What was your “reason” for gaining the weight?

Evelyn_Gorfram

I became fat as a child because of abuse; and then got fatter in response to bullying about my weight (among other things). I had terrible problems with endometriosis throughout my 20's and 30's, and gained a lot of weight during that time. Then, in my early 40's, I developed fibromyalgia so severe I had to quit working and go on disability, and I've gained even more weight since.

I'm now in my fifties, and the idea of becoming geriatric while still being very obese is truly ominous. As is the idea of never having the chance to become geriatric at all, due to a stroke or a heart attack or all the other ways obesity can help cause an early death. I've got stuff to do, damnit; and I need to feel well enough, and stay alive long enough, to do it.

Evelyn_Gorfram

FitHolly8 wrote: »

I believe everyone has a reason as to why the weight eventually gets packed on whether it be from difficult childhoods, stress, trauma, loneliness etc. What’s your reason? Please don’t be afraid to be vulnerable!

An informal and probably not overly accurate tally of the things people have mentioned so far -
Pregnancy: 11
Menopause: 2
PCOS: 2
Depression: 8
Abuse: 7
Alcoholism: 3
Anxiety: 2
Eating Disorder: 3
Bad nutritional & weight-loss education/information: 4
Other Illness, Injuries, and/or Medications: 6
Death of loved one (including miscarriage): 5
Divorce: 5
Other Extraordinary Life Stress: 2
Quit Smoking: 1
Change to Sedentary Job/Retirement: 6
Priorities/Social Milieu: 1
Lazy: 6
Simply Ate All The Foods: 8

RealWorldStrengthLLC

I could give a huge long winded explanation about drinking and mental health issues, but I won't because the root of it is: I went from an active person who cared about quality food intake to a lazy, sedentary, POS who ate garbage.

I honestly think going from fit to fat was worse in a lot of ways than what I remember of the years before I got fit. The worst part was looking at old pics and remembering old accomplishments, feats of strength, and knowing how I felt about myself back then. For me it stung more knowing full well what my body is actually capable of.

LaReinaDeCorazones

For me it started early, been dieting since I was 12, was told as a teen by my mom I would be sooo pretty if I was thin. In my teens I made a game of seeing how long I could go without eating. At my lowest I was 140 at 5'5. Mainly always been 'chubby'. After I had my 9 yr old I got on depo, which made me ravenous and I ended up gaining back all the pregnancy weight. After that I was in a relationship with someone who was severely overweight, I would eat when he ate, and pretty much all the same stuff. After that I've been yo-yoing. Hopefully I've learned to stop that and finally be healthy.

quintessence84

Both times seem to be when a new partner came into my life. I lost 113 pounds during college, then I met my ex who I was with for 6 years. During the first 3 years I gained back around 80 pounds. I think it was just the distraction of new love, going out on dates and eating whatever. Then just letting myself go. Finally got my butt in gear and lost almost 90 pounds the last 3 years. We broke up and I met my current partner. I again got distracted. I maintained for a bit before I started gaining. I gained back 65 pounds and am currently back down 41 pounds from that. So, I guess the cliche is true in my case!

Deviette

I had a knee injury that took me out of training for a year, without exercise I was kind of stuffed as I had previously been training a lot, and without burning those calories, I really wasn't able to sustain the amount that I was eating. Adding onto that the stress of a house move that was anything but ordinary (don't even start); stress from being made redundant from work (and no long cycling an hour each way for my commute); and generally being lazy and eating the same as what my boyfriend (1ft taller than me) ate. I piled on the pounds

Supersonic_

Denial

bernadettenz

Gave up smoking and gained 30 kilos in a year. Because I ate all the foods. Because I LOVE the taste of food.

I was very slim prior without trying, so it's taken a while to educate myself on counting delicious points. I don't want to lose the full 30 kilos.

Basically I'm going to lose until I'm comfortable in NZ size 10, whatever weight that is. I was down 16 but gained 6 this year after not getting back on track after a holiday. Am getting back on track now.

_aenyeweddien_

I've always been a very skinny child so my parents, in good faith, tried to get as much food into me as possible. I remained skinny and could eat whatever I wanted (including loads of junk and sweets), as much as I wanted, until in my mid 20s my doctor convinced me to swap contraceptive pill for implant. It was the worst decision in my life, as a month later I was 3 stones heavier:( I took the implant out a few years ago, but my metabolism never went back to the way it was, it's like now no matter how careful I am and how healthy I eat, I loose weight very slowly and gain very quickly:( The worst thing is, I'm always hungry, cause most of my life I was able to eat as much as I wanted and used to eat till I was completely full:(

2020yesyouwill2020

Hmm I wrote so much but it didnt add. Lesson learned. Basically chubby all my life, loss of parent, abusive partner coupled with binge eating. Got down to 179 last year, introduced a crazy amount of stress into my life, gained back to 210lbs. Eager to slim down as most of that stress is gone.

Burton_Bmc

My previous wife, she was a hell of a chef. At the moment following Keto, and my GF seems to be a good Keto chef.

Machka9

Moving house + fairly serious illness or injury usually does it for me.

Moving house by itself isn't bad.

Illness or injury aren't too bad on their own.

But put the two things within about 6 months of each other ... and there's weight gain.

Machka9

Evelyn_Gorfram wrote: »

FitHolly8 wrote: »

I believe everyone has a reason as to why the weight eventually gets packed on whether it be from difficult childhoods, stress, trauma, loneliness etc. What’s your reason? Please don’t be afraid to be vulnerable!

An informal and probably not overly accurate tally of the things people have mentioned so far -
Pregnancy: 11
Menopause: 2
PCOS: 2
Depression: 8
Abuse: 7
Alcoholism: 3
Anxiety: 2
Eating Disorder: 3
Bad nutritional & weight-loss education/information: 4
Other Illness, Injuries, and/or Medications: 6
Death of loved one (including miscarriage): 5
Divorce: 5
Other Extraordinary Life Stress: 2
Quit Smoking: 1
Change to Sedentary Job/Retirement: 6
Priorities/Social Milieu: 1
Lazy: 6
Simply Ate All The Foods: 8

Hmmm ... no one else mentioned moving house?


There I am busy packing yet again with no time to eat regular meals, so I'm eating whatever I can grab from a takeaway or frozen section of the grocery.

Plus when I get into the kitchen there's all that food ... half a box of cereal I have to get rid of because I don't want to pack it. Three boxes of cake mix. Half a bottle of syrup. 1/3 of a jar of jam. Etc. Etc. Etc. So I eat all that stuff to get rid of it. Dinners end up being half a cake with a side of cheerios topped with strawberry jam.

Plus my only exercise is packing boxes which is a lot less than usual.

thelegendofsakura89

Depression and alcoholism played a huge part in my weight gain.
It sounds like an excuse but it's hard to pull yourself together and be healthy for any prolonged period of time when you can't be bothered to care about much of anything. On top of the binge drinking, which piled on the calories.

It's (sort of but not really) funny, but when I wanted to lose weight but didn't want to stop drinking, I used to just not eat all day and use all/most of my calories for alcohol. Plus I got drunk faster, so it was win-win.

I was hospitalized for a suicide attempt 2 years ago and it was the best thing that's ever happened to me. It saved my life, and I've been sober ever since. And I've lost 40 lbs this year so that's cool too.

confidenceinrain

I always had big hips but at the end of this past spring I didn't have a flat stomach for the first time in years--I had fallen and was in pain for a couple of months from a tailbone injury I got in the fall. So I gained 15 pounds. I've now lost that 15 pounds but it feels good and i want to keep losing and not be overweight.

collectingblues

First go around: Went on an insulin pump. Blood sugar control improved (yay), but because I was terrified of carbs, because carbs = insulin, and I was afraid that more insulin would make me fat (hi, eating disorder), I snacked on pepperoni and provolone and other cheese All The Damn Time.

I really like cheese. I didn't track *any* of it. If I was hungry, I'd grab more cheese. We're talking easily 4 oz in a sitting.

Gained 10 pounds. Vowed I would never let that happen again.


Second go around: Was at a weight that I liked, but my endocrinologist thought was on the low side. New endocrinologist botched my thyroid management. Gained 13 pounds over eight months. Now I see a new endocrinologist for thyroid (and a separate one for diabetes), and the weight is slowly coming off, as expected, now that the damn water weight is coming off. I'm two pounds away from my first mini goal, and at this rate, should hit my original weight by early January.

New_Heavens_Earth

Simply put I'm so busy giving to others I barely care for myself nutritionally. My self care is exercise, sometimes twice a day. But it's overridden by 1500 calorie binges almost nightly because I use food to relax myself and escape. No one messes with me when I'm eating, but if I'm reading, watching a show, or heavens forbid taking a nap, my whole household is in my face. Right now I'm gaining and losing the same 7lbs almost monthly.

bemyyfriend0918

Everything I could think of just sounded like excuses, but basically the reason I gained weight is because of YEARS of starving myself and then binging repeatedly.

I starved myself all the time as a child/teen, starting probably at age 11, because I was known as the fat girl and was tired of it. When I say starved, I mean I was eating 200 calories or less a day sometimes. It was a never ending cycle of up and down. Fast forward ten years to 2016 when I decided to take charge of my health when I realized I was getting close to the 300lb mark. I lost 115lbs.

But now, of that 115 I lost, I've gained 40 back. I'm tired of the excuses and want to be as healthy as ever. Why did I gain 40lbs back? Well, laziness, and binge eating, and cravings.

WillingtoLose1001984

I gained weight because I ate whatever I wanted most of my life and wasn't active. Then after pregnancy I put on about 20 or so lbs and kept eating like I was pregnant after so put on another 30 lbs. Then I gained a lot on medications even after I wanted to change for some reason the meds made me want to eat everything and I put on over 100 lbs.

leonadixon

collectingblues wrote: »

First go around: Went on an insulin pump. Blood sugar control improved (yay), but because I was terrified of carbs, because carbs = insulin, and I was afraid that more insulin would make me fat (hi, eating disorder), I snacked on pepperoni and provolone and other cheese All The Damn Time.

I really like cheese. I didn't track *any* of it. If I was hungry, I'd grab more cheese. We're talking easily 4 oz in a sitting.

Gained 10 pounds. Vowed I would never let that happen again.


Second go around: Was at a weight that I liked, but my endocrinologist thought was on the low side. New endocrinologist botched my thyroid management. Gained 13 pounds over eight months. Now I see a new endocrinologist for thyroid (and a separate one for diabetes), and the weight is slowly coming off, as expected, now that the damn water weight is coming off. I'm two pounds away from my first mini goal, and at this rate, should hit my original weight by early January.

Cheese is sooooooo gooooooood!