Curious - what made you overweight in the first place?
skinnysushicat
Posts: 138 Member
I have been thinking a lot recently about how and why I became overweight. I am worried about maintaining my new weight when I reach my goal (it's a problem I've had before) and I hope that working out the factors that contributed to my gain initially will help me.
I am curious - especially those who have at some point been very obese - as to what factors you feel might have contributed to your weight gain? My parents are both obese, and my dad had type 2 diabetes already (mid 50s). I sometimes wonder why they have struggled with their weight so much, and whether that is a factor in my weight gain. Does anyone else feel family was a factor? oR health, mental or physical? or some other factor?
I am curious - especially those who have at some point been very obese - as to what factors you feel might have contributed to your weight gain? My parents are both obese, and my dad had type 2 diabetes already (mid 50s). I sometimes wonder why they have struggled with their weight so much, and whether that is a factor in my weight gain. Does anyone else feel family was a factor? oR health, mental or physical? or some other factor?
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Replies
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I really, really love food and eating. :drinker: oh and I was never encouraged to participate in sports or anything growing up, so I wasn't that active.0
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Eating a lot of food and not burning enough calories.0
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I've always love to eat and always dislike exercise.
As a child, my mom signed me up in every class possible : swimming, gymnastics, tennis, soccer, baseball, etc. I sucked at everything, felt very lame and decided I just wasn't cut for it.
So ever since I was a kid, I always have been 10-20lbs overweight.
But I've discovered that I'm very good at dancing, so now I feel like getting at an healthy weight is not out of reach anymore.0 -
Processed calories.0
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Love food. Growing up I ate what I want, when I wanted, how I wanted...my grandmother was like my personal chef, lol. I'm very active :bigsmile: , but if I don't keep at working out my whole body regularly, I gain quickly.:grumble:
Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter0 -
I've always been "big"...smallest I can remember being was 150 around the 7th grade. I was pretty active my freshman year of high school, but towards the end of that year I met my (now) husband, and running took the back burner. It got worse once I started working...the only jobs I had throughout high school were in fast food, so I ate their food almost every day. Add that in with no exercise, and I was probably around 220 or so when I graduated. My habits didn't really change, and my hubby never said anything about it, so I didn't concern myself over it. By the time I got pregnant with our son I had hit 255, and by the time he was born, I was at 277. I lost the weight quickly, but I've gained it back, and then some. I never really looked at how many calories were in the foods I ate. I was shocked when I found MFP and realized I was obese because I never looked at the calories, I just ate whatever. I had mentioned to my doctor in the past that I was interested in losing weight, but all she said was diet and exercise, which duh, I knew already, but I had no clue what I should eat and how much. I've since found a new doctor who has been wonderful. Now I know and I'm slowly making my way back down the scale0
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college
drinks lots beer/ booze > eat lots of food > hangover > cure with lots of greasy food and pot > get munchies & eat more food > repeat0 -
EATING:laugh:0
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My ability to eat an entire extra large extra cheese pizza in one sitting whilst playing video games and wondering when ill be able to eat the bag of beef jerky i have waiting for me.0
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Ha, I reckon most people (me included) love yummy food! But not everyone gets overweight - why? My husband seems to have some internal 'I'm full - STOP' switch which I'm lacking, probably from years of eating a few more calories than I need every day. Hopefully loosing and maintaining my goal will help me find that switch! I just am genuinely curious why some people seem to have a propensity to gain weight, while others stay at a healthy weight.0
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Eating more than I burned.0
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Less exercise than when I was in school plus eating due to depression were the main problems. I have diabetes in my family, along with heart disease and cancer, but none with those problems were overweight when diagnosed.0
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I've always been overweight. From when I began to walk it was apparent that I had problems with my legs so I couldn't run around with the other kids to get a bit of exercise.
I also find food comforting and have a very sweet tooth!0 -
I was in denial about how many calories I was actually consuming. "Every now and then" or "once in a while" was far too often, and it's easy to get used to it. I didn't even think I was eating "that badly" and I deserved it, other people eat the same stuff... why can't I? But I wasn't spending 24hours with them... who knows what they didn't eat at home. I blamed everything I could. Bad genes, not being breastfed, too much stress, thyroid problems, hormones... you name it, I used it to keep the blinders on. It's easy to be a victim but it's also wonderful to have control over your body. Very liberating to finally admit that I had absolute control over this.0
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college
drinks lots beer/ booze > eat lots of food > hangover > cure with lots of greasy food and pot > get munchies & eat more food > repeat
Eew, that makes me feel a bit queasy!0 -
Eating too many carbohydrates, not enough fruits and vegetables, and not exercising enough.0
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My ability to eat an entire extra large extra cheese pizza in one sitting whilst playing video games and wondering when ill be able to eat the bag of beef jerky i have waiting for me.
Soulmates!0 -
My mum was overweight and I learned my bad habits from her. 4 or 5 cookies for dessert and some chocolate with it. Hot chocolate before bedtime. Since she was overweight and I was, too, I thought it was just my genes and there was nothing I could do about it. It still doesnot seem fair to me - I was on the swim team and swam 6h a week. Why did I gain weight in the first place?
I never occurred to me that I could do something about it until I was 25. I had not known that one has control over your weight.
More things: we are vegetarians, and meat was substituted by carbs. My mum bought cheap fruits and veggies that never tasted well. We never indulged in yummi fruit - and she added sugar to fruit salad, even to strawberries. I thought that was the way to do it, hence I was not heavily overweight but have always been above average.0 -
I don't think one specific thing made me over weight. Sure it was un-healthy eating habits and going un-diagnosed with insulin resistance until my 30's. Once I was treated for it I lost 75 pounds.. yay me.... and kept it off until I underwent treatment for breast cancer. During the second round of chemo there were steroids added to my medication and I ate everything that didn't move! Unfortunately it got me back into bad eating habits and here I am again doing what I need to do and get this weight off.0
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Very liberating to finally admit that I had absolute control over this.
That is SO true. I have never blamed genes etc - I always new it was down to me eating to much - but I used to feel powerless to say 'no' to bad food choices. I feel totally able to do that now!0
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