Share the REAL reasons why you're fat (or too thin)

jesseg1989

i have hypothyroidism. So that is one reason I ended up fat. Another reason is I had a very very rough child hood which contributed to putting under a whole lot of stress and eventually into a very very deep depression. So I ended up not caring anymore and ended up gaining even more weight. That is about as deep as I really want to go with that though.

Evil333

I'm not that much overwieght and have always been active/fit but now i've started going through the menopause! Grrrr! Some of it's side effects i didn't know about like being tired all the time, forgetful, accident prone, spotty face, very dry skin on my face, itchy skin ect ect....and of course having permanent PMS symptoms which for me include craving junk which i have given into!! So I've just come on here but have actually been healthy eating the last 3 weeks which has shown weight gain?!?! AND i know this isan't correct as i've kept a strict food diary, it maybe water weight but i'm fighting it anyway! I know my stuff as i personal trained/did food diaries ect for more than 8 years up til recently.......finding it very frustrating though!

paulperryman

I have always been fat, eve as a baby i was big.
A huge portion of my life has been people bullying or taking advantage of me and my willingness to put others first and bottle the stress/anguish and alot of regardless of what i did it ended up backfiring on me, which all led to consistant depression/boredom/comfortably numb state of mind and whats the easiest way to confront those? Food..

I did also smoke marijuana for over a decade and while at the time it seemed great for social, motivation, energy the crash starting hitting in at the 6yr mark and along came all the anxieties, paranoia, boredom and health issues and cutting myself off from family and friends often. all the bad sides that many people refuse to see. b4 that despite all the bullying etc. i was still a very happy person with people i was confortable around. afterwards not even close

So back comes the food intake and the lack of desire to try to get in shape. I'd officially given up on life.

the only time i was reasonably thinner was when i was doing martial arts 7 classes a week and i cut out all red meat from my diet and 2 days a week nothing but fruit and vegetables. Which worked great except everyone around me wasn't supportive and unintentionaly made fun of my decision to get rid of red meat, that wasn't a big stretch for me Chicken and Fish are my favs anyway. Ironically that was also during the time i was smoking dope.

Now that was then, this is now :- 1 week ago i started this new journey at 244lbs and 40% body fat, and mostly a huge gut and man boobs

the last 3yrs i've slowly grown up and taking responsibility for my life for once. ave had a steady permanent job that tho it's irritating alot of the time it's a job and it's not all bad, and now at 40 i've witnessed family members suffer from diabeties, quadruple heart bypasses a massive weight loss and i decided i was sick of myself the way i was having to constantly buy fatter and fatter clothing and never feeling comfortable in my own skin and i'm determined to change. I've also always suffered from ensomnia which is no doubt a byproduct of being overweight all my life, hpefully that will change too. SO hear we are.

I'm the first to admit i'm not cluey on how to get the right balance of foods yet, i'm very determined to get it sorted. I can train easily (1000 calories an hr with my heart rate), overdoing it actually (not killing myself) but i'm training (6 days tomorros) far more then i'm inputting to replenish i fear. Just so want to get rid of this gut at the very least and i have already not gone near a fast food joint or soda's, cookies, chocolates etc. in that week which was an hourly thing previously.

So that's my story in a nutshell, the only shining light in all that negativity was when i've got my mind set on something, I wont give up easily if anything i go too hard at getting it. Trying to find that balance. I have an appointment to see a Personal Trainer tomorrow at our gym who'll probably tyell me i've been training too hard and need to eat more. Nooooo i can't fathom eating more and still losing weight.

Summary - Depression, Lazyness, using food as a Wall to block out the outside..,
Sorry if that was depressing

chellebublz

When I got pregnant at 19 I was at my lowest weight, and I had NO IDEA about weight or pregnancy or anything. And everyone kept telling me I had to eat for 2 and my husbands family really had me believing that meant I had to eat DOUBLE. I gained over 60 pounds during that pregnancy. Started at 145 and was 205 when she was born. I had no way to know better, never thought to ask a doctor. My own family was in a different state. And I had been thin all my life and had no idea how to lose the weight. I tried so hard after my daughter was born lost 30 lbs pretty easily, down to 170 then I took a Depo shot for birth control and gained it all back and had the hardest time losing and somewhere along the way I quit trying and caring. I pretty much bounced between 190 and 200 until my 2nd daughter came along. 195 when i got pregnant 215 when she was born. Swore I wouldn't take another Depo shot but I did lol. Stayed around 205 until I got pregnant with my son in 07, was 220 when he was born. Was down to 204 when I got pregnant with my youngest (AND LAST LOL) son in 2011. Was 230 when he was born. My highest weight was 249 but I'm at 231 now and finally ready to put in all the hard work to get this weight off for good. My goal is to be in ONEDERLAND in July. I'm taking it slow. Goal by goal.

For me it started with pregnancy, got exasperated by misinformation. Then I just lacked the motivation/drive to get the weight off. My husband didn't care the weight, at least he claimed not to, so I just let it be. But after a sour marriage and a split and meeting my current fiance, I feel like I want the old me back, all of it. Physically, mentally, emotionally. So that's it!

SunKissed1989

To put it simply - I ate too much and didn't exercise enough...working hard to get the balance right these days

mistersandstorm

My twin sister has always blamed our mom for marrying a fat man. Her side of the family are all energetic gazelles, and she blames the introduction of hippo genetics from dad for the thickness of our bodies. I disagree. Any block of stone can be hewn. In my case, it's lack of balance between the triumvirate: mental, physical, and spiritual.

I pretty much spend all of my time on the mental and the others fall by the wayside. As I crack the tough cryptogram, I dip the sourdough pretzels in the ranch and cram in. The impact and consequence of not resisting opening the pre-packaged easy eating life haven't really guided me.

It's not as if I was unaware of them; no-one can be unaware of them, not these days. I just flat didn't care, because my body just felt disassociated from myself, which I considered my brain to be. The rest, as Holmes would say, was just an appendix.

What I failed to realize until recently was that the old adage "the body is a temple" is DEAD ON TARGET. We live in our bodies. Any blindness to that fact is a result of discarding the truth, rather than disassociation.

Harmony is the way. Asymmetry rarely works in art; let alone in nature. To neglect one part of yourself is to do injustice to the whole.

I was born small due to my sis being the more robust in the womb, but within a couple days, I had dwarfed her in size. Looking back on this, I should have thought to myself, "I was meant to thrive." I misread it as "Eat cheese fries in the middle of the night! You're invincible!" :noway:

WTF7

> food < exercise

Butterflyblue_

Ive actually met quite a few people from this site and I am hoping to meet more. WHY did I get fat or am I fat you ask? Simple ate too much crappy comforting foods for the wrong reasons.

For me its mind of matter. Its getting my brain to get out of its normal self destructive habits

NaomiJFoster

I'm fat because Nutella is a god send.

Yes.

Shannonpurple

CAKE:drinker:

jsiricos

Initially, I didn't eat.

My ex was a sob, who said "if you dont lose weight before we get married, we are not getting married" to which I replied "how will I know if its enough?"
And he said "wether I turn up or not"

So all I ate was fish, baked with veggies, once a day (his idea)

Many years of that crap, now Im eating non stop, and losing!

srnovak

I started to have an unhealthy relationship with food in high school.
I ate badly and gained some weight.
I've never been a big girl, I'm petite, but climbed up to 140lbs at my heaviest.

Dated a couple of jerky boys, developed an eating disorder and a long distance running habit.
Since then, I stayed around 120 - 130 lbs but I started drinking heavily after my 21st birthday, which caused
my weight to climb back up to 140.
It took about a year and a half, but I managed (through exercise) to get back down to 127.
I've added the diet factor in recently (I'm at 124) BUT I still have weeks where I don't eat
then weeks where I overeat.
If it wasn't for my exercise I'm sure my weight would be much higher.
As an athlete, I'm my healthiest and most attractive around 120.

I just want to finally feel a healthy and normal connection to the food that I put in my body.
Eat the right foods in the right amount.
And not feel compelled to starve or overeat.

Amazon_Who

Stuffing my feeling down with food and desk jobs.

amyniceneasy

I was sedentary as a kid and I loved to eat. By high school I busy enough to slim down a bit...just from being busy all the time. Went to college and started gaining and then went on diet after diet. Finally lost a bit when I was trying to get preggo's and actually managed to end up even a bit lighter after baby one. Gained some of the weight back after I stopped nursing but never got back up to my highest (thank god).

In reality...it's all calories in and calories out. My fitbit and my food scale were the key to getting my eating in check and making me move my body more.

I don't blame anything in my life past or present for me being heavy. I was just lazy and loved to eat. Its that simple.

Machafin

Fast food and snack machines...I cut those out and saw a huge difference abd weight loss.

lostdeer

Had a little brother who died in my arms from a car accident and he took a big piece of me that night with him. The death of his anniversary was the 24th of this month and he was buried on the 27th which was also my birthday, he has been gone for 22 years but it seems like only yesterday. He was 24 when he died. I go to native american pow wows and im a dancer there and I love it and the people, I also have a drum of my own, that is one part of my life that keeps me sane. Lostdeer is my native name given to me 5 years ago. I weighted 165 when I was at my lowest after the birth of my children and now weight 204, im diabetic too so that doesnt help. Well ive vented enough thanks for listening it felt good to talk. Joann

hijude57

Very Simple - I hate veggies! I hate fruit! I don't excercise! No surprises here.

ApexLeader

seriously?

i love cookies

bobfish64

I have become a bloated old man who is developing sleep apnea, numerous aches and pains, high blood pressure and I really hate the way I look and feel. I tipped the scales recently at 227 lbs the heaviest I have ever been thanks to a sedentary lifestyle, that included daily alchohol consumption and Oh God, the Xmas ale season. My doctor says lose it or face the consequences and go on blood pressure medication for the remainder of my life.

droneofvelvet

I gained a bit of weight from stress eating, but anti-depressants made me gain the last 30 lbs in the matter of about a couple months,putting me in the overweight category.

alpine1994

I WAS fat because:

1. I didn't want to put effort into losing weight
2. I didn't care about gaining weight from eating too much because I didn't think I would ever be able to control my relationship with food.
3. I was too lazy to workout because I had sleeping problems and could barely make it through a work day, nevermind a workout too (and it turns out that my sleeping problems are 100% cured from keeping a healthy lifestyle...go figure)

NOW I am healthy and strong, and no longer fat because I decided to believe in myself.

TheNewo

overeating, overeating, not enough exercise, no strength training, overeating some more, depression, school stress and an affinity for nachos while studying, more overeating, and an abundance of alcohol.

sozisfitnow

seriously?

i love cookies

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

NewMnky1

Very Simple Answer:
I ate too much of the wrong food.
I loved eating out and was lazy when it came to making meals. My husband and I would eat out 4-5 nights a week because we didn't feel like cooking. And of couse when we were out I never chose healthy options, because let's face it, who goes to a restaurant for a salad (LOL).
And exercise, WTF, who wanted to do that.
Obviously things have changed drastically and for the better!

Nikki_XC

I eat too much. Period. I'm not fat, not thin... kind of in the middle. I gained weight from lack of movement (being in IT and working with computers and playing video games). In the last few years I've increased activity level, but my appetite also increased with it!

I will admit, I know I eat out of boredom and stress.. I'm working on that and trying to reevaluate my relationship with food altogether.

plynn54

open mouth, insert food, rinse, repeat

perfectionisntme

I was heavy all my life even though I played sports. My parents never had healthy things in the house, we ate lots of fast food, and they never regulated how much ate. As I got older, I would eat because I was stressed or bored.

I'm happy to say after a year on MFP, the weight is gone and I've completely changed my life, and I'm making sure that the mistakes that were made with me are not being made with my own children.

11MichelleL

STRESS! It is the finger that pushes the domino. I eat a bit too much, I avoid exercise some, I don't drink enough water, I don't get enough sleep, and I make a few bad food choices (carbs because I have inherited the tendency to type II diabetes). With each of those factors awry, I gain weight steadily (small amounts but steadily). As time goes on, it adds up to more than a small amount.

Since I can't get rid of the stress completely, I need to be more mindful of ALL of it from here on out. I am working hard to find a way to eat that will allow me to lose weight now and stop the little gains later. It is difficult, but I've lost 10 pounds since Jan 1, so I believe the program I've chosen is working and I am going to keep testing it. It would be wonderful if this is the way I can keep eating and not make those little gains.

reasnableblonde

Cramming junk food in my face as therapy. Convincing myself 25 minutes on the elliptical was adequate exercise for me. Not enough protein, not enough water. No strength training.

getjicky

I love to cook...and eat (and drink wine), but got too busy working and not enough sleep/play/me-time to exercise and last year menopause hit. I was getting close to goal and it seemed like a losing battle so I stopped fighting and the lbs started piling on big-time. Now I'm determined to be the healthiest me I can be and carve out me-time no matter what to plan good meals and get my exercise in.