What is the root of your weight issue?

SAPerkins01

This is my first reply on this site ever. So, let's open the flood gates. The root of my weight issues are a combo deal.

1. I never had to worry about weight until I was around 34 (I am 40 now) and that was even true after I had my son.
2. I never really was a big eater. I could go two days without consuming a single calorie and felt fine.
3. I work in an office, behind a computer all day (that is where I am right now)
4. I lost my husband in September 2011 (he was 40 nd my King) after a long illness (cancer sux) and started drinking alot of alcohol
5. Because I never worried about weight, when I ate, I ate what I wanted whenever I wanted (even high calorie junk food before bed)

I am on my weight loss/ fitness journey now because:
1. It is time.
2. I am sadly single again and I want to feel good about me if I should ever meet someone worth my time.
3. I want a longer life. I want to see my son get married and love my grandbabies until they can't stand it.
4. I want my energy back.
5. I want to maintain my phisical capabilities as I age.

Sweet_Gurl_Next_Door

during my teenager years my dad being diagnosed with brain cancer my once free time miss athelete was spent taking care of her dad many hospital trips, fast food on the go, adjusting the year later being a fatherless teenager and moving to a town I hated and never wanted to come back to so I used food to express my anger. before I knew it my 125 pound frame shot me up to 250 pounds.

I am now 176 pounds and 36 away from my goal weight.

duluthian

I like food, not fast food, real food. My portions are just tooooo big.

My childhood was OK, could've been better. My Parents did their best. They taught me to enjoy good food, lots of it, big heaping platefuls of it. Food = love type of thing!! My Mum is a great cook and she passed that skill on to me and I am passing that onto my Son, however I am also paying close attention to portion sizes. That is the key for me :happy:

jonnythan

.... Is "I ate too much" an option? Seems too obvious :laugh:

ATHFat2Fit

I eat too much. I eat out of boredom. I eat because I like the taste of food and not because I'm physically hungry. I'm a "mindless" eater which means I eat just to eat and sometimes can eat a large amount of food and not even notice I'm eating it. My eating is just out of control which is a big part of why I'm tracking calories so I can start to pay attention to what I do or do not eat.

HypersonicFitNess

I like to eat

Okay, actually funny you ask b/c I was thinking about this again last night while soaking in the tub. My sisters and I were talking and we think it has to do with our dad lost his job and after that we were barely making it (with 5 kids...). We didn't always have food to eat and would get sent to be early if there was nothing to eat.

We were probably the only kids at school who ate every drop of what was served in the cafeteria, because sometimes that was our only meal of the day....it didn't matter what it was, we ate it all.

As adults we we all struggle with weight and my parents struggle with weight problems now too. The only thing we can figure is...now we can have all the food we want...so we don't restrict. It's a very hard lesson to learn that it doesn't have to be feast of famine, there is a balance in between.

liittlesparrow

I thought a lot about this mostly after high school, after my stint with anorexia/bulimia and what not. I believe my eating habits come from my dad AND mother, just both at different extremes.

My mom, all my life, was obsessed with being thin. She was anorexic, and obsessed with working out. When she died (not from health related problems, she died in a plane crash) she was about 95 lbs. At about 4'11-5'0, that was kind of okay, but she was still very thin. She always nitpicked at what I ate and everytime I got to see her the first thing she'd ask me is "Do I look fat?" She would never keep anything in her apartments but diet cracker things, V8 juice, and veggie stir fry. Not much for a child to eat. Now that I think about it, I never remember eating with her at all. Or seeing her eat.

On to dad. Overeating at its worst. When I was a child he once made me eat so much I threw up. He mad me do "tummy checks" before I left the table, which was him poking my stomach feeling for "empty spots", and if he felt any I had to eat more. Pretty much always made me eat to the point I was bloated. Plus his eating habits were crap. Pizza, fast food, fried foods... and a lot of them.

So for me it's one extreme, or the other. I'm still struggling, but now that I've identified my problems I'm working to fix them and re-teach myself that neither one of the things my parents taught me was healthy.

jaydensmommy422

KIDS! lol, but serisously- I was a scrawny little thing and could eat whatever I wanted before I had my kids. I didn't realize how much my metabolism changed and continued my eating habits and the pounds started packing on. I've been on the deposhot and think that has made it worse. And I've not been working for the past few months and it makes it worse. I sit at home and just eat out of boredom sometimes. I've actually gained 10 lbs just by sitting at home in 2 months!

PamelaGatorMom

1) I love to cook & LOVE LOVE to eat!! Going out to eat was always a reward or treat, I tend to enjoy things with BUTTER

2) the older I got the less active I became

3) when my mother passed I went into a deep depression & put on the majority of the weight I have now

Just decided after almost 10 years I was tired of being overweight & unhealthy!

jaydensmommy422

I already posted what I thought was my problem but after I read yours (HypersonicFit), I think that could be part of mine too. There was hardly enough food to go around- but when there was or I was at school, I'd pig out and people always thought it was wierd that I didn't gain weight. But I didn't get to eat like that at home. Now I can buy and eat whatever I want and I guess I spoil myself- and I'm definitly gaining it now.

firedenswife2012

It started off as emotional pain from the loss of my son. I became very depressed and isolated myself while sitting on the couch and eating fast food or delivery food.
After ten years of therapy I have had a life change and finally emotionally well. I just got married to an amazing man and I want to live a full life with him. I want to be happy, healthy and fit now.
I just got back into swimming and am so glad to have done so

conniemaxwell5

I came from a very non-obese family and was always a little overweight as a child so I felt like I stood out from the rest, in a bad way. I was bullied for it at school too and when I came home was allowed to havea couple of cookies while I poured my heart out to my mom. It's not her fault but I eventually found comfort in my food when I felt overwhelmed by anything. I'm just realizing this at 50.

Now that I've realized it, I'm learing to redirect my reaction to stress. I bought an electronic keyboard and am going to start piano lessons. I love music and always had an aptitude for it in school. Music soothes me so I think it will be a healthy alternative to food when I'm stressed.

SmartAlec03211988

Laziness.

I was forced to undergo physical therapy as a child because of my handicap, and so when the mandatory physical therapy ended I made a point to not do it because I not only didn't enjoy it, but it was out of spite for being made to do something against my will.

Then... I grew up, grew tired of being fat, and got my diet and exercise in gear.

jillybean0123

Lack of self control and an overestimation of how much movement and work I actually do.

That has always been the case and I have used every excuse in the book. My personal favorite was that my sister ate more/worse food than I did and moved less and was still a twig while I have always been very big. I am pretty sure I hit 200lbs before 8th grade. I realize now that maybe I wasn't honest with myself and I needed to quit worrying about what she does.

mbaker824

Food tastes good. It makes me feel good to eat. For me there are two modes of eating that I have. First is rigid controlled eating. My brain makes every food decision, analyzes it for nutrition and quality. Eventually that goes down for a while, because it is wearing to maintain. Then there is mode #2 - free for all mode. That's when I get majorly fat until mode #1 comes back online.

This is me exactly. Have lost almost 100 pounds TWICE and gained it back in free for all mode. I am trying to be more moderate now so it will stick!

I've been there myself. I topped out at 385 lbs back in 2002, got down to 255, then back up to 330 about a year ago. For me, this happens when I stop keeping track of my weight and what I'm eating. I think awareness of one's weight is at least half the battle; if I don't weigh myself, I'll always fall right back into my bad eating habits.

1223345

Feeling hopeless.

jennfranklin

I have had a love affair with food my whole life, my family bases gatherings around food, and that is the way it has been my entire life. I love everything about it!

psych0kitty

My mother had a terrible relationship with food and body image and she passed it on to me. (She still does whatever she can to be skinny without exercising or putting forth any effort.) There was no voice of reason in the house because I was alone most of the time. I went on my first diet at age 9 (thanks, mother). Except for that one year of being chubby, I was a skinny kid growing up and through high school but always thought I was fat. It was always feast or famine in my house, and there were so many restrictions and vacations from those restrictions, I was permanently confused. When I was finally on my own, I didn't know WTF to do, then I got on a bunch of medications and started to turn into the fat me I always thought I was.

staceyw73

I think some of my problem is not eating enough and then when I do its not the right stuff cause eather I dont feel like cooking or dont have the right stuff in the house. and also not being able to do as much as I like because of back problems limiting what I can and can not do. but some how I will get this all figured out and get this 80-90 lbs off again. I have done it twice before when I was younger thou and more fit. I have tryed diffrent things but have not been able to stick to it. so I would move on and try something eles. also I can say money cause it is cheaper to by quick fix stuff than fresh stuff.

Sunny_fit4life

Low self-esteem since childhood, ED in adolescence, gained weight rapidly because of medication at 17 (one of the top ones know for weight gain, thanks doc), never lost it, more low self-esteem, I didn't like myself, married a jerkface, gained even more weight, 4 years later realized I'm actually kind of cool, got divorced from said jerkface, started losing weight & getting fit... then hit a plateau at 205 and gave up for a reaaaally long time...

Fast forward to now, got back on MFP and started working out and actually taking care of myself rather than trying to eat like 800 calories like a dummy. Losing weight slowly... there's really no root anymore. I like myself, but this stuff is hard and takes time.