Why are you / Why were you fat?

bethhyg

When I was a teenager and in my early twenties. I could eat whatever I wanted and not have to worry about weight. I continued to eat that way and gained weight. I never learned how to take control of what I ate. I ate what I wanted and when I wanted. And that is where I am now. Wanting to lose 50lbs.

angelashay42

I hate to play the "bad childhood" card but if I had to pinpoint it, my emotionally abusive and distant mother would be the main cause of my weight problems. As a child I ate to make myself feel better when I was lonely and hurt. So naturally, as an adult I use food as a sort of comfort. Sweet and fatty food is my way of telling myself that I'm worth something. Which is ironic, because being overweight has always made me feel even more worthless. It's been a vicious cycle.
I'm only 5'3" and my healthy weight is around 125-130lbs. At my heaviest, I was about 185lbs (not sure because I was too ashamed to step on a scale). I got married last year at 150lbs and I am slowly but surely working my way down. I've become a vegetarian and I've found that logging my diet really helps keep me on track and motivated. My husband and I want to have a baby soon so I'm determined to get down to a healthy weight and healthy eating habits before bringing a child into the world. I want to be able to be a good influence on my children.

CannibalisticVegetarian

It was because I ate out of sheer boredom.. or depression. I ate whatever I wanted regardless of calories... not to mention the heavy snacking once I got by myself. I was surrounded by people who always wanted to go out to eat, and each and every single time I was happy to go. Good food is always a plus!

Also because the only exercise my body ever got was from my mind jumping to conclusions about dramatic situations. Yeah. Shoulda kicked drama to the curb and adopted a different lifestyle eons ago!

Itsallkungfu

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!!!!

I thinks it's great thing you've brought up ...

If I continue to refuse to address my faults, and continue to blame my jobs, cities, medicines, marital status, how my significant other treats me....the list could be endless. Personal responsibility to change my endless cycle of excuses and sad / stressed/angry eating is the only way I'll get well...

juicygurl1

I gained weight for several reasons, too many to explain...but rather than dwell on the past I want to focus on getting rid of this excess baggage, blanket, fat skin...or what ever it's called and move on with life.

JamesThiel

Desk job, couch potato...... And I like eating out and generally everything that is bad for you.....

rextcat

i never ate well before i was prego the first time, so i ate everything insight wile i was (prego), and after i had her i developed a drinking problem...that i still deal with. and did the same with my second child(the eating) but my drinking is now under better control and i am starting to eat the right foods so...there

lillystargazer

Very bad depression, a bad childhood, I'm lazy, and I like to eat too much. I also used to eat when I was bored, without fail.

Elle2509

Never bothered to exercise! You have to burn off more than you take in, or at least burn off what you consume to balance a weight. I am just lazy to be honest - such a busy life that I have put exercise on the back burner to my detriment.

leogirl724

Simple..
I ate my feelings....

Everything I wanted to say...I didn't.
I ate to numb the pain

jmulldome

Four simple words...........Jack.....In.....The.....Box
That is why I got fat about 10+ years ago.

I have brought my weight down, and also brought down the amount of Jack or any fast food I consume, but Jack is the reason for my initial weight gain.

Jack for breakfast if I worked the early shift, Jack for lunch if I worked mid-days, or Jack for dinner if I worked evenings..........it was a vicious circle of crap.

Now, I'll be surprised if I have Jack more than once every few months (sorry, occasionally I have a weakness for those tacos, even though I know they're horrible for me).

taunto

Honest truth time for me

- Laziness. I was too lazy to move and make a change in my lifestyle. Fast food (which I hate btw, I really hate most of the food from BK and McD's) was just easier even though cooking for myself wouldve been cheaper and healthier.

- Excuses. I made excuses. I will do this some other time. I will do it starting tomorrow. Oh I ate bad today? I will recover tomorrow by not eating and ofcourse that led to binging

- video game addiction: World of Warcraft. I cannot even begin to explain how much that game have ruined my life, not just health wise but everything. I know I'm to blame but that game alone have ruined the last atleast 4 years of my life.

- being a coward: Whenever I got hit by stress, I tried to confide in food or cigarettes. I just didnt wanted to face my troubles like a man but in the end, I had to anyways. Stress didnt went away because of eating or smoking but it sure did put on some weight.

- Just not stopping: I couldve stopped with the bad habits when I hit 200, I was aware of the weight issue. I couldve stopped at 220, 240, 250, 270, and now I'm at 280. Each time I knew what was up but I didnt do anything about it. I was ok with the fat man in the mirror. I hated him but I didnt wanted to do anything to change it

I am now in charge of my own faults and failures. I will try my best. I urge my friends on MFP to not let me get off the course. I have a few real life friends who i've asked to do the same. Hopefully, this time I will conquer my own mind.

Jesusfreak21

In high school I cheered, but when I moved high schools and stopped cheering I started to gain weight. Then once I got to college I gained so much weight. Being in nursing school has not helped, it has only added to the stress. When I get stressed my first reaction is to eat. I have gained over 30lbs. I went from 145 to 175 it is ridiculous. Instead of working out, I just choose to do nothing about it, but I realize I have to change it now or I never will. It's time to take back all the time I've lost, being sad and depressed about being overweight. I just have to be motivated Matthew 19:26

mwcraig34

Because my mouth hole is larger than my butt-hole!

SnakeDarling

I've always been fat.

I remember when I was around 7, my mom started me on all sorts of diets, from just eating healthy and cutting out sweets to crazy fad diets.
Well, you know... Being seven, I didn't really consider any health benefits from losing weight, and the yo-yo effect came into play very early on.


HOWEVER, I have been pretty much the same weight since my freshman year and the same proportions since 5th grade.

phechan3

Part poor diet, part laziness, part being too embarrassed to just do stuff, part addictive personality, part genetic and then compounded by going from a decently active job to a broke, full time student. ._. And I'm sure the whole procrastination thing isn't helping. >.<;;

ImSoSerious1987

I eat too much, portion is key, and i cheat that's one. its especially hard when your the only one trying to eat better and my will power is just shot.

peachied

I think there are many contributing factors to why I have lived as an overweight person, but the number one reason I can gather is that I ate my feelings. I used food to make myself feel better, and it worked for awhile until I looked in the mirror and saw something I didn't want to see.

Now that I've made the decision to get fit, food isn't my emotional support. I don't need food to comfort me through the hard times. I don't live to eat anymore, I eat to live. And that just makes me happy! I am getting stronger and healthier every day I use MFP and I am doing that all on my own. It's awesome!

PunkyRachel

Mine was mostly high school. I was always active and skinny,as a kid, just not as skinny as some of my friends. I had a bad home life and I was not very popular in school either. I was considered a freak! I was 5'5 and about 135 pounds as a freshmen, I wore size 8-10 jeans. I got suicidally depressed and stopped being active and lived in the kitchen, by my Jr. year I was up to a size 20 prom dress. I didn't care, about myself, I was suicidal and had to no self respect at all. I met Jeremy (husband) at the end of my junior year, he went to a different high school. I quickly fell in love with him, he was the first person to truly make me happy. I felt better about myself around him and started to lose weight. I was back down to a 18 for senior prom, and a year after high school we got married and I was a 16 wedding dress. I got down to a 14, then I got comfy and have just been yo-yoing between 14-20 for the past 8 years. I'm just so tired of being a yo-yo. I'm really trying to make this a happen, this time around!!!

SuperSnoopy

Depression and comfort eating made me feel better. The depression is still there but the weight is gone now and I am making sure it dont come back. XX

Exodus109

Wow! Your post really did it's job. I, indeed, have never really considered this question? I mean I know I overeat, I know I am an emotional eater, I know I love sugar......but deep down inside, why would I do this to myself? I have NO IDEA! I am going to ponder this for a while though and just wanted to thank you for bringing me to this place. After 30 years of dieting on and off, it's high time I got to some roots.

SnTsMum

I used being pregnant as an excuse to not watch what I ate.

SkinnyShadow

I think what really did it... was that I was broke, and I mean like, surviving on blackberries broke, for about 1 & 1/2 years. I was literally starving every day. I was in a bad place - abusive relationship etc. When I finally got out of that situation, I ate, and I ate and I ate. It's like I get this panic feeling like, when I start eating my body's like "quick, shove as much as you can in you cause you're not going to get any more!!"

rmesta

Now - Working on it... Then emotional eater as a kid always chubby, 2 kids -mommy weight, illness - fatigue - limited activity.

ruthnor

There are so many reasons I'm not even sure I know where to begin.

When I was a kid, I hated "healthy" foods, mostly vegetables, and my parents eventually gave up on trying to feed them to me because I was so unbending. And they never tried to stop me from eating too much junk food. I got to eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted for my entire childhood/teenage years. I'm not trying to blame my parents, necessarily, but they definitely enabled me.

So, because of that, I'd always been overweight. I never thought of trying to change it because it was just part of my identity. The only way I lost weight was pretty much starving myself when I was 13, so I gave up on that after about a year and continued eating whatever I wanted. Like many people, I ate my emotions. And, like most teenagers, I had a lot of them.

I always feel embarrassed when people share their reasons for weight loss like this because even when I was gaining SO much, I never hit the breaks and went "woah, this needs to change!" At 220 I only looked a little chubby, because I'm tallish and hold my weight well. But then it became 230, 240, etc. and I knew it was bad but had no idea how to change it. I just accepted it as part of who I was. When I finally hit 300, I was really shocked and horrified but still had no idea how to lose it other than starving myself. After maybe 4 years of living this way and yo-yo-ing around, I finally decided to make a change in my life and put serious effort into both losing weight and living a healthier lifestyle in general. And I'm so much happier for it.

manoahula

Bad eating habits...when left to my own devices, I starve myself on some days and eat *way* too much on others. Without tracking what I eat, it's tough for me to find a balance.

tethomas73

I wish I could say baby fat but the baby is now 18. About 10 years ago I found out I had hypothyroidism. Not using that as and excuse because I also made bad choices when it came to food.. Growing up everything we ate came for the garden and my dad hunt and fish.. After High School I move to the BIG city. It was so easy to stop and grab a burger and fries.So that's how I gain my weight..