Why did you let yourself go?...

hippy2skippy

A new 9-5 office job + emotional eating + choosing "easy" foods instead of more healthy ones.

Humbugsftw

I have an incredibly high metabolism. I used to eat entire large pepperoni and cheese pizzas and buckets of KFC and not gain a single pound. I stayed even at between 100-110lbs.

Last summer I was on depo for three months. I went to America to stay with my (now ex) and his family. I was sedentary all the time (ended up sleeping when no-one was at home), and the depo HAD affected my metabolism majorly, not to mention shot my appetite up. And a lot of it was water weight.

I gained 30lbs in 3 months. I was at my highest weight ever - 140. My hips and boobs and thighs became bigger, but it had such a huge effect on my self-esteem. I felt disgusted at myself, and became depressed.

I came back to England, and once the depo wore off, I was back to my normal metabolism levels. However, I remained at 140. And I hated the way I look. Took the plunge to lose weight 6 weeks ago with the help and support of my boyfriend, have felt happier knowing that I will be back to my normal weight at some point.

TL;DR: I gained a huge amount of weight in three months, felt disgusted at myself, and had incredibly low self-esteem. Depo messed up my metabolism majorly.

Musicbabe42

To me I look in the mirror and still to this day see someone ugly......so why bother to control my weight it is not like I am looking for a guy. But I was sent to a unit at my job that made me get into shape in order to preform it as expected. I have to accept though i will never be good looking i can be healthy and slim.

tajmel

Taking care of my physical self was my last priority. It was on the list, but not high. Add depression and major lifestyle and diet changes brought on by early/abrupt marriage and a couple of kids and you get 126 lbs of fat, most of which I gained in about a year.

I don't think I "let myself go" for the record. I never stopped taking care of my appearance and I still loved and worked to improve myself. My fitness just wasn't my highest priority.

LolasEpicJourney

I was overweight as a child. When I was about 14 I started slowly starving myself. Once I went to university I was put on anti-depressants that caused me to double my body weight. I dont know if that's "letting myself go" as much as having the meds induce massive weight gain. Over the years I did get a much higher appetite that's for sure though.

gaylynn35

I didn't eat enough, I never understood how I could be gaining and gaining weight when I barely ate anything. Now I know, I must eat more and exercise.

AtlantaWriter

Way to go, Cupcake!

DaraEden

I know how it happened. I ate whatever I wanted. I also am camera shy so I never really saw myself. Never really wanted to see. I felt miserable, tired, and old. A friend snapped a photo when I wasn't looking and posted on facebook. When I saw that photo, I cried. I knew I had let myself go, but I didn't realize exactly how bad. My hubby has always been supportive and never said anything negative. I wanted to be a better Beth.

Good for you p.s. I LOVE your two pandas in the picture! cuteness

aliwitt82

My husband was in the army and was deployed to Iraq 3 times. Two of those times I was a "single" mom. When he was deployed it was easier to eat at a fast food restaurant rather then to cook. Then I used the excuse I "didn't" have time to do anything about it.

Cupcakehippiemommy

because I think I am ugly, might as well be fat too. Now I think, meh, I may be ugly, but I dont have to be fat too.

For the record I don't think you're ugly, doll ^u^

tomdVT

The whole story:

The gaining part:
quit smoking = gained weight
no energy over time = gained more weight
cause: defective heart valve
collapsed - almost died

The losing part
four months in cardiac rehab
joined a gym to keep good things happening
lost 35 pounds

Getting here part
found out about MFP (at gym BTW)
lost 16 more lbs and made goal.
reset goal down four more lbs and three to go.

Han987

I was always pretty active through school. One of the smaller kids. Finished school all my friends and I went off to different unis, a year goes by and everyone is home again and wanting to hang out. I really never noticed I was gaining weight until I went to hang out with them again. That's when I realized I was actually a size or 2 bigger than last year. I had officially become the fat friend.

Smiling_Sara

I can't really answer it. I'm not sure what made me gain weight to begin with. But regaining 30+ after losing almost 100, a big part was because I was very uncomfortable with the attention from men I was starting to get.

I think saying how we got to this weight is so easy but understanding why we stopped caring about ourselves and life is tha hardest. The fact that you lost 100lbs once means you are stonger than you think doll and gaining 30lbs is nothing I wish you the best and keep looking forward. Embrace the attention but don't get intimidated by it doll you are awesome for losing that much weight ^u^

Thanks hun. It's so hard to not get intimidated by it. I have terrible social anxiety and a people pleasing personality. So, not only does it make me uncomfortable, but it hurts me if I end up turning people down and it hurts them. It's a vicious cycle.

You know how hard it is to to look at a guy across a room and think "wow, he is so good looking........God, I hope he DOESN'T talk to me!!!"

BeautyFromPain

I was anorexic in high school, therefore when I got a back injury and had to stop dancing - also starting to eat properly again, going from 200 cals a day to 1500 a day and going from dancing 4 hours a day to nothing I packed it on. ****ed up metabolism.
Antidepressants didn't exactly help.

newhabit

i cut down drastically on exercise when i started graduate school. because of that i went up roughly 10 lb... ok not that bad. then, after grad school, decided to get pregnant. weight obviously went up because of that but then i stopped exercising while i was pregnant too because i kept getting bad false labor contractions. then, started breastfeeding, kept eating a lot of calories when i stopped which led to more weight. i realized when my baby was 15 months old that i had to do something. i had to start exercising again and eating right or i would just continue to gain weight. so i started a plan. i lost 27 lbs. then, i gained 10 back. luckily, i continued to workout. so i think some of that gain was muscle . but i still need to lose that last few lbs. i've come a long way but will never let myself get like i was when i didn't care about working out or eating right. also i had no idea what to eat until now. i know that protein is important. i know empty carb calories really aren't the best idea. i used to eat so much junk but now i know better. never again!

PaleoRDH

I never let myself go, exactly. In my adulthood I've always busted my buns to have a nice figure. Last July I got a blood clot that ran from my ankle to my kidney (huge, huh?) caused by something called May-Thurner Syndrome, which I did not know I had, which got severe when I was pregnant with my son. SOOOO, needless to say I almost died. I was bedridden, had to have corrective surgery, and now have a left foot that doesn't always cooperate thanks to all the trauma to that leg. For those who've never heard of May-Thurner, like me before last year, it only affects the left side because it is a left common iliac vein collapse (it collapses under the right artery in the pelvis area). I survived, thank God since I have a baby to raise, but the medications I have to take now (anticoagulants) cause weight gain, not to mention despite an initial loss of weight when it first happened, I gained weight during the incident. Now I'm trying to reclaim my figure......... it ain't easy peeps, but I'm fighting hard. :ohwell:

ullgetthere

It's so wierd to say but I think I was testing the limits. I lost weight in my 20's and opened my part time cake business when I turned 30. I discovered a freedom of eating what I wanted when I wanted and saw no problem with that. I told myself that I am happy no matter the weight I am. However, it got to a point (about 1 month ago) that I got tired going up stairs, my back was hurting so much when I was taking walks, I was tired all of the time and my beautiful pumps were now impossible to wear cause I was (still am ) too heavy. So in the end, I was fooling myself into thinking that I had an amazing freedom when all I was doing was adding even more shackles to myself.

karylee44

wow.. excuses.. yup i got lots..

i had twins.. *oh my)
i was depressed
and well i had a really bad knee...
and heck all those donuts really didnt help.

crabbyab90

I have always been a bit bigger. But I followed the whole getting married and having a baby and I completely lost all track of it. Now as a 22 year old I am told I have high cholesterol and have set myself up for many more health problems.

Zyphun

Depression mostly. I've been overweight since I was a kid. I was bullied a lot growing up and eating was my escape. When I became an adult I was so much of a socially awkward I just kept to my habit of eating to make myself feel better.