Why did you get fat and what triggered the change?

chubby_checkers

i've always been fat. i played soccer in high school so that helped keep me from getting super big, but i was over 200lbs. i gained a lot of weight my sophmore year of college when i lived with a roommate that always had snacks so i was eating all the time. at 265 and almost a size 24 pants, i decided i didn't want to be fat anymore.

sunnybrunette126

I've always been "chubby" or "you have a beautiful face". I lost alot of weight in my early 20's in a completely unhealthy way... diet coke, crackers and diet pills but I didn't care I just wanted to be thin. Then later on I was in an abusive relationship and I just ate my way through it. After that relationship I helped care for my mom who was dying and again I ate through that just because it was so extremely painful to go through seeing her die.

Then one day in October I really decided that it was time to let go. My mother had passed that wasn't an excuse anymore... I wasn't in this horrible unhealthy relationship anymore... no excuse. I didn't have all that stress. Plus my looming high cholesterol, my high sugar and being diagnosed with asthma...

I needed to do something. So I'm doing it...

MaggieINC

I got busy being a mom. With a little one in the house and all of those little kid's snacks they're hard to resist. I ate all the wrong foods along with the good ones. Now that my daughter is older I just got lazy with food. Bottom line is I love to eat. I love food.

zbmb30

I put on weight my senior year of college. I was in a relationship and pretty comfortable. We ate out all the time and snacked all the time. We would do midnight runs to Taco Bell. Then we broke up and then I got my first "grown up job" at a bank, so I hardly moved as much as I had. And then I got back into another relationship and well. . .love apparently takes it hard on my stomach and hips. So now my boyfriend and I are both working hard to get back to our "happy" weight. It helps knowing that we plan to get married one day and love each other no matter what.

What triggered me to lose my weight? Well when I started my double chin in pictures, noticing that my clothes weren't very flattering anymore, my muffin top over my jeans, singing on stage for the first time in over a year and getting out of breath super quick, and my dad calling me out on my weight gain. Those are all some of my reasons for me wanting to lose weight.

Kristen81

Having a baby and being a stay at home Mom. I eat too much because " I have nothing else to do" or because "I'm bored" and I don't get nearly enough exercise.
I have yet to have that "AH-HA!" moment....I hope that it does happen. I do realize that I don't like the way my body looks and I want to feel better about myself.
I need to rethink how I do everything....slow and steady wins the race. I jump in too hard and then burn out real fast. It's time to make a life change!

DisneyAddictRW

I was always a "big boned" girl but I never lost the weight after my first of three kids. My husband got cancer when our daughter was 9 months so my focus was him plus our daughter. Then we had two more kids and I never put myself first.

My moment was in January 2011 that made me realize what I had done to myself. I ran the goofy challenge at walt Disney world. I was so proud I ran a half and full in one weekend. It was my first half and first full. I got pictures back and was so disappointed in the way I looked I realized how much I had let go. I refused to run again January 2012 looking/feeling the same. Then life handed me a lot of hardships this spring and summer I felt lost. I got off track and in November 2011 I realized I can't keep allowing hardships to allow me to use food unhealthy. I have been on track and focused. I'm using mfp daily to stay on track even if I'm having a bad day. It's helped me make god choices thanks to the support of all mfp's friends!

JenS0301

I got fat eating whatever I wanted, never cared about my body image after I had my first child. Now that I am getting older and my children are getting older I want them to eat healthy. I realized I had a problem when I saw a picture of my self and wondered who the hell that person was. Always looking at a mirror from the neck up keeps you away from reality. I went out and bought a full size mirror and could not grasp how I got so big. Now I watch the amount I eat, what I eat, and when I eat. I am down 15lbs by just watching my intake over the last 2 months. Now is the time to start working out and toning my body. I am super excited and have been working out daily for over a week now instead of 2-3 times a week. I will win this challenge in my life to get at a healthy weight.

twilight_princess

I've always been overweight since before I was 2. But two of the main reasons I became obese by 20 was 1. I became a chef and had tasty food around me all day long. And 2. I had disposable money that I never did have ever growing up as a kid so I could buy much more food that wasn't neccessarily 'basic commodities'.

Chairless

Being in a comfortable relationship for 10 years.

Unexpectedly not being in that relationship.

christine24t

I've been chubby my whole life but it really escalated in college. I drank a lot and ate a lot without caring at all.

hello77kitty

I got fat being a foodie. Always going out to try diff. Restaurants and such. No exercise. Just watched tv in free time...I think I almost accepted that I was going to be fat forever. Then I saw pictures of myself and just hated them..we took a nice vacation but I barely had any pix to show for it because I hated myself in every one of them. Also, my yearly birth control refill is coming up, and they wont give it to me if my blood pressure is over 140. I knew I gained a ton of weight, so I am guessing my bp went up too. I am making my appt. In jan. So we will see then..

hereitcomes

I lost weight several years ago and kept it off for a very long time. After I moved to a sketchy neighborhood, I replaced my evening jogs with movie and popcorn nights. Then I took on a desk job, which was different because I had always held physically active, or at the very least walking/standing jobs and started going to school full time. As I started gaining weight, working out felt more difficult and eating convenience (read: high calorie, processed crap) food seemed easier. Next thing I knew, it was a year and a half later and I gained sixty pounds.

I've just recently restarted my journey after taking an exercise class and realizing how disgustingly out of shape I am, combined with seeing myself in the floor to ceiling mirrors on all sides of the room. Big wake up call, literally.

Thompsf15

I gained weight because I'm in a comfortable period in my life. Things are going really well and I just stop keeping track of eating healthy.

What triggered me was not being able to fit in my jeans and my confidence level is very low.

StacySkinny

The "reason" I got fat? lol I guess the reason is that I was BORN.
I was born nearly 10 lbs to a diabetic mother. I was a very fat baby and toddler, a very fat child, a very fat teen, and I weighed 300 lbs by the time I was in high school. There hasn't been a single day in my entire life that I wasn't fat.

What triggered a change? I guess I've always wanted to be "normal". It's something I've wanted for as long as I can remember.

bllowry

I was a premie and always urged/encouraged to eat as much as I could hold, so in spite of running track and field and playing field hockey I graduated high school in a size 20 dress. I graduated university 3 years later in a size 6 dress, though I lost the weight through working and going to school full time and not eating properly. I got married at 26 and lost my son seven months in the pregnancy, got very depressed and gained a great deal of weight.

After 8 years of marriage I discovered my then husband had a 5 year old with another woman and divorced his sorry bum. I lost about 40 pounds at that time and when I remarried 3 years later I was a pretty trim 12-14 at 180 pounds. Over the last 16 years the weight bounced up and down, but really increased steadily once menopause hit. I hadn't been on a scale in years, but was wearing a Lane Bryant 16, so I thought I was fine. In reality a LB 16 today is probably a 24 in the clothes I wore in school. A diagnosis as a 'mild' diabetic combined with the fact I weighed more than my husband was enough to make major changes in our eating habits, and in my case adding exercise. I've lost 45 pounds since June, and with one more set of blood work with a A1C under 6 I will not be classified as diabetic any more.

souperficial

I was really underweight as a child, until I was put on meds for epilepsy and gained ten pounds in a week. Between that and the fact that I was told I pretty much couldn't do any physical activity for a year because it was too risky, I gained weight and it kind of just stuck with me. My family doesn't have the greatest eating habits, either. I really can't blame any of that, though, because it was mostly just me eating too much and not working out. Last year, I hit 201 and decided I needed to change.

kaetra

Main reasons I got fat -
1. Went from extremely active job to a desk job.
2. Had a baby.

Main reasons to change -
1. The scale was getting dangerously close to 180 and I could see 200 in my future (I'm only 5' tall)
2. A shocking cholesterol test result made me feel like I could drop dead any minute.
3. The horrible realization that I was EXTREMELY happy when my work installed an emergency defiblerator just outside my office

MinnieInMaine

For me, it was mostly emotional/stress/boredom eating and being too lazy and not caring enough to get active and take better care of myself. I wanted to eat what I wanted to eat and I wasn't that fond of exercising (sitting on my duff and watching tv was much more fun) and that was that.

What changed was a series of events... I tried losing weight quite a few times but it never stuck. I'd start out all excited and determined and then something would happen and I'd just give up. Mostly that something was an event or vacation that I just didn't put enough thought into to deal with within the spectrum of the diet I was currently on so I'd just drop the diet and go back to eating whatever I wanted.

Then 2 years ago, I saw pictures of myself from a couple of trips with friends and it really hit me that I had hit a whole new low. For a long time I still saw myself as cute even though I was heavy and I stil felt good about myself. However, I realized that for the last 6 months or so, I wasn't feeling so cute or confident anymore. No one else could change that but me so I got my head in the right place and planned on joining Weight Watchers the following January. The rest is pretty much history!

lcoulter23

I've been overweight my whole life. Always eaten pretty healthy, just ate too much of it. Also, I have a horrible thyroid gland that doesn't work, even with the use of medicine most of the time. I was never that heavy though until I got put on Depo after having my son in 2004. It triggered my PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) to come out of dormancy and I gained over 100 pounds in less than 6 months while on the Spark People website and exercising hard core 4-5 days a week. I got diagnosed officially in 2007 and have been trying since then to lose the weight I gained but it has only started coming off in the last year or so with the help of my multiple medicines I have to take for this condition, tracking everything that goes into my mouth, and by exercising. I don't exercise as much as I should now because I have a demanding school schedule, but I am working on getting it back into my life.

therealangd

I was an overweight child. Lack of activity and too much food.

Crying in the stores because I couldn't find clothes to fit is what made me make the change.

JZSunshine2011

I got fat because growing up my parents never really taught us the right way to eat. My mom is over weight and can barely move now. I did lose alot of weight and was a size 6, then got pregnant and gained 60 pounds that haven't fallen off yet.....my daughter is now 6! My final desision to get healthy is I'm turning 30 next year in December. I want to be skinny and healthy when I enter my 30s.

KyleB65

The easy answer to how I got fat is that I ate too damn much and what I ate was crap!
The more complicated answer involves lots of personal history that includes low self esteem, family issues and poor life choices.
I will stick with the "I ate too damn much" answer as it puts the responsibility on my shoulders.

As for why the change. Was diagnosed with high blood pressure back in the spring and the Doctor told me that if I did not get my act together I would probably not make it to 50 years. As I am 46 years old I figured I needed to take control and responsibility ASAP!
So far I am down over 60 lbs from my heaviest and with exercise and medication my blood pressure is under control. And, I am slowly turning into a much better person than I have ever been.

Great question!
Thanks

eddyca

I thought because I always had an active lifestyle and exercised at least 2 days a week that I could eat whatever I wanted. Well, whatever I wanted probably added up to 3,000 cals a day on my really bad days which caused me to slowly gain weight. My clothes still fit me after I gained 10 pounds and I kept lying to myself saying I was bloated and never believed I gained anything.
One day a couple months ago my best friend grabbed my love handles and said " we're going to have to work on that!" I was pissed that she said that but I'm so glad she did because it triggered my urge to jump on the scale and come to terms with my unhealthy lifestyle

whitehandlady

it started with the example my mother and grandmother set for me
they were emotional eaters and when i was upset growing up they put food in front of me
bad stuff too

my dad died right before my fifth birthday....then my mentally ill mom tried her best to raise us alone....i coped the way she coped....
then my mom finally had a psychotic break (her most long lasting one of many)
and began drinking and partying with boys and men of questionable character when i was about 11

at age 12 i was raped by a 25 year old friend of hers ....he was someone i knew and trusted
he told me it was my fault....that the way i looked made him do it

needless to say i have been obese ever since

what followed was an ugly cycle of self hate and self harm
one abusive boyfriend after another
got pregnant at 15 and had a child with a disability

i went through therapy from age 15-28 to resolve my issues
and
i thought i'd worked through them

but no,

then i got sick and recently found out i have systemic lupus
so i decided i had to do it for my health


now i want to

Tori_356

I've always been fat. Probably just from overeating, lack of exercise. going to the doctor to get my physical at age 25 triggered the effect, i wanna live a long time and i don't want to continue down the unhealthy track i was on. plus i should feel good, and be more confident at this age!

htimpaired

I was always thin and athletic, until around age 25 when I hit a particularly rough episode with OCD. I stopped working out, stopped caring what I ate, and started drinking waaay more wine than I had any business to. My poor lifestyle led to a 30 lb weight gain.

I struggled to get back to the "old me" for years, and when I turned 30, I finally was able to say "Enough!". I was tired of seeing pics of myself and thinking "eew! I look so chubby!". I was ashamed of not being able to slide my pants over my big bootie. And I was tired of how tired and sluggish I felt. So I started watching my food again and exercising on the Wii. When that stopped being a challenge, I moved on to exercise DVDs, and then last year I re-joined my old gym. I'm 5 lbs away from my goal weight.

Sidesteal

Just wondering what you consider the reasons are that you got fat and what triggered the change to get healthy?

I got fat because I ate too many calories for an extended period of time.

I changed because a friend called me fat.

throttler228

As a kid, I was always on the overweight or stocky side. As early as 9. It made no sense at the time, I was a very active kid compared to my peers. Played sports, was at the gym with my dad a few times a week playing games, and even began running late in Elementary school. My parents mantra soon became "It's for your own good." I don't remember obsessing about food until after it was being monitored. Through it all, I was overweight according to BMI, and the only consolation was that most doctors didn't guess my weight right when they put me on the scale. That doesn't happen so much anymore.

So I stayed active through high school, playing intramural sports when I wasn't playing school sports, and just active in general. But I always had a different image of myself than what I was. I thought I was deformed and massive, and obsessed and was withdrawn, self conscious. I went out of town for college and lived on ramen for two years. While I walked everywhere I needed to go, it wasn't enough, so came the first 30 lbs It was an art school, and the inner city YMCA was intimidating to a girl from the burbs. I was not one to simply go to the gym and run without a bigger goal or sport to do it for. I ended college at 20, at 220 lbs.

I spent my early 20s trying to figure out what to do with myself. I had lost my athletic outlets as school ended, and once in a while I'd join a gym or fitness class on a whim but could never stick with it. I was so ashamed, so hateful of my body to the point where I wish I could go back and smack myself, as that's a weight I'm still trying to get back to! I often felt defeated even as a teenager when I didn't get the results I wanted after so much working out. I often felt distraught because I already did SO much, how could I possibly fit in MORE? Especially once full-time employment at desk jobs started. I sunk in to depression, was not in a supportive relationship, escaped through video games, and these things just fed the problem. It took me years to snap out of it. But I did. I was somewhere between 280 and 300 pounds about 4 years ago, teetering between size 24 and size 26 pants.

Since then, I worked hard to not let my size keep me from doing things I wanted to do. After illness and a few months on WW, I dropped 30 lbs. I started up old activities in any way I could, which didn't last more than a year but brought me confidence and the reminder of how strong I am. So I tried new things. My weight has plateaued for a long time, but now I know it's mostly due to inconsistency - both in eating and activity. I have been participating in roller derby for a year, and recently made the local league. I can't believe how much stronger I've become in a year - even though the scale hasn't budged despite the change in lifestyle. I think I'm in a bit of a gain muscle/lose some fat cycle. Which is good but hard to gauge on a scale.

It's hard to not get discouraged. My final goal weight isn't even within the "normal" or "overweight" BMI range, but a weight that is reasonable for my build and history. 45 lbs shouldn't seem so daunting. But I've stared at it for a few years now, somewhere inbetween acceptance and knowing what would be better for my wellness. I'm in a perfect spot in life with tons of support and resources but some things just seem hard to pull together. But I do feel like I'm just inches away from really figuring it all out. I've always been anxious in seeing a doctor about it, curious if there is a metabolism or other issue that makes my body so damn resilient. Perhaps soon. But I'm always fearful of things that might trigger old mental habits, and the last thing I need is shame, even if it is from a medical professional. Shame never fixed anything.

pfeiferfit

I got fat because i ate too much and wasn't active enough. (happy relationship, etc) and I decided to change because I am a Canadian size 16 or so, and I want to shop in normal stores, be healthy, and set a good example for my family who also need positive changes.

I have a lot of excuses, like PCOS (real) and working too much (real) and my husband who LOVES bread (real) and fertility medications (real) but in the end, i ate too much, and i got fat.

I'm getting thin because we weren't chosen for an adoption, and I keep wondering if the mom looked at our pictures and said "hmm, not that fat family!"

MrsCon40

I got "happy fat". Setting up house with my (then) fiance, cooking a lot, not going out dancing hardly ever, not riding as much as I was, and getting a desk job all created a perfect storm of cellulite.

For some reason I had no clue I was packing it on until I saw a picture of myself and all I could see was rolls and double chins. I got on the scale for the first time in months and was shocked to see I weighed more than the day I gave birth to my daughter (and I packed on 6 SIXTY pounds with her!)

I found MFP in the Android marketplace and logged for a week or so. Then I slacked. Six months before my wedding I decided I really needed to get my act together so I got back on MFP. (12 pounds heavier than when I first found MFP *face palm*) That's when I discovered the social aspect of it and I've been trucking along ever since.