WHY did you gain weight?

SemperAnticus1643

Inactivity and not eating right were why. I put on 20 lbs with my second pregnancy and didn't lose it like I had with my first pregnancy. Plus the office job cause me to put on 20 more lbs since I wasn't up and moving around. Single mom to young kids and not making much made it difficult for me to exercise. Then I married a very insecure man that didn't want me to go to the gym because he was afraid I was going to meet someone else. So...life...just life in general.

ItsJordanNicole

I, like OP, just love food. I have been over weight since I was about 8 years old and as far as I know, nothing traumatic happened to cause me to over eat. Food just tastes freaking awesome!

As a child most of our family time revolved around food. Sunday dinners were always huge...like Thanksgiving almost. Now that I'm an adult and I make my own food and rarely eat with my family, it's much easier to control.

victoriawalker572

I gain weight because of stress in my life. This is the hardest thing I deal with if something is wrong I turn to food. Breast cancer my lack of hormones made me tired and depressed. Lost my job just a lot of stress!

andielyn

I gained weight because of what I call the "perfect storm"--hormones, alcohol, and tragedy.

I maintained a healthy weight without dieting until my mid-40s. I went through period of losses and tragedy, turned to food and alcohol to cope and all the while was approaching menopause and changing hormones.

oddyogi

Because I really like food. Like, it tastes really good.

ljmorgi

I was always effortlessly thin as a kid, up through college (the food wasn't good enough for the Freshman 15 to be an issue) and then I graduated and got a desk job. Started gaining weight, then my kidneys failed and I went on peritoneal dialysis. It keeps you alive, and I liked it better than hemodialysis, but I never felt truly "well" so I wasn't very active and food became my primary pleasure.

Got a transplant and suddenly didn't have chronic nausea issues, which meant I could eat more. Finally in early 2013 I decided it was time to start trying to lose all the weight I'd put on in those years. I don't think I'll get down to the high school/college weight I can remember, but I can be thinner than I am now.

ceron1234

I have always struggled with my weight but I had a good handle on it in 2009 when my Doctor told my I had congestive heart failure and that he was a amazed I was still alive. I sank into a deep depression for the next 4 years were I was just sitting around waiting to die. I didn't but I put on 90 pounds. Decided it was time to get busy living and now I am 60 lbs down and feeling great.

sandraeward

I've gained huge amounts of weight twice in my life.
The first time I was somewhat athletic and suffered a knee injury.
I had knee surgery that kept me sitting for several weeks, but I didn't adjust my diet and ended up gaining 30 pounds/
The weight came off easily once I was back on my feet.

This time, I gained weight after I weaned my son, about 3 years ago. It just seems to be hanging on but I understand the problem is that I eat too much and don't move around very much. I am also not 22 this time.

Need2Exerc1se

I like to party. I like to cook and invite people over to eat and drink with me. I like to go to the homes of others and eat and drink with them.

Wookinpanub

I'm apologizing in advance if this offends anyone.

I think that you can get overweight to slightly obese by just the "yummy food is yummy" mentality.

This ^^^. I just love food and love to eat. I had a bad diet with lots of high carb take out type food for years. Also tons of sweets. If there's any psychological reason it is that I used food as a reward for working hard and would pig out at the end of the work day (usually 8-9 PM) and would also splurge on fatty, high carb restaurant foods.

Also growing up, I was terribly skinny, a very picky eater and hated my moms cooking. We rarely ate out. As I became an adult and got some money in my pocket, I would eat out all the time.

MKEgal

I gained weight because I ate more than my body needed.
That's why anyone gains weight.

Why did I overeat?
food is yummy
simple carbs = serotonin, and for a long time I was an unmedicated depressive
not knowing a healthy weight, healthy portion size (I had academic knowledge, just didn't apply it)
not enjoying exercise
why should I bother trying to look good, because I'll never be attractive
dating people who did many of the same things - eat too much, move not at all

I don't think I have any. I just like food, and I suck at dieting for long enough to get the weight off

Don't diet. Diets are temporary, unsustainable changes. Once you stop dieting, you go back to your old unhealthy ways & the weight comes back.
We all need to make a permanent change in how we deal with food & exercise.

Is there always an emotional reason for becoming obese?

No.
Some people are ignorant of how much they should be eating, and what foods are healthy.
Some people simply like to eat or hate to exercise.
But yes, some people eat to medicate, trying to control feelings.

it gets a bit annoying that everyone thinks there is always an emotional/psychological reason for overeating. Some of us just really love food

Yep.

there is no one right answer or solution for any of us

Yes, there is: eat fewer calories than your body needs to run.
Short of amputation, that's the only way to lose weight.

When we eat foods we like, the brain releases dopamine, which rewards us for eating them. These are usually fattening foods. The flavor is great and the dopamine rush feels good, so I overate those foods.

And for some people with depression, we overeat simple carbs (I used to go through a whole sleeve of saltine crackers at once) because that leads to serotonin.

MKEgal

She told me to eat 1200 calories day and suggested that I log everything on MFP so I started doing that. After several days, when I looked at my log, I realized that I was only eating about 600 calories a day. It never occurred to me that I was starving myself and my body was holding on to the fat.

Why does this myth persist???
Your body must burn calories to run. It's physics.
It prefers to burn carbs (glucose, then glycogen).
Then it burns fat.
If fat is available, if carbs are available, they will be burned.
As a distant third it burns muscle. This is inefficient and dangerous, because we need muscle to live (heart, diaphragm), but the body is hoping that we will find food before getting too weak to find food.

And I hope you're really short enough that 120 lb is a healthy goal weight.
(About 4'10" to 5'7".) http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi6.pdf
If not, 1200 cal is too low.

C5North

I gained because I LOVE food and I was lazy as can be. I was on the road a lot in my last job and it was so easy to simply grab a pizza before checking into the hotel or better yet have one delivered once I was settled in for the night. Complete lack of discipline. I could have made plenty of better choices and pretty much all the hotels I stayed in had exercise rooms. I NEVER used them. I am an idiot.

I do think that food is an addiction and that addiction is hard to break. But my addiction to food is my own fault, no one else's. I used to have such huge cravings and I gave into them every time. NO LONGER!

Lack of discipline + love for food + lazy = fat

For me it was pretty much that simple. I wasn't abused by puppies or anything like that. I have NO LEGIT EXCUSES for my situation.

So, it has finally come down to the realization that I am a fat *kitten* ( I am what I am) and I was killing myself. Almost committing suicide slowly for no reason.

Kontxesi

I gained weight because I ate more than my body needed.
That's why anyone gains weight.

Why did I overeat?
food is yummy
simple carbs = serotonin, and for a long time I was an unmedicated depressive
not knowing a healthy weight, healthy portion size (I had academic knowledge, just didn't apply it)
not enjoying exercise
why should I bother trying to look good, because I'll never be attractive
dating people who did many of the same things - eat too much, move not at all

I don't think I have any. I just like food, and I suck at dieting for long enough to get the weight off

Don't diet. Diets are temporary, unsustainable changes. Once you stop dieting, you go back to your old unhealthy ways & the weight comes back.
We all need to make a permanent change in how we deal with food & exercise.

Is there always an emotional reason for becoming obese?

No.
Some people are ignorant of how much they should be eating, and what foods are healthy.
Some people simply like to eat or hate to exercise.
But yes, some people eat to medicate, trying to control feelings.

it gets a bit annoying that everyone thinks there is always an emotional/psychological reason for overeating. Some of us just really love food

Yep.

there is no one right answer or solution for any of us

Yes, there is: eat fewer calories than your body needs to run.
Short of amputation, that's the only way to lose weight.

When we eat foods we like, the brain releases dopamine, which rewards us for eating them. These are usually fattening foods. The flavor is great and the dopamine rush feels good, so I overate those foods.

And for some people with depression, we overeat simple carbs (I used to go through a whole sleeve of saltine crackers at once) because that leads to serotonin.

I feel you on the crackers. I did the same thing with Ritz. I've also been known to polish off a party-size bag of Tostitos in one sitting.


I don't think anyone is saying that we ALL have some underlying emotional issue(s) that cause us to gain weight. It's true, some people really just love food. I love making rich, creamy entrees and decadent desserts, and I love eating those things.

That doesn't mean that some people don't have those issues. We all know that it's a simple matter of calories in vs. calories out, but it's important to know what is causing you to not have that in balance. If it's a matter of loving food, great! You know what it is, and you can tackle it. If it's an emotional or health related issue, you have to know what it is to know how to deal with it.

That's all. I don't think it's anything worth getting irritated about.

Soggynode

I can’t believe how many amazing posts are on this board. Thank you all for sharing such personal thoughts. It helps those of us who are not so good at expressing ourselves.

I hope what they said on TBL is not true in every case. I’ve got a dozen ‘hows’ but I’m not sure I can pin down a specific ‘why’. Maybe if I figure out why I suddenly care about my health now it will lead me back to why I haven’t cared for the past 35 years. Big thanks to the OP for the board.

cwolfman13

WHY did you gain weight?

I graduated college when I was 30 and took a desk job...and bought a car. That pretty much did me in.

I rarely did any deliberate exercise (i.e. going to the gym, having a specific workout, etc) when I was in my 20s and in school, but I didn't own a car and walked and road my bike everywhere and anywhere I needed to be. I was also just more recreational active as well and did a lot of hiking, backpacking, etc. With a "real" job at 30 and also starting a family, I found myself with much less free time for recreation and I also bought a car to commute with instead of my bike...so basically I went from being very active to being fairly sedentary.

Now I make time to fit in regular exercise...mostly riding my bike (about 80 miles per week) and I get into the weight room a couple nights per week.

mikeshockley

My weight is so bad because of many different reasons, so that's why it's so hard to lose it.

When I was little, we were very, very, very, very poor. At times, when I had to live with my biological mother, I would have no idea if I was going to have any meal at home, so I ate every single bit of my free school lunch and breakfast. It didn't matter if I was full to bursting or not. There I was, 5 years old, actually scared of starving to death. So now whenever I get food, doesn't matter how much it is, unless I'm actively thinking about it, I eat it all, whether I'm still hungry or not. I don't even necessarily enjoy it.

Along with bad habits, was that when we did have food, we weren't really given good food (healthy) or appropriate portions (too much for a small child). Then we were forced to eat it all, hungry or not. That's still stuck with me.

I never had the option of choosing what I got to eat until I got kicked out at 17 years old. I had to eat what was made, or nothing. So...heavily fried, fatty, breaded southern food. About the time I was hitting puberty when a lot of kids would lose their baby fat, I just had more and more.

I was able to keep it slightly in check for a while, but eventually my PCOS kicked in full force and losing weight just wasn't something I was able to do on my own. Trust me, I tried... which just depressed me and food became one of the only things that kept me happy.

So here I am today, on medication. The weight is coming off..slowly, depressingly slow, but at least it's coming off.

Hang in there, kiddo. As someone who came from a similar sounding background (poor/not sure where next meal was coming from a lot of times), I still find myself wolfing down food like they're coming to take it away! My wife constantly comments about how fast I eat.

I haven't changed how fast I eat, just what I eat. Joining MFP has definitely helped. Being concious of what my daily calorie goal is and working within that confine, and starting an exercise program (just treadmill for now) has really helped. I've got a long way to go, but I'm confident I'll get there.

Don't mean to make this about me; just trying to share so you have confidence and know that you're not alone!!