Why/how did you become overweight?

NobodyInParticular

I ate a lot.

AllonsYtotheTardis

I was once a healthy weight.

My dad died, unexpectedly, and I ate to sooth my broken heart. Great plan, eh?

kelly_e_montana

Always been overweight. Have achieved a healthy weight in my lifetime only through bulimia. Have achieved other fitness goals without being bulimic through regular exercise and calorie counting but have never achieved a "healthy BMI" without the additional use of purging methods. Have been calorie counting since I was 10.

I have not purged in approx. 10 years.

Ghette

I had a very high metabolism never ever worried what I ate. I got pregnant and my body did a flip. I would eat lettuce and gain weight. My doctor put me on a 800-900 cal diet I still gained weight. I said #%# it, if I was going to gain the weight anyway, I was going to eat what I wanted. Wrong wrong wrong attitude! I'm trying really hard to lose the weight now and it is still a struggle. I eat my allotted calories, walk 2 miles everyday and do strength training ever 2nd day to see very little to no movement on the scale. Frustrating to say the least.

CherokeeBabe

For me, I just became less active. I started working from home, going from 8+ hours a day on my feet and running around constantly to just sitting at a computer, combined with too much convenience food. I only put on around 20lbs, almost halfway done losing it, thank goodness!

americangirlok

For those of you who want to share, I am interested to hear your stories about why/how you became overweight.

Were you always overweight? No, I gained weight when I left home a very very long time ago

Or were you once a healthy weight? I was a healthy weight in my teens and then again two years ago

Did you "let yourself go"? Yes, I also met new friends who partied alot so I was drinking alot and eating alot....mainly greasy food.....alot

Or perhaps it was due to a traumatic event, injury or medication? No

And did anyone become overweight while still being an active person and (over)eating homemade, whole foods, or was it only through eating essentially crap food, processed foods, restaurant/fast food? Mainly with bad foods and not exercising

Thank you for sharing, I think your stories will shed some light and help us to understand our weight loss journeys, since the mental component is so important, and we have to know where we come from to move forward.

Feel free to link to other past threads or groups.

Pretty much always been overweight or at least thought I was. A few years ago I ran across some old high school photos and I was like "huh, I wasn't fat then afterall." Which made me really sad b/c I felt like I wasted so much time then. Anyway, I like junk food and I like TV and books and when I'm bored or depressed I just fall into that. That's not new. That and I have a tendency to be self destructive -not in obvious or "dangerous" ways. But with food, occasionally alcohol, definitely with smoking (6 weeks today!) speeding- that kind of thing. Like every time I've had some small success I've ruined it for myself and convince myself that it's always going to be like that. That I'm always going to fat and alone and die with my cats so I might as well enjoy what I eat. So my goal is just more better- even if it's a little at a time.

Mustaine4Pres

Had a baby. I gained some weight a few years earlier and got into an exercise\diet program. lost it in 6 months and was on a good schedule (would stop at the gym on the way home from work). didn't have a problem with my weight before, but darn it, it doesn't want to come off! Very worth the beautiful girl i have , but i wish i could get back to where i was.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

I was anorexic, then I was anorexic and bulimic, then I was just plain unhealthy (I drank coffee and smoked and ate when I remembered to eat). I thought I had a poor relationship with food, I realize that I had a general imbalance in my life. I realized that my relationship with food and exercise had more to do with where I was mentally, but also that I had a but of a lack of knowledge. The past 2 years here haven't just been about budgeting my food and exercise but budgeting my life in general and attempting to make sure that I'm functioning with balance and at full potential. Balancing our household budget, balancing my work/life reality, balancing my sex life, balancing and balancing. More where I need it, less where I don't.

Athena125

I was very, very thin in my teens and early 20s. When put on anti-depressants in my mid-20s I gained weight, but then lost most of it the year after I got off. A back injury (along with the hunger producing and water-retaining steroid injections) made me gain weight very quickly; again, after my back healed, I lost it within a year. Most recently, though, it was 15 pounds gained from not working out and spending too much time working (in a seat), then the next year meeting my boyfriend and eating out wayyyy too much with him (he can eat A LOT). I gained another 15.

Last 6 months though, I lost about 13 pounds. Looking to lose the rest through healthier eating and exercise.

I notice that whenever I start eating whatever I want, I don't really eat bad foods; it's just that I don't eat enough good ones (protein and veggies). I mean, yeah, peanut butter and apples are healthy, but eating just that because I'm too busy puts on pounds! And just because something is from Whole Foods doesn't mean it's good for you...gluten-free flour is still WHITE flour most of the time and loaded with sugar. I had to learn all this the hard way...now I'm chubby :-(

This time around, though, I am really trying to weight lift 2x a week, an hour each, because I don't think I ever had enough muscle. So I'm trying to do something positive...if I had stayed thin, chances are I wouldn't have ever though of weight lifting, and I know it will be good for me in the long run!

peasantsong

I had a thyroidectomy and gained a lot of weight very quickly afterwards. These past 3 months are the first time in my life I have ever been overweight. It is a terrible feeling!

9thwardchick

I have always been thick. Being a sista in the South, it was a good thing : )

Stress related work problems caused me to start drinking alot in 2008, I was 38. In 2009, my mom suddenly passed away and I started drinking more. Within 2 years I had gained 28 pounds. I didn't do anything for another year and I gained 14 more pounds. The day that I had trouble buckling my shoes, I cried. I started exercising again, but nothing really happened until I started counting calories. In 7 months I have lost 9 pounds. It's slow and steady but, it's working.

x_ItNeverEnds_x

I was a heavy baby, a chubby toddler, a pudgy preschooler, a fat preteen/teen. My parents fed me to much of the wrong stuff. It wasn't till I was 15 that I started changing things. TO "shut us up" My dad would give us a dollar each and we would get a 50Cent soda and 2 25 cent little Debbie cakes each. They would take us to Burger King 2-3X a week and At 12 I would get a double whopper, large soda, large fries and a milkshake. I could eat it all and still be hungry.

I'm chubby now because I'm seriously addicted to carbs mainly bagels, crackers, English muffins and chips. LOL

fitplease

Or were you once a healthy weight?
Did you "let yourself go"?
Or perhaps it was due to a traumatic event, injury or medication?
(Over)eating homemade, whole foods, or was it only through eating essentially crap food, processed foods, restaurant/fast food?

All of these.
I also didn't realize how much I'd gained because I was thin and almost always thought of myself as thin. It took a long time before I realized I didn't just gain a few pounds, but that I was overweight. My doctor made it hit home that it was time to lose weight and keep it off.

icimani

I was sexually abused by brother from ages 6-5. (I can't believe I'm posting this!) People talk about emotional eating - I think I ate so I wouldn't feel anything, and I got very good at not feeling anything. Comfort food was my friend, especially growing up in a family where meat & potatoes ruled. Even so, I was a jock in high school and college so even though I was overweight all the activity kept it in check. After college I stopped being a jock but never changed my eating habits. Later, even though it was subconscious, I'm pretty sure I gained weight as a protection - against any kind of emotional attachment to people... against life.

Fast forward to post-grad school - the memories started coming back, depression and PTSD set in, and comfort food was...well.... a comfort. And the depression made it all but impossible to get moving and get some exercise, and I was on a cocktail of 5 different psych meds, some of which caused some weight gain. I was also drinking a lot of alcohol to forget and probably came closer to being an alcoholic than I'd like to think about.

Fast forward again to now:
- years of therapy later, no more psych meds
- joined a gym and work out 5-6 times a week
- the gym has a pool and I swim 3-4 times a week
- I see a nutritionist/dietician who believes in real food and no diets
- I've dropped from a 4x-shoulda-been-a-5x to 1x, size 28 to 22
- I've lost just under 100 pounds and I'm about halfway to my current weight goal.

janetlynn31

Were you always overweight? no -- I was always at a normal, healthy weight until I had kids.
Or were you once a healthy weight? yes -- until I was about 30
Did you "let yourself go"? -- I wouldn't call it "letting myself go" as in eating everything in sight, wearing sloppy clothes, looking like trash ... even though I put on a few pounds, I always tried to look neat
Or perhaps it was due to a traumatic event, injury or medication? -- I did succumb to stress eating and just not paying attention -- dealt with some depression and a couple of traumatic events that added to it
And did anyone become overweight while still being an active person and (over)eating homemade, whole foods, or was it only through eating essentially crap food, processed foods, restaurant/fast food? -- I've always eaten pretty healthy overall -- my problem has always been portion control - it's never been about what I eat but how much.

sassafrascas

I was a chubby baby, a healthy toddler. Around 5 I got very sick was on a lot of medication. Parents got a divorce. Started gaining weight steadily from there. I spent most of every day alone at home while my single mom worked 2 jobs onlly thing to comfort me was food. I was picked on in school from 4th grade on. I think i wieghed more than 200 pounds in junior high. My parents did not know how to help doctors after doctor offered no solution. So by senior year in high school i was at 400 pounds. After graduating I had GBS got down to 290 but the emotional and mental attachment to food was still huge even if my stomach and GI tract were smaller. So now I'm at 320, trying to find balance and truly make a lifestyle change.

feellikerain

I've always been somewhat overweight, but during college I just let it aaaaaall go. I had a roommate who loved to cook (high cal foods). We loved to party (ughh.. alcohol) and then of course there was the obligatory pizza pick-up on the way home whenever we were out late at night. Between schoolwork, school activities, working, and hanging with friends, I didn't leave myself any time for exercise, and I didn't really care! Once I graduated college, I knew it was time to get serious about my health and well-being or it would come back to bite me in the butt very, very soon!

taymarie8046

Personally, I was active in middle and high school. I made sure to watch what I ate and tried to get as much exercise as I could.

When college came and I met alcohol it all went downhill for alittle and I gained 30 lbs. Lost it over my sophomore year after having food poisoning and several fad diets. Without fail, just like everyone said, I gained it all back plus more!!!!

A couple years later, and losing about 15 lbs on weight watchers, I'm here to do it all the right way!!! (weight watchers became too expensive and I know my body better than they do.)

Always looking for motivational friends!

odddrums

I've always considered myself overweight. I grew up eating well but I had the mentality of eating a lot and really fast, and I think that's what did me in. I lost weight in HS when I joined the football team, but then the season ended and I'd gain it back. Then I kinda would teeter-totter between boughts of caring and not caring, drinking and such, stress in grad school and then work.

I didn't become overweight for a particular reason, I just was always heavy and thought of myself as a "fat kid." This month was the first time that I can remember being under 200 pounds in my life, and it's the first time I've been able to jog for 5 miles and not feel like I'm dying.I would have never ever seen myself doing these things, but now I am and it's crazy.

Nicolle71

My answer is:
No, I was not always overweight/nor did I struggle with my weight. I gained approx. 56 pounds in a 16 month period. My 14 year old daughter died on Jan 3, 2011 and it killed me. I ate because it was the only thing that made me feel like I was still alive. I don't know what I am supposed to do from here but I am doing something.