What is the root of your weight issue?

rachelklewis3

Family, for me, is a major part of it. Throughout my childhood I learned that feeding someone was how you showed love, and boy was I loved a lot. The majority of my Mother's side was obese. Being a "good eater" (which I now recognize as over-eating) was praised. I was always overweight as a kid and had poor self esteem. I've worked on the self esteem part but not the weight part as much since having kids. Working on not passing those family traits down to my daughters.

SerenitySage_x3

Like some of the others, for me the root of my weight issue has been due to a lack of time - or rather, time management skills - to live a healthy lifestyle. Since I was 16 years old I have been working two jobs and going to school full-time. At one point, I was working 60-80 hours a week, while having 18 hours of college courses (not including homework/study time). (And to boot, all of my jobs have been in food service, so you can imagine all of the garbage I have been eating the past few years! Yuck! Though, I did give up McDonald's - and most fast food places - years ago, and will only go very, very rarely on occasions where I may not have another option.) Currently, I work two jobs for about 20-30 hours a week, 13 hours of college courses, and I take part in several honors/service fraternity organizations doing service work, etcetera. Even with this free time, I have not dedicated time to eat a balanced diet. I eat maybe once or twice a day, and it's always late in the evening, and there has been no method to how I eat - despite having gastrointestinal problems. Time has been my enemy. Or laziness, depending on one's perspective. I'm also a foodie - I LOVE food, most kinds, and will try anything once... but I would not say this has been a major issue for me, at least not in comparison to the time aspect and lack of motivation to exercise (which can be attributed to my depression most likely). I have lots of issues, I suppose, but in reality they are all excuses. I should not have let my life and body get into the shape that I did, but it happened; now it's time for a change!

ednaflores619

I think that the root of my weight issue is that I eat a lot of fast food because it is easy and I don't know how to cook. Growing up, I was alone a lot because my mom had 3 jobs so she would just leave me money to go get something to eat. There was never food at the house and she has bad eating habits as well. That is how I learned my bad eating habits. Now, I live alone and I get bored so I eat. When there is something to celebrate, it revolves around food, cake, alcohol, etc. I don't make healthy choices. I have gotten a lot better, but it is very hard to break a lifetime habit. Also, I think it is a psychological problem. I know I have abandonment issues so maybe food has always been my companion and it is always available when I want it.

PandaBandit19

Not trying to blame my parents, but when you are around 6 to 9 years old or younger, you can't really decide what you eat (except to leave it on the plate). My parents didn't eat extremely healthy, probably because they didn't know how, or didn't care. I had joined softball and kept my weight at a steady place, eating whatever I wanted, though I didn't feel very skinny. After I quit I did attempt to eat a bit healthier. Make myself a sandwich, not consume sugary things as much, but it ultimately failed because I still ate the unhealthy dinners, and a good serving of it. Now that I am on my own and cooking myself I hope to make lots of progress. Especially since I now have so much time to exercise and look uo healthy foods.


Basically, habits were because my parents, why I am still like this now is my own fault.

j_ringsaker

Lack of self control and laziness.

AprilMae1975

I love food....plain and simple. I come from a family of good cooks (both parents were chefs) and I can cook pretty darn good myself. I also have struggled with hypothyroidism for 20 years, i don't think I even have a metabolism.

ShallaLovee1

I'm sorry to hear that. I know some parents tease their kids about their weight but they aren't showing them any better. My mom use to be a fitness person then about 6 years ago she stopped caring. She's within a normal weight range I think but she eats whatever whenever and that's where I kind of picked it up from. I also suffered with depression for about 3 years straight. I never wanted to do anything. All I did was eat, sleep and watch tv. Play on the computer all night and sleep all day. I went from 173 to 260 in a little over a year and I didn't notice my weight gain until my mom bought me a size 22 pants. They were big but not that big. I just wanted to cry and I was so pissed at her. Anyways, long story short I didn't get more serious about weight loss and gaining my life back Sept 2012 since then I have lost 30lbs, I'm gaining my confidence back. Slowly but surely, I'm noticing change within myself, mentally and physically. I'm just going to tell you now. You truly can't count on anyone when it comes to your body. You have to decide to make that change and do what you have to. Don't let anyone stand in your way. The only person that can hold you back is you. In the end this will all be worth it. No matter how long this process takes enjoy every minute of it. Even the bad days. We all have them. Good luck to you!

shezzzzz

Reading through the other comments, most of mine are covered.

Love Food
Poor self esteem
Active as a youth, but once I started driving.... hello 20 lbs
Stopped smoking, hello another 20
Horrible marriage, divorce, another horrible marriage, hello beer and another 20 lbs

My entire family are big eaters. As a child, I had to clean my plate (still do).
Realized recently, as a child, the main times I felt accepted were when I ate lots (as much as my father) "She's such a good eater"

I also eat to feel in control. When my life gets crazy, it feels like the only thing I can control. Everything can be taken away from me; sanity, loved ones, money, happiness, but I can eat whatever I want and no one can stop me.
I'm getting better about the last one, but it is a hard struggle to change that mode of thinking.

erinlibke

Laziness. I would rather eat chips and sit on the couch rather than make it to the gym. Not sure exactly when this all started because as a child I loved playing outside, going to the park, riding bikes, jumping on my trampoline for hours on end and playing ball. I think it was when it was no longer cool as a teenager to just play. Sports became too competitive and were no longer fun. A trip to the park wasn't to run around and play tag, it was to meet up with boys, walk to the store for a slurpee and junk, and smoking and drinking became the cool things to do. Pretty sad actually. I just want to play and have fun again

JaneElliotEyre

I eat for any and all occasions. Celebrating a birthday, holiday, any day...food! Mingling with friends...food!!! Upset, angry, depressed, happy, bored...food, food, food... I never need a reason to eat, and I rarely find a reason not to eat. I like being in control in my life from relationships to education to career, but food is the one thing I cannot seem to control. And boy is it aggravating!

I, too, have PCOS, which makes things much worse, but I don't blame my weight on having that. In fact, I know that if I lost a lot of weight, the symptoms would melt away. Of course, staying away from carbs (a big help in PCOS sufferers who want to manage it) is like asking me not to breathe. Oh, the carbs!

I have obesity in my family, too, but unlike most of my family, I have been overweight since I was around 7 or 8 while they only grew larger after puberty. I am now officially considered morbidly obese, and I think my history of being overweight has attributed to that. All in all, the root to my weight is just me. And I hope to be the solution to it, too.

nicolej1016

Not eating enough vegetables
Eating for taste, not nutrition
Eating due to emotions: boredom, rewarding, sad, stressed...
Not making exercise a priority

peleroja

I've always been a healthy BMI, but I've struggled with food as long as I can remember. I've had a couple boyfriends who were critical of my size (despite never being overweight), and I hate seeing photos of myself, always have. I think I have more body image issues than actual weight issues, as I've never been anything but normal, but I'm trying out being thinner and healthier and seeing if it helps.

calisunrise

puberty

xilka

Love of gourmet food mixed with slight OCD.

JessikaBlayne

my father, never really being there. I would use food to fill that voide. But once he came back into the picture occationally he would make fun of my weight such as when i was running up the stairs several times for a water slide with my brother i said WOO what a workout and theres my dad chiming in saying maybe you should do more.. some father figure... so ive always turned to food for comfort. I also eat my feelings, out of boredom. or just something to do with friends. Im now paying the price but i cannot wait to fix myself and find out who i truely am without food ALWAYS being in the picture

the_seraphim

Ive always been a big lad,

Im broad in the shoulder, 6ft tall and big boned (there is such a thing!) so im never gonna drop much below 16stone.

however i also overeat because i lack the feeling of satiety. If my belly is not !FULL! then im hungry.

But then because i have IBS, i dont eat if i have to do things like work or go out but once im done for the day i gorge and binge.

Im like a bullemic who keeps forgetting to throw up

ScottishMrs

For me it was starting shift work which messed with my metabolism then getting a knee injury which greatly reduced my ability to work out. I quit the night shift just over a year ago though and my knee is finally at a point where I can work out again. I come from a family of obese people though and it's definitely made me see portions as a little bigger than they should be but it got into my sister's head a lot more and she's always working out a lot and eating only a little bit because she's afraid of every lb she gains. She's a petite 5' 3.5" though and likes to stay around 115-118lbs which is alright.

jbbrannon

love of homemade desserts (pies, cakes, cookies) and not exercising enough

Kifissia

Food was my only pleasure. Food then became my main pleasure. Now I sit and relish my food. I never learned to eat when I was hungry and stop when I had enough. It never felt like I had enough until I had a carbo-high or I couldn't move I was so stuffed. Now that I've started MFP and I eat mindfully- MFP and my body are on the same page. I'm learning to enjoy other things besides food.

RevJudyW

My mother was very judgmental of "fat people," so I was always concerned about being fat. Actually I've always been reasonably close to an okay weight, but as I age it gets much harder to lose weight so I'm paying more attention. But that judgmental voice of my mother's is still inside my head telling me I look fat. I'd rather it would tell me that I look fine just the way I am, regardless of how much I weigh. Hope I've done better with my daughters.