Whats YOUR reason for gaining weight???

Confuzzled4ever

You really mean what is your EXCUSE. Very few have a real reason.

that's rude... and regardless of calling it an excuse or a reason there are things that happen in life that take us to where we never thought we'd end up. depressed, surrounded in empty bottles with cake frosting on our faces.. It's a blessing when you awaken from that stupor...

It's not what happened. It's what you do about it once you recognize the problem and make the choice to fix it.

When I woke up I had a large waist, no job, no education, ridiculous debt, alcohol dependency (or something similar to that) and a baby. I didn't fix the large waist until now almost 15 years later. But I did it..

Our struggles are real, not an excuse. They make us or break us. Those of us here have stood up and faced our struggles or are in the process of doing so. Rather then try to mince words you should support each other. The *reason* I am here is I closed my eyes to my life for a few years after my father died. That's a real reason, i didn't use his death as an excuse to eat cake everyday (or whatever I did), I don't even know what I ate for those years, I know very little about what I did for those years and the stuff I do know my friends have told me. When I reopened them I had a mess to clean up. That's not an excuse. It *is* what happened. I've taken steps everyday since I've opened my eyes to fix the mess I created. There's always a reason. It's what you do after you acknowledge it that matters.

Most of us have something that set us off.. a catalyst. That's not an excuse it's a reason we ended up on the path to unhealthy. An excuse would come in to play after you recognize the problem and fail to fix it.

ChrisR0se

The spoon

rosemary98

As a child, I loved to eat. everything...nutritious meals and all the sweets and snacks I could get my hands on. But as a growing and active kid, I was able to stay pretty trim. then college hit. Not active and there were days I didn't see a vegetable. My meals were mainly fast food. The calories added up and so did the pounds. I also would go to food for emotional reasons...happy, sad, frustrated. food was my drug.

BDR0514

My husband and I LOVE to eat good food and drink good wine together. When we quit smoking we ate and drank more than ever! I associate good times with him to food. It has been 2 years of wedded bliss and now I am up 30 pounds and ashamed that I let it get away from me.

sara_qayoom

Wow... Ive read EVERY SINGLE POST written and ive taken all of them to heart. Some of them made me laugh (Because it was funny, im not a sadist!), some of them made me teary, someof them made me go "is that me?". Up to now i thought i was fighting against this battle alone and that I was the only one who had shut themself and emotionally ate. But now after reading all of your posts, ive realised im not alone and all of you are not alone! We're all in this together to loose weight. But what we all want in the end is to ironically gain something. And that is to gain the new US, to become the person we've always want to be. So if anyone else wants to post something please feel free, why not? Its better to write your emotions and gain the new you right, whats there to loose but weight?

MrsBingley

I had babies in my 30's twice. Everyone said "not to diet" while pregnant and breastfeeding. The Dr. Also said not to gain too much weight and to keep active. I kept active, but my appetite was even more active and I gained and gained. My Dr. Suggested, mildly, that I should watch the weight gain, but DID NOT TELL ME HOW! My entire adult life, I had eaten intuitively, stayed active and my weight remained stable in the (highish) normal range. Gaining the weight was distressing and I truly, honestly did not know what I was doing wrong.

bnsnwldwmn

I'm a comfort eater too.

Stress is my biggest trigger. I'm a new teacher - young, struggling to manage the kids, struggling to teach my content, struggling to pay my bills -, I'm planning a wedding, and I'm living in a city 6 hours from my family where my only friend is my fiance. Over the last 2 1/2 - 3 years, as the level of stress in my life rose, so did the number on the scale and my level of dissatisfaction with how my body looked. Food was the one thing I could always count on, and after a particularly hard day, I would gravitate toward it, sometimes regardless of whether I could afford it or not. The pizza was always cheesy, the hamburgers were always greasy, and the fries were always salty, and the sodas were always refreshing.

High emotions = high caloric intake for me. Partly because I thought it would make me feel better, and partly because purchasing those convenience food was easier (read: less stressful) than making myself something healthy.

I think I'll always be a comfort eater. I'll always want those types of foods when I'm stressed or unhappy. The difference is in the planning. Now, I make sure I have better things on hand, so that it's harder for me to excuse those purchases, especially as I work to tighten my financial belt as well as my literal belt.

seltzermint555

Growing up, my parents did not have great eating habits. In the 80's when I was a kid it was basically considered ok by everyone I knew to chow down on McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Little Debbies, Coke, etc. Somehow almost every kid I knew was skinny, but I got chubby from it. I was always a bigger than average kid but tall as well as heavy and then by the time I hit puberty I had those terrible eating habits in place.

Post-college, I developed some better eating habits, started learning to cook, trying veggies, etc. Really improved. But then I met my now ex-husband and my habits backslid a lot. He was also obese and our main source of entertainment was dining out. For every holiday, special event, etc, we cooked tons of food at home including very fatty, sugary, horrible-for-you options and I drank diet soda and almost no water at all. My weight stayed about the same for years and then I got a better job that was 100% sedentary and we had even more $$ available to dine out - practically every night. Add to that my method of dealing with stress at the time...chocolate and/or Starbucks. That's how I got to my all-time heaviest weight of 307.

sara_qayoom

Bnsnwidwmn-
Comfort eating isnt the WORSE thing in the world (even i like a cheat now and then to relieve stress) but the thing is you need to keep it in moderation. If you allow yourself one piece of chocolate you cant just binge on the entire 350g. So my advise is to just be ahead of our control.

Seltzermint-
My parent had a big influence on my eating habits as well. My dad (before he left us) worked in a pizza shop and he would always bring a pizza a night, and my mom is overweight as well and she would always give us chocolate, hmmmm... And i cant believe your heaviest was 307lbs because if that's you in your profile photo you must have lost ALOT of weight cus your looking skinny :O

asianmonkie

Ex-boyfriend. He never wanted to do anything but sit in bed watching TV. I was very active up until I met him my sophomore year of college. We would eat out 2-3 times a day. We would snack after our meals and I don't mean a peanut and some candy. I mean two bags of chips, 4 sodas, and a sandwich (and that was only me). I was bored out of my mind being with him and yet I stuck around for 5 years! He never let me see my friends or my family so I was always at home with him watching TV. No one told me I was getting fat so I didn't know that I had gained 30 pounds in 5 years. I finally broke up with him, moved out, and looked at myself in the mirror. I couldn't even see my entire body in a mirror. Depressing. Haha.

Showcase_Brodown

I wanted to do a bit of a bulk.

LeslieX4

I had an *kitten* husband who I divorced and was out lawyered. I almost had to pay this man allimony.

At first I lost a ton of weight was working out quite a bit. Then as a single Mom I found myself having to work 65 hours a week to make ends meet as he pays nothing for his kids. So food became my comfort. I weigh more than I did before I had my twins. I am motivated now to cut back on the food and drink. My kids need their Mom.

19TaraLynn84

Mine was a number of factors, but like someone already mentioned, I ate more calories than I burned. Plain and simple.

I could kick myself in the rear for choosing not to breast feed my fourth and final baby. I never got down to my pre-baby weight like I was able to do with my other 3 and I seriously believe that was why. Then, I started staying up way too late. And, of course, I ate when I stayed up too late. (My own special reward for making it through the day with 4 kiddos) Mix all that with a serious sweet tooth, and voila! I'm over my desired weight by 25 pounds. I know it's not much to some people, but when you own about 3 outfits that fit, it's a problem!

My hat's off to those of you who have lost large amounts of weight! Congrats! You inspire me.

JazmineYoli

Gained most my weight in college. I worked 2 jobs and went to school full time. Did not have time to cook or afford to eat healthy. Pizza and soda was only $2 at the time. Who could beat that when you are on a budget? I got used to eating that way and didn't work out. I would look in the mirror and not see a difference, until I looked at my pictures and was disgusted. That became my lifestyle until Jan 2013 when I changed my ways.

ReadyToBeMeAt160

sad but true - realized earlier this week that part of me gets/stays fat so i have an excuse not to accomplish all things I want to. somehow having the "fat girl mentality' makes me think that any inadequacies I have are outside of my control.

lisabinco

The Standard American Diet (SAD), USDA MyPlate, bad science & information regarding nutrition, etc

Yep, this too. I'm amazed at what I know now about nutrition compared to what I thought I knew 5 years ago. Live and learn.