Why did you get fat and what triggered the change?

ukgirly01

Just wondering what you consider the reasons are that you got fat and what triggered the change to get healthy?
For me I got comfortable in my relationship as well as starting a new job with longer hours, I know I was gaining weight but buried my head in the sand telling myself I was happy and had a good body image.
The trigger point for changing was when my uk size 20s stopped fitting I know at that point Id gone too far and there was no quick fix just hard work and determination. I'm now over 40lbs and 3 dress sizes down and realise I was never happy that big.
What about you?

psuLemon

It was college for me and I change due to tired of being over weight. And then I became friends with a lot of fit people so it enforced it more.

catherine1979

I got fat because I ate terrible food and didn't get enough exercise. Weighing 301 pounds the day after I gave birth to my son was what triggered the change for me.

AmandaJoi25

I went to rehab for alcohol and thats what started it. I also began overeating pretty badly. I have only gained about 15lbs. because I made sure to get things in check before they got really out of control.

hbrittingham

I just plain didn't have healthy eating habits. I was very athletic in my teens and twenties and could eat literally anything I wanted. Then I started a sedentary job and kept eating like I was used to eating. I got it mostly under control and then quit smoking and gained 35 lbs.

I dressed like a slob and never wore any makeup. Now I love to dress nicely and wear makeup all the time. I am much more confident about myself now.

pinkib

For me it was a crazy work schedule and eventually working from home took away the little activity I had. Plus, I got married so felt like I had nothing to work for. But now am hit with health complications and before it gets worse I would like to get it under control. How did you lose so much weight? How long did it take you to lose that much weight? What motivated you?

dls06

Menopause. You think it's hard when you're young. Just wait.
I was always thin. When I started with menopause I gained 30 lbs doing the same thing I always did. Now I have to watch everything! Lost it all though. :drinker:

Jacquelyn913

I was chubby as a child, shy, very reserved, and constantly picked on by my brothers at home for being fat. They thought by telling me I should do some sit ups ( I was 10) that they were somehow helping me. It wasn't. I ended up having a huge complex and being extremely depressed all throughout my teen years, and now I am 22 and finally realizing I want to be happy. No one can love you, if you don't love yourself. I want more than anything to be comfortable in my own skin, and the only person who can change that is me.

duncanryan

I got fat from being sedentary and eating bad food. Pretty simple. A couple things triggered my drive to change my lifestyle. First, getting married and realizing that I want to live a happy, healthy life with my beautiful wife was the biggest reason. Secondly, being back in school finishing my docotorate in physical therapy and learning all about the terrible effects of obesity on every body system and mood was a real eye opener.

Regmama

I gained with the past two pregnancies and due to exhaustion didn't feel motivated to do anything in regards to losing weight. It took pictures from this past summer and the tight squeeze on a roller coaster to kick me into gear.

MissAnjy

I started gaining weight after I gave birth to my twins, when I got their diagnosis (Cystic Fibrosis). I was severely depressed and I started eating for comfort. I didn't exercise because having to exercise was foreign to me ( was blessed before kids ) and didn't have a whole lot of spare time to do it anyways (with newborn twins & their disease to care for).

I knew I had gained weight, but I covered it up with baggy sweaters & loose pants. I always wore hoodies, or oversized t-shirts. My turning point was my wedding day. I didn't feel beautiful ....... I felt fat, and disgusting & unworthy. I looked at my wedding pictures & I vowed to change.

I've lost 40lbs since and I feel wonderful

katisabanana

i got fat in highschool, because my stepmom always told me i was fat. (i weighed 150/160)
so she took away all the food i liked, even milk and cheese,
so whenever i'd get any money, i'd binge on junk food!
now i'm actually fat,
and her and my dad are divorced.
she was good for nothing!

12skipafew99100

These are the major things that contributed to be gaining weight.

1- I had a complete tear of my ACL.
2- Then I got married and adopted my fat husbands eating habits.
3- I had a complete tear of the ACL of my other knee.
4- Seditary life style. TV and eating were entertainment.
5- Had 4 babies in 6 years.

Bottom line is I ate too many calories for my lifestyle.

Reason for change?
1- I want to change that now that I am feeling it in my knees (doc says extra weight is no good for them)
2- Flirting with High Blood Pressure, it runs on my mom's side.
3- And I want to look hot again while I am still young enough to.
4- And to have more energy.

Thanks for asking. It really cleared things up for me to actually think about it.

rileamoyer

Struggled my whole life. Was not an athletic child - lol

ninjapixie87

The first time I got fat: I hit puberty, quit ballet, and sat around eating crap like nachos all day. (I was also really short. My brother told me "eat more and you'll grow!" Well, I did...it was just the wrong direction.) Then I saw a picture of me on my 16th birthday and cried. It was awful. So I went on a diet (along with my parents) and dropped down to a better weight and kept it off for a few years.

The second time I got fat: College. It started around my sophomore/junior year. I was under a lot of stress, eating junk, drinking, and started taking birth control. Then graduation, being less active, etc...all caused my weight to go up gradually over a few years.

I felt fat and icky, and it was kind of depressing, and I kept saying I needed to do something, but all I did was stop the weight gain. Then a few months ago, my employer had us do biometric screenings for health insurance, and I discovered that I had officially crept up into the "overweight" category, and my blood pressure was a little high. That was my wake-up call to get off my butt and do something about my weight.

OkieinMinny

I thought I was fat in HS, I was on the drill team and we had to weigh each week and I almost got benched for weighing 130 (Im 5'5"!) I see pics now and SKINNY....That is what started a LONG battle up/down with weight...met my now husband went out to eat alot (hes a big dude and I tried to keep up!) Then got skinny for my wedding, then got even skinnier using WW THEN got pregnant..2 kids within 2 years nursing, eating when I could whatever was close, went on DepoPrevara and gained 20lbs in a month :0!! I was in PURE denial and then the scale hit the 200lb mark and I went into a tailspin...I have always exercised so I didnt think that would happen!

NOW I want to eat healthier, be healthier and Im 41 so its MUCH harder, but hopefully I do it slow and controlled and it stays off, I am trying to teach my boys to do something everyday and choose snacks smartly..one does the other doesnt, but I know me being an example should help!

ukgirly01

Menopause. You think it's hard when you're young. Just wait.
I was always thin. When I started with menopause I gained 30 lbs doing the same thing I always did. Now I have to watch everything! Lost it all though. :drinker:

Well done to be at target must feel great

ukgirly01

For me it was a crazy work schedule and eventually working from home took away the little activity I had. Plus, I got married so felt like I had nothing to work for. But now am hit with health complications and before it gets worse I would like to get it under control. How did you lose so much weight? How long did it take you to lose that much weight? What motivated you?

It's taken me a year so far and the simple answer to how was hard work, planning meals ahead, exercising at least 4 times a week. And keeping motivated is just knowing where I want to be

Anayalata

I've always been fat but it never showed because of loose clothing and having a small frame.

Then one day I stepped on the scale and saw 200. Changed my diet that day.

miss_kisha

This is a nice topic, like another poster stated, makes us actually think about it and get it all out in type. I started gaining weight when I got married 7 years ago, but only in the last two years have I actually gotten 'fat'. So it started with the marriage and being comfortable, then I cut my work back to part time and took up baking as a hobby. Then my work slowed down so much that I would just sit at a desk all day. I didn't get a lunch break and I was bored so I would just snack all day. I got used to getting up late and only traveling 10 minutes to work. Now I work full time and work farther away so it's hard to get up early and exercise, or to make sure I have a healthy lunch packed. I'm full of excuses!!!

I would seriously like to stop the excuses and get in shape because I am now heavier then I was when I gave birth 1 week over due!

grrrlface

I was always really skinny until I met my boyfriend. I then steadily put on weight over two and a half years and kept lying to myself that I still looked good.
I just said one day that enough was enough... I was so sad and unhappy with how I looked (I refused to buy UK size16 jeans, my lowest size was UK6) I started dieting using MFP. Haven't looked back since then!

achampionsheart

when i was younger i loved to eat, plain and simple...i made bad food decisions and paid for it
what triggered my change was my mom dying of a massive heart attack in 2010....i knew that at the rate i was going i would die just like that.....needless to say im doing much better

LorinaLynn

I started gaining when I got a desk job and kept eating as if I didn't have a desk job, but I stayed in a healthy range until, in quick succession, I lost my mom, my job, my dad and (to a lesser degree, but it still threw me for a loop) my cat. Depression made me eat more and move less.

Finding out about the Warrior Dash was the trigger. It sounded crazy. It sounded fun. It sounded like something I wanted to be able to do. So I set about making the changes to get my life back.

honeysprinkles

Some of it was getting comfortable in a relationship and picking up on my boyfriend's snacking habits, we started dating at the end of my freshman year of high school and I was 125, then I graduated at 145. Then I put on 20 during my first year of college and another 20 really quickly but then I found out that my thyroid was low and started taking something for that. I was only on it for about 8 weeks and then my dr. told me that it seemed to have started working again so I don't have to take it anymore.

What triggered the change? Weighing in at 185 lbs, which is more than I ever thought I'd weigh in my life. And none of my clothes fit and I felt terrible all the time. I guess i just got to my "breaking point" and realized that if I didn't do something now then I'd probably end up really depressed and unhappy. Oh, and I went to check my bmi and it was 29.9.... 0.1 away from being in the obese category!

All4Tris

I've probably been slightly overweight the majority of my life. However, when I was away at Grad School, I think I was a bit depressed. All of my friends left after graduating from undergrad and I was basically alone... I became lazy and ate fast food almost every day. I looked up and I was 1 lb shy of 200 pounds! I eventually gave up red meat and pork and lost about 20 lbs over the course of a year. Then I got prego... I was 230 when I delivered my son. A year later, I had only got down 31 lbs. I got serious at that point and lost 40 lbs. With the exception of a few lbs, I've maintained my weightloss for about a year and a half.

kissoffools

I started gaining weight back in high school. I was actually a tall and slender child, but a combination of puberty and getting my first job (grocery store cashier) at 15 started it all. Thanks to puberty the weight went on faster, and thanks to the job at the grocery store, I was making my own money and spending a lot of time in a place that sold plenty of chocolate bars and the like. There were definitely other contributing factors, but that's really the big part.

What triggered me to start losing it is a little embarrassing - last year, at 22, I was in my first-ever relationship. While the guy I was with was wonderful and actually liked my size (basically 200lbs), I didn't at ALL. I was always embarrassed to let him touch me or see me because I didn't feel at all attractive. That's when I figured out that I'd never be able to be totally comfortable with someone until I was first comfortable with myself.

ummlovelovesyou

1. I started dating and always ate out
2. stopped swimming/water polo after high school
3. Ate carbs like i was still swimming and playing polo. HA!


Trigger:

Picture of my fat 'ole face and clothes that wouldn't zip up.


WAS TIME FOR A CHANGE!

davidpm

I started teaching and went to grad school at the same time. I was also working a second job.

I was so tired from that schedule that I never made my own lunch, so I was eating fast food for lunch. I was so tired that I couldn't get myself out of bed early enough to make breakfast, so I was eating fast food for breakfast. I was in grad school two nights a week so I went right form work to school, so I ate fast food those nights. I worked 18 hour saturdays, so I ate fast food all of those meals.

TL; DR Too much fast food


I changed because I had last summer off an finally had time to work on me. That time let me find a routine that worked and really get into the gym. The change in my life has been nothing short of amazing.

waylward

I gained weight after miscarrying on my first pregnancy, at 32 yrs old. Both myself and my husband went through a big depression and month after month of medical problems and trying to conceive (with no success) saw the weight coming on. Then I finally got pregnant again and was so happy that I didn't care too much about the pregnancy weight gain. End result was a 50 lbs weight gain Now I have a beautiful 20 month old boy and a loving husband but very bad habits. I have lost 25 lbs since the spring but am really struggling with the last 25 lbs.

What changed for me was seeing pictures of myself with my son. I wasn't a fat person growing up but I saw a fat person in those pictures. I want to be healthy and provide a good example for my son.

lmelangley

I became fat within a few months of my birth. Almost everyone in my family is overweight. I decided to change because of their health situations - poor with lots of meds and doctor visits. I'm too cheap to invest money or doctor visit time to stay functioning, so figured I'd better drop some weight before my health got bad.

bens_momma

When I was pregnant, I was living with my parents and my fiance, and in between my parents' marital issues and coping with pregnancy, I did a lot (A LOT) of stress eating. I gained 60 pounds during that pregnancy and I've only lost 20. I'm overweight and very round.

I've been wanting to lose weight for a while, and I've been dieting here and there, but it wasn't until yesterday that I almost broke down into tears with the need to get in shape.

I was watching videos of my son playing, and I was in the video, and I had NO idea I was that big. I almost burst into tears and vowed to get my behind in shape.