How fast did you gain your weight? (And why I'll be logging forever)

brookej8688

I kinda have always been a big girl, all of my life, but it was gradually getting bigger and bigger, then after I graduated I lost a LOT of weight on the subway diet, and then in 2 years I gained about 70 lbs. I never was a HEAVY eater, i just ate foods that were horrible for you, 2 donuts here, 3 pieces of pizza there, alfredo and cakes all the time. and NEVER worked out..

in regards to being a "big" kid, I honestly wish i had a role model that didn't eat a full package of oreos, or a full cake at once, one that taught me that it was ok to eat small portions, or that kids don't need the same portions as adults do. I now know that for my own child to moderate what they eat, moderate the food that they intake. did you know that a single banana is 2 portions for a child. when we were little my mom would give me 2 bananas, plus 3 slices of pizza, and cake for lunch. I think how we are raised has a lot to do with the size we are.. for some people that is!! no one is the same!!
For myself!
I plan on changing my lifestyle of how I eat and what I choose to eat, as well as working out regular.

lemonlionheart

Don't forget though, that if you're talking about a surplus of calories from your starting maintenance amount then the surplus required would have increased the more you gained. Say you start at 130lb and your maintenance is 1700 calories (just throwing out random estimates). If you ate 1770 calories for 13 years you would have plateaued at a pound or two above your starting weight. But your maintenance goes up as you gain, so by the time you reach 230lb your maintenance would be well over 2000 calories, leaving the average surplus from the original maintenance amount to be at least a few hundred per day.

middlehaitch

That was very thought provoking @lemonlionheart.

My calorie intake went from a whopping 1325 to maintain at 105lbs, to 1450 at my highest at 130lbs.
125 cals a day. A glass of wine. Oddly enough I drank less because I was driving; must have been chocolate.
( age progression not accounted for)

Seriously, that was a very small gradual creep over 5 years. But what a difference!

Cheers, h.

allyphoe

For me, a pound of extra weight is 2-3 calories per day. If I ate 70 calories above my starting maintenance every day, I would be 25-35 pounds heavier before I hit equilibrium, not a pound or two.

brdnw

i went from 185 to 285 in about 3 years. Then i went from 265 to 220 in 5 months, then 220 to 265 in 3 months then 265 to 200 in 6 months and i've stayed there for the last 2.5 years.

kaelynAvery

I gained 23lbs in less than 5 months. My doctor increased my antidepressant to 40mg so that caused me to gain and also because my depression was the worst it's ever been and I drank till I was passed out drunk 3-4 times a week. Now here I am. The heaviest I've ever been but taking control of my life and my health again.

mlclark86

I was always tiny....5'6 and 125 at my heaviest after army bootcamp ( and that was after putting on 15+ off muscle weight). Then I had my first child...and bounced right back to 125 6 weeks after she was born. But the pregnancy # 2 happened and I gained 65lbs and was shocked when they told me that she only accounted for 6 lbs of it. I got down to about 145-150 and it all just halted. So for three years now I have been battling this last 25 lbs. I got down to 132 and got lazy and was back up to 140 in no time flat (maybe 2 months if that) I am currently 138 ish and just in the last week have recommitted to a healthier lifestyle and to using MFP. Though I may not have that much too lose to hit my target weight (13-18 lbs) it has been the hardest hurtle for me and I plan to log regularly for as long as it takes for me to lose and then continuing at least until I get into some routine of maintenance.

Miss_escapist

Most was 8 pounds in 3 years. Doesn't sound much but I am petite. I gained due to stress from nursing school

Josh_lol

I've pretty much been overweight since I was a little kid. So anything over the last 15 years I guess to get to where I am now.

Orphia

Gained 30 kg (70 lbs) gradually over 10 years.

Wiseandcurious, what's your equation for the daily calorie surplus?

I didn't binge eat at all. It was just from drinking soda instead of water, and a bit more alcohol, and in the last year or so, chocolate biscuits with coffee on weekends, and basically just not knowing the calorie count of anything.

Logging indefinitely for me it is.

lemonlionheart

allyphoe wrote: »

For me, a pound of extra weight is 2-3 calories per day. If I ate 70 calories above my starting maintenance every day, I would be 25-35 pounds heavier before I hit equilibrium, not a pound or two.

You're right, it'd be more than a couple. I think 70 calories is around the difference in maintenance between 130lb and 140ish, for a 30 year old 5'5 woman, but would obviously change depending on your starting weight and other factors

joinn68

I maintained effortlessly at 175-180 for a few years after college (very much overweight but comfortable with that). Then I started exercising (not to lose weight) and dropped in the low 150s. I went up from there, +70 lbs in about one or two years (stressful job, lots of hotels, new countries, very little exercise). I don't know for sure because by that time I was afraid to weigh myself, until I started on MFP 4 months ago.

So, for me that was relatively fast gain. But that was 5 years ago! I don't want to define myself as obese or overweight anymore. I am down 33 lbs since I started on MFP. Hoping to lose the remaining 50/55 and reach the high 130s/low 140s at maintenance by year end. Seems reasonable enough

FoodFitnessTravel

I gained weight when I got in a relationship. Before that I was strict and I had a perfect body, around 112 lbs at 5'8", I worked out and felt great in a bikini. But after I moved in with my boyfriend, I started feeling more relaxed towards food and not resisting the temptations, he eats way more than I do and I would eat his food, so I gained 10-15 pounds, I don't look as good as when we met and now i'm finally doing something about it

kcoty001

After maintaining for a year following a paleo diet I put on 17lbs in about 5 months simply because I binge drank and free range ate whatever unhealthy food I wanted and over ate healthy foods! I moved in that time frame and did a lot of going out to eat (And usually ordered some awesome sounding dessert on the menu ). Then I turned to Atkins to jump start back in a routine and I will return to Paleo and diligently track what I eat! Glad to be back on track!

Francl27

I don't know because I didn't weigh myself for a long time. I did regain 30 pounds in no time after my first diet when I was 22 though (probably 6 months?). Then it just crept back up slowly to 200 pounds in 8 years (so 50 more pounds or so) and stayed there.

I didn't do anything about it because I could eat whatever I wanted and not gain more, and it seemed better than having to eat 'nothing' to lose the weight (the dietitian I saw when I was 22 basically convinced me that I would have to eat 1300 calories a day to stay at a normal weight. I guess it's my fault though for not doing more research).

I did the math though and it makes no sense for me. To maintain my 200 pounds while being sedentary, I would have had a TDEE of 2000 (according to Scooby). There's no way I only ate 2000 calories for 8 years. That's less than what I'm eating now! So the whole thing baffles me, quite frankly. But I started MFP 3 years ago and I honestly don't remember how I used to eat before, so who knows, maybe I didn't eat as much as I think? It's hard to believe. I was eating junk all the time.

jkal1979

I went from 162 to 185 in about 2 1/2 months due to emotional eating and a big decrease in activity.

allyphoe

lemonlionheart wrote: »

I think 70 calories is around the difference in maintenance between 130lb and 140ish, for a 30 year old 5'5 woman, but would obviously change depending on your starting weight and other factors

I'm a 5'4", 42yo sedentary woman (desk job plus zero intentional exercise) and a fairly high body fat percentage given my BMI. Seventy calories for me is the difference between 130 and 160.

Unless someone has an enormous amount of data (I have close to 3 years of daily caloric intake and weight records, covering both maintenance and significant change periods), odds are they have very little idea of what their maintenance calories are at any given point, much less how those maintenance calories change with weight change. How often do we see people post that they'd been losing a pound a week on 1200 calories a day, but now that they want to switch to maintenance, they gain on 1400?

CalorieCountChocula

Merkavar wrote: »

I think when I did the maths it ended up being 120cal surplus a day for 13 years.

Such a small amount.

This sounds small but I think the figure is deceiving. Wouldn't you have to continue to increase the number of calories you eat as your TDEE increased with your weight and/or as your body adapted to your intake to continue to gain weight? I think. Maybe.

PiSquared

I have been fat my entire life. I was a fat kid, who grew into a fat teenager, and eventually a fat adult. Seriously, I remember my physical for entering high school, where I found out I weighed 195 pounds. The nurse asked me if I ate my way through 8th grade. (Note to health professionals: that is not a great way to inspire a lifestyle change in an already body conscious and insecure teenager).

I gained a bunch of weight in college, through eating a bunch of crap. The weight kept going up after I graduated and settled into a career. Long work hours + little physical activity + unhealthy fast food type diet = weight gain. Who'da thunk it?

In my thirties I really started to make changes. I do not know the actual number of my all time high weight. I suspect it was well over 250 pounds. By the time I did my first weigh in for MFP, I was at 243. I had been loosing slowly on my own for a while before that.

I will also most likely be logging for the rest of my life. I am just coming off of a 7 month hiatus from here. Bad habits were creeping back and I am up about 10 pounds from where I left off last May. Logging my calories really does keep me on track. I would like to get to a point where I can just maintain on my own without gaining, but I do not know if that will ever happen.

scolaris

It really does creep...
The first time I gained weight gradually I was actually happy. I had flirted with anorexic tendencies as a teen & I subsequently had a hard time gaining & holding on to weight. So I went from about 105 to 145 between ages 20-35, a time which included one pregnancy. I felt healthy and strong.
My second pregnancy around age 39 however kicked off a real sh&tshow in terms of weight gain. I never really lost the pregnancy weight and didn't recognize that all the funny symptoms I was experiencing after I stopped breastfeeding were actually signs of perimenopause. I went from about 150 to 200 lbs between the ages of 39-52.
I would fitfully lose 20 lbs or so but regain the minute I got busy or distracted.
Over eating was only part of the picture for me though. I was also consistently under exercising. And although I was never medically diagnosed as pre diabetic, i gained weight in the classically insulin resistant pattern. So it has taken a three prong approach this time around to shift my weight back down. I count calories to stay within a limit I know I can burn. I do cardio & resistance training a reasonable amount while walking as much as possible everyday to keep my calorie burn elevated all through the week. And I limit added sugars and moderate carbohydrates while increasing protein to avoid getting caught in the metabolic trap I experienced previously.
Paying attention to all three factors helped me maintain my weight this holiday season despite imperfect compliance on all three fronts at various times.
I finally feel I have cracked 'the code' to achieving a healthy weight for the rest of my life.