Did anyone NOT have a weight problem as a child?

0AmyMarie0

I was 48 lbs until 7th grade! I was always bitty! Thyroid issues made me put on weight now though.

Angie0rtiz

I was more or less like you. I was active as a child and teen. I had my first child while I was still in HS and gained 65 pounds with her which put me at 205 DOD. I lost most of it! When I met my now husband 9 months after that I was a size 7 (11 yrs ago). I slowly started putting on weight, eating out, drinking, socializing, stress, another baby.... you get the point Now in those 11yrs I have gained 85lbs putting me at 225 (im 5'5'') and a size 16/18. Compared to my size 7 its a bit depressing and to know I was a size 5 b4 ever having kids.
My family (mom & siblings) are brutal with remarks about my size. People (outsiders) take notice and think they are mean. I just tend to ignore it cuz they are all big too. My brother's excuse is he's a guy. My sister had a gastric bypass 7ys ago. and my mom although old still is 5' even and is 165. .....But Im the bad one!

SmartAlec03211988

I was very thin as a child, in fact I was probably underweight. When I was 16 I weighed less than 120 lbs. Between 16 and 23 I somehow went from ~116 to 206. :noway:

brandy_nurs24

I was always thin as a child. then I got pregnant with my son and it went down hill from there. I had always been able to eat what I wanted and when. Ive always been fairly active. But after my son anything I put in my mouth seemed to add on 10lbs.

andreanicole686

I never had a weight poblem when I was younger. I've never had a huge weight problem period I've only fluctuated about 10-20 pounds. I hit 145 at 17 because I wasn't taking care of myself, started eating right and lost the weight pretty quickly. Now as I've gotten older it just takes a little longer for it to come off. It's taken about 3 months for 10 pounds to come off but thats because I wasn't sure far away from my gw.

When I was in elementary and middle school I actually got made fun of for being too skinny. I hated it. I still hate it if anyone calls me skinny. Thats why I lift weights now.

Lorie66

I was skinny kid...even after 3 kids..I put on weight when I stopped being active and took care of my husband with cancer..I gained a ton of weight in a very short period of time (85 lbs in 10 months) and it scared the crap out of me...the doctor told me stress hormones caused me to gain..I eventually got it back off...whew:noway:

amy4586

My weight gain def started later in life. When I was young, I was so light, when I went to the movie theater, my grandma would put her purse in my lap so the chair would stay down, lol.

In HS, I thought I was "fat" which I was far from (typically teenager body issues). Only until, say, 5-6 years I've been struggling.

But, I'm making a life style change. I had to come to terms with the fact that I was no longer in HS, and it was not okay to eat eat eat, because unlike before IT CAUGHT UP WITH ME. lol.

FitLink

When I was a child I was always very thin. Even when I was born I was very small. I never had issues with food or weight as a child/teenager. When I met my husband in college in 1996 I was a size 3!! Over the years I slowly gained weight as I was no longer active in sports and concentrated on my studies. To make a long story short after marriage, different jobs, and three kids I gained more weight (a lot of stress eating!). I am 5'1" and my heighest weight was 178.8 in 2008. I am currently 146.2. I hear a lot of people talk about their struggle with weight most of their lives. I was wondering if anyone else is in a situation like mine where the weight came later in life? And if so...did people close to you treat you different when you gained the weight?

It kinda depends on what you mean by "problem." I believed I did. My mom told me I did. But I see pictures of me in childhood now and it's clear I didn't have a weight problem, except in that I was always trying to lose weight because I THOUGHT I had a weight problem. I looked in the mirror and saw a kid who was easily three times the size of the one in the pictures I have now. In my childhood, the kid I saw in the mirror was seriously obese. The kid in the pictures is of perfectly average size. I suspect my relationship with food now is complicated by my mistaken beliefs in childhood. I suppose that means I had a "problem," but I was not overweight.

mrsrobinsonlauraj

I was always thin and at 5'9" I weighed 105 until about age 35 when I actually went to the doctor to learn how to gain weight. It took a while but I put on about 30 lbs to get me to 135. At age 45 I went to 151lbs.(way too much!) I am currently 140 and love being at this weight.

fitnhealthykaren

No weight issues as a kid, I was a petite size 3/5 when I met my hubby, then I became happily married, started a family and then my weight started creeping up. :ohwell: :drinker:

I yo-yo'd in my 20's; I was in fairly good shape most of my 30's. But then, at age 40 (coupled with a neck injury) BAM major weight piled on and it's harder than ever to get the damn fat off!! :mad:

busymommyx3

I also was super thin all my life until my early 20's. I was actually underweight! In high school I was 5' 10" and between 115-125 pounds. I remember towards my second year of college when I hit 130 I was in complete shock and thought I was soooo fat lol! After I had my twins at 21 I started putting on weight and it kept going and going, now I am 31 and 225 pounds!! I have always wondered how I could go from such extremes but I long for those days when 130 pounds was a cause for panic lol!

nataliefallbach

I was a slightly chunky kid even though I played every sport known to man, and although I was always in a healthly weight range growing up, I never had a flat, perfect stomach which is a life long struggle. Its the first place I gain and the last to lose. I never understood how those girls in middle school and high school stayed so slim and ate so much crap, whereas my mom would feed us very healthy and I still had the belly. I was able to lose it in my twenties through diet, trail running, dirt biking and skiing, but that ended once I found a desk job. I guess I understand the work it takes for my body to be toned and that is what makes letting myself go the last few years frustrating to me. I know I will have to do double the work and eat super healthy to achieve the body I had in my early twenties. Is it fair, no, but thats life. Everybody is different and skinny doesn't always equal healthy. I am aiming for a place where I am content, in my healthly BMI and feel comfortable in a bathing suit again, since I never have been model perfect I think its easier for me to find peace with myself and be satisfied with an awesome running time instead of fitting into a size 2.

susanb573

I was normal weight or even thin until about 6 years ago. I became a surrogate and had 7 IVF cycles that resulted in 3 pregnancies (2 sets of twins and a singleton) in that six years. All 3 were c-sections. Now I'm gross. It was worth it but I miss my old body.

Init_to_winit

I was a little chunkier as a kid but nothing too bad and nothing to make the other kids notice or tease me or anything. I remember being self conscious my pre-teen years but all that baby fat went away when I hit my teen years. I was 5'7" and I only weighed 115lbs when I was around 14 and 15. I ate a ton but I hardly went out to eat mainly because my mom or brother never took me anywhere. Once I turned 16 and go my license I constantly ate out, I didn't play sports in school so I wasn't active at all anymore. Then college and beer came into my life and more dining out. The sad thing is when I was 115lbs I still was self conscious about my body, I sure don't want to be that skinny again but boy what I would give to have my slim body back!

Laurieann137

Wow! Thank you for your replies!! It's nice to know that I am not alone in this siutation. So from what I can figure we have our weight gain to blame on college, pregnancies, and marrige! lol! Actually what it got me thinking was how we need to remind high school students to always take care of themselves and that life happens and we get distracted and begin to not care about ourselves. I think it's great that our culture is beginning to change now to become more health conscious and stresses the importance of exercise. I know for the first time I am starting to use exercise as my release when I am frustrated, sad or angry! It's SO much better than food!!

vmislivets

I too was a string bean when I was a child and was thrilled when I finally hit 100 lbs as a senior in high school. When I married I was 111 and thought I was blessed with the same genes as my father and one of my aunts. When I started working full time I was about 120 and the pounds have been adding up ever since and I hate the way I feel in my clothes and up-sizing now. Now in size 16 clothes and can't bear the thought of going up another size. My one sister has told me that I need to loose weight and my children have hinted at my needing to get fit. Otherwise people don't usually treat me differently. But congrats to you for the weight you have lost! Hang in there and good luck with your goal.

onemeanman

I'm 6'2". I weighed 165 when I graduated highschool and hovered between 165 and 175 until I got married. Then the dam broke.

mccarol1956

I was tall and skinny my entire childhood. Was teased and harrassed about being a "bean pole", "turkey legs", so skinny if I turned sideways and stuck our my tongue I would look like a zipper, and several other remarks. When I was a teen, still skinny, I was also anorexic, bulemic as a young 20 year old. I did not gain weight until I hit my 30's when I stopped running, started eating and not purging. I gained very slowly for many years and then wham I piled it on. Heaviest in my life at 53 years old 266 lbs.. Trying to eat right and not trigger the anorexia/bulemia now as I change my eating habits.

connorsludge

Interesting to hear these stories. I was also SKINNY SKINNY as a kid and young adult. I gained a lot of weight with my first son because I was so skinny initially. The weight stuck on for a while, but with a conscious diet I was able to shed the pounds pretty quickly. In the 7 years since then I have inched up in pounds and now weight as much as I did when I was pregnant!

What I've learned from this is that being skinny worked to my deficit a bit. I don't come from a health-conscious family, so the message I received was, "pig out and don't exercise because you're too skinny." So I was skinny but never fit and didn't have any tools for maintaining my health as I grew older and my metabolism slowed.

My son is SKINNY SKINNY, too, but I emphasize good health and exercise with him. We practice portion control and talk about getting the right about of nutrients rather than eating enough food in general. I'm adamant that he play sports and develop strength.

Lib_B

i would say that i didn't have a weight problem until i was an adult. however, i've had food issues almost my entire life. i remember closet eating as a kid - hiding behind the couch and gorging on brownies at age 8. my mother was so concerned about us having weight issues that i think unknowingly, she created them by forcing us into the shadows and making eating shameful. she meant well. she wanted us to be healthy and not face the same challenges many in our family did. however, i don't think she had the tools to do it in a way that fostered healthy habits.

emgawne

personally, i have never been severely overweight. all growing up i was really active, played sports my entire life and i graduated high school at 148lbs. (i am 5'9") it wasnt until i got to college and suddenly wasnt active anymore that i started gaining weight and ended up getting up to 175. I was still on the very high end of "healthy" on the BMI chart, but for me it just wasnt right. thats when i started on here because i recognized in myself that i wasnt happy and something had to change.

kimmers1027

I have been thin my whole life.. Even after my first two children, I lost all my weight almost immediately and more. Then I got pregnant with my 3rd child in my 30's. She is now 11 years old and I still have not lost the weight I gained with her. I need to lose 30 to 40 pounds and it has been a complete struggle. Especially now that I am in my 40's. This website is wonderful and definitely keeps me motivated. It is very hard for me because I have never had a weight problem. I do not like the way I look and this weight is coming off for sure !!

mfpcopine

I was thin as a child, as were my siblings, except one, who was slightly plump, not overweight. My parents were normal weight as well. Now everyone but me is overweight or obese and they have health problems related to their weight. I'm 5' 2" and my weight has climbed to a level I'm not happy with, but objectively, I'm not overweight. My lowest weight was 88. I was in the 90s for much of my adult life. Now I'm older, my metabolism is slower, and I can't work out as vigorously in the past (and I hate exercise). I'm also having a very slow recovery from an injury.

As for why I'm normal weight and my family isn't, I suspect that I tolerate being overweight less well. Some years ago, I went up to 112 pounds because of a medication I was taking. I couldn't stand not being able to fit into my clothes, feeling I had to disguise my body, and that I was waddling. I felt gross.


One often comes across discussions of the need for self-acceptance, self-love. Those are lovely things in the abstract, but the application is harder. If I'd accepted myself when my weight began to go up I'd probably be overweight or obese today. I was motivated to do something because I couldn't stand the way I looked and felt.

Many thin people I know who put on weight as adults failed to change their eating and exercise habits as they got older. Of course stress and lack of time probably played a role as well.

Tashry

I didn't have any problems until I had my kids. I was always quite thin - 5'11" and 130 lbs, but I gained 50 lbs with each of my pregnancies. After my first son I lost 40 of the 50 pounds within a week or so of having him. After my second son, whoa boy...those pounds STUCK. That's what I am trying to take off. I know I will never be 130 lbs again - thanks to wider hips and a more adult body, but 160 is my goal and a good target for my height.

BlueInkDot

I was pretty active throughout my childhood and into high school. I stopped working out in college and that's when I gained weight.

I'm 5'3" and I was 120lbs to 125lbs when I graduated high school. By senior year of college I was about 160lbs.

Now I'm trying to get down to 130lbs or so - back to how fit I was in high school.

suelegal

Oh my... well I was one of those kids who liked to eat everything in sight. I was chunky, and even now, carried most of my weight in my butt and thighs. Both parents are German/AngloSaxon heritage and both had heavy lower bodies. I wore 16s when I was in Jr. High and learned early from my mom that we were always on a diet. So I would lose 5 gain 10, especially as I got older. Yes the kids teased me. I was "thunder thighs" and "air craft carrier" (my maiden name is Carrier). Funny, I don't even know where any of those people are now. No matter, it's where I am now, understanding that I can be healthy, that this process isn't only about losing weight but about a life style change.

cccgrillo

No weight problem while I was younger. I was so active with sport throughout high school amd college it wasn't ever an issue until I had kids! I've always been active so I thought that meant I could eat whatever I wanted... Wrong! Chicken fingers and Mac and cheese do NOT make for a healthy mommy! I exercise 5 days a week , but my biggest challenge is eating. It is a struggle I am always working on.

bluemorpho1247

I wasn't big as a child at all.
My sister and my cousin used to convince me to give them my food, and I got really thin and unhealthy. - They told me this for themselves, they said I was close to anorexia (not literal)

Once I started to gain control over what I ate, I ATE!

jrreed1

My nickname growing up was Skinny Minnie. I didn't really gain weight until 2004. I had 3 babies (2006, 2007, 2009) and lost all of my pregnancy weight with each, but the 15 pounds I gained during 2004 wouldn't go anywhere. The loss of muscle mass because I wasn't exercising was horrific to me. I just didn't care, I had so many other things I was trying to cope with at that time and I was doing it alone. Exercise and eating right wasn't even on my list of priorities. I saw a picture of myself at a friends wedding and I didn't recognize myself. I had no idea I looked that bad. Nobody said anything to me. That picture was my turning point. I started exercising and eating a little better again and exercise and diet really took on a new life when my 3 kids (5 and under) started "exercising" with me and asking for fruits, PB sandwiches, etc instead of cookies and candy. I finally understood how I viewed exercise and healthy eating was shaping my childrens view of the same. It isn't easy, some days I am so done with the effort it takes to exercise and fix fresh foods, but I remember that picture and it keeps me motivated from sliding back.

SteffieMark

I was very thin and athletic until 4 years ago, around age 50. Health issues made my mobility come to pretty much, a standstill. No movement and the added depression it caused, made pounds easy to find me. I am giving them a going away party now, one by one!