Why did you get FAT & why did you decide to turn it around?

salembambi

its a huge boring very sad story actually

took probably 5 years for me to gain all the weight ...lots and lots of emotional comfort eating and binging

I turned it around because I felt like I was ready to feel somewhat like myself again and I knew I could do it so I did

funny though the depression & anxiety is still there ... I just count calories and work out now...

mental health is not magically fixed by weight loss despite what some people think

lisalsd1

I was an overweight kid. I did not have good role models for health or self-control. I picked up bad habits from my parents. I was "addicted" to sugar as a kid.

As a teen, I was pretty unhappy with my weight, but more so unhappy with my lack of self-control and control over my body. I wanted to take control over my situation. I cut out soda.sweets, lost 15lbs, started exercising, lost 15 more lbs by the time I graduated from high school (despite a lot of conflict and sabotaging by my parents). I gained about 10 lbs my freshman year of college (new situation, less self-control). My grades weren't so great either, so I had to buckle down. Implemented the strategies I had used previously to lose weight, improved my grades, and lost 35lbs.

By the end of my second year of college, I was down about 50+lbs from my highest weight in hs. By the time I had graduated from college, I had lost a bit more weight.

I've been able to maintain my weight for 10+ years and through having 2 kids (obviously I gained weight, but it was pretty easy for me to lose the baby weight, b/c I had lost weight so many times before). I'm happiest when I have a sense of predictability in my life and when I feel that I am in control over my circumstances...

awe216

I gained weight slowly in college because I was lazy. I went from 118-120 my freshman year to 132 the day after christmas this year. I'm 5"0 so 12 pounds is a lot on a short stump. I never worked out in college (literally maybe played tennis/worked out once a month maybe). Now I look in the mirror and its just all fat and no muscle and nothing is toned. I also like alcohol a lot. That doesn't help.

So counting calories and working out is the best thing and MFP has every food you can imagine without doing the research. It doesn't seem like work and it's kind of like a game to me. Stay under the calories. I've lost weight everyday since I started (all of three days ago)

albloomfield60

I build some really bad eating habits when I was a teenager. When in high school we got a 30 minute lunch period, if you was one of the last ones to get served you literally would have 5 minutes to eat your lunch, so while in high school I got into the habit of eating food as fast as I possibly could. Plus during that time, from about 6th grade to 8th grade I grew from 5'0 to 6'3, I was hungry all the time and pretty much ate anything I wanted non stop. I stopped growing at 6'3.

I was really active when I was younger, I played sports year around. So growing at an incredibly fast rate, being very active, and eating as much as I wanted too as fast as I possibly could built some really bad habits.

The reason for turning this around I went to a Kansas State football game with some friends, we parked a long ways away and the walk to the stadium literally almost killed me. I've had 2 knee surgeries from my football days, and my back from the extra weight I've been carrying was killing my back, after about 100 yards of walking I was out of breath, the kind of out of breath it felt like when I'd run wind sprints back in high school.

I was beyond embarrased and mad at myself how bad I had gotten. I'm 41 years old and I don't want to be so fat and out of shape that I can't do things like that with friends or family.

amykay9377

Good question!
I was called chubby as a kid (but looking at photos now, I was Normal Kid Size - not rail thin, but not the big girl hiding in the corner). I think a lot of it was boob, honestly. I had bad eating habits (I could, and still can, eat an entire Totinos pizza in one sitting...)

I ate and ate and ate when I was pregnant (well, after 4 months of horrendous morning sickness that caused me to get to my lowest weight ever of 132 - mom thought I had an eating disorder!). After pregnancy, started Depo - increased my hunger and decreased the metabolsim. Also, high stress job, I liked to cook, ate at the hospital food court (at my job) every day (usually pizza or burgers). By 2010-2011, I was way in the 200's. I quit the Depo by now, as well as smoking, but the weight thing didn't seem to be as big of an issue. THen I decided to run a half-marathon.

I've lost 10 pounds over the last year -- not nearly as much as I wanted to, but I haven't been able to beat my ED yet - Selective Eating Disorder / Food Neophobia. I'll get there. Until then, I am eating my current crappy diet in moderation....

aimforhealthy

I became 60 lbs overweight over the course of about 10 years, so it was gradual for me. And it was largely due to ignorance. I didn't know anything about nutrition, weight management, or fitness. I used to be rail thin when I was a dancer dancing up to 8 hours a day, almost every day, and I'd eat anything I wanted and not gain a pound. I used to brag about it! But becoming a sedentary computer programmer - especially one that worked overnights for several years and used liters of soda to stay awake - changed that. I am not an emotional eater - I just had no concept of calorie restriction or what a serving was or portion control. If you gave me a box of Oreos - I love Oreos, so I'd eat the whole box in one sitting because it was what I'd always done without consequence, and they're yummy.

Mindless eating, sedentary living and ignorance, basically.

jennk5309

I ate too much!!!

Plus, I was very miserably married to an overbearing and emotionally abusive, demanding alcoholic. I was stressed all the time and stuffed my face to cope, and never had "me" time to take care of myself and exercise.

I divorced and the pounds started coming off just with exercise. After about 70 pounds within a few years, I plateaued. Then came MFP and Weight Watchers for a while, which REALLY worked, bringing the total to 110 lbs lost.. I'm about 9 pounds from a healthy weight. Back on MFP after quitting Weight Watchers when I was pregnant, but then I lost the baby and didn't want to rejoin and then have to quit yet again once I get pregnant (my new, amazing, husband and I are trying). I plan on using MFP while pregnant to keep weight gain within a healthy range once pregnant. Weight Watchers won't let you stay on their program if pregnant.

Anyway, back to your original question.....Stress contributed to overeating and not taking care of myself, and getting happy and making time to take care of myself helped turn it around!

uconnwinsnc

Ate too much. Decided to turn it around when I realized that I am too ****ing awesome to be fat.

pmur

Had my second child and like last time, I was expecting the weight to fall off by itself. I've never had to work to lose weight or maintain so I had no idea where to begin. Finally, this April, I weaned my son and I still had a lot of pregnancy weight to drop. Luckily I found MFP and here I am. In my head, I'm convinced that having a micro preemie and all the stress related to being a NICU mom is the biggest contributor to my lack of weight loss. Hope I'm back to pre baby weight by summer. It's about time, my son just turned three last week and I've run out do excuses.

1xxoxxoxx1

Exams last summer. Stress-eating. Stopping working out because I had to spend all my time revising. Then the bad habits stuck. I'm also easily led astray on nights out and end up drinking way too much, then when I'm drunk it seems like a great idea to eat anything in sight. At 59kg I'm not really overweight - towards the upper end of the healthy range... but I have a tiny frame, and before the exams last summer I'd been around 52kg for some time.

Want to turn it around because I don't want to lose control completely, which feels like it could easily happen if I don't do something now!

vivalalia

I was a very chubby toddler, but by the time I was five I got taller and was very, very thin. I stayed this way for a while because I did ballet and swam competitively, though I did have a fairly large appetite. I outgrew ballet and had to stop swimming due to skin problems when I was ten. I started gaining weight due to the loss of exercise, but it wasn't that bad.
Through puberty it became evident that I had a fairly large frame, which made the weight I was slowly gaining look even worse. It only really started bothering me when I was about 13. There were some kinds of clothing I couldn't wear because I didn't think they looked good on me anymore. It still didn't bother me that much until I rapidly gained a lot of weight the summer before I turned sixteen. While my weight still fluctuates, I have probably gained between 16-20 pounds over a span of two years.
I'm not terribly unhealthy (in terms of nutrition - my household is quite obsessed with health - there isn't a microwave and even the laundry detergent is all-natural organic stuff) but I do tend to stress eat/binge and get basically no exercise.

I want to lose weight because I'm not happy with myself and I'm sick of looking at myself in the mirror or in photos and feeling inadequate compared to my friends. I want to be able to dress the way I want to and buy pretty clothes, and not worry about whether or not I'd look good in them or if the stores even carry anything in my size. Mostly I just want to have a more positive outlook on myself and life, and I think losing weight is one way to do that.

kelly_e_montana

I got fat from counting calories and restricting and then binging from stress when I couldn't meet the level of perfection I was striving for. I then purged. I quit purging but binging as an emotional response to anxiety was still hard wired into my brain so I became very overweight. I lost weight through cognitive behavioral therapy that helped me to quit restricting, monitoring and binging. I also started exercising to help relieve stress. Now I am so active that I don't have to restrict calories at all. I can pretty much eat whatever I want, given that what I want is now nutrient dense food that provides me fuel for my active life. I don't try to be small. I try to be healthy, on an emotional and physical level. If I ever feel that I am fixating on calories, I quit counting them. I started in the 2nd grade so I know what a portion size is and the general calories for almost all of the foods I eat. I didn't want to carry the burden of 30 years of eating disorders into my 40s so I didn't.

kelly_e_montana

I got fat because I wouldn't stop putting food into my mouth. I had a massive love affair with food and I didn't want it to end.

Then, a few things happened.

I turned 45 and realized my life is either half over or it's nearly over. A friend of mine and I decided that we could either survive our 50's, or we could ROCK our 50's. I want to be a hot 50, not a dead 50.

I over processed my hair and it fell out in clumps in the tub. It was horrifying on so many levels. I cried for about 10 hours straight. Then I just cut it all off. It was very empowering and gave me a lot of confidence! Highly recommend everyone do it at least once in their life.

After I cut off my hair, I went as Ripley in Alien 3 for Halloween. I looked sooooo heavy in the pictures that I felt I let a great character down.

I broke up with emotional food, started a relationship with sensible fuel, and started working out 41 days ago. I've lost nearly 12 inches and 21 pounds and I feel so much better. I don't want to stop! I want to be one of those 70 year-olds that runs a marathon or climbs a mountain.

Awesome post. I felt that way about my 40s. I've since been in a 5K where I see those 70 year olds running much longer distances than me and I climbed a 9,400 foot mountain this summer with a bunch of 60 and 70 year olds. It's super inspiring to see how much of aging we can control through how we treat our bodies!

CassieReannan

I got lazy and started working in fast food. Cheap food = good food. I also thought having a fiance that loved me no matter what made it free reign to put anything I liked in my mouth. I got so big I literally felt embarrassed to go anywhere and felt so uncomfortable. There were a number of things that made me start losing weight, one was starting to study nursing. Being in classes would make me feel so hypocritical, as an advocate for health I wasn't very healthy. My mum also suffered a stroke a month before and I decided enough was enough. So I quit my job, moved back home.. and here I am 640 days later.

caminoslo

I got fat cause I ate too many carbs Aka food pyramid. Then i lose weight without cravings by avoiding carbs that are bad ones.

brandi_cane

I got fat from a new found love of drinking wine. Last year... I probably had 3 alcoholic beverages in total. This year... DAILY consumption of 1.5l of wine - EVERYDAY.

Turning point - having NO clothes in the closet that fit well.

Good luck!

zara1408

My weakness was carbs. LOTS OF IT. I lived off rice, bread and pasta as child and during my early teens. I never cared about my figure, i knew i was getting bigger but that didnt stop me. It hit me around 16, that I needed to get fit, and i tried different ways of dieting, but I'd give up after a short while and then go back to my usual high-carb-eating self.. The past few months since starting uni and moving away from home, i realised it was a 'now or never' moment for me and that if i couldnt do it now, while living alone and cooking my own food, itd be hard to do it later on when life will just keep getting busier. its been much easier to control what I eat now, and MFP has really helped me keep track of it.

amandatapar

I gained up to 223 pounds by not exercising and eating junk, drinking mainly only soda, and just being plain lazy. I turned it around because I wanted to feel better and not so tired all the time. I was winded from one flight of stairs and I was just plain worn out and grumpy. Now I feel great and the only reason I feel tired is because of too many hours at work, not just normal life. I love my new lifestyle and how energetic I feel. I also love the new smaller wardrobe, smaller than I ever thought I would be.

elliek0101

I gained 30 pounds because of anti-depressants and eating poorly. I moved out on my own and "forgot" how to eat properly/I wasn't paying any attention to what I was putting in my mouth.

I really became motivated this summer after having surgery and ballooning up during the healing process. I couldn't fit into any of my "fat" clothes and was only comfortable in dresses. My friend invited me on a beach vacation and I declined because I was so miserable with my weight and body. Yep, that was definitely the final straw for me.

Now what motivates me is how much better I feel about myself. I am trying to get to the point where I don't care how much I weigh as long as I know I am putting healthy food into my body.

Followingsea

I worked 60-90 hour work weeks for about 6 months solid. Almost every meal I ate was takeout at the office, or at a restaurant near the office. I wasn't active - I'd wake up, go to work, sit at a desk for 14 hours, go home, pass out, repeat. I did this on weekends too. It was horrible. This went on from October '12 to about April '13. It wasn't good for me for a lot of reasons.

I turned it around when I couldn't fit into any of my outfits for a trade show we had in May 2013.

I am now armed with a more reasonable schedule, free time (FREE TIME, Y'ALL OMG), a gym membership, and photos of me at that trade show. Yikes.

kenkl

Obviously if you joined MFP, you have the drive and motivation to lose weight and stay fit.

Why did you get fat (initially) and why did you decide to lose that weight ?

What was the turning point?

I've always been fat, to varying degrees in my life. How that happened? Poor food choices, as a result of a lack of good information about what's actually healthy to eat. I don't think it really counts as an ED, but my relationship with food was pretty unhealthy. I ate when I was bored, happy, sad, stressed, relaxed, whenever.

One little fact I'd never properly absorbed until recently is that weight management is 80% (or more) diet, and only 20% (or less) exercise. Sad, but there it is. Learning that little piece of information was my "turning point". It was a tremendous relief - I didn't have to beat the crap out of myself with exercise to lose weight after all! I wish I'd known this ten years ago! I'd have saved myself a lot of pain and hospitalization (sport-related injuries/damage).

One of the big things that motivate me is that a friend of mine, who is slightly heavier than I am, recently had a stroke. She's only 12 years older than me, so it was a huge wake-up call. Something must be done, so here I am.

dakotababy

I got fat purely from a lack of education. I had heard the obvious "mcdonalds is bad" and "bread is bad" and "candy is bad", without any explanation. Portion control - I did not know about that either. I figure just eat what I want, and how much I want so i could die happy.

I decided to turn it around basically because of my social anxiety. I noticed it was getting progressively worse, so when I asked myself "why am I scared to go out" the only answer I had was my weight and fear of judgement/hurtful comments regarding my weight. When I started, I compiled a list as to why I want to stick to losing weight which included the following

- To feel confident in front of a camera
- To wear whatever I want without feeling like covering up my tummy
- To look good naked/improve sex.
- Avoid diabetes, which is very high in my family.
- I figured that if i did not do anything, I would only get bigger and bigger until I became bed bound and essentially useless to society.

tealgrove

I have ALWAYS been heavy but got FAT in the last 15 years. Yo Yo dieting most likely made it worse. I quit smoking and found food. Not an excuse just the reality. I believe I gave up one addiction for another.

When I couldn't walk up the stairs to my bedroom without being out of breath and my mind was constantly thinking about food and where I could get it. I decided I needed to do something. Clearly my health was being impacted and my entire body hurt from head to toe. It was time.

I walked into an Overeaters Anonymous Meeting and began the journey to fix myself.

xoxolivia_

I never use eat healthy and exercised regularly, you don't gain weight overnight nor lose it. I just got fatter and fatter over the years, since I was a kid. But I reached my highest weight of 215lbs from just not going anywhere. I have always been unhappy about my weight but never done anything about. As of May 2012, I have been eating healthy and exercising everyday. I found out someone I knew had to get a limb removed due to diabetes, they later passed away. That was a wake up call I guess you could say, I also found someone on instagram/tumblr that lost 80 lbs, I use her as my inspiration.



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lilredhead314

I gained weight because I thought that since I ate healthy I could eat whatever I wanted. I always thought I was overweight and healthy, but I took ballet class and I realized that I wasn't healthy as I thought I was.

Violettaff

Going without a lot as a child but being spoiled by grandparents when I was with them which started the comfort eating.
Larger portions than are really necessary. Being a chocoholic and not being able to resist buying it when I stopped for fuel.
An underactive thyroid problem creeping up over a ten year period and being ignored by the doctors on the basis of stupid blood tests instead of looking at the whole raft of symptoms I was enduring and thinking I was losing my mind!
Back to comfort eating - and swallowing down anger, sadness and disappointments with a "whats the point" food/choc medicine.

And now - after managing to self treat and get my thyroid supported and relieving the symptoms I did lose half of the 2 stone I put on but have slipped and I need to try and lose 28 lbs but no silly very low cal diets or anything that is not sustainable- I have joined here for support and will be buying a FitBit 1 to help me along.

I am fed up with seeing photos of myself where I have felt at time OK ish and then the photo shows a different person. I am fed up with thinking that things will fit OK and then they are tight and look awful.

So - here I am at 50 weighing 12 stone at 5,2 - my goal is to lose a 1lb a week - and reduce my 41, 35, 41 inches down - hopefully.

I am sensibly starting from the end of this coming week when all Xmas food has gone at work and home and things are back to normal.

Happy New Year All

lorygonzalez

Why did I get fat? Stopped caring for myself, marriage, 2 kids 9 and 12, postpartum depression after the birth of my 9 year old. Since that I have never really felt the same. Ate what I wanted although I gained 80 lbs I still ate and stopped exercising.

Why did I decide to turn it around? Tired of caring for everyone else and taking care of Lory last. I am 42 years old and need to make lifestyle changes not only for my health but to be a better mom and better wife. I am a nurse practitioner and it is embarrassing that I do not practice what I preach. The craziness needs to stop!

chezjuan

I slowly put on weight since I graduated high school. basically moving less and eating more, but at a rather slow rate (roughly an average of 40 calories a day over the whole period). I lost about 30 lbs in 2005 when I started working out again ad watching what I ate - not exactly by counting calories, but I watched portion sizes and checked serving sizes of any packaged food. In 2006 I stopped exercising when my stationary bike broke, and got lax about watching the portions since I was "in shape." I put the 30 lbs on and then another 20, reaching my highest weight of 250 lbs. in summer of 2012.

There were a few things that got me serious about my health. First, friends and family were encouraging me to get into shape. Second, my blood pressure (which had been normal all my life) went high and my doctor put me on a diuretic. Third I got a great deal on an Xbox 360 with Kinect, which inspired me to get exercise software and actually start moving.

In a little over a year I have gotten back to my High School weight and gotten my BP back to normal (without the need for meds).

kimosabe1

having a left leg injury. Wheelchair for a year....

pineappley

I got fat because I ate too much when I studied. Unfortunately, going to medical school made it worse...well, at least for the first year and a half. It wasn't until I nearly hit 200 that I knew this was getting out of hand. So, I started exercising and watching my diet thanks to MFP.