Why are you / Why were you fat?

curvatrino

4 Mars bars for £1, most days when I was a student got me all the way up to 224lbs at age 21. 6 long years later I'm 161lbs.

Lots of stuff happened in between. but that's the long and short of it.

Damn Mars Bars. I can't even look at them now. I still miss them!

montana_girl

I think for me it started with lack of parental supervision with my meals (both of parents worked and meals cooked and eaten as a family were few and far between), but that turned into bad habits, which caused me to gain. Once I was "fatter" than my peers, I was teased and ridiculed, which lead to low self esteem and emotional eating. That's something that has taken me a long, long time to overcome and is reason it took me 6 years to 100 pounds. I kept having to battle those feelings and bad habits.

I do better now, but I still have my days of making bad choices and eating because of emotions and not hunger. I suspect it's something I will deal with for the rest of my life...

slnewberry

I think a lot of my problems did start with my father who constantly harassed me about my weight as a teen. I was maybe 15 lbs heavier than the others and he was very insulting about it. I lost the weight after I left home and entered the Army but when I had my children, I had medical problems and ended up on bed rest. Upset and bored, I turned to food and put on more weigh than I should have. Over the years,m I have tried diets but none have been too successful. 10 years ago, I destroyed my knee and have battled through multiple surgeries and trying to control my weight but it has steadily increased. I dropped 75 lbs prior to my last surgery but after 6 weeks immobilized and then very limited movement for the next 5 months, I put half of it back on.

I realize that I have food issues and I don't want my children to look like I do now when they get older so both my husband and I have both began a lifestyle change. We eat less, but more often. We exercise more and spend more time with our kids, encouraging them to lose weight and be healthy too.

MdmAcolyte

Beer, fried chicken, coke, and being a general slackass... That's why I am obese. But I am learning moderation.

NTBlade

!! ALL OF THE ABOVE !!

Nah, beer, too much food - not all bad but more portion control.
The great thing about this thread is that eveyone who's here is actually doing something about it. I really enjoy some sporting events (mainly running and cycling) , especially as part of a team but as soon as they're finished I fall back into my old beer sodden ways.

I think for me I have to have realistic targets in terms of weight loss and some sort of physical goal to work to. I'm aiming for 13kg loss and a marathon (Edinburgh) at the end of May.

This might sound a bit of a tall order but I know I'll do it as I have the support of my family and friends. Until recently I was really frustrated at my weight not coming off until I actually started logging what I'm eating. It's amazing how just a little thing can make the difference between losing weight and all the day's hard work counting for nothing!

I'd say that as soon as you feel able, try to get just a little exercise in a few times a week. Even if it's just a walk to the shops the long way. The more you do, the more you'll be able to do and the better you'll feel. It's a double whammy and it's addictive!

Get stuk in folks!

NTB
8o)

BeautyFromPain

I started working in fast food when I turned 14 - so pretty much a given. BUT as someone who was 90 pounds, anorexic, and ate hardly one or two pieces of fruit a day (that was ALL i would eat) to eating fast food 2-3 times per day just screwed me over. That is like an upgrade of 2000-3000 calories of what I would eat at the time and my metabolism was shot as it was. Also emotionally eating my feelings. Depressions, stress, grief. All of it.

tinamatteson

I don't have any good excuses... I had three babies, and didn't really work to lose the baby weight in between, and I just enjoyed eating so much! And I'm truly a couch potato at heart. I just ate (all the wrong things, and too much of them) and didn't exercise at all and the pounds piled on. And for a time, I felt like it was ok. I could always buy bigger clothes. (I know, DUMB!)

This new lifestyle journey I am now is showing me that in order to change you have to be ready for it. You have to want it for yourself. No one can do it for you. I wasn't ready to make these changes before, but I am now. And seeing the results happen slowly but surely is SO encouraging and motivating!

Cindym82

I actually have no idea how I got fat, I was always skinny, never weighted more than 100lbs, ate pretty good meals and next thing I knew I had gained 68lbs (I dont eat fast food either). I've lost 38lbs total but still would like to lose about another 15. Don't want to be 100lbs again but would like to look better in a bathing suit. And now even the doctors can't figure out how it happened and are testing me for thyroid dysfunction.

Amazon_Who

It was a cascade effect for me.
Tuned 30
Divorce
Desk job
Remarried (a foodie )
3 kids close together
diagnosed low thyroid

and the main reason... Too much mindless and/or emotional eating

gregavila

10 years ago I had eaten my way up to 142 pounds and decided enough was enough. I joined WW and lost 42 pounds and started bicycling nearly 2,000 miles a year. I got complacent, and stopped cycling and started eating and the weight slowly came back on. First to about 220-225 which seemed ok but then over the last few years it grew to 251.

The last set of weight gain was caused by two things... Eating like crap, and getting ZERO exercise. My guess is that I would likely average about 3000 calories a day (fast food, pizza, eating out, portions too big). And I just quit exercise - no gym, not walking the dogs, nothing.

So.. That's about it.

kelsgrenier

Medication

christibam

Because I gave up on myself.

anarose13

i have come to terms with the fact that i am emotional eater. It means i have alot more work ahead of me then i would like but sense i dont want to be anorexic again i am just working one day at a time.

robbiejay1971

I quit smoking, then was promoted from a heavily manual job into a management role. 5 years and 50lbs later I decided to do something about it!

blv0267

I think because I like food, really, really like food. I enjoy cooking and especially like baking cookies for my family - which all have required taste testing on my part. I'm also a big fan of wine (which I haven't been able to give up). And I have been inactive for pretty much my entire life.

Combine that with an attitude of not wanting to deprive or deny myself anything I wanted (which I still kind of have), aging and being extremely content in my new relationship and *poof* an extra 15 pounds has seemed to appear on my body.

Jenncoc86

bad diet habits, i was raised on bar food, no joke, habits start young I've had to learn to eat better

UpEarly

For me, it was large portions and too much snacking.

I've always been an exerciser. I've never been a binge eater or had an unhealthy emotional relationship with food. So, it was simply too many calories.

Once I got portions and total calories in check (around 2000 a day) my weight issues worked themselves out pretty easily.

jeyko

I'm an emotional eater. Eat when I'm happy, sad, bored.

penroseg

A part of it was from eating habits as a child. My older brother and younger sister were very picky. I wasn't. My parents praised me in regards to the variety foods that I ate, and that I would clean my plate at every meal. At mealtime, I was the "good kid". So it went from there....

I also love food! I love the taste of it, I love to eat it until I'm very full. I love the feeling of being really full. I also love beer, lots of beer. Yes, I do some emotional eating, but the rest of the time, I just eat a lot because I love food. My portion control is non-existant and I like to have seconds and thirds. Working on self-control now..... :drinker:

ezramedic

Because I like junk food and sitting on my *kitten*.