Why did you get fat and what triggered the change?

achampionsheart · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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.

chubby_checkers · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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 · December 2011

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'.