during my second pregnancy and was forced on a low fat diet. I ate low fat for over a year and hit goal weight......Swore off eating fat again. Then my third pregnancy hit. Age was added on, depression after the death of my dad, after diagnosis of my eldest daughter having Autism, lost some weight...was feeling real good.....more depression hit with marital issues, death of ex husband...STRESS . I think Depression is my biggest factor for sure.

christymedarismcfarland

I worked full time - plus two hours of commute each day. Too tired to "concentrate" on healthy foods and work in exercise. I actually changed jobs to be closer to home and family in order to have time for working out. Unfortunately for me, it takes total dedication to both eating nearly perfectly whole foods, and working out w/weight training 5 days a week. Even so, I've only lost 21 pounds in 9 months. I'm blaming early menopause for all the fun

dredremeg

Bottle or two of wine every night (drunk) and lots of carry-outs. Now, no wine and I prepare all of my meals.

Need2Exerc1se

I'm pretty sure it was the wine and olive oil.

Need2Exerc1se

danieltsmoke wrote: »

I never ate a "lot"..I drank a lot of soda and what I did eat was high calorie and low volume, so over 10 years I got up to 337.
Now I'm watching my calories and down to 280 this morning

Wow, great job!

kshama2001

shrcpr wrote: »

Alcohol and the bad food choices that come when drinking alcohol.

Been there!

chaoticdreams

I like food. I tend to like eating too much food.

Lounmoun

round7 wrote: »

I just came from a weight watchers meeting where I brought up the issue of emotional eating. I very seldom overeat because of hunger--it's almost always to soothe my frayed emotions. But most of the ladies didn't seem to know what I was talking about. I just thought that was how everyone gained weight. Anyone?

I am not an emotional eater. I clean when I am stressed or upset.
I'm not really a binge eater.
I gained weight because I ate too many calories for my size and activity level over time.
I became much more sedentary after my dd was born and my lifestyle changed. My portion sizes stayed the same. I didn't know how many calories I was eating nor did I know how many I should eat.

KarenB927

Thyroid nodules which were treated with radioactive iodine. Radioactive iodine treatment not only shrinks the nodules, but the thyroid too, which caused hypothyroidism, which was expected. What wasn't expected was the Celiac Disease that resulted from the Hashimotos Disease I also apparently suffered from. It was more than a year of total hell from the onset of hypothyroidism until my Celiac was diagnosed. I had such severe fatigue, joint pain and muscles aches that I couldn't walk up the stairs in my house without crawling up the last 5 steps on my hands and knees, much less even attempting to exercise to lose the almost 30 pounds I gained.

minties82

Ate lots of this:






...combined with boredom and binge eating disorder.

nvmomketo

Too many sugars and carbs.