How did you become your starting weight?.

katiehepp1

I like to hear other people's stories when they like to tell them, how did you become the weight you started at and what made you decide to lose it? I think for me I always grew up being a size 12 while my sister wore size 18 clothes and I always thought I didn't want to be that size, I saw beautiful size 18+ girls but I saw myself looking horrible and as the time went by one day we were sharing clothes and I was a size 18, then this summer I went on holiday with my partner and saw photos of us 2 years back when I was a size 14, it wasn't until I got on the scale when I got back from holiday (we went for a month) and I had put on over half a stone that I realised o needed to change. I was constantly low and looking at my appearance hating myself, not so much now and when I feel low at least I know that I am working on it, it's been just over 2 months now and I finally fit in a medium/large top instead of a XL:) what's your story?

Grey_1

I simply stopped taking care of myself somewhere along the way. I never gained that much though, just enough to really make me not like what I saw.

dbkyser

Got married, started drinking more and stopped working out.
Was going to get back to being healthy the first of the year, after year, after year.

JeffreyOC

My mum passed away when I was 13 and I just completely shut down. I wouldn't leave the house, wouldn't accept any help or speak to my family/friends.
I went on holiday this year and I couldn't fit on a roller coaster, I got back home reluctantly got myself on the scales to find out I was 275Ibs. That was it, 5 months into my diet I've lost 79Ibs.

katiehepp1

JefferyOC - sorry for the loss of your mother, but well done on the weight you've lost over the 5 months , you've done so well and it inspires me to do better

usmcmp

I went through three months where I didn't get enough to eat at any meal. I spent every moment hungry and tired. When I finally had access to food I couldn't stop eating. Food insecurity lead me to eat every time I got a chance because I feared being hungry again.

Evamutt

I grew up being very thin. In high school my friends called me paperweight. I ate alot but never gained. I gained 75 lbs with my first pregnancy & was not able to loose it all. I gained 60-70 lbs each with my other 3 & not able to loose it all so i ended up at 150 lbs (I'm 5'4") over the last 15 yrs, I gained 40lbs slowly. I never "loved" food like some ppl do & in fact ate healthy. Don't drink soda, hardly ever have fast foods or processed. I cooked from scratch nearly everyday for my family of 6. Usually ate twice a day. I had very busy job in hospital being on my feet doing a lot of walking every day, went to the gym. This is the first time in 15yrs I'm losing weight. lost 25lbs so far, 25 more to go

sgt1372

Drinking 3-4 beers a day, eating a whole Little Ceasar's pepperoni pizza each week by myself and eating/drinking whatever else I wanted w/o any regard for the consequences.

OMG. . . How things have changed!

JaydedMiss

Got really sick. And then mad at the world. Gave up really caring i had no friends of family. Whole lot of drinking and i had a hoarding food habit left over from when i was sick and unable to shop much- prepackaged freezer crap. Lol xD

RonnieLynch1

Decided I didn't care for retirement. Went back to work full time and enrolled in school full time. I stopped working out and started eating bad. Next thing I knew my clothes were getting tight and I had gained 45 pounds. Went to the Dr. for a checkup and my cholesterol and triglycerides were way high. I started making time for me, made a 180 degree change. Since Oct 10th I'm.down 17 pounds with 28 to go.

karenertl

I had a desk job and was eating and drinking soda and energy drinks practically all day.

Tigg_er

I started out at 7 lbs 3 oz. I had no choice, That's just the way it was.
My Mammy said "what a pain"

Now she says "what a pain in the *kitten*"

PeachesNcreamgal

I had a *kitten* traumatic childhood but I was thin. years and years of abuse finally caught up with me at 21(2009) as that's when I started seeking comfort in food and got fat. Reached my highest weight in Dec 2014 got back here in Feb 2015.

jvcjim

I went to bed one night at 160 pounds woke up the next morning and there it all was

gcibsthom

I was pretty active and had a decent weight, despite a lot of beer and poor food choices...but in 2008 and 2012 I got some serious injuries that kept me out of physical exercise, and I ballooned up to 285lbs. In 2015 I saw a photo of myself and determined that would not be me anymore. I pasted copies of the photo all over the house, especially in the kitchen, and never looked back. 1 year later, I am down 70 lb.

Gimsteinn

I had a stillborn baby girl.. Some part of me died with her and I just got super depressed and started to gain a lot of weight. I was always chubby but nothing like what I became.

deadliftsandnoodles

I never stopped bulking since i joined the gym 9 years ago

RoxieDawn

I was a lazy "kitten", sat behind a desk 10 hours a day, stressed to the nines all the time, and then had some losses in my life, I ballooned even more after that. I took to self medication and food.. After a period of time I was able to get my mind headed in the right direction, lost the weight and started on fitness aspects, 3 years in and I am still going strong.

synchkat

When I met hubs I started gaining, actually it was probably after I left my ex husband. He was always onto me for having too much body fat or not working out enough. eventually after remarrying I got pregnant and ate everything and I was lazy and just didn't bother losing the baby weight. I fit into size 12 and the odd time size 14 at my heaviest so I wasn't huge. But ya lazy, complacent. I grew up a skinny kid so it was just a few year thing. Not life long so it was weird. I didn't like it.

km8907

University. Freedom and food. Fortunately I didn't have enough money to eat out every meal.

dc8066

Poor self control and that instant gratification thing among the other contributing factors

Unknown

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cwolfman13

I was always very active. Growing up I was involved in many different sports and ran organized track and field from 2nd grade through my senior year i high school. After highschool I joined the military where I remained very active. When I was discharged I started at University...I didn't own a car for much of that time and walked and biked everywhere for the most part...I was also very active from a recreational standpoint...lots of hiking, playing ultimate frisbee in the park with my friends, etc.

I graduated when I was 30 and took a desk job...bought a car and started spending 10+ hours per day sitting at a desk and driving everywhere. I never made deliberate exercise a priority because I'd never had to really do that before (other than sports).

So basically I went from a very active lifestyle to a more or less sedentary one. I never really decided to lose it, I decided that I needed to get healthy and I wanted to be fit again...the rest just kind of took care of itself. I didn't really have to go to any great lengths from a dietary perspective...I always ate pretty well for the most part...I just cut out some junk and made it a point to eat my veg and some fruit which was one thing that was lacking in my diet. Beyond that, I just started getting out and moving and exercising on the regular.

dragon_girl26

Singlehood + too lazy to cook/fast food + desk job with no exercise + dating men who loved to eat = 240lb dragongirl in no time.

GreenGoddess22

I was always on the thin side. I had two babies two years apart so I had some pregnancy weight. Then my dad died when my youngest was almost 3 months old and I self medicated on alcohol and food. I broke my foot in 2012 and was in a boot for four months followed by months of pt; I felt the need to shovel in crap foods and reached my biggest. After I was cleared from pt I decided I'd had enough and started getting healthy.

gojaqs

I was a periodic yo yo dieter - about every 5 years I gained 20 lb and then dieted it off. Finally, my mom was dying, and I stopped looking after myself for a bit and gained 30 lb. Once she died, I thought I have to stop this. I joined MFP, took a year to get in shape and lose the 30 lb. I've maintained for about three years.

CharlesScott78

From the time I was 7 or 8 years old, I had a problem with my weight. I ate too much and exercised too little. Ok, make that exercised not at all.

I tried every diet on and off for 30 years or so. I would lose 70 or 80 pounds, gain it back, lose 100 pounds, gain it back, but I never got to a “normal” weight. Back in 2004, when my daughter was five years old, I thought about the health problems I was facing. I had back pain, arthritis in my knees, high blood pressure…and I realized that he had to do something to get healthy or my daughter would grow up without a dad. I didn’t think he could lose the weight on my own and assumed he would need to undergo gastric bypass surgery. At 6’ 2”, I weighed 562.3 lbs.

Me at 562.3 - 2003



I researched the risks of surgery and decided I would do that if I had to, but I also realized that I wanted to give it one more try on my own. About that time, I saw an article about a program at the Methodist Hospital and got started on their medically supervised fasting program. I followed the 12-week liquid diet (VLCD) under strict medical supervision, and lost about 65 or 70 pounds.
Although I could have continued the program fasting, I knew that I had to learn to lose weight and control food intake on my own. I started working out after those first 12 weeks once I was off the medical fasting program. I joined a gym and began swimming and jogging in the pool. Water took the pressure of the weight off of my knees, allowing me to do things I wouldn’t have been able to do out of the water. I realized that I did not really know much about exercise fitness, but I really could not afford to hire a trainer to teach him. Charles got down to about 360 pounds when I met Austin Davis.

Austin had gone to talk to the weight management group at Methodist in which Charles participated. When Austin asked him how much I lost, I said that I had lost 200 pounds. Austin attempted to clarify my question, asking Charles, “How much have you lost, not how much do you weigh.” He could not believe I had lost 200 lbs. We talked that day, and Austin told me that he didn’t want to be my trainer, but he would be my workout partner. I got down to 210 lbs. and was in the best shape of my life. Austin and I were picked as Houston’s Ultimate workout partners in 2006. http://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/Workout-partners-1891580.php I was even in the Half Their Size issue of People Magazine in 2006. http://people.com/celebrity/they-lost-half-their-size-2/charles-scott/ I was also in the 2012 People Magazine as part of those who had managed to keep it off. By 2012 when they did the People photo shoot, I had gained back to about 240. That was not too bad for a 53-year-old computer guy. I managed to keep the weight off for about 6 or 7 years.


Before and after - Total lost 354 lbs. Dec. 2006

2006 People Photo Shoot


Starting about that time, life got really stressful. I slowly stopped doing the things that let me keep my fitness. My trips to the gym got less and less frequent. I changed jobs and was no longer close to where my workout partner Austin lived. I stopped logging my food. I imagine it is a familiar story. As I gained weight again over the last 3 years, I was too embarrassed to get help. I would try to lose weight, but I just could not get my head in the right place.

Finally, in late October, I was back up over 400 lbs. 405.5 to be exact. Man, I never thought I would be that heavy again. Being super obese almost killed me in my 40's, it was sure as hell going to kill me in my 50's. I finally got it though my head that ego was a stupid reason to die. I went back to the Methodist program and I have lost 35.4 lbs. so far. I will be on the medically supervised fasting (VLCD) for another 10 weeks or so. Then back to eating clean, working out and staying focused on what is so important. My health and fitness.

Here is a current side photo - 405.5 - 370.1 - 35.4 lbs lost.



Thanks for reading that opus.

I will be posting regular photo updates as it helps keep me accountable. I have to say, I was my using myfitnesspal the first time - but I love this site. It is awesome.

Charles ~ Houston, TX

StepWise123

I became less active and catered to my spouse's eating preferences rather than my own health. I'm done with that. I went to the Dr and my cholesterol was elevated. I don't want to take meds so I have to change my lifestyle. I'm semi-retired and falling into a trap that I'd rather not!

Karb_Kween

Eating full fat pork