That question "WHY?"

kachochan

WHY do you think you are heavy, overweight or obese?
WHY did you gain weight?

My story is pretty short: I gained because I didn't know my calories and didn't see the connection between calories in and calories out.
I do have a medical condition that is notorious for piling up the weight, that's my excuse.

BUT...
But I also have access to weight loss programs and healthy life style articles.
With all those websites and smartphone applications I can see how many calories are in that salad immediately.
When I cook, here, a bazillion cooking websites with video recipes for me to take.
When I need to exercises, I can read articles about exercising and get advice on how to do it better. I can also get nice sports clothing and shoes, amazing sports equipment and cute little devices like pedometers to help me keep track of what I'm doing.

It's not 80s or 90s anymore - internet and sports industry is much smarter these days and that wouldn't be wise if I ignored this fact.

Having said that, I think the key point in weight loss and life style change journey is information and consistency.
I gained because I didn't have enough control of my life.
BUT I will lose and keep it because modern world can help me with that.

Hello and g'day to all my fitnesspal buddies!

pg3ibew

I was fat because I love to eat.

I lost weight and got into shape because I was tired of being fat. But I still love to eat.

Jpatching

I was fat because I love to eat.

I lost weight and got into shape because I was tired of being fat. But I still love to eat.

Yup, that sums it up for me too!

ksavy

I lived on a farm when I was younger. Doing farm chores burns a lot of cals. I pretty much stayed in the 150s the whole time. When I was 17, I moved, no more farm chores. Went up to about 170, but still an ok weight and could eat what I wanted without gaining any more. When I was 20 I joined the military, and odd as it sounds, went from being a pretty active person to having a desk job and doing shift work. Weight went up. First time it got all the way to 214 before I dropped back down to 175 by counting calories on a different site. Then got lazy about it and gained back up to 193 over about 2 years. Realized I did not want to weigh that much and started counting again. Now I am back down to 157 and am much happier.

p.s. I am 6'0" so the 150s are about dead center of a healthy weight.

kachochan

Yeah, I feel for ya.
My friend was a scout boy and got used to the amount of calorie burning exercises they did when they went hiking for days.
He started gaining when he graduated because he was still on his scout mode.

But you lost a lot of weight, keep up the good work!

SpazzyMal

I think the biggest thing for me is that my parents allowed me to eat whatever I wanted as a kid. So I gravitated towards grilled cheeses, mac and cheese, Big Macs, french fries, and so forth. I loathed veggies. I also became more and more sedentary, especially after the 6th grade when I became homeschooled. I've always been the kind of girl who would prefer to read a book or play chess over constantly moving, and it just got worse when I was basically confined to the house all day. As I got older, I've had to break the habits I've gained over all those years, and it's been slow going.

redstar7

I am fat for many reasons, part being my growing up I wasn't taught proper nutrition or how to eat healthy. Like most parents, mine found it easier to just go out and buy some fast food for us to eat instead of preparing something healthy. That being something that has carried into my adulthood.

As I got older, more into adolescents, I somehow lost my self control, or my ability to say no to food, or candy, or really anything that was bad for me. Although, I did have a very easy time saying no to healthy food, vegetables and fruit! My over indulgence in food brought on insecurities, and low self-esteem, which only furthered my inability to control my eating.

I have been on an up and down journey with the same fifty or so pounds since after high school, I should really post pictures of myself from then, cause that really was when I was at my ultimate heaviest. But, now I have a goal, not just a goal but a determination to get myself healthy, the right way without the aid of fad diets, or lose weight quick deals.

2boypeas

I'm partly at fault and so are the steroids, anti malarial, beta blocker and immunosuppressant medications I took/take.
I knew I needed to eat less and move more, but I just didn't/couldn't.

kachochan

Yeah, that's hard.

kachochan

Thanks for sharing.
it sounds that a lot of parents struggled with cooking at that time.
But it's changing now.

Good luck with your weight loss battle and let us know how things go.

VanessaHeartsMasr

I got fat because when I was really young, my mother made me eat everything on my plate, whether I was hungry or not, so I learned to clean my plate. Then when I gained weight from it, my mother attempted to put me on diets and force me to exercise to lose the weight I put on because I was forced to clean my plate and ignore my hunger-fullness body signals. I rebeled, of course, and ate all the junk and crap foods I could shove into my mouth to spite her, which made me gain even more weight. As a teenager, I routinely skipped meals and starved myself and exercised a lot, and I got to quite a normal weight, but my body image and ability to know if I was hungry or full was so screwed up, that throughout my entire adult life, I yo-yoed up and down all the time. I ballooned up to over 250 pounds after the birth of my last baby, and I could never understand why I couldn't lose the weight because I really and truly thought "I wasn't eating that much. I was just eating like normal people do!" (Ya right!) Plus, I was exercising, so I really didn't get it. I thought I could exercise, and eat what I wanted!! It wasn't until I joined MFP that I learned what the hell I was doing to myself. I finally feel free for the first time in my entire life.

kachochan

This sounds like a very difficult struggle.
MFP is a great thing that teaches you to be mindful of what you're doing and I'm glad we are trying to learn.

You lost 15 pounds, that's amazing. Keep it up!!!