Why are you / Why were you fat?

SnowWhite824

I think its important in everyones weight loss journey to not only overhaul their WOE and exercise, but to come to terms with how they got to where they are - How they got so fat. I know for me, personally, I was just dumb. I ate what I wanted, when I wanted, and never thought twice about it. My mother was on all different diets her entire life,and did nothing but gain weight, so it was pretty much implanted in my psychie that no diets actually worked, so there was no point in trying.
Once I moved out, and started doing research on my own without the poisoning words of my mother (I love the woman, but when it comes to physical health, she is just lost), I realized that a lifestyle change would indeed help me to lose weight, and I lost over 115 pounds.


So what was your your reason for being unhealthy? Have you come to terms with it, and are you able to get past it to get into the new, healthier you?

azazelrabbit

For me, I think it's a psychological thing. When I was kid my parents tried to be really really healthy ALL the time. They hardly ever let me have sweet or fatty things. But when I was older and I had my own money I could buy them all the time, so I craved what I had been deprived and ate them all the time.
But that is going to change.

rachealb1972

i wasnt fat i was actually anorexic through my teens im fat now because my ex husband told me i was ugly and he never loved me 2 minutes before he walked out and left me i continued to gorge myself into the 15 stone mess i became slowly and surely i lost some and gained some over the years im turning 40 at the end of this year and im determined that my thirties i was fat throughout but my forties im going to hit with delight and be fit and forty

drmerc

I ate too much

BrianSharpe

I ate too much

+1 (plus I was a highly skilled couch potato for much of my adult life)

skylark94

I ate too much

+2

Portion control! I haven't changed what I eat at all. I just changed how much.

Losinitforgood

I have been overweight my whole life. However, one summer I gained an extra 40 pounds because I was working in a call center, I was eating a ton of junk food, and drinking all the time. Then I had 2 kids in a 2 year time period. I lost 45 pounds and I still have an extra 40-50 to lose and so here I am!

PearsPeppersandPeanutButter

I think that I'm over weight because when I tried to be healthy in the past, people I cared about made fun of me and what I was eating and I let them talk me into cheating and giving up. Also people would make comments like eating too much of a good thing is just as bad as eating bad stuff, even when they had no nutrition credentials or the right to state their opinions.

I think most of these people were jealous or wished that they could eat like me, but I let them win and stopped eating right and working out.

Well not this time, BRING ON the MEAN COMMENTS AND LAUGHS, because I can take and I will win!!!!

willbeayummymummy

I like food....well I like all the wrong food and I ate lots of all the wrong food and didnt exercise...no excuses its plain and simple for me, ate too much and was lazy lol.x

spudman1232

too complicated and personal to write here. would share through email maybe. Wish it was easy to sort out though.

sjschewlakow

I quit smoking 3 years ago (weighing 135) and gained weight rapidly. Within 4 months I gained nearly 60 lbs. I plateaued in May of 2011 at around 208. I have a short attention span and ate because I was bored. I got tired of it and seeing myself in pictures and knew I had to do something. I am down 33lbs so far on my way back to 135

SunnyAndrsn

Major depressive episode when I was 19/20, and I was away from family in college. I wasn't around anyone who could tell me that I needed help. I also had a terminally ill parent, and her disease was genetic. I had a 50/50 shot of having a disease for which there was no cure. I expected to be symptomatic by now, and figured I would eat what I wanted because weight would be difficult to keep on later. I part, being fat ensured that I didn't have Huntington's disease.

During my teen years, food was a way to control my life. I was always a normal weight but had body dysmorphia and very disordered eating patterns. I've spent years trying to figure out why--therapy, an eating disorder program--all to find that the answer wasn't going to change the fact that without changing the behavior I would remain fat and unhealthy.

Starting again with watching my diet and exercising has been very hard. There is a lot of fear that I'll find myself falling into old self destructive behaviors.

One day at a time...

flsl

I never thought of myself as fat, or even overweight, because the men in my life have been kind. I just felt unhealthy, and didnt realise that carrying an extra stone or two, was making that worse.

Reasons I was overweight were twofold. One, I comfort eat, and like sweet things. Two, was very lazy and thought I hated exercise.

Have lost a stone and a half to date. For me, exercise is crucial. Am walking 5 days a week, ave. 2 miles a day. Has helped metabolism to improve, thus more energy.

Quite liking the new me! Hoping to get married this year so thats another motivation.

Well done everyone else. If it helps our health, it is so worth it

mmstgr

I was fit and active till I had my first child.
C-section was a mess and had a difficult time healing so my stomach muscles were very weak.
Then I got lazy and into the habit of not being active.
Then I had a second child with the same results. A terrible C-section.
I'm not using that excuse anymore. My second was born 4 and a half years ago.
It's time to put on my big girl pants and do something about it.

MattGetsMad

I'm fat because I make terrible choices when eating and in addition to those terrible choices I overeat. To make things a little worse, I do not work out.

^This was true for me before I decided to change all of it.

natalie2355

severe depression, antidepressants, moving to the "fattest city in the US"

Kamalalue

I personally think it is impossible to pin point one solitary reason for being fat.

I can think of a number of things that contributed:

I was never taught moderation or what a healthy diet consisted of.

I love food.

I love the feeling of being full - not stuffed, just filling the emptiness.

Lack of money, led to inexpensive choices.

Eating out a lot, too lazy to cook.

Lack of movement.

Loving that as a heavier person, I wasn't grabbed and objectified.

The biggest reason for being fat and for not changing, is that I did not know how to change.

Ash_76

i was working 12 - 16 hrs a day 6 days aweek, stella artois became my switch off mechanism and also the reason why i gained so much weight,,,,,,,, 2000 calories a night just in beer

daione

Okay, me it is just i love all the unhealthy stuff. Chocolate makes me feel good. I love Chocolate and can not seem to break up with it. When things go crazy or not like i want, i turn to chocolate. My most recent partner is Hersey Milk Chocolate Bar with Almonds. I am just spoiled and it is not easy to change. But staying in grossed with dieting and exercise seems to work for me. I get on my friends and family nerves because i am always talking health. How many calories does that have??? too many carbs and so on.... i really get on their nerves but it works for me. :flowerforyou:

Recently however, I have been diagnosed with Lupus and my job is a really stress factor, so me and chocolate have been getting along very well. I have to learn how to channel this stress in other ways. The problem is i love chocolate.

TONYAGOOCH

As a teenager I was always thin. Size 0-3 thin. Got married and had a baby at 20. Gained a little but was still at a nice weight. Got pregnant and had another baby at 24. Guess I was hovering around the 150 mark. My now ex husband always had a comment about my butt size. Divorced him and remarried at age 26. Our new favorite thing was eating out. We both LOVE to eat. Hit about 212 lbs by the time I was 33-34. Started WW and lost 70 lbs. Had twins at 35. Started the weight loss journey again at 37. 192 lbs. Lost 30 lbs then gain half back. Here we go again. I am now 171 lbs at 38 and trying my hardest to get this off for good. My downfall is food. I don't have to be mad or happy or sad or anything. I love food. Especially ethnic foods. Wish I had my metabolism that I had as a teen back. I could eat anything and not gain an ounce. lol I've decided that growing up sucks. lol

jutymo

I'm a 5 pound per year person. I've gained 5 pounds probably every year since age 20. It's very easy to ignore 5 pounds and I did exactly that year after year. What's 5 pounds? No biggie, easy to lose. But I never lost it and then added another 5 the next year. So here I am 20+ years into the 5 pounds per year. I just plan to lose it at a slightly faster rate than 5 pounds per year now that I've decided to do something about it.

Jamiewoodle

I haven't been my "ideal" weight since the second grade. In 9th grade my mother pinched some fat on my tummy and told me I needed to go on a diet, but she never did tell me what or how to go about that (She is obese). That was when I first noticed I was heavier than most other girls my age. Later, My Father would see me eating ice cream and would say, "Fat, fat, fat! The boys aren't going to look at you!" And he didn't offer any advice about the issue either. I ate whatever I wanted, when I wanted and no one told me different. It wasn't until college that I learned about calories, exercise and portion control.

Since then it's been a battle I can be a fit 140-150 and then lose track and go up to a sloppy 175 and back down again. THIS TIME I'm on the down swing for good Thank you MFP!

bug802

I was normal weight child, but from pre-teen till now (24) I have been up and down in weight non stop. At my skinniest it was because I was stressed, and at my biggest because I ate what ever I wanted. But when I was super skinnier, or super chubby I never thought about my health or what I was doing to my body. I am finally making life changes, and putting myself/health first. quieting smoking, watching/tracking what I am eating, no soda and exercise almost every day. I knew I would feel so much better, with more energy. but I had no idea how powerful it feels to be in control of my life, my body, and my health!

Good luck every one!

SnowWhite824

too complicated and personal to write here. would share through email maybe. Wish it was easy to sort out though.

Thats fine not to put it out here - I really just wanted people to be able to realize it for themselves, because I don't think that one can truely be physically healthy unless they are mentally healthy as well. No need to air your dirty laundry in public, just admit it to yourself, so the healing process can begin. Damn, I sound like a shrink!!!!

AirCircleI

Alcohol.

Vespyr

I've always been a bit "bigger" but not fat until now. I thought I was fat but looking back I think it was more a lack of toning. I was a good weight until I moved to the big city in my 3rd year of University. During that year I was intolerant to the cafeteria food and actually lost weight (thoroughly unpleasant). Then I discovered eating out and it became something I loved to do. Add to that birth control and an antidepressant and less exercise and one heck of a challenging degree. Here I am! I think it was the eating out/portion control that did me in. Working on it but still everyone wants to go out and celebrate everything! Bah that was longer than intended. Actually pretty enlightening to just put it out...stop eating out and eat less...duh. My brain makes it so much more complicated.

Zombella

I would have to say that I got to the weight that I did because of continuous love of junk food and cheese. I also tend to be a binge eater, which is difficult to stop. No joking, there was like almost a year where I ate fast food every day. Sometimes I would go to one FF place and then go to another to get something to add to my meal.

sm_4ever17

for me its boredom ven eva i get bored i just eat so frm today m neva gonna binge. just focus on eating healthy

sm_4ever17

i lost 3.5 kg but put them back since last month. hate binging

gaberieger

Too much work for the most part. It's easy to eat pizza and chips, salads and veggies, and drink coke, whiskey, and beer while sitting behind a computer monitor--- doing my day job... then coming home and doing the same thing for my "future" job... plus typing school papers, etc. Who has time to exercise? Seriously- there is stuff that needs to be done. So when I am done with it at midnight, 2am- I go to sleep, then wake up at 6 or 7am and start the day over again. It's a bit hard to get a cardio run or weight session in when there's sh1t to do. And working on a computer, especially at the day job is at times boring, which leads to eating and maxing out past your BMR almost daily.

Boils down to priorities, really. So alas, here I are. Working to undo the damage I've done over the last 3-5 years.

KaraP18

Because I was lazy and I love food.lol