What was your “reason” for gaining the weight?

ceiswyn

I have poor physical appetite cues, strong mental appetite cues, eating is a pleasurable activity, and I’m easily bored.

What this means is that if any part of my mind is free to think about food, and if food is available, I will become ravenously ‘hungry’ and eat it.

I don’t get actually hungry. If I’m completely absorbed in something I won’t get any indications that my body needs fuel until I get shaky and cold. But if I’m not absorbed in something I will probably get unignorable cravings.

The best solution to this is to be thoroughly engrossed in something at all times - except that this isn’t actually physically or mentally possible or healthy. I’m still working on a better plan

Icrizz

I was a child. My parents didn't really monitor what I was eating. I would go to food as a comfort and wasn't really aware of the amount I was eating, or what it would do to my body. I was obese for most of my childhood. I had reached 316 lbs by the time I was 15, which is what scared me into losing weight. The shock of seeing the 300s on the scale sparked an eating disorder, and for over 6 months I was eating less than 400 cals a day and burning off everything I ate through extra exercise. I still wasn't educated at that point.
Now, 3 years later, I'm more nutritionally informed, have lost over 100 lbs, and am steadily losing 1-2 lbs a week.

lthames0810

Lifelong neglect. I gained about 90 pounds over 40 years. Not a perfectly straight line but close. If I'm calculating right, that's only about 2.25 pounds a year.

moodybear2003

I was always fat. Food was good, plentiful, I loved TV, reading, video games, crafts and hated sports or exercise. I even found ways around taking the required gym classes in school. I did get bullied but it was never a "problem" so I never tried to fix it. Gained more in college, gained more after college. Last 2 years I gained 30 more pounds switching back to omnivore diet from being a vegetarian for 14 years, a desk job, and a back injury, and suddenly I was over 300 pounds.

I never had any trouble with my health until turning 30, so now I'm trying to undo all the damage I've done. Almost completely dropped pop/soda which I used to have several a day of all my life. Counting calories, exercising 3 to 4 days a week. Finding Exercise I LOVE and I never thought that would happen. I've lost 30 pounds in 6 months. I'm at a bit of a plateau now, so trying to re-adjust my calories to see a loss again.

OddDitty

I began to get heavy when the teen years hit. Oddly enough, my Mom did take me to a doctor to find out why I was chunky. He only shrugged and said I ate too much and cut back my portions. It never dawned on anyone that I could be showing early symptoms of thyroid issues.

Many years later the problem came to a head and it wasn't until I hit 400 lbs that a doctor decided to run tests. By this time I was taking in 900 calories a day with no success. They kept accusing me of cheating, so I decided to hell with it and DID cheat! But I also changed doctors and guess what he found? HASHIMOTOS DISEASE! I had ALL the symptoms, including the fearful goiter (beginning), falling out hair, etc. And diabetes. Bad diabetes. High blood pressure along with afib.

They treated the hashimotos, which took about a year to kick in. Then came controlling the diabetes. Afib came last. I've not had an attack in four years! (Thank you Jesus!!! Those attacks were miserable!)

Now I'm losing the residual weight and trying to get my skin to tighten. Hard to do the latter at age 63 but as I lose more weight, I hope to see this happen. I found a type of exercise I can to without stressing the joints: the rowing machine.

Anyway, I am down to 238. Fifteen of it lost since joining MFP. Like everyone else, I love to eat. But I'm learning to be proud of myself every day that I stick within the guidelines. And since I do love to cook, I've been getting creative with that as well.

I hope you all do very well in your weight loss journey!!!

jo_nz

Basically, lower activity levels without an adjustment in food intake.

Every time I have had a reduction in my general activity level, my weight has gone up - first when I finished university and got a desk job, then when I broke my ankle, and again when I had further surgery on the ankle.

Plus my two pregnancies, of course...

grmreapper

I was very active all through High school and the Army lifted weights and ran while in the Army never liked running only did it because I had to. My weight gain started my one day not feeling like working out and said I'll do it tomorrow only tomorrow would be the same thing next thing I know I'm up to 235lbs and size 40in waist. Now I am happy to say I am down to 126lbs and a 29in waist. I also enjoy running now something I wouldn't think of doing at 235lbs.i run 10 miles most days and as far as 14 miles on weekends.

rheddmobile

Both of my parents were obese and served huge portions of food while I was growing up, but when I was young I was active enough to eat a ton and stay skinny. My mother, who has some mental issues around weight, would project her fears onto me and try to stop me from eating sweets - ten tons of pasta and salad served by her was okay, but if I wanted three Oreos instead of two I couldn't have them. So I learned to buy my own food and eat it secretly. Again, I stayed skinny, being very active, but the foundation for bad eating habits was laid.

When I was in graduate school I blew out my ACL and was laid up for months. The weight started to come on then, gradually, but enough that a few years later I realized I had gained 25 lbs over my college weight, started exercising, went on a diet, and lost it. Then I got lupus and was unable to be active again, gained back plus some. Second diet, lost 50 lbs, was hit by a lupus flare and gave up. It's hard to deny yourself food when everything hurts. I became obese.

At some point I also developed Cushing's syndrome caused by an ovarian tumor, which turned out to be benign but in the meantime played games with all my hormones, as well as crushing my other organs and making me feel terrible. For more than a year I was very ill without a diagnosis, then finally the tumor caused a torsion which - after a month spent literally bedridden and begging for pain meds - finally led to emergency surgery. At some point during that month I became a diabetic - I have my bloodwork from the time of my first visit to the ER, and it was normal, and at the end of a month, I was a full-blown diabetic, probably due to the effects of stress hormones. I also lost 25 lbs during that month due to insulin resistance.

However, my diabetes turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since I finally had a caring and intelligent doctor, and no more tumor messing about with my hormones. I set out to lose enough weight to improve my insulin resistance, and succeeded. However, I will always be a diabetic, and I live in fear of a lupus flare making me unable to be active again.

Luv2eatSweets

Blamed it on menopause. But in reality I was just lazy. I would avoid mirrors at all costs. Finally got sick of telling myself how ugly I was and did something about it.

GreenValli

Put back on some weight because I now have a desk job. I had lost 70 pounds, but have put some back on. I am determined not to go over 200 ever again and I haven't. It has been a struggle to lose more even though I go to the gym at least twice a week and stay under 1300 calories a day.

hawkmancody

I just realy love food. And for some reason i can really down it. I can eat way too much. That and general laziness.

sbrooks0387

4 kids in 5 years. All single births. I was never able to lose all the baby weight before getting prego again. And 3 of the pregnancies I gained more than the 25/30 pounds reccomended.

I did lose some of it after my last was weaned, but then hubby quite trucking. And now was home at night eating ice cream and wanting to eat out. I like eating ice cream and eating out. Gained all I lost back.

I am more committed now, and can refuse food when he eats his junk (I eat mine earlier in the day if I want ice cream). Right now I am watching him eat pizza rolls.

GottaBurnEmAll

Initially? To deal with emotional issues tied to childhood trauma. And from then forward, I had learned to use food as an emotional crutch. I will probably always have a somewhat problematic relationship with it, because the issues are so deep and go back so far.

tk2222

Mix of things - I gained weight in highschool when I got more depressed and socially isolated. My parents both have issues with their weight and went through a lot of self-loathing and various fad diets attempts, but also maintained a big culture of lots of food, lots of eating in the house (although usually fairly healthy - no fast food or soda, plenty of salads and protein, but large portions and no common sense about calories.) Which they'd sometimes avoid themselves while putting it on for me and my sister, but also making comments about our weight and out eating.

As an adult I've gained and lost, and its been exacerbated by my own issues, but the roots are at home, I think. This is the first time I've lived in a different city, (even when I was living on my own, I'd be home a few evening a week at least) and its really making a difference for my relationship with food (though its still like the only thing my mom asks about when we talk.) My parents are smart people, but come from a *kitten* up food culture, both in each of their families and more widely, I think - they're kids of the 50's and 60's in the Ukraine, so they grew up with food shortages and restrictions (which got even worse in the 80s, if I recall correctly) and memories of starvation in my grandparents generation, but also both of them with weight issues and stuff that sounds like borderline eating disorders at various points in their lives.

I mean, I definitely have bad food habits, and use food as a comfort and eat for boredom and stress binge, etc - that's on me and I'm working on changing it, but there's not a particular inflection point, just something I grew up with.

mulecanter

Mindless grazing while watching TV in the evenings.

tbright1965

I wasn't paying attention to what was on the end of my fork.

That's it. Bad choices. No one to blame but myself.

Claremoak

Could list any number of things i.e. childhood, always was "chubby", babies, work, cancer, knee surgery, LIFE. But basically I am lazy, like to snack and hate to exercise, and I eat the most when I "sneak it" (definitely a childhood thing!). All those LIFE things were just excuses not to take control of my emotional eating. Everyone has their demons. I will always struggle, but just keep working on it. The successes are motivational.

Unknown

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photojo582

For me I think it began when I stopped doing heavier and harder work and didn't change my eating habits.
But the main reason is probably years of dealing with depression and some other mental challenges.

smolmaus

I gained a little bit when I quit my retail job and got stuck at a desk doing a PhD. What really screwed me tho was the stress, I have anxiety issues at the best of times and with not liking the project, feeling constantly out of my depth, not getting on with my supervisors, getting further and further behind, I started drinking too much and eating too much. Then I quit (before I was made to) and was unemployed and basically drunk all the time for over a year. I only left the house for booze and cigarettes and food. I was depressed as hell. Ballooned. I still can't rewatch Greys Anatomy because it just reminds me of feeling like a total waste of space watching 14 hours of TV a day.

I also have ceoliac so I was basically constantly malnourished as a child before I was diagnosed which has also given me some lifelong anxiety since I was always hungry. I need to know where my next meal is coming from, I need to eat enough now so that I can last until my next meal, I need to feel full. It's normally manageable but when other things make me anxious it all just piles on top of eachother.

eatyogarun

I self medicated, with food, my postpartum depression. Also breastfed for 2 years and it made me crazy hungry, so that didn't help. Tis why I always harumph when people say nursing will help you lose weight. (p.s. My "baby" is 17 now )

lilly8529

It was a stressful job I got last year. I was so miserable I quit after eight months. I gained almost 10 pounds the first month from not having time to eat healthy meals for breakfast or the energy to work out. The company said most people that work there gain about 20 pounds the first year. I knew it wasn't for me.

SMKing75

I was always a heavier kid. Tallest in my class and bigger than all the other girls. As I got older, I thinned out but was always 'Big". Graduated high school at 167, which obviously didn't make me the biggest person in the world, but... When I was 16, my childhood friend was found murdered and I was there when he took his last breath before they pulled him off life support. It was awful. I went on anti-depressants sometime in college, maybe when I was 20? Unfortunately, me being overweight prior and then taking this medication, did not help me. I gained like 50 lbs in a year. I got diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and started some other medications and gained enough weight to put me at 280 lbs by the time I was 25. I started WW and lost 50 lbs. Got off all medication. Then maintained that for a time until I lost 15 more pounds and maintained that for 6 years. Had three children, 4 pregnancies. I gained baby weight and lost baby weight. I never got back to 280 or even close, thankfully.
Since the birth of my last child, (6 years) I have been making exercise and eating better a priority and have gotten down to 160 lbs. Still have 6 lbs to go to be "normal". Definitely a process.

scarlett624kh

I had a stroke at 30 years old and didn't know yet it was due to an autoimmune disorder. I was on the couch for weeks nearly monthly with infections and pain. My electrolytes also kept randomly dropping dangerously low. Still does sometimes. Now I'm on a blood thinner and feeling better than I did although I still have my bad months. I gained almost 30lbs in 1 1/2 years 😣. No more excuses for me.

HDBKLM

bump

jryepin93

I ate when I was sad, angry, or stressed. During my undergrad of college and my first year of grad school, that happened to be 99% of the time.

MikePTY

For me my why was falling in love. When my wife and I started dating over 7 years ago, we were both in skinny and in good shape. She did cross fit and was a regular at my gym and did martial arts training. But once we started living together and getting comfortable, we started to lose some of the motivation to stay in shape. Life started to get in the way, and we were always supportive of each other and loved each other as we were, but that probably made it easy for us to take it easy on keeping in shape. That combined with us not being homemakers and big eaters led to a lot of dining out at high calorie restaurants.

Over the years, in addition to the weight gain, it caused some health problems in my wife, which made it harder for both of us to get back on track. Over the last 7 years, we've both added about 70 pounds each.

We are trying now to use our love for each other as a motivation to get it together and get healthy, as we want to protect our future together.

bernadettenz

FutureMrsCarver89 wrote: »

I lost my sons. They died a day apart from each other. I dealt with my grief through food and drugs. I'm currently 4, almost 5 years clean of heroin, but my weight kept going up and up as I wasn't dealing with their deaths properly.

So sorry for your loss ❤️ You are amazing to have stayed heroin free. All the best for your future and I hope you get the help you need.

cravinglifechants

It started out when I was a teen with a stupid overconfidence. I was convinced that my weight wouldn't change because, despite my horrid eating habits at the time, the scale never went over 75kg (approx 165). Naturally, that didn't last, but the pisspoor eating habits did. Emotional eating added to the problem, and when puberty hit with all the force of a cosmic time-space rupture, things went straight to hell. Although I count myself blessed to not be dealing with PCOS, I do have PCO, which doesn't help matters, and hypothyroidism.

Basically, Me + Laziness + Food + No Longer Giving Any Fricks = Match made in Luci's cooking pot.

It got to the point where I wouldn't bother buying groceries. It was too easy to buy a nice big Wimpy breakfast with extras, buy some snacks, buy a double lunch, and then throw on some large pizza with extra toppings for dinner. Naturally, being unhappy with how I looked, I consoled myself with chocolate - because that fixes everything. I look back and I call myself an *kitten*. Now I'm just trying to fix the mess I got myself into. Better late than never!

kdbulger

- laziness
- sedentary job/lifestyle with no exercise
- Had two kids and didn't try to lose the weight from the first baby because I knew I was going to do it all over again (do I ever regret that! I might not have all the loose skin if I had worked on lowering my weight before my second pregnancy).
- breastfeeding. I used that as such an excuse. It made me crave sweets, but it's not like I tried to be reasonable about it.