What caused your weight gain?

pannellkat

I see many people on the forums that are trying to get "back" to where they were before they gained weight. Some of us have gained 50 lbs or more and some just a few lbs to get off. What do you think caused your weight gain?

I know for me, it started with the depo shot, birthing 2 children and not breastfeeding, and those darn Rockstar Energy drinks daily just did me in!! Oh and not staying active. Went from 125 to 175 in NO TIME!

XFitMojoMom

birthing two children , also not BF'ing, being type II diabetic with child #2, having an eating disorder in my teens and 20's.
oh, and loving single malt scotch and toppy wine!:drinker:

edited to add: yes, erm, and filet mignon with blue cheese:blushing:

Lisa0711

Mine all started as a kid.. I've been heavy all my life. But I lost some and got to a healthy weight when I was 15-16. However that all changed when I met my current boyfriend 4 years ago. I put on 50+ pounds and didn't even realize it. I was just so happy with my boyfriend and our relationship that I didn't care about how I looked and ate how I wanted. It didn't help that my scale broke either. Then I realized that I was really really big in our pictures and bought a scale.. I pretty much broke down when I saw how much I gained. And then I ate some more from the depression from that. It really is a viscious cycle. But anyway, after 2 years of "pitty me" crap I woke up and did something about it and I've lost almost 50 pounds since, (just got under 200 today! 199.8:bigsmile:.) So mine was partly the result of being in love, the rest out of pure laziness.

Rugbychick16

2 words - Portion Sizes!! I can't BELIEVE what I thought a "portion" was, or how many calories I thought it had!

songbyrdsweet

Starting to DRINK way too young...well, at all.
Living off Banquet meals and fast food.
Portion control.
A controlling ex-bf who wouldn't let me go to the gym.
Never having an interest in working out until late highschool/college.

Nickstery

I was big as a kid, my Mom likes to blame it on video games and that when I eat, I do so really fast and feel like I need more till I'm finally full. My family had always told me if I slowed down I would notice I am full quicker.

Out of High School I was doing Weight Watchers and was down to 220 from 275. I felt awesome and looked skinny for the first time since I was 5 years old. I came back to my home town and kind of got into drinking a little too much and wasn't watching was I was eating anymore and got back up to 260.

Lately I've been listening to my amazing fiancee who is guiding me through eating healthier and trying to slow my eating pace down with some avail but not as much as she would like. I have been better about controling my portions. I also think at the time that I had come back to my home town I didn't have the best self-esteem about myself. Luckily I have a wonderful fiancee to help me out with that.

shadechick

My husband got a new job in a new city (I'd lived in the same city 27 years) so when we moved, I had no job, no friends, no family, and hated where we moved, so I got depressed. That's where it all started. I'd been 110 lbs all my adult life and could always eat anything I wanted without gaining a pound and never needed to exercise. So, 30 lbs later, I'm really trying to lose it!

AshleyTaylor2017

I was always natually really think. I had a very high metabolism in high school and graduated weighing 108lbs. I put on 40lbs in the last 4 years, though I suppose I am not "fat" I can't believe how much I have put on and how I just didn't care. I just assumed that since I had always been thin and never had to work at it, I would always stay that way! Well...I suppose eating out all the time and consuming 2500 calories or more a day probably did this...with the lack of motivation to work out. If only it was as easy as it was back then

jzbaby626

I gained 50 lbs when I got pregnant. I lost about 25 after having him. Before pregnancy I could eat whatever I wanted & not worry, since I was technically underweight. That wasn't the case after pregnancy. I can't eat whatever I want & not gain a pound anymore. I think my metabolism has slowed down. I gained back the 25 pounds I had lost after pregnancy. That happened over a 2 year span. I topped out at 150 and thought how did i get here?? The answer is not hard...I LOVE FOOD. All those snacks sure do add up. It didn't help that I didnt have a scale in the house for about a year. I had no idea I had gained THAT MUCH. Now I realize i can't eat the same way I did when I was a teenager. I never thought I would be overweight. I was thin my whole life before age 20. I want my body back so I am dieting and exercising and hoping it will come back to me!!!

SachaMichel

I've always been an emotional eater, and still am; I don't think that's something that I could ever change, unfortunately.

I was a reasonably-sized kid though, mostly because my binges were on stuff like fruit and yogurt and bread (a ton of it).

However, when my family decided to go to Asia and my boyfriend and I broke up, I was left alone and I'm not sure what happened, but when I binged I suddenly started turning to high-fat muffins, pizza, and chocolates by the the package.

Anyways, I've finally cut the habit and went back to my old ways of overeating healthy foods, lol. It still makes me gain weight (they're still calories after all) but it'd definitely not as bad a problem.

guidosgal

Nothing cause my weight gain but someone caused my weight gain and that someone was me. For me I never had a issue being the big girl (when I was single no lack of dates) after I got married I guess if the Hubby didnt complain then it was OK. If it got to tight I would buy a bigger size. Ect Ect. I really did not think I ate badly (I guess that chipsahoy does not make a good breakfast) So my weight was caused by my own ignorance. And my new healthy body is caused by being awhere. I have been using this saying for many years "Many people say that ignorance is bliss, but now that I am learning I see all that I have missed" and it is really true. I will never be ignorant about my own body again :glasses:

lildebbie

Well...

I started with a chubby child, a fat teenager, then as a young adult i was put on diet pills lost a lot of weight in a very short amount of time (like 40 lbs in 2 months)...Then met hubby , got married, was happy and comfortable and we both ate whatever we wanted.

Then 2 kids ..the funny thing is that after each of them i was 30-40 lbs lighter than i was when i got pregant, but soon gained it all back.

After my last child i was on a good path of loosing weight, then life happend, i was going on the path of loosing more and more, then my hubby lost his job, i got a new job in a different state, we moved 500 miles away from my family with a 4 yr old and 9 month old. to a place i hated...next thing i eneded up weiging 318 and now here I am at 290 and dropping.

So in short (or long) ...always had issue with food,..i have always turned to food, being happy turned to food, being depressed turn to food.

So lesson here...i don't need to turn to food and find something else to turn to.

MadWorld

5 years ago, I was not the same person I am today. I partied more than a normal or sane person should. When I woke up out of my haze-- I had a lot of work to do mentally and physically.

MacMadame

My problems started as a kid. I chunked up as I was going through puberty and my family flipped out. So I went on my first diet at age 13 and that started a lifelong cycle of yo-yo dieting as I'd lose weight then gain it back with friends.

LittleSpy

I'm pretty similar to Blondie. I've been overweight my whole life. I started getting it under control when I was about 14, but around that time I really started struggling with anxiety/depression issues and I started gaining. I was probably about 160 then which was up to about 200 by the time I graduated high school. Then I went to college and gained 30 more. I decided to take control after my sophomore year and lost 40 pounds but pretty much gained it all back within a year and a half because I hadn't really lost weight the right way. I thought I was eating right, but I wasn't at all, and I had started walking about 5 miles 5 times a week, but I stopped doing that so the weight just piled back on immediately. During the time I was gaining that 40 pounds back, I started dating my boyfriend. I really let myself go because I was comfortable with our relationship and we started eating a lot of rich foods and for some reason I thought I should be able to eat as much as he did. Suffice it to say, 3.5 years later, I had gained 40 more pounds on top of gaining back the 40 I had lost. I literally woke up on September 8th, 2009 and thought "WTF am I doing? I'm killing myself..." I found MFP that day and I've been feeling great since.

So, yeah, awful awful viscious cycles, emotional eating along with anxiety/depression, being happy with a relationship, and never learning healthy habits to begin with = me at 270 pounds.

Anumie23

I've always been heavy since I was young and just kind of accepted it after trying and failing at numerous diets. I just recently ended a long term relationship with my son's father. He said a lot of hurtful things about me and my weight. I gave my all to him and I decided that it was time to give it all to myself for a change. I just recently started this lifestyle changed and i've lost 6 lbs so far. Looking to lose about 100lbs but it starts with one step and i'm on my way!

Athena

JJs25th

I have kept an eye on my weight ever since college -- I had seen the family pictures. My relatives all started out skinny, then came their 30's -- and *poof* they show up as 250+ pounds. :huh: I was determined not to go there! :grumble:
Then I started perimenapause and my metabolism slowed down, but my eating did not.. Then I was put on a couple of medications to try to prevent my migrains -- one of which cause a 15 pound gain in two months. That was a lot for me. Then there was the portion creep issue. Who knew a single serving bag was not a single portion? :noway: And I too am an emotional eater, so as business got tougher and more stressful -- I turned to food. :frown:

Last winter was the last straw. I have been joking that I should have known that something was up! I was warm in January for the first time in my life!:laugh: I wasn't really warm -- my blood pressure was out of control. Hello -- it was time to face reality. I weighed more than when I was 9 months pregnant; and the clothing I was in was too tight -- again...:grumble:

Thanks to my friend that shared MFP with me!!! :happy: :flowerforyou:

lsjd2000

mostly inactivity but also 3 pregnancies _ though i did lose alot btwn the 2nd and 3rd then also i was on meds for my migranes and they really packed on the pounds now trying to lose.

FireRox21

Wow, where do I start? I was very athletic as a child (figure skating, ballet, etc.) and was quite muscular. I am originally from Memphis, and back then down there, home cookin' was the only thing we ate. Full fat, calories, sweets, you name it. I was 85 lbs at 8 years old and not even 4' tall by then. (I'm only 4'11 now and I'm 30yo). I spent my tweens, teens and early 20's with eating disorders and binging on food. I became incredibly fit in college (16yo-21yo). I was on the ice hockey team, swim team, and went through the Firefighting Academy. During that time, I could eat ANYTHING I wanted and not gain a pound. I was constantly working out.

Then life happened.

I became engaged at 21 to a *kitten* of a supposed "man". He constantly told me I was fat. I was 100lbs. I have pictures of me at my 21st birthday where my arms are as big around as my ankles, my veins were popping out, and I had bones poking through my skin. My hair was falling out and thin, my skin was ghostly, and my eyes just had no life to them.

Then, came the alcohol. A LOT of alcohol. No food, just alcohol. This went on for 6 years. I lost all of my friends, a few jobs, a beautiful place to live by the beach (which was great for my new found love of the ocean and surfing) with a WONDERFUL boyfriend, and almost my life.

I settled down, quit the alcohol, and met my fiance. I was 165lbs then within a year have gone up to 185lbs. I was comfortable. We both LOVE food and to eat. I was comfortable with my weight. If it was too small, I'd buy a bigger size or just wear baggier clothing to cover up the bulges. I also blamed most of my weight gain of the medicines I have to take for rheumatoid arthritis and the fact that I couldn't do a lot of cardio exercise because it was too hard on my joints.

Then, the bells, buzzers, and the gong of the scale went off. I found MFP 8 days ago and have lost 3lbs. I have finally realized the cause of the problem is myself. All of the snaking, the super-sized portions, and the denial finally caught up with me. I realized that yes, I have gone through some serious emotional hell, but the only person that can help me is me!

I have discovered, just in 8 days, that this battle can be won. I CAN exercise and eat right. I HAVE the energy to do the things I want to do (with rest breaks for my joints as needed).

Sorry for the long post, but seeing things in retrospect is good.

melissaag1984

I was always a little bit on the chunky side. I never have and still don't quite understand why. I had very strict parents and grandparents who would not let us inside after school until dinner time. So we played A LOT when I was a kid. I also danced all the way up through college. I was just never thin. i never ate badly really, so it was just always the way I was.

When I got to 8th grade I started dancing hardcore, about 30 hours a week. Dance was my life, and I was always one of the heavier girls, but [not trying to be conceited] but I was really good. I hated myself for it. I auditioned A LOT for a ton of different shows, parks, everything. I was just never the right size. My dance teacher always said it was a strength at competion b/c judges would expect less from me, bc of my not being typical dancer thin. But it still always bothered me. So basically I was super involved in anything theater related and all through high school would skip meals, eat randomly, try to not eat sometimes. It was a constant battle to lose weight.

Then I actually lost about 20 pounds in college. I was really happy, really involved, I don't really know why but I lost weight. It probably helped that I have never been a real big drinker. In college I was a salad eater. Every meal, whenever we went out to eat. I basically lived on chicken salad, iced coffee and ramen. I was happy when I graduated college. I was still heavy by most people's standards but I was physically healthy...if that makes sense. I was able to do anything. When I met my now Fiance we started eating out more but b/c I was still dancing it was fine.

Then Law school came. Long days in the library, a gazillion coffees a day to keep focused. horrible eating habits and livin with my fiance. I gainedabout 30 pounds in 3 years. I also blaim it on being a little unhappy because I had to stop dancing cold turkey. When something is such a huge part of your life for so long, to stop kills the spirit. So now I am happy again, looking for studios in my new city to take drop in classes and trying to lose more weight than ever before and look Gorgeous in my wedding dress in a year and a half!

TByrd1325

When I was in my senior year of highschool I got out around lunch time and my mom would always pick me up and we'd go out to eat. This turned into an almost everyday thing.
Lots of drinking. Lots.
Fast food, ramen noodles, pizza, mac and cheese. HUGE portions.
Then I got pregnant.


=D

wks7777

lack of exercise and portion control and healthy eating habits after high school, but my metabolism didnt respond until a month before my wedding(at 21) i literally gained 10 lbs in one month i swear! Then i got pregnant with my son 2 months after and never lost the weight afterwards due to what i believe to be depression in retrospect tho i didnt realize it then and lazinesss then got pregnant with my second a year and half later. i had lost some weight a year ago and then gained at all back due to going back to my bad habits that got me there in the first place.

angelnik03

I've always been curvy, but I was always small. I started college as a size 4 and without the 2 hours of exercise/day that high school provided, I gained weight, but it wasn't very much, very fast. The last year in college was so miserable for my roommate and I, we started drinking a bottle (or 2) of wine almost every day. We drank when we were bored, anxious, getting ready to go out, or at home for more than 20 minutes at a time. Top that with eating very calorie heavy food all day, and I started putting on the lbs pretty consistently.

When I left college, I saw the weight gain, but I kept tricking myself into thinking that you couldn't notice the few extra pounds. No exercise, a serious wine habit, and homecooked meals again (thanks, mom) didn't help matters. Eventually the weight gain started making me miserable. I stopped wanting to shop or buy new clothes, go out with my girlfriends, and my self esteem plummeted. Every time I got around my friends, I couldn't do anything but focus on how skinny they were and how I felt like "that" girl when we were together.

After a few good breakdowns this year, I woke up one morning with the clarity that losing weight would be the first step to taking my life back, both physically and mentally. Good thing I'm a Taurus - determination and stubbornness have kept me on track! A couple of google searches and several hundred dollars in equipment later, I found MFP. I just made 5 weeks on Tuesday, and I believe that in the morning I will make my first big goal of getting my weight back into the 150s. :bigsmile:

I credit the fabulous people on MFP for helping me out. No one around me understands my struggle, but reading everyone's posts make me feel so much less lonely than I would. This is a *great* post BTW. I like reading about everyone's stories.

Mina133842

I've been large for a long time too - since childhood. My mom said it was when I started to read- I do have a love for books, and my outside interests seemed to diminish - no more playing outside and being active. no more riding bikes, and running - I remember racing my brother everywhere. Not to mention, my mom had food issues, and as a kid you start picking things up - like hidden snacking/eating. Also, have 4 brothers, and 1 sister, you pretty much had to gulp your food down, before the boys had everything gone! oh yeah, then I worked in a bakery - 3 different bakeries, actually... worked for my uncle who owned a bakery, worked for Mrs. Fields' Cookies, and then worked at a bakery down in Oregon. Did I mention that my favorite food is CAKE?! AND cookies?! I wonder why I gained?! LOL So, left the bakery world - I still occasionally get asked to make a cake for someone - but now in a non-food work environment, so that's helping...NOW. I also didn't see myself getting larger, and larger.. ate whatever I wanted, I think mostly because I gave up on the dream of ever being fit & healthy, just resigned myself to being the fat girl. Now that I have my son, I don't want to be that mom that can't do anything with him. I don't want to have the kid who is embarrassed for his mom, or have other kids point the finger at me.. I'd like to be the fun mom, that can go kayaking with her kid, or bike riding... whatever. I don't want to question whether I'll be able to "fit" into something- whether it's an airplane seat, or a booth at a restaurant -or a roller coaster, I miss roller coasters!

CinthyNair

I have been big all my life, since childhood ... my parents used to tell me to exercise, but I guess I just didn't care about it. I ate watever I wanted, whenever I wanted .... I was a big dessert person ... cheesecakes, ice creams, chocolates, you name it!

In my teens, nothing changed, just eating away happily :P

When I went to Uni, I had lost some because of all the walking and lack of choices in food (in house cafetaria only has so many options).

Then I got married, pregnant, and wham, gained 90lbs!

So, let's see ... to answer this question - no portion control, eating anything I wanted, and no exercises pretty much caused the weight gain.

justjack51

Love to eat and be lazy all the time. Seems to be a great formula for gaining weight.

TKelly06

Always was the chubby child. Lost about 50 pounds in high school only because I had to walk to and from school with a backpack. Kept the 50 off in college. Met now husband, became very comfortable and gained 80 pounds. (he never once said I wasn't beautiful, and I thank him for that) Tried many different times to diet, only to fail.. Finally got serious and 83 pounds later wouldn't have it any other way! I can run up stairs, I can walk to places without being out of breath, its great! Of course it helps to have a husband who is 110% supportive, all the way down to telling me I dont need candy, even if i really want it.

vhardwick

I gained 80 lbs. while pregnant and just never was able to get the weight off until now. My son is now 10 years old!

leavinglasvegas

I had anorexia as young as 5 and turned to bulimia in my later teens. When I started gaining weight I don't think I was eating that poorly and I certainly wasn't lacking exercise, but I was going through some serious stress. First I lost my job, then got scammed of the last of my savings by a bankruptcy attorney, then I lost my car, then I saved my unemployment money and tip money from delivering pizzas for my house payment and chistmas presents and someone broke into my house and took everything I had, that same day I found out my boyfriend had started seeing his ex behind my back, then I lost my best friend after she joined some cult/church and had a mental breakdown, then I lost my home to forclosure and wound up living in an 8x10 room with my daughter at my parents house...by then I had gained 50 pounds and started the closest thing to a full-time job I could find and it was the job from He!! and gained another 30 pounds. All this happened while I was eating well and exercising daily, but I do admit that having no money changes the quality of the food. I got alot of food from food banks, and it was far from nutritious.

TaraMaria

Hello ladies!

Wow! You have all been through so much and what impresses me the most is that you all realize what has happened in your life and you are taking amazing steps to get what you NEED in your life! Congrats to you all, where ever you are on your journey!

For me, I think my pregnancy really did snowball things. I had my son at 31 weeks due to preeclampsia. That right there took my 5'3" body into a weight world I never wanted to experience! I gained around 60 pounds altogether and while I lost 40 of it pretty quickly, it took about a year to loose the rest of it. I wasn't at a healthy weight when I got pregnant so I still knew I wasn't where I needed to be.

Around this time I had my first stroke. No one knew it was a stroke at the time, not even my doctors. The damage was pretty intense, my left side taking the brunt of it. I couldn't smile right and my arm and leg felt disconnected or numb. At this point there wasn't a whole lot I could do exercise wise. I was very immobile and just doing what I could to get through the day! If that meant not eating that day because I just felt too miserable, I didn't. If that meant some days eating nothing but a piece of pizza for lunch and then another piece for dinner I did. I recall a bag of pretzels being all of my meals for a few days. I think my lack of calories and lack of movement did NOT help. It wasn't as if I was overeating, I wasn't eating enough and if I did eat, it was not the right things.

This year after getting the strokes under controlled (I've had 7 TIA's) I then entered the world of endometrial cancer. I bled constantly and was in severe pain. I was extremely bloated all of the time. There was no way to loose weight or even function. November 18th I had a hysterectomy. Since the surgery I've lost 16 pounds. I still may have to do some chemo starting in January and I will have to prepare myself for what that will do to my body. Hopefully not though!

So in answer to the question: I really blame my poor health as the cause of my weight gain. I was just in survival mode and didn't eat right nor could I work out. On to a better future and a happy new year! Happy holidays everyone! )

34at35

:sad: All the "starving kids in China" my mother told me about growing up:laugh:
Burger Chef, McDonalds, the Mighty Mo, the Big Boy & Burger KIng when I became a teenager:laugh: got me addicted to fast food:grumble:
:sad: Keggers in college:drinker:
34+ years of happily married life eating my wife's awesome cookies, pies, and cakes
:grumble: Over 40 years of "desk jockey" jobs in IT :ohwell:
:frown: Too little time to ski
:flowerforyou: Being a good husband with sympathy weight gain when she was pregnant with our 2 kids:flowerforyou:

I could go on forever, but the biggest reason is the inability to say "no" to food!