What caused you to have to lose weight in the first place?

chandanista

I thought this thread was to discuss how we got our fat, not what made our mental shift so we would lose the weight?

Either way, just gets confusing with all the different posts, some saying how the weight was gained and some saying why they are losing it, but not where it came from.

Really interesting stories both ways!

metacognition

I had been fat for so long because I habitually overate and never noticed it.
I remember being the fat kid so being fat was a part of my identity at that point.

Each time I went on a diet it seemed agonizing to lose 10 - 15 pounds, only to regain it back twice as fast as I lost it.

I decided to lose some weight because I was already obese again and clothes made me resemble a short rectangle.
None of my shirts fit. I wore huge velvet shirts in 100-degree weather because at least they didn't cling to my back fat like other fabrics. I also went in for blood work and had elevated blood sugar and triglycerides.

I don't know why I lost weight this time around.
I guess because I was already so burned out from my past weight loss that I never thought I'd succeed, so I wasn't impatient for results. It was just a lifestyle change.
Thinking back, the only thing that kept me going steady on diet / exercise was a feeling of desperation -- even anger.
I thought "I'm going to fail, but at least I'm going to give it everything anyway. And screw anything that would hold me back."

ubkz_2

There is so much in my life I cannot control right now. But, I can control my fitness and health. So, I guess I look at my gaining weight as me being out of control and letting outside issues impact how I look. So, now I want to take control of this and I think it will lead to me taking control in other areas of my life as well.

I think people who are fit are respected because they choose to put themselves first and respect themselves. I want to be one of those people.

This is the same for me. I can't control so many other aspects of my life however my weight and my fitness I can control and I will no longer be overweight and unhealthy!!

bcattoes

Long Story -
I ate junk out the wazoo as a child. Home baked desserts every day made with trans fats and processed sugar. Floats made with soda and ice cream 2-3 times a week. Drank Kool-Aid like we owned stock in it. Bread and white potatoes at every meal. Boxed "just at water" meals like Hamburger Helper were new and my mother LOVED them. But I was not overweight.

As a teenager fast food was a new thing and I now had a car and an after school job. I LOVED fast food and ate it a lot. We could drink at 18 and Pizza Hut served pizza AND pitchers of beer. SCORE! I was very thin.

Had 2 children in 2 years as a young adult and craved KFC with one and Dairy Queen with the other. I was thinner in the year after they were born than before.

As my children grew I became more aware of nutrition and cleaned up our diet. I was soon a poor single mom so fast food wasn't an option anyway, but we still had junk occasionally, but we mostly ate cheap healthy foods. I started "exercising" for the first time in my life. I was no longer "skinny" was still thin and now fit.

My children grew, my career advanced, I spent more time sitting and gained few lbs, though still at a healthy weight, I kicked up the exercise to running and was nipped it in the bud.

My children grew more and my nest was empty. :frown: I threw myself into work and for the first time in my life, my pants were in the double digits. I bought some weights and a stairmaster and got back in shape.

My new hot body attracted a great guy. We married and over the next few years spending time drinking and eating and talking with him became more and more of a priority than exercise. I gained 30 lbs and was again in the double digits. He didn't care but I did. January 2011 I made a New Year's resolution to get back in shape.

Short story - I stopped exercising regulary but continued to eat as if I did.

mindidily

Aside from the standard "realized I didn't like the way I looked or felt anymore", a lot came down to keeping my job. The military is downsizing and an easy way to boot people is failure to pass a fitness test.
I also realized if I couldn't keep up with my kids and be active with them, they would develop lazy habits. As a kid, I never had to worry about weight. I actually almost had to gain a few pounds to join the Air Force; I was under weight. And it was because I was so active for as long as I can remember. It was my own failures that caused me to gain weight in my adult years.

ellehoosen20

i have always been 1 - 2 stone overweight my entire life...

i actually went to visit one of my friends in her house when she had just come out of hospital for a liver transplant.
i sat with her in her bedroom and stepped on her scales and saw i had lost 3kg (but her scales were incorrect hahaha)
anyway, i then thought to myself "i lost weight without trying, lets challenge myself and see if i can lose more"
so i started eating 1000 calories a day and doing loadss of cardio at the gym at college (i had recently started so i thought it would make sense to make use of the gym). i lost heaps of weight and i felt really good about it.
then one day i was at the gym and loads of other students were following an exercise video. i was inquisitive and saw 'p90x' written on the screen and afterwards i asked one of the sports teachers about it. he explained the program to me and i was drawn into the idea of taking part - he gave me the program to take part in. i did some further research online about p90x, watched some before and after videos, and became completely hooked. now i do p90x with one of my best friends and we always motivate each other to lose weight. shes my workout buddy for life

another reason which motivated and still motivates me to continue eating clean and losing fat is because i have a long history of hereditary problems in my family.... all of which get worse as the generations go on e.g. diabetes, polycystic ovarian syndrome, high blood pressure, graves disease, cancer, over and underactive thyroid conditions.

haha quite long but yeah there it is

CaGaChAn

Mine was a journey that started a year ago. I'd been having digestional issues. I felt sick, lightheaded and loopy. I work as a medical assistant in a family practice clinic. So I had one of my providers take a look at me. My bloodwork was questionable. First there was borderline anemia.Dizziness, bleeding problems. But no real reason for the symptoms. Yet I was dropping lbs like crazy. I'd gone from 240 to 206lbs. And while I looked great. I felt like crap! Come to find out it was my diet. While they're not allergies, my body could no longer handle gluten or lactose. I was literally tearing up my digestive tract by eating what I ate on a daily basis. So my education on the foods I was eating and providing my children started. Slow changes at first. Until after awhile I was used to my new diet.
Now it's trying to curb the caffeine intake with my kids. I've started implementing a caffeine curfew for when we dine out. And only bring soda in on the weekends. Friday's are always pizza and soda night.

DawnieB1977

I thought this thread was to discuss how we got our fat, not what made our mental shift so we would lose the weight?

Either way, just gets confusing with all the different posts, some saying how the weight was gained and some saying why they are losing it, but not where it came from.

Really interesting stories both ways!

Yes, that's how I read it! But it is interesting.

I've been on MFP losing pregnancy weight, and then some! I was big as a teenager (genetics I think as both my parents are big, and we never ate unhealthily, and walked everywhere) but then lost weight at university. I joined a gym when I started my first job and got quite skinny for me. Put on weight again when I did teacher training, lost it for my wedding, got pregnant and gained some, lost it, got pregnant again and put on loads in that pregnancy. Now I am back in my clothes from my early 20s (yeah, I kept them, they're nice clothes from pre mortgage and pre kids time when I had money) and I am pretty much the same size, except for the slight mummy tummy!

I have learnt now that I don't need to only eat 1200 calories a day to lose weight! If I have another baby, which I'd like to, I hope that I can keep the weight off.

As for why I wanted to lose weight...I feel miserable being bigger and it knocks my confidence. I'm a teacher, and I enjoy my job so much more now that I'm slim. I also want to set a good example for my kids.

Akimajuktuq

The biggest factor in starting my lifelong fight with obesity (and severe illness) was the low fat/low calorie dieting that I started in my late teens when I was at a healthy weight but thought that I had to be "fat". The advice to minimize foods from animals, avoid all fat, and "fill up" with grain/veggies/fruit destroyed my health on all levels. I became fatter, sicker, depressed and then being prescribed meds followed. I was a "failure" for not being able to lose weight and keep it off even while I was starving myself (my 350 pound aunt barely eats a thing, avoids fat, eats lots of veggies-but what's YOUR assumption when you see someone like that???) and trying every kind of diet imaginable. Then the chronic malnutrition led to "binge eating disorder"...Well, you get the picture. A big sarcastic "thank you" for the misinformation and outright lies goes out to the diet industry (especially Weight Watchers), health care providers, the media, food manufacturers, and big pharma.

Do I sound angry? You bet I am. Besides all the lies fed to us via government, media, food and pharma corps about what is "healthy" and how to treat disease, I have people every day ridiculing me when I try to help others who are going through the same thing that I went through. My opinions are drawn foremost from first hand experience, then secondly from direct observations and extensive research. WHAT one eats matters, not just calories in and calories out. For most of us.

lucystacy71

The reason I have to lose weight is the same reason I gained weight - kidney failure.

I had never had any weight issues when I was younger, nor have I ever had a big appetite. I admit, however, that my eating habits weren't the healthiest since I was used to fried and greasy foods. I was teaching elementary school when I began to have problems. My weight went up dramatically and I had no energy. I went to the doctor who said my metabolism had slowed and I need to change my eating habits. She also encouraged me to exercise. I tried, but I wasn't having any luck. My weight continued to go up and it would get so bad that I once split a pair of shoes that I had worn for years. No matter how much I tried to exercise, I just got more and more tired and I began to suffer horrible leg cramps. I decided I need to see a new doctor.

The new doctor started to say the same things until he did a routine urinanalysis (spelling?). Next thing I know I'm getting an emergency appointment with a nephrologist because I was in end stage renal failure and had only about 10% function left. It was such a relief to know I wasn't just lazy. I did have to change my diet because the legs cramps were caused by too much potassium as I can't really process potassium anymore. The failure of the kidneys had messed up my metabolism and my thryoid was no longer working correctly. I was given medicine to help that and was started on shots because I was also severely anemic - which had been the cause of my lack of energy.

I was started on peritoneal dialysis which really helped me removing all those toxins, but the dextrose solution also caused weight gain. Now, I have to lose weight to get a new kidney. I know what's wrong with me, and I can deal with it. It's not always easy. When calculating my calories, I have to add about 300 from what I get from the solution. I also have to avoid certain foods - but I know which ones. I now am doing much better. I am losing weight and gaining energy. Hopefully soon, I'll add that I've gained a new kidney. I go to hospital for my yearly evaluation on August 19th, and I'm hoping it will be good news.

fleetzz

I refused to buy more clothes in a bigger size. I already had plenty, just needed to fit into them. Hate shopping.

ren_ascent

Complacency. End of story. I'm over it.

ChristinaOrtiz23

I looked in the mirror and thought: "No."

SAME!

TheEffort

Internal and external criticism about my appearance.

BrendaLee

Binge eating all the way. And it's a beast to control.

bcattoes

The reason I have to lose weight is the same reason I gained weight - kidney failure.

I had never had any weight issues when I was younger, nor have I ever had a big appetite. I admit, however, that my eating habits weren't the healthiest since I was used to fried and greasy foods. I was teaching elementary school when I began to have problems. My weight went up dramatically and I had no energy. I went to the doctor who said my metabolism had slowed and I need to change my eating habits. She also encouraged me to exercise. I tried, but I wasn't having any luck. My weight continued to go up and it would get so bad that I once split a pair of shoes that I had worn for years. No matter how much I tried to exercise, I just got more and more tired and I began to suffer horrible leg cramps. I decided I need to see a new doctor.

The new doctor started to say the same things until he did a routine urinanalysis (spelling?). Next thing I know I'm getting an emergency appointment with a nephrologist because I was in end stage renal failure and had only about 10% function left. It was such a relief to know I wasn't just lazy. I did have to change my diet because the legs cramps were caused by too much potassium as I can't really process potassium anymore. The failure of the kidneys had messed up my metabolism and my thryoid was no longer working correctly. I was given medicine to help that and was started on shots because I was also severely anemic - which had been the cause of my lack of energy.

I was started on peritoneal dialysis which really helped me removing all those toxins, but the dextrose solution also caused weight gain. Now, I have to lose weight to get a new kidney. I know what's wrong with me, and I can deal with it. It's not always easy. When calculating my calories, I have to add about 300 from what I get from the solution. I also have to avoid certain foods - but I know which ones. I now am doing much better. I am losing weight and gaining energy. Hopefully soon, I'll add that I've gained a new kidney. I go to hospital for my yearly evaluation on August 19th, and I'm hoping it will be good news.

Wow. So sorry that happened. Good luck on your Aug appt.! :flowerforyou:

Ed98043

I was a skinny kid who gained some weight when I was 15 (I got up to 156 lbs, I am 5'7")...then some guy at school made a mean comment about it and I went into a spiral of strict dieting, and got down to 115 at my lowest. I managed to control my weight (generally 120 to 140 lbs) through diet and exercise up until I was about 38 and then got lazy about it and have been gaining slowly every year since then. 10 lbs a year is so insidious and easy to be in denial about but it added up to 80 lbs in what seemed like no time. When the scale hit 220 this January I finally couldn't ignore it any more. I had to make a decision to keep letting myself gain, stay where I was, or lose the weight. I chose the latter.

jetman82

Type 2 diabetes....at age 29.

A1C was 6.3....

Went paleo, lost 45 lbs and now my A1C is 5.2, I am fit and active, and loving life!

huntergreene71

I had to book a flight and didn't want to get kicked off like Kevin Smith.

PepperWorm

I have too much excess fat and didn't want diabeetus.