Why did you let yourself gain so much weight?

DeterminedFee201426

zero excuses hands up ... I like food!

quiltlovinlisa

Emotional eating coupled with an incredibly draining family dynamics which led to more emotional eating.

I've been incredibly lucky that even though I'm in my 40's, my weight hasn't impacted my overall health. I aim to not let it.

Runagain_4

Was super thin and fit 'til about 40. Ran 6 days a week. Ate well, and pretty much what I wanted. Then got sidelined with sciatica and what was eventually diagnosed as piriformis syndrome. For 2 years, even walking was hard. Moved to a job that had me sitting at a desk 8 hours a day. Welcomed pre-menopause into my life. Started having a glass of wine at night to unwind. I love food, but my choices became less and less healthy, packed with sodium. 1 serving wasn't enough. Friday expat brunches became the norm, not the exception. Calories in always exceeded calories out. I gained about 6-8 lbs a year over 5 years. It wasn't overnight. I stopped weighing myself. I told myself I didn't ''look that bad for a 40-some-year-old'' and I satisfied myself with that.
In August of this year, I realised I couldn't remove my wedding band. I'd been unhappy with my weight for a while, and had dropped a few times with extreme dieting. This time, I've changed my lifestyle. I've gone back to making the right choices, controlling my portions, and moving whenever I can.

kiela64

I was a really picky eater as a kid, to the point where I would literally throw up because I found vegetables disgusting. I typically ate a lot of carbohydrates and fat, with little else (think, potatoes and cheese, cereal and milk, bread and peanut butter, etc). I rarely had treats, but I also rarely exercised. My parents were introverts who didn't do the "play outside" thing, and I was hopeless at hand-eye coordination (still am, really) so no sports. I was sick a lot as a kid, and had surgeries and lots of rest. I don't remember eating a lot, ever, until after high school. I don't know how I gained weight then, but it was probably munching on whatever was in the fridge (more carbs and fat) and sitting around with a book or my homework. I don't think I was ever taught that physical activity was fun or important. It was an option, but I liked reading so I did that instead usually.

But at that point, I was only a bit overweight. I wasn't obese. That happened in the last 5 years. I made the connection from "I have money" and "candy costs money" to "I can buy candy." I got myself treats to reward myself for finishing a difficult paper. For getting to school on time. As a consolation for a hard day. To get myself through the hard day. Between Starbucks and Tim Hortons and vending machines and Bulk Barn and corner stores, I was rolling in it. I got myself a little stash of chips and candy and donuts in a box in my office. I bought something, sometimes hit 3 different places on my way home, nearly every day. I used it to motivate myself to get out of the house when I was sad. It became habitual. Then it became a punishment. I would say mean things to myself as I made the choice to go buy 2 bags of chips and a thing of candy, and a box of timbits, and a pint of ice cream after school. "You're going to be 400lbs and alone" "you're so disgusting" "you can't do anything" "you're useless" "you're going to be homeless and disapoint your parents" "you're unlovable." So it would be reward and punishment and consolation all at once.

It was a very complicated cycle of emotions that drove me there, but what kept me there was habit. What pulled me back there was habit. "I'm stressed and sad and feeling worthless and hopeless" "oh well better eat crap and do nothing." The habit needs to change.

shadows2424

I developed a problem with binge eating. I became fifteen pounds overweight as a result.

allygory

Because weight wasn't all that interesting to me when it was an appearance question. Once my blood sugar was affected I got motivated to change it. Also I like food

Coley88

juggernaut1974 wrote: »

Because food is delicious and I was lazy.

This. Mixed with the fact that I went from an active job to a sedentary job and thought I could still eat the same. Technically, I was never overweight by BMI standards, I was at the high end of normal for my height when I started my weight loss journey, though I was only a couple pounds away from being classified as overweight.

iambabygoose

My weight gain begun when I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and they put me on the antipsychotic, quetiapine.

I averaged at about 8.5 stone when I was in my early 20's (and managed to get back to that in 3 weeks after my first daughter!). A few year back when i first went on my meds, they warned me I would put on weight. No amount of research I have done has singularly explained weight gain in so many people with quetiapine, I put it down to bad sugar cravings, the way my body held water and a change in my metabolism (it was like I didn't have one at all). Whatever I put on my plate ended up on my hips it seemed, healthy food or junk. My weight gradually crept up.
From starting the meds in May to December of that same year I was about 9.5st-10st. Then my pdoc increased my meds by 100mg.... And 9 months later I was at my heaviest at 11st 13.

A year and a half down the line I have gone on a different version of my meds and decreased the dose and I can feel a massive difference. I have been fighting to eat clean and burn this unwanted 3 and a half stone and finally it seems my metabolism is speeding up again.

In fact, i got the news at the doctors this morning and my hard work has paid off... I have finally lost 1st since my highest weight and have hit the 10st region again!

I have a long way to go yet but I know it's doable. I'd never want to get back to 8.5 again - too slim even for my 5ft 4 frame. My long term goal is 9.5

Also...food

PinkPixiexox

I was over-weight from a very young age. Throughout my teens, I just ate whatever I felt like and 9 times out of 10 to excess. I didn't comfort eat, I was just very greedy and didn't understand the basics of 'fueling the body' and 'overloading the body'. My favourite breakfast was Ready Brek made with whole milk and mixed with a cup of double cream and a load of sugar. I'd also have around two-three bowls. It really was no wonder I was overweight. It took me until the age of 22 to change my habits and even then it was very 'stop and start'. I would lose weight and then re-gain once I stopped tracking. Now, at 24 - I finally have it sussed and I'm the lowest and healthiest weight I have ever been. I cringe at my old habits but I DEFINITELY enjoyed them too

valeriesmith1840

To be honest, I don't think I ever really understood what healthy or even normal eating was. I think my family was struggling with this themselves as I was growing up and so I just didn't learn until later in life how to live a normal life but make healthier choices. As soon as I hit puberty my weight went up and stayed that way until about 19 when I lost 60 pounds incidentally when I decided to become a vegan. I put on some weight when I got married and had a baby and started eating meat and dairy again...and about 80 pounds crept up on me over the years. I was in a bit of denial as to how much weight I'd gained...and poor eating whether you're thin or heavy makes you exhausted...so it's just super easy to continue the cycle of over eating and becoming sedentary the lethargy that follows.

scyian

I love food and I love cooking. However I'm an emotional eater and I'll eat out of boredom and frustration that is a difficult mindset to get out of and then it turns into habit that can be challenging to break and change.

lemurcat12

juggernaut1974 wrote: »

Because food is delicious and I was lazy.

Pretty much.

Exacerbating factors similar to some things others had mentioned -- during the first part of my life I never thought about dieting or losing weight much, since I was seemingly able to eat whatever and not gain (since I wasn't really eating super high cal stuff or that much and since I was quite active). When I first realized I was gaining I felt out of control and figuring out how to deal was something that required some work/thought and at the time I was really focused on other stuff. Eventually I got there.

I later regained without that excuse, in part due to depression and not caring and laziness. And then I lost it.

I never had any major effects on my life or health, though (not saying it wasn't unhealthy or that I wouldn't have later). I also continued to be reasonably active in that I could walk a good distance without it being an issue (I live in a city so walk a lot), live in a 4th floor walkup and could take those stairs easily, so on. I was just embarrassed by how I looked in photos and the mirror, wanted to be able to wear my old clothes again, and missed being really fit and able to run easily.

neohdiver

I was raped in college when I wasn't fat - a rape that started with the kind of street "compliments" we are told we are being overly sensitive about when we label them as aggressive. Being fat made me invisible to most of those flinging that crap. The challenge I currently have is that for 20 years I was completely unaware of why I was carrying the extra weight, so during those 20 years I developed eating habits that supported carrying about 60 lbs more than I should.

I've lost weight over the years (one of those times was the trigger for the realization of why I had been carrying the weight), but my life is unbelievably stressful - and when I am stressed, I revert to old eating habits.

And, until 2 months ago, I had no adverse health impact from being obese - so there was no particular reason to add to my stress by working on losing weight. I exercised regularly (including a 2-day 150 mile bike ride every year, swimming a mile several times a week, etc.), my blood pressure was normal, my cholesterol was normal, as was my blood sugar. Two months ago I was diagnosed with diabetes - and now I have a health motivation to lose weight (even though I know my particular flavor of diabetes is only weakly related to weight - it is inherited from my skinny-as-a-rail grandfather and every descendant of his who is older than I am has it, regardless of size and level of exercise). With diabetes, the "normal" ranges for a variety of other things get cut in half - so my previously cholesterol is no longer normal (even though it has not changed).

hmontigney

I was never thin but I was also never severely obese. Before I had my daughter, I weighed around 140lbs. Once I got pregnant, I thought that was an excuse to not care what I ate or how MUCH I ate since I was going to get fat anyway. Well, that was my mistake. I gained 40lbs during pregnancy, lost 20lbs within the first six weeks of giving birth and then gained nearly 50lbs within the first year after having my daughter because I just didn't care. I was a new mom, I was busy, I didn't have time to care about what I looked like. I didn't realize I needed to change until 2011 (two years later) and that's when I started my weight loss journey. I am now less than 10lbs from my goal weight of 130.

lemurcat12

jgnatca wrote: »

Ten pounds a year. I am in my fifties. Do the maths. I did some calculating and I was over-eating on average a hundred calories a day. That's half a cookie. Easy to have happen.

This is so true too, at least for me.

mrtastybutt

Atypical antipsychotics. Back when Zyprexa first came out no one told me that I would gain 5 lbs just filling the prescription. Combined with Depakote, ahahahaha. Then the docs from hell told me (back in 1999) "Aw hell, sweetums, meds don't do dat!" AHAHAHAHA.

Yeah. Yeah. Now, 15+ years later we all know better. I'm currently on an AED for chronic pain that has caused a 25 lb weight loss in 1.5 months. Tell me again how meds don't cause weight gain/weight loss. AHAHAHA.

ilovesweeties

I got to be 60 lbs overweight over 13 years since leaving school... it's only 4-5lbs/year, so it's easy to ignore! I gained weight by not looking at the scale enough, by not worrying what the scale said and by ignoring the slow creep of dress sizes from 12 up to size 20.

It was a delicious blend which started with me working for McDonald's before I went to university (free extra value meal with every shift), enjoying the usual trappings of university in the UK (cheap alcohol and chips and cheese on the way home from many, many nights out), many movie nights making my way through a pint of Ben and Jerry's in one sitting, telling myself I needed 'snacks for the journey' which meant a giant bag of chocolates or a box of Chocolate fingers for a 2 hour drive (I wince when I remember that). What's worst is I am a registered Public Health nutritionist, with a doctorate in the subject. My excuse was that I ate normal sized dinners, I ate small breakfasts and standard sandwich lunches... I just never compensated for all those occasional over-indulgences and when my activity reduced at various points in my life, I didn't reduce my intake.

It's a similar tale to so many people on here, but the good news is the weight that it took 13 years to gain was gone (and more) in less than a year. I still eat Ben & Jerry's, but the chips & cheese and 'car snacks' are a thing of the past.

afatpersonwholikesfood

I was fat by 5 and obese by 11. I was over 200 pounds by middle school, and I was at least 250 when I was 16. I don't blame myself for that. I also don't really blame my parents. I did not come from a fat family. I don't think they knew how to deal with my weight. I treated food differently than my siblings did. I was always "hungry". I got to my largest in my early twenties. There were a number of contributing factors. I had lost a lot of weight and then regained it. I could buy what I wanted to eat with no one to see. I wasn't as active. I was replacing some other negative habits with more food.

kerivkennedy

Lots of factors,
love of food and lazy #1
years ago I was on a form of Birth control that added around 20 lbs - again there is the lazy factor that I never did much.
the typical, gaining a few pounds a year (or more - based on that love of food)
and for the past 10 years its been largely that I am the parent of a child with special needs. This is part of why I don't exercise as much as I should - its hard to fit it in around her schedule. Also, the emotional stresses have led to lots of poor food choices (emotional eating)

Now I've just decided the heck with going for what the doctors (or some website) says I should weigh for my height. I haven't been that weight in my teenage or adult life, its unreasonable to think I ever will. What I can do is aim for what I weighed when I got married. That will still be overweight, but MUCH better for my body.

alanahp93

I didnt even notice I gained a stone until my jeans stopped fitting lol
For a while I was really ill and couldn't walk for months, but I only gained the weight after I recovered because I got so use to not moving around but I could always get up to go out for fancy meals haha

Smilenjoy

When I moved from NSW to WA (Both Australia) 5 years ago I lost 22kg due to my new lifestyle at the time. I maintained for 3 years then we moved to the UK for two years and did a lot of travel. now after all the 'national foods' I have tasted I have gained it all back and then some

cerise_noir

Depression, I didn't give a crap about myself, denial. At my highest, I was still somewhat an hourglass figure (a large hourglass!), so in the mirror, I didn't look too bad to me, but in photos, I looked horrible so what did I do? I avoided photos....

I ate for comfort to quench my anxiety and depression (didn't work, but I kept at it anyway), and was also stuck in the binge-fast cycle.

Also, I was around other large people, so I blended in (I know, right?.)


Was I happy?
No.

rosh1964

food = comfort from boredom, loneliness, anxiety, fear...

It was instilled at very young age and breaking the cycle has yet to be a successful venture for me after 40 years.

PaulaWallaDingDong

I convinced myself that I "ate how normal people ate," my mom was obese, I must have a medical condition, I couldn't lose more than a few pounds from exercise, therefore, I was just meant to be fat. And all of the things that I gave up (activities, etc.), I convinced myself that I gave them up because I was just bored with them, outgrew them, what have you. All lies I told myself to avoid having to admit that I was overeating.

OhMsDiva

Well I don't love food. I always knew that, even as I was eating everything in site. I had no discipline and I fooled myself into thinking that my weight did not matter, that I really don't think I cared. When I did try to lose, I obviously did not know what I was doing because I would lose maybe 5 or 10 lbs and give up and gain it back.
I love my family and they love me, but I think if someone had said, damn you need to lose weight ( but not like that) I might have awakened me out of my ignorance.
Anywho, my why is some deep psychological reason, but what matters now is that I care enough about myself to watch what I eat and get up and move. That motivates me to keep going.

Asher_Ethan

Turns out I have binge eating disorder. I am never ever ever full and always hungry and that's how I gained everything. I still binge from time to time; Thanksgiving I consumed 4000 calories and I kept eating. I don't think ill ever grow out of it but at least I have to tools to maintain it now.

meghanmfitzgerald

I have 3 kids. My four year old son started having lots of health problems when he was 6 months old. Eventually he was diagnosed with a mitochondrial disease. (It's a progressive disease with no cure and a young age death prognosis). That consumed my life both logistically and emotionally, also leading to depression and adrenal fatigue. Before "mito" I always took care of myself and could easily maintain a weight in the 120's (I'm 5'3 1/3). I've lost and gained 20 lbs here and there in the last couple years, but it's just a yoyo and last week I weighed in at my ultimate high of 180. I'm being careful this find not to try and get to complicated, hard core or perfectionistic about it this time because I know, with the way my life is caring for my son and two other kids, I can't maintain perfection and that's what had caused me to lose and gain, but ultimately just weighing more and more.

brb2008

crabbybrianna wrote: »

juggernaut1974 wrote: »

Because food is delicious and I was lazy.

Yep. This exactly.

But also, when I was a kid my parents restricted food that they thought wasn't healthy, so when I was around food like cookies and candy and all the things that I wasn't allowed to have I would eat as much as I possibly could. I remember sleeping over at a friend's house when I was around 8, and I kept sneaking upstairs to eat cookies that they had. I polished off an entire box plus more when no one was paying attention. That kind of thing happened a lot.

This too sorta. Except we only got restrictions when MOM was dieting, so we were constantly confused and not understanding why we can have ice cream all week, then suddenly no more ever. Then tons. Then it's gone again FOREVER as far as we were concerned. So I started eating whatever I could, whenever I had the chance. I hoarded food, hid food, ate after dark, etc. I was fully FAT before I was 8years old. Those habits and attitudes are still so deep in me. I can understand where the feelings originated and I know they're wrong, but those habits are definitely my default and contribute to my "all or nothing" attitude. I should see that for what it is, I get this attitude from watching my mother yoyo her whole life. You'd think that living example would help. She's the heaviest she's been right now,and we'd both gotten to our lowest together last year.... I don't want to keep this pattern going!

jennifer_417

I was in denial about how much I was eating. I was never the person who would sit down and binge or eat huge meals, I just ate mindlessly, constantly. I put away an enormous amount of food and didn't realize it.

Blueseraphchaos

Started gaining weight due to some medical issues, then had absolutely no idea how to get it off again until i stumbled across this app and solved most of the medical problems.

It's sad to think i could have prevented gaining weight or at least gaining as much if I'd had any education at all in why people get overweight. I'm trying to educate my kids in that area so they never have the problem i did with weight.