When did you start gaining weight?

imjolly

I started gaining weight in my 40's, I have always been an active person and the weight just creeped up on me. I was eating less and gaining weight but slowly enough that I really didn't notice until I saw pictures of my fatter face. I stepped on a scale and I weighed as much as I did full-term pregnant. That changed my life and I started eating better doing different exercises (I used to only run here and there) now I run, bike, swim and lift weights regularly. My body is in better shape at 50+ then it has ever been.

BABetter1

I was a size 5 and about 125 pounds with some minor fluctuation here and there until I was 29 years old and had my first child. I gained quite a bit, got to about 175. But, after giving birth, I lost some. I got back down to about a 9/10 at 145 or so, and I was okay with that size. I felt good and decided I had been too skinny before. At age 32, I had my second child. I had gotten huge during that pregnancy, 215 pounds. And afterwards, I didn't work hard at losing, but I did modify my eating habits, and I eventually very slowly, a couple of years later, ended up at about 175. And that's where I stayed for a few years. But, over the last few years, I have been very happy and settled in my life, happily showing my love to my family (and myself) with food, and the pounds have just piled on. 3 years ago, I found MFP, and lost 30 pounds over the course of 6 months. I felt great, and I was excited to lose more. I hit the plateau at 170 and stayed there for 6 months working my tail off exercising and counting calories. No amount of calorie switching up or down helped. I was just stuck, and I got hopping mad, and frustrated, and said, I need a break. I decided to take 2 weeks off from counting and working out. 2 weeks turned into 2 years, and I gained back that 30 pounds plus 15 more. In the past month, I've managed to drop 6 of that. I'm back counting calories, and exercising almost daily. And, I just keep telling myself, the rest of my life stuck at 170 would be better than where I am today.

WW_Jude_V2

What an interesting and thought provoking question. It's something I've been pondering now for several days. I was lucky as a kid...I was so active and athletic I couldn't put on an ounce, literally. In my late 20's I'd taken up sailing and noticed at the end of summer I'd put on a couple of pounds....of course as soon as winter hit....it was gone. From 20 to 30 I gained about 5 pounds. It wasn't anything to worry about so I didn't. In fact, the extra couple pounds actually made me look better.

From 30 to 40 I was running my own company so wasn't getting as much exercise, more desk-bound and with the increase in income came a love affair with fine dining. While there's nothing inherently wrong with fine dining....there is when it's 4 or 5 nights a week and you're not running marathons on the weekends. By 40 I'd probably added another 10 pounds. Still not an appearance burden though....in fact, was probably about right for my 5-11 broad shouldered frame.

From 40 to 50 it was pretty much the same. I did get on a couple of different exercise kicks that lasted about a week a piece. BUT, at 55 I had a heart attack. It was minor, no damage done to speak of which I used as an excuse to not make changes in my lifestyle. I walked out of the hospital, got in my car and immediately lit up a cigarette. Everything remained pretty much the same.

A year and a half ago...I had another heart attack. This time though it was different....my heart arrested (stopped), I died. I was lucky....I got to visit the other side for about a minute and a half before being brought back. This time when I walked out of the hospital, I didn't light up another cigarette, and never will again.

During the last year and a half since...beyond quitting smoking I didn't make many other changes until a couple of months ago. It took some soul searching and baby steps, but I learned a lot. I know I have heart disease....the doctors confirmed that but that isn't/wasn't my real problem....my disease ISN'T heart-disease....IT'S MYSELF. I'M the disease. MY lifestyle and attitudes, not just about food, but I've always been an adrenalin junkie....with pretty much a fear of nothing. It was that lack of fear that let me think I was immortal and gave me license to abuse myself....it was the walk on the other side taught me, I'm not.

Someplace in there, there was an epiphany of sorts. Unconsciously I began taking my medications, when I was supposed too, then without really too much though began adding in walking, and now I'm actually watching my eating. All of it is going to be a process. I'm not going to go from dining out 4 or 5 nights a week to vegan smoothies....that simply ain't going to happen. But I will keep experimenting with food in an effort to winnow it down to those that are both better for me and I can like.

With my disease being myself, it should make it easier to find a cure so to speak....
Good luck to us all on our journey's to health.

Quite the experience! Glad you're still here. :flowerforyou:

Elsie_Brownraisin

Was underweight as a child and for most of my teens.

Started gaining quite a bit as a result of the depressive phases of a mood disorder, but gained a lot more because of the medication used to treat said disorder.

That, and my sincere and enduring love of pies.

nicolemtracy

I was molested when I was 7 and I noticed the weight really starting to catch me up the next school year. It wasn't a ton, but it was enough that I noticed and felt uncomfortable by it. Once junior high hit, so did my depression and my weight upped. High school I had PCOS but didn't know it until i was diagnosed 2 years ago. and so that helped up the weight. Then 5 years ago I got married and have since gained 35 lbs. :P Time to work my butt off.

no_russian

I gained weight throughout my teens by having a pizza/Xbox lifestyle. I went from 190 in 8th grade to 280 by the time I was 19.

futurejedi

re-injured IT band running in saint lucia

enjolrasbarricade

I gained a lot of weight in-patient. Expected but disappointing.

ioannaheartsyou97

Stopped growing shortly after I entered puberty, and I couldn't understand why I was gaining weight without getting taller (obviously my body was still rapidly changing, I don't know what was wrong with me to think that was bad), then my parents separated and I felt like my whole life was sort of spiralling out of control, so trying to get my weight down by not eating was somehow my solution. About a month later, eating 500 calories a day, I realised that I was becoming anorexic and decided to stop counting calories and just put the whole thing out of my mind. I started gaining weight again.
About a year later, I started really stressing out about school; somehow the only breaks from work I could find within my day were when I was eating, so that's what I kept doing. I started gaining weight, but I kept telling myself that if I started counting calories again, I'd spiral as I did the first time. I also told myself that there were so many things I was worried about, I couldn't worry about what I ate as well.
Came to my senses just recently.

sunburntgalaxy

I started gaining weight after I got really depressed when my mom died ( was on antidepressants - not sure if that is a cause or not but I know if it was a contributor it wasn't the only thing - my crummy diet was a big problem) and then before I was diagnosed with narcolepsy I was drinking a lot of coca cola every day to keep going (like 8 cans at one point til I went on my meds). Once I got heavy, I got more lazy about my diet and went for take out most night (when what I would prefer is a nice veggie plate - which is my go to dinner now instead of mcd's). I was underweight when I was 21 (my freshman 15 was a 15 lb loss because the food was so gross) and then by the time I was 30 I was at the very top weight for "normal" at my height. I gained a lot since I started my current job (50+ lbs in 6 years) because the job makes me super depressed and I eat when I am depressed (mainly I am too lazy to spend time to make something healthy - I used to eat take out almost every day). So I would say late 20s-early 40s is my big gain time.

AllOutof_Bubblegum

I was about 24. I was engaged and happy, with a fabulous chef who loves to cook for me as a fiance, and thought I was immune to the laws of thermogenetics and calories in/calories out. Then I got pregnant at 25 and things REALLY got out of hand, with the whole fallacious "eating for two" mentality.

laineybz

I've never been slim (at least in my eyes) but i started putting weight on when i passed my driving test just before turning 21. As self conscious as i was, as unhappy with my weight i was, i did nothing about it until 2012. A friend of mine used MFP app and i saw her loss, it inspired me. Been maintaining for a year and abit now.

fragilegift

I think I started (at 57kg - age 22) when I was living with a violent guy. Not so much with the weight gain, but the thought processes. If I weighed more he 'couldn't push me around.' I also started smoking weed at the time, which didn't help, and the guy (a chronic user) would get junk food late at night, which I ate.

Got rid of him and moved away, weighing about 15, 20 kilos more than when he moved in, 5 years earlier. (72-77kg, age 27)

Due to other things, I went from running around after 6 kids to being suicidal and barely doing anything.

By 2003 (age 31) I was considering birth control and working out that 5% of 80 kilos was 'only 4kg' and I could cope with that. Insert a period of very low income and eating whatever was cheap to survive.

Then of course, the $2 'meals' of junk ended up being a staple part of the diet. I still believe I was more active than others, since I would walk to the shop for things and not park the car outside of stores. But walking 1.3 km a week doesn't offset the calorie intake. At this time I was also put on meds for depression. Those ones made me very lethargic. Sleep til 10am, wake up, eat, go back to bed. So I was given MORE meds to fix that, and when both did things to my stomach, more meds to deal with THAT.

Finally grew a brain through the fog and decided I did NOT want to live like this. Three meds to feel normal-ish. Changed meds, ended up back on a single anti depressant.

Then my eldest daughter came to stay. I was about 90kgs by now, at 36. With the extra person, an adult in her own right, I had someone to cook for, and also talk me into buying junk for tea. Because I was 'the mum' I somehow thought I should eat more than my 'child.'

Having someone and starting to follow the Tai bo video of a morning got me off the [then] current anti depressants. The scales were about 97 now.

She moved out. Then my BIL, younger than me, died of a heart attack. I think that galvanised me into action, as did the scales at the pet store - they said I was in triple digits. My home scales were broken, since daughter was too heavy for them. I was 38/39

So I told a friend who was also wanting to lose weight (he has a family history of heart disease) and he sent me a text the first two mornings to get me out of bed. In the last 33 months, I've lost 37kilos of the gained weight. I am not in the 'normal' weight range for my height, but I can cope with that.

JennsJourney30

i started to gain in jr. highschool...didnt really start worrying about it until I was around 21. I turned 30 this year and the past 9 years have been full of losing and gaining over and over...i never reached my goal weight but wasnt too far off..but would reach a plateau and start gaining again,..its like it came on so fast again..i fell back into my old eating habits telling myself i wouldnt let it get that bad again...

well i was the heaviest ive been at 30 and now its got to stop.
feel free to friend me..i love the encouragement..giving and receiving.

SLLRunner

I am curious as to when/why/how everyone started to gain weight. Was there a specific trigger? Were you in your 20s or 40s? And when you realized it was a real problem to your health.

The moment i was born. Seriously. The doctor told mom to put me on a diet as an infant because I was gaining weight too fast.

fawndanielle

early 20s after doctor put me on meds for bie ploar made me gain 5 pounds a week with no changes in my eating or life style. no one wanted to do anything until i was 160 pounds over weight and nothing was working so i be came very depressed. i still strugle with body image and depression do to weight gain. but i am off those meds lossing weight very week and keeping it off

jcreazy

As soon as I graduated high school.

bubbly_charm2k9

When i was 12 years old I'm super fat... then i managed to lose weight after 1 year weighing 47 kgs. but then i gain it all back When i was 18 years old lol..

challian

I stopped smoking a year ago and that's when I put on this weight. I am 53 so am going through menopause as well so my hormones are all over the place! I put on 30 1b over the year but I was pretty skinny to start with so I don't look too bad - but from a health point of view I need to get this weight off. I've just started my diet - day 11 I think.

carlyfoley1

When I was in a steady relationship with my partner. Before that I was constantly drinking (and the rest...), id survive on maybe 1 meal a day (and the other bad stuff to keep me going). Started to slowly put the weight on when I got out of the partying life style but put a lot more on when I was pregnant.

pinkraynedropjacki

3.30pm December 27th 1992.... yeah I can be THAT exact in when I started gaining.

LucasEVille

All my life as far back as I can remember into childhood.... No reason or trigger for as far back as I can remember I was fat.

astycie

i thought i was crazy when i figured my birth control was doing this to me. seems i am not alone. i am now definately getting off it.

slimshadyou812

At birth

PrincessEliNa

I was never thin.

Middle school and High school were not kind to me. My highest weight was around 150. (No obese, but I definitely never felt comfortable at that weight)

FairBreez

I was skinny/slender until after last child was born in my late 30's, so in my HEAD I am still 'that way.' (crazy huh?) The reality I see in photos and mirrors always shocks & saddens me. Then in my 40's, with perimenopause and hubby's stressful Army deployments, my health crashed (CFS/FM - chronic fatigue & pain) and the weight didn't want to come off unless I just stopped eating food (augh!) In my 50's, my weight crept up to a level (over 200) that I still find rather unbelievable. But it's true : (

glendeb

Since I was 7-8. Was always overweight, and then I started working at McDonald's when I was 21, and I ate and drank through 4 years and put on a lot of weight, then got a desk job so it's been a very slippery slope!

I realised 4 years ago that it was an issue, and lost 25kg, but then fell into old habits and stopped exercising and put it all back on.

I have now realised that exercise is my key. I can calorie count all I want but lose very small amounts, but if I add in exercise I kick butt.

trivard676

Since I was born

cobysev

I was always a skinny fit kid. I didn't exercise a day in my life and I had beautiful natural abs and a slim body. I joined the Air Force after high school. No matter what workouts or exercises I did, I didn't change. No extra muscle, no weight lost; I didn't change at all. My body just knew where it wanted to be and stayed there.

Of course, that worked against me. After a deployment to Iraq in 2007, I lost my abs. I didn't get fat, I just got enough chub to lose my ab definition. I didn't even gain weight. I was the same 175 lbs I'd been since I was 15 years old. But I didn't look as fit anymore.

2 years ago, when I was 28, I noticed that I was now 185 lbs. Again, no matter how much exercise I did, I didn't lose weight. I was scoring in the 90s on my physical fitness tests and I was still gaining weight and inches around my waist for some reason. At the worst, I got to 207 lbs and 36 inches (just in the past 6 months). My belly started to noticeably protrude and I got love handles. Also, my thighs started to touch for the first time ever.

My body seemed resistant to change, until I broke my ankle on a motorcyle accident. I spent a month bed-ridden with my leg elevated, only able to eat whatever people brought me, and I lost 17 lbs. So now I'm trying to keep up that trend and get back down to my 175 or so weight. MyFitnessPal is helping me to stay on track with my food intake/exercise and when I'm back on both feet, I hope to be back in decent shape. Then I'm going to try even harder and hopefully bulk up a little bit.

0somuchbetter0

When I was 11 years old my pediatrician told my mother (not me) that I was 7 lbs overweight and to put me on a strict 1000 calorie/day diet. Now that I have kids I have no idea how he came up with such a specific number -- we have growth charts now and there's a healthy range that is proportional to height, plus you follow the child's growth curve from birth...so anyway...

\My mother did as the good doctor said and became the food police, so I started sneaking food. Then puberty happened and of course I grew boobs and hips and everyone freaked out. When I was 15 I was 5'3" and 115 lbs and a curvy size 4 and I thought I was fat. That year I had a boyfriend who grabbed my *kitten* and begged me not to gain weight.

It was all downhill from there and food became comfort.