Have you every thought

cflec1

about what got you in the position you are in now where you have to lose weight. I have been doing a lot of thinking about it for myself. When I got married I was 125 pounds, I gained weight with pregnancies but lost most. I think I got comfortable in my marriage and did not try to maintain a smaller weight, but I think the turning point where I really gained the most weight was when I was allowed to go home to work (I love working from home), but I got used to putting on shorts and T-shirts and sweat pants and when the weight started creeping up it was like I can lose it, I won't let it get up any higher, but it kept creeping up until I hit 200 pounds and I had to take a long hard look at myself. No one put me here, I did it myself, and no one was going to get me out of there but myself; so I am now down to 188, and I know that I am still obese, but the weight loss is do-able and with friend on this board I can get down to a weight that I am comfortable and healthy with. So thanks to all of my MFP.

BigT555

all the time.

i was a glutton, pure and simple. if it tasted good, i ate it no matter if i was hungry or not

took a few major life changing things to happen before i realize i needed some changes myself. but the most we can do is learn from the past, work on the present and prepare for the future.

yopeeps025

It is one of the ways I know that I cannot let myself get back to the old way of thinking. For me is was all stress leading to overeating and excessive drinking. I was and always will be a gym addict.

turpenoid

Laziness, binge eating, depression, and self-pity. Pretty much sums up my weight gains over the years. :drinker:

RiseAboveCW

After having my two children I switched to working from home also. I never lost ALL the weight from my pregnancies, though I did get within 15 pounds of that. I became overweight because of stress and a deep depression. Every bit of food and alcohol was my friend…I couldn't get enough.

Dogwalkingirl

I used to be the 'fit' girl who ate like a 400 lb man! Since I was a child everyone said 'you must have a hollow leg' or 'where does all her food go?'. When I was 5 I ate as much as my dad at meals. As a teen eating was sometimes even competitive. I would out eat male friends at buffets, all you can eat nights...I ate it all.

I didn't think about lowering my calories when I was 25 even though I was not swimming anymore (previously I swam about 20-25 hours a week and cross trained with running and biking). I became lazy at that point and then spent a good 5 years around 170-180 (had been about 130 before that). I hit 198 in 2013 and finally thought I better change something before I ever see 200 on the scale. I am still very much a work in progress but for me it is all about being active active active because I am not going to give up my food!

agrafina

Laziness, binge eating, depression, and self-pity. Pretty much sums up my weight gains over the years. :drinker:

My soul sister. This was my weight history in a nutshell.

seltzermint555

Anxiety and stress-eating to comfort myself is one thing that led me to my high weights. Also, ignorance about correct portion size and a lifelong habit of eating desserts and restaurant food WAY too often (like twice a day for years).

Honestly though I think #1 for me was COMPLACENCY!!! I grew up the biggest kid and later one of the biggest girls my age, and that just felt normal and fine to me. I didn't have trouble getting jobs, friends, or dates. I didn't really see a big problem. Even though for about 20 years I weighed in the neighborhood of 260 lb as a 5'8" female I did not have any big health problems (amazingly), great blood work and tests, etc...and I was energetic and quite happy. It wasn't until my weight went up further for a year or two (I hit 307) that I began to have any real concern for my health related to weight.

But getting back down to 260, where I was previously comfortable for so long, showed me I could make positive changes in my weight and body...and that's what led me to trying MFP. Now I'm at 180 lb (which still sounds like a lot, but is the lightest I've been since 7th grade).

nilbogger

More stress and less free time due to work and school coupled with the fact that I love food and can put away a lot.

RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle

Just lifestyle habits and priorities. Today I don't have young children and I'm not going to school. In the past these things were just more of a priority. I've never been very overweight though. I have always done something that involves moving and I limited my over-eating habits to only one or two days a week.

knitapeace

Something about the depo shot caused me to put on weight, whether it was hormonal or just gave me a bigger appetite I don't know. That discussion tends to go downhill around here, lol. So regardless of how it got there, it stayed there because I had other priorities than getting it off. Once my kids were older and I finally had the true desire to make some time for myself, I discovered I could lose the weight. It was one thing in my life that I could control.

MomTo3Lovez

Well after 3 pregnancies and being a stay at home mom in an abusive marriage food was my friend back then. Now that I am a single mom my 3 amazing kids I needed to take control of my life and get healthy so I can be around a long time for them...and for myself.

jlgemma

Laziness, binge eating, depression, and self-pity. Pretty much sums up my weight gains over the years. :drinker:

Oh man...that totally describes the cycle I was in!

As to how it started for me, I work in a creative field and really struggled after art school with the transition into the corporate world. I left college thinking that I would land a job with a good salary in a creative and flexible environment where my ideas would be valued and work would feel more like play. I was naive. My first job was a soul sucking experience that was totally void of free thought and creativity. Salary so low I could barely manage to cover my living expenses and the ridiculous student loan payments that come with a private school education.

On particularly dull assignments I started using junky food to lift my spirits while I did work I loathed. This habit of rewarding myself with food in order to get through doing things I didn't want to do started to become a habit it for me even after I left that job. As I started to gain weight, I knew my habits were bad and I would promise myself I would not do it the next day but it kept continuing.

I still have a full-time job, but on the side I am developing my own business plan. Designing the products and business elements for my new start-up has brought an energy and excitement to my life that I have greatly missed. Now that I am actively pursuing my passion I notice that I don't crave all the junk that I used to rely on. I know now that it was my soul that needed feeding. I have a long way to go but at least now I know I will get there eventually.