How did you gain the weight?

trudijoy

Changed, city, broke my foot badly, had a depressive breakdown, depression, depression depression, broke the other foot, depression, stopped caring.

anro86

I was always on the low side of being a healthy size, usually the smallest of my friends. At 19 I got pregnant with my daughter and gained about 35-40 pounds during the pregnancy. I lost about half of that shortly after I had my daughter. Then I started having marital problems, changed from a really active job to a more sedentary one, started birth control, then anti-depressants, and finally realized how much weight I had gained when I got weighed at the doctor's office and realized I weighed more than I did when I was pregnant. It was a gradual thing, and I had never kept track of my weight, really, so it sort of snuck up on me.

ProgressNotPerfection32

I was small until i had my daughter at 22, gained 75 lbs. lost it all and then lack of money, a horribly abusive marriage (that is in the past, thankfully), choosing food to deal with all emotions in my life and not thinking I was worth much. Gained it all back and more. Thankfully that's all a few years behind me and I am getting healthy now

AerinRae

I was an active kid but I had unlimited access to serious amounts of junk food. It wasn't unusual for me to have 3 or 4 ice cream bars in a day. Growing up I was always slightly overweight or average. As an adult I was from small size 4 to a size 14/16 (current). I tend to be heavier when I am struggling in a relationship. I started dating my husband way too soon after a horrible break up. We married and my weight has been on a steady climb. He was a little overweight and a pretty serious eater, food became our main source of entertainment. The relationship has been mostly rocky and my physical appearance reflects that. We have been emotionally separated for a while and I am starting to really focus on getting myself right.

pbluberry

It was creeping up for many years since I got with my boyfriend. We don't cook at home and eat out alot. It's difficult to count calories when I am pigging out at restaurants. At first I made an effort to stick to healthy alternatives then I didn't care. My sister's wedding was last weekend so I was trying to lose the weight months ago but now I am still sticking to my goal.

Food scales are wonderful!!! I've always had a problem with portion. I don't know what the hell an oz is so this kitchen gadget is a life safer!! LOVE LOVE IT!!

LightersUp

When I was little, from age 1-10, I was skinny but then when I slowly started to gain weight, I had no idea I was fat until people started to point it out. Lol, but I didn't care, I denied it up until freshman year when I was always the last one to finish the running laps in PE, I was like "Alright, I seriously need to lose weight! Lol

Melmade

Eating too much... :smooched:

jvbrooks

Same way everyone else did and the same way I plan on losing (more) of it: one day at a time.

kaydeedoubleu1

leaving home after finishing school and having no idea about responsibility, adulthood, or implications of an unhealthy lifestyle. An unhealthy, unhappy 5 year relationship. Stress, self esteem yadiyada.

brraanndi

I love restaurants.
I love anything I don't have to cook myself.
And I love trying new foods.

There was definitely no crying in the closet over how ugly I am and sneak eating ho-hos here.

shinkalork

Gained the first time.... I was unhappy in my life...so I ate a lot and became a couch potato.
I lost some but gained some back after my surgery in December 2011.

After that...I decided it was enough ..... Never gained again.

Bownzi

STRESS!!!!!!!..... Crappy job... Crappy relationship....crappy health...

dmitriunkovsky

Got out of a bad divorce last year and started binge drinking and eating instead of dealing with my problems. But now I'm on here and I'm engaged to a very wonderful, supportive gal, so those days are behind me.

Camera_BagintheUK

Just eating too much - snacking and treats and drinking wine - I didn't think I was overeating, but looking back if we went out, I'd go for the plate of chips while other people were having soup, and I'd want the chocolate fudge cake for pudding when everyone else was full.

And I'd eat when I wasn't hungry - crisps, peanuts, biscuits, chocolate - just shovelling rubbish into myself for no reason. I'd eat from habit not hunger - after a day out shopping, we HAD to have a cup of tea and a cake at 4pm. It's eleven o'clock, we HAVE to have a cup of coffee and a biscuit. It's Friday night, we MUST have a takeaway and a bottle of wine. I NEED to have a bag of crips with my sandwich at lunch and I MUST have something sweet to follow. Counting calories has definitely helped me knock these habits on the head!

And I had a thing in my head that wouldn't let me leave anything - I remember one Christmas at my sister's house, we'd just eaten our dinner and she was clearing the plates and pointed at a huge plate of something and said to us "come on, eat it, that can't go back in the kitchen" and I insitinctively felt responsible and was going to take more food - then it dawned on me, the pile of food was monumental, we couldn't have eaten it together much less me on my own, so why did I feel like I had to eat it? And why couldn't it go back in the kitchen? That moment was a revelation, and I noticed then that I couldn't bear to leave food or anything - the last glassful of wine in the bottle. Especially if the food was going to be wasted, I couldn't bear that and I'd eat till I felt sick rather than let food go in the bin. Now I just try to take less food in the first place to avoid waste, and sometimes I leave some on the plate just to prove I can.

I also think I eat too quickly - I really wolf it down at speed, and that's not helpful because it means I'm sitting there with no food while my husband still has half a plate of food, as well as leaving me feeling unsatisfied instead of feeling full, which tempts me to eat more and take a second helping. I'm still working on slowing my eating down, chewing properly, putting my cutlery down and resting. Same goes for drinking - I always finish a glass of wine before anyone else. I try to drink more water to fill me up and stop me feeling thirsty to slow my drinking down. These are still a work in progress though :ohwell:

Spiderkeys

I was the ideal weight in my 20s, but in my 30s, I developed bad eating habits, I just ate 1 huge meal a day, just before bed, which was the worst thing you can do, I was never hungry doing the day, just at night, I was on a low budget, It seemed the junk food was the best buy. (more food for less), I knew I was gaining pounds, I didn't like it, I tried dieting or stopping weight on on only 1 meal at day, by changing from white to wholemeal bread, diet sodas, and lighter cheese but I continued to gain (pointless if I'm gonna eat almost a whole loaf of bread (Wholemeal or not), my appetite was just out of control when I got hungry, it turns out I was consuming over 5000 calories a day and neary just with 1 meal!

I continued to outgrow my favourite clothes and It was quite annoying, but just had no knowledge of losing weight, other than attempting to starve, but I gave in from starivation pains within 2 days. I lived in a small flat with little room to excercise, so I also got little of that too!

honeysprinkles

I gained 60 pounds over 4 years. I was 125 when I started dating my now husband, which was right at the end of my freshman year of high school. Being in a relationship, I started eating more like he did, also going out to eat more often, getting my first job and car and having my own money for fast food and all that...so basically I gained the first 20 in my junior and senior years of high school and graduated around 145.

First semester of college, gained another 20 pounds, putting me at 165 (and I didn't even drink alcohol, I was just eating too much). That's when I found MFP and I used it for a few months and lost 10 lbs. but then quit and gained it back again(I had an old account that I deactivated before making this one).

Then I gained another 20 in just a few months at the beginning of my sophomore year of college. I found out that I also had a thyroid problem that contributed to how fast I put on the weight, not sure how long I'd had that or how much of a factor it was, but I do know that it killed my energy level for a while! So that's how I went from 125 to 185 in 4 years.

I started using MFP again for good in November of my sophomore year (2011) at 185lbs (a lot for me at 5'6" with a small frame), and I've been logging on everyday since and I'm down to 120 now! Less than I weighed in high school

jimshine

I grossly underrated the calories in the foods I was eating.

jenniferawilkes

I gained my weight due to stress, which resulted in bad eating habits and the lack of interest to exercise!

jadedhippo

I started puberty around 8 years old so I piled on the weight from that. And what made it worse was I ate high fat foods.. and 14 years later im still trying to get rid of it.

sjanejack

after puberty I started to get more and more chubby, the chubbyness turned to me being a little overweight, then I got more and more overweight
it was basically the things we were eating at home all the time or half the time, eating candy, lack of exercise, etc