What caused you to become overweight (apart from eating)

fun_b

I have been thinking about my weight issues most of the Weekend. I have been looking over old photos of me a baby and then young child. I was an average sized baby but started gaining weight when I was about 2/3 because my mother went back to work and the childminder used to feed me junk most of the day. My mum now tells me that they had no idea I was eating so much but suddenly I started to gain weight and I got into the habit of eating junk food all the time.

As I got into School, I was the biggest child there and other kids made fun of me. I remember at the time not being as physically active and feeling big. Most of the time my parents reassured me about my weight but I could sense they were concerned and went to the doctor. I once went into a hospital where they kept me and my mum for a few days while they taught me about eating healthy and exercise. Looking back, I know my family were trying to help me but all I kept thinking was 'I need to lose weight'.

Getting into high school, I became very obsessed with food and dieting/binging. I had been to visit a dietician who weighed me regularly and was encouraging me to lose weight. But when I look back at the photos I think by the time puberty hit, I actually wasn't too big. I would now love to be this size again but ofcourse I thought I looked disgusting thanks to my body image issues.

I wish I hadn't of listened to everyone and had just concentrated on being happy.

Keysted

Menopause & the medication I'm on for other health issues. I did't mind being 30lbs overweight until my Doctor told me I was pre-diabetic and on my way to becoming a type 2 diabetic. This woke me up and I have been diligent about watching my weight and exercising ever since.

nanainkent

Boredom, Lack of Exercise, Medications, co dependant living with unhealthy eater, Lack of energy due to Low vitamin Levels. Turning to baking for a hobby. I weighed maybe 5 lbs over weight in my teenage years, maybe 10 lobs in my 20's, underweight in my 30's, 10 lbs over in my 40's and then it all started to pack on in my 50's. But mentally I felt very very fat all of my life begining in grade school. I won't forget when a so called friend in 2nd grade called me fat. (I wasn't even close to it)

llkilgore

Menopause and a change of habits. I was at a stage in my life where I thought I could afford to get lazy about cooking complete meals from scratch every day. There was too much exposure to supper-sized restaurant meals and too much meal-for-two-in-a-bag type processed food at home.

Petrapoo45

It basically started when I went though puberty...I was never into sports, so i just got caught up in a cycle of bad diet, and no exercise. I am now 30 and just learning to to live healthy...cant help but feel frustrated and mad sometimes that I wasted my youth feeling fat and lazy...arg!!

Imigen04

It started with having my children and then I lost my mother and little sister right before my21st birthday and lost myself. I feel/ felt like I have no family anymore but I am trying to overcome all my issues and show my children life is beautiful and meant to be lived to the fullest. And be a role model for my other lil sis who was her twin.

pwittek10

I got fat when I was in my teens, got married at 16, only last 5 years was fat and lost weight then
When I met my current husband I was about 118, gained weight when I started eating regular meals
I had starved myself so long to stay thin I was really messed up.
I am so much happier being this size!

crystalmohr2

I was called fat even when i was young by older kids even though i wasnt, I became over weight as i got older grade 7 & 8 and going into high school. Then i began losing weight in high school because i began walking every where and then i was average weight but i still thought i was fat i just needed to excercise more and get in better shape. I look back now and wish i was that weight again lol. I got heavier again in college just from working full time going to school full time and not eating right and i was partying all the time.

acogg

I broke my foot a few years ago and I got in the habit of sitting around.

estrobabe

First, being so naive because I thought I would never gained weight (I was skinny and played sports until I went to college) then what made me really blew up was emotional eating combined with boredom and stress (college).

FitandFab33

Definitely an unhealthy relationship with food... it was/is a crutch, anxiety-response, and "friend" that I turn(ed) to on a regular basis. No bueno.

cheeksv

Depression, Lack of confidence, lack of education about healthy eating, people around me who ate poorly , but riddiculed me for eating the same ( depression). I looked for comfort in food and while I was active, my over eating made sure thatI stayed over weight.

calisunrise

boredom and lack of physical activity

sunsnstatheart

Sitting at a desk and not exercising, along with eating way too much.

neandermagnon

first time around: being sedentary, i.e. quitting sport but not changing how I ate, and I wasn't all that slim when I used to play ice hockey because you can't out train a bad diet... so you can only imagine the result when I stopped playing ice hockey.... :huh:

2nd time around: pregnancy combined with rebound weight gain from weight watchers.

3rd time around: pregnancy, then PTSD (which was a combination of undereating and rebound overeating as I lost my appetite due to stress, then overeat, and of course the combination of the two means the overeating calories all get stored as fat.

My body fat percentage is healthy and my weight is now stable, and staying that way. I fully intend for there never to be a 4th time around of being over fat. (although it's my ultimate long term goal to be in the overweight category of BMI while having a body fat percentage of 20 or less...)

JubeJewels

I think because I was always on the bigger side (not obese or overweight, just a hefty farm girl) I felt I had to be what everyone called me - fat, chunky, flabby. Looking back on my photos, I was 168lbs & wasn't any of those things, but being in an environment where all the girls 'had' to be a certain way, & being made fun of, put an emotional toll on me.

Once I graduated high school & got into computers, my life was stationary & I was eating high calorie foods. When I found out I was pregnant with my first, I was 310lbs. My ex husband was (& still is) over 300lbs & maintaining that sedentary lifestyle.

I think that society pushes such a quick-pace/super mom lifestyle. As women (or parents), we are expected to work full time, have immaculate houses, raise the children, eat socially acceptable foods (ei fast foods) yet be a size 0. We need to be up to date on the latest TV shows & play the most popular games on our handhelds. Who has time to work out when so many other things are expected to be done? I'm not looking for an excuse, but that has been my experience since becoming a mom.

There are so many health benefits when you slow down, breathe, take the time to make healthy foods & work out with your children. Kids learn by example & I cringe to think the impression we leave on them. I am making that change now, to make healthier meals & snacks available & to encourage activity in our lives. Of course, it's always a work in progress.

jsiricos

Not eating enough

fitfreakymom

childhood abuse, eating disorder, lack of trust for my spouse and anybody around me, with good reason for some.

SheilaG1963

An abusive first husband and the subsequent divorce. Now a lazy second husband and struggling to find and keep the motivation! Boredom adds to it and so does S.A.D.

AllonsYtotheTardis

I'm an emotional eater, and losing my dad unexpectedly really threw me for a loop.


For me, part of getting healthy has been learning to channel my emotions away from eating for comfort. That's still a work in progress.

insilence88

in 2004 i started playing world of warcraft way too much :P
and when i graduated school in 2007 i didn't go out much so i spent my days playing world of warcraft and drinking lots of Coca Cola.

samantha1242

Partying like a rockstar everynight and working at a pub/nightclub for years. Depression. Me, I caused myself to be come overweight.

tndejong

mine was all eating. think of everyday life. we "treat" ourselves with food. when were happy we eat. depressed we eat. you go to a party, birthday party, wedding reception, etc. food is everywhere! when you dont feel like cooking, you get fast food and take out. when you and your spouse want to celebrate, well, they take you to dinner. we focus life on food!

most of my weight was working second shift at a machine shop. i did not pack lunches. i would stop and get fast food before work or at lunch during my shifts. our pop machine at work had no diet pop. so i would chug mountain dew like crazy. they guys ordered pizza and other high calorie items. i would make and bring in cookies and things cause i felt bad for them. then i would eat that stuff too.

after that, my fiance got cancer. when he would get cravings, i would get or make anything he wanted. when he was in the hospital, i would stop a lot and get stuff. i would try to juggle him and work. so i would also get high calorie energy drinks and eat a couple cheese burgers from mcdonalds and places like that. i would easy eat 1000 calories or more a meal. but the burgers were a dollar and i did not have to make them.

i had to quit my job and take care of him a few months. so i did cook a lot at home. but i would not watch what i was making. i thought cause i cut out the fast food that i would lose a little. so wrong! i would make breakfast, lunch, and dinner. and not the most healthy choices. bus quits and gravy and then sandwiches and chips.. then dinner.. desserts too sometimes.. so well well over 2000-3000 calories a day. and doing all this with no extra exercise and not working.

its so easy to lose track of that stuff until you come on here and see just how much damage you can do!

JOYOUS62

Comfort eating when I stopped smoking

nokanjaijo

Comfort eating when I stopped smoking

You and me, both.

redman1740

I come from a eating family. Everything we do revolves around eating unhealthy foods. Early last year as part of a 40 day challenge I went on a vegan diet, lost weight and my cholestrol levels were great. Slowly my family tempted me with their numerous family eat togethers and within 3 months I was back to my old ways of eating. My family likes to have eat togethers at least once a week and will become angry if I don't participate. On 1/1/2013 I decided to do something about my weight, back pain, shortness of breath and eat right. I'm down about 20lbs so far and let's just say I haven't seen my family a lot this year. They think its "stupid" because I'm making healthy eating choices but the more I'm not around them, the better I eat and feel. I have some friends that support me and a great deal of others that don't. Same with co-workers. People were my cause of my being overweight but I have learned to take responsibility for my weight and do something about it. If someone doesn't support my cause, then I don't need to be around that person, be it family, close friend, neighbor, etc. That's my story

pkw58

I think I came into this world in the late 50's and grew up in a time when all the modern conveniences were just starting to come into our lifes. TV, TV Dinners, foods from space that have long storage lifes, you name it, it was the rage.

I think the main contributor to my lifestyle before I adopted my new one in December 2011 was that you were either an athelete or a "non exerciser" in junior high/high school. I even wrote a letter to Michelle Obama about it. Yoga, Barre, walking, light weight lifting, ---those are the things that should be part of junior high and high school phys ed in the USA. Maybe fun runs like 1k and 5ks every friday - nutrition diaries and monitoring stress tests. Not sure why we all got thrown into yucky games of dodge ball and relays where there was always a "loser".

Even line dancing would be better than Dodge Ball. I was a band person so I got out of phys ed in in High School - sadly, a little conditioning would have helped my music playing!

delonda1

no one telling me I was getting bigger. so i never realized it until one day the mirror looked back and almost broke hahaha

tanyaslosingit

My weight gain can be attributed to: depression (which created a vicious Catch-22 with weight), ignorance (I did not know/understand the nature of the foods I was putting into my body or the physical impact it was having on me), a highly sedentary lifestyle, stubbornness (a false sense that I could carry the weight well) and a changing/slowing metabolism owing to motherhood and middle age. I also had a warped sense of time and immortality: that my weight issue wasn't immediate and that I could take care of it later!

lozla86

Having a really bad relationship with food when i was in my teens and when i got married i ate the same portions as my husband but then i the past 14 months i had 3 miscarrages so eat out of comfort to cope with the losses and the pain. Still strugerling now but hoping that with time it will get better. Please feel free to add me i log every day x

triciab79

My own inability to distinguish food from happiness. I saw food as more than it was. To me it was comfort in sad times, courage when I was nervous in a crowd, distraction when I was bored, reward when I needed to celebrate, a friend when I was alone. In reality it is none of those things, it is only fuel. I had to fill those gaps with other things.