How did you gain your weight?

ladywalkalot

This is something that might help some of us...a light bulb or "oprah" moment......Just thought if we could tell how we gained our weight, it might help others who don't really see what/how they might be treating themselves....AND it might be therapeutic for the writers of how we gained

I know it is cliche:ohwell: , but I ate healthy--just too much to help mask pain of emotional issues I was dealing with. AND I went from drinking a glass of wine getting dinner ready or with my hubby at dinner...:drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: ......to a glass before, during and after dinner.... I was truly dulling emotional pain with alcohol and food......
I continued to work out...although not with my usual intensity.....but the food and alcohol got the best of me and I put on 15 pounds in 6mths......


Now, before you call AA on me....for some reason, it was wine. I never drank liquor drinks or beer....I never ventured out to "get drunk". It was truly a drink of yummy wine to take the edge off my stressful situation.

My fitness pal has helped me realize a lot of things. Way more than I ever thought a food log would do.
Good luck with your venture and keep it up to those ahead of me.:flowerforyou:

I've lost 10lbs of that weight that I've been struggling to lose for 2yrs......b/c of MFP

ladywalkalot

This is something that might help some of us...a light bulb or "oprah" moment......Just thought if we could tell how we gained our weight, it might help others who don't really see what/how they might be treating themselves....AND it might be therapeutic for the writers of how we gained

I know it is cliche:ohwell: , but I ate healthy--just too much to help mask pain of emotional issues I was dealing with. AND I went from drinking a glass of wine getting dinner ready or with my hubby at dinner...:drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: ......to a glass before, during and after dinner.... I was truly dulling emotional pain with alcohol and food......
I continued to work out...although not with my usual intensity.....but the food and alcohol got the best of me and I put on 15 pounds in 6mths......


Now, before you call AA on me....for some reason, it was wine. I never drank liquor drinks or beer....I never ventured out to "get drunk". It was truly a drink of yummy wine to take the edge off my stressful situation.

My fitness pal has helped me realize a lot of things. Way more than I ever thought a food log would do.
Good luck with your venture and keep it up to those ahead of me.:flowerforyou:

I've lost 10lbs of that weight that I've been struggling to lose for 2yrs......b/c of MFP

tilly6277

I don't know where mine came from. I think it was hiding under my office chair and when I wasn't looking it attached its self to my A*S! :bigsmile: It is screaming for mercy every night on my 2.5 mile walk! :laugh:

MisdemeanorM

baby

teetsel4

Mine came from a life long learned behavior. I come from a long line of "foodies". I always loved to watch cooking shows on Saturday morning instead of cartoons. When I was in HS I ate so much junk, then I got married and love to cook, but I cooked rich processed foods. Then I had the boys and was a total junk food junkie thru both pregnanices. Pretty soon I was over 200 lbs. Then came the yo yo dieting, and packed on more weight. UGH! Anyhow, one day enough was enough and I lost over 75 lbs. Today I love to use MFP to keep on track. I am still a total foodie, but I love to cook healthy. In fact I enjoy it more than cooking the rich foods I used to cook. And I can totally relate to the wine issue! It is my down fall for sure! LOL!!! :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

jamerz3294

How did I gain my weight? Well, lemme tell ya lil lady :laugh: I did the all American , old fashioned way. By gosh that was good 'nuff for my folks and it's good 'nuff for me too see!:bigsmile:

OK, very simply I abso luv food, and also luv beer, and luv martinis, and luv single malt scotch.:drinker: And by the time I woke up to what was happening, I turned 50 and, even though I DO workout, I got Metabolic Syndrome.:noway: So, here I am doing all of that no fun stuff I used to laugh at all those "other" people who couldn't control themselves, and simply think off the pounds! :sad:

lotusfromthemud

I got sick. . .

after a bout of pneumonia, I came down with Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia. After a year or two of sitting on the sofa feeling sorry for myself and eating cheetos and pie. (my two primary drugs of choice) . . .I had gained 75 pounds. I've never been super skinny, but it was just plain old inactivity and bingeing that did me in.

currently I usually feel great. . .but every once in a while I have to look at the couch and say "never again!"
I would say that I'm in the best shape of my life right now.
:flowerforyou:

wantingwings

I gained mine from eating too large of portions and from drinking wine.
I love wine....I was having 2 glasses per night along with large portions......I worked out, but not at high intensity....I was just going through the motions. These past couple of weeks I have been pushing myself....I feel so accomplished....now, I look forward to exercise to relax me instead of wine...what an amazing feeling!

calatibo

Was always big, have a fairly large frame so the weight never really showed (much).

I used to play a lot of sports at school (rugby training twice on a tuesday (4 hours) and twice on a thursday (4 hours) (school and local club), 2 games on a saturday and one on a sunday, at least 3 hours of badminton on a wednesday...per week, minimum). Was sent to the doc due to lethargy and etc. as i have a family history of depression, turned out i was just expending far too many calories...and still had the growing thing to do too. So i was put on a higher calorie diet so long as i was keeping up the exercise levels.

busted my back and ankle playing rugby at university but had firmly entrenched myself in the rythm of large meals...

and of course, rugby is not known for it's quiet social life...I love the alcohol and was (ok, still am) a fairly big drinker.

beer will be my downfall again if i let it slip as i have the portion control thing down and now really could not stomach the meals i used to eat.

Poison5119

I've never been an overeater. I always ate til I was comfortably full with an occasional splurge. I avoided red meat, for the most part, sticking closer to chicken, fish, eggs, pork. I just couldn't justify eating something that required 1000 gallons of water to produce 1 lb of finished product. I also didn't have much of a sweet tooth - maybe once a week a regular size chocolate bar. I didn't drink carbonated beverages. I didn't eat out a lot, because for a long time, we couldn't afford that. I was lightly active - going for 2-3 walks a week. Until about 5 years ago.

What I'm about to reveal about myself is a little embarrasing, but it's ony a part of why I gained weight over the last 5 years. I smoked MJ, DAILY, for 4 of those 5 years with only a few week-long breaks here and there throughout. Between working 2nd shift, drinking more regularly, MJ, bad eating habits (like -BK 3 nights a week), having next to ZERO exercise, and stuffing my face for NO GOOD REASON after smoking myself silly, the weight crept up on me so insidiously that I was quite alarmed when I realized after NOT OWNING a SCALE for the last 15 years that I'd gained 40 lbs. I"m pretty certain that if I'd owned a scale to check regularly, I may never have gained this weight.

The impetus of this all was realizing that part of the problem was the MJ, the other part was finding something to do with myself to resist and avoid the urge, and understanding that my metabolism was eventually going to slow down with age. I'd quite smoking cigs 2 years ago, it was time to GROW UP and finally get ahold of my weight issues before they were beyond out of control.

ali106

well, lets see....I exercised all through my pregnancy...so was pretty fit during that time

....it was the actually having my baby in the winter thing that did me in!.....sigh:grumble: NOT THAT I WAS NOT IN MY GLORY .... but I lost sight of doing for myself...thinking it was more important to be supermom and on top of that superwoman... working, keeping my house spotless...everyone happy.... and I put my need to get out to the gym or walk myself on the back burner...thought I was being selfish....:noway:

....that and dealing w/ serious stress by emotionally eating instead of my old way of going to work it out over a workout.....so ya that tacked on another 25 lbs to the 35 I gained w/ the pregnancy.....because by the time it was nice enough to take him out for a walk....April....it was already four months later....and man you can do some serious damage in 4 mths....who'd have thunk?!:ohwell:

hugs...the important thing is we're all on the same wave length now...gettin' it done...woo hoo! WE ROCK!!! lol

Ali

kimber607

Hi

I was thin growing up...after baby#1 I was in my pre-pg jeans when he was 12 weeks
I became stressed when I got pg with baby#2 when ds was 18 months...it was planned....but after it happened...I became petrified
Didn't gain too much weight while I was pg, but put on MORE after she was born
I guess it was the stress/exhaustion of taking care of 2 babies 18mnths apart with no family/friends close by to help
Plus my dd was the WORST sleeper...waking 4-5x per night
I felt isolated, alone...so I ate..didn't make time to work out etc

Kim

2day4ever

Wow. This is one of those questions I thought I knew but now I know I'm not alone b/c I can absolutely echo everything everyone has said (except the Mj piece ~ never smoked the stuff but alcohol is def my downfall and hey! all those chemicals will screw up your brain and your metabolism one way or another).

Don't call AA on me either. I cannot drink enough to get drunk (I fall asleep after a couple glasses of wine ~ such a cheap date!) but I (used to) drink regularly. And then eat. MFP really opened my eyes to that b/c of other people who "confessed" so that is why I am doing my own "revealing" here.

So many other reasons: Also, baby(s). Also, supermom syndrome. Also, too big portions. Also, equated taking care of people with cooking for them. Also, love food. Also, found food to be pretty effective on a bad day ~ at least, temporarily. Also, not a natural exerciser (but now I really miss it when I can't exercise). Also, body image issues (cute, thin sister; tiny framed mother). Also, bad habits (cheerios for dinner in my 20s = quick easy 5-10 pound weight loss so, now, in my 40s my metabolism is messed up). Also, used to try the ole starve myself trick ~ thank you MFP for showing me how truly misguided that is!

BUT ~ knowledge is power and knowing where my pitfalls lie has helped me figure out new ways of orienting around them. So, good for all of us who are confronting the scary, icky, dark core of our patterns. We can absolutely change this up!

jlwhelan1

Stress from the left

Stress from the right

STreSS

Not really overeating. Slowed down on exercise a bit (but still pretty active.)
Stress seems to have been the main player. Oh, and then the added stress.

Just a stress filled time of life.

sclosson

FAST FOOD!!!!!!!!! MCDONALD'S!!!!!!!!!!!! We actually eat pretty well at the house. My kids are SKINNY and I think pretty healthy eaters. But, I have a job where I want to get out of the office at lunch, see the sun, read a little, de-stress. The most convenient place to grab a quick bite. McDonald's. I think I have had everything on the menu at least 100 times. Then what did they do, they added COOKIES to the menu, fresh baked cookies. 3 for a dollar!!! It literally became an addiction. But then I decided, NO MORE. There was no end in sight. I would have just kept gaining. Now, I take my lunch, and still get to the car for a bit of down time. I did swing by the other day, for a small diet coke! Yeah!

jamerz3294

I used to play a lot of sports at school ...
...I love the alcohol and was (ok, still am) a fairly big drinker.

beer will be my downfall again if i let it slip as i have the portion control thing down and now really could not stomach the meals i used to eat.

You have hit the nail on the head my friend! :drinker: I can sooooo totally relate to just what you are saying! :glasses: Altho, I guess that's rather the point of this place after all?
But yes, I was also a jock all thru school, and then "life" caught up to me. So nowadays, it's all about making choices with the realities that we have NOW. Not as much fun, maybe, but then stroke, obesity, and diabetes aren't exactly real high fives either, are they? :huh:

magichatter06

BC pills, lexapro

Not being AS active as I once was when I was playing softball....

raincloud

Being too lazy/tired to make real food. We ate fast food every day, and a frozen pizza every night. Plus we went to the bar 2 times a week and got drunk and ate bar food... That was my last 60 pounds. Before that was just being a picky eater and not having a variety, and being severely depressed.

pack533

4 kids, not enough activity, setting all day at my desk, lots and lots of Dr. Pepper, and lots and lots of stress.

mommared53

Well I wasn't really fat, just big boned. :bigsmile: Ok not really but that was my mom's excuse. My excuse is MENOPAUSE I TELL YA! NOT MY FAULT!

Ok seriously, I gained weight because of eating way too much fast food and not exercising.

And there you have it. :huh:

jamerz3294

...Ok seriously, I gained weight because of eating way too much food and not exercising...

Ummm.... errrr..... isn't that what it all comes down to? :embarassed: I mean we all have these excuses, but really our bodies couldn't care less about our rationalizations! Hmmm.... maybe that's this week's lesson for the Jamerz? :drinker: :explode: