What was your downfall?

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I actually wrote a blog post about this recently!

Food:
Eating only rice & beans or baked zitti for dinner every night for my life (what my mother & sister primarily cook ); pizza, Chinese food, ice cream, or fast foods during & after school daily; Nature's Valley & Gatorade religiously; not enough vegetables; no water at all, only juice or Gatorade; overeating my favorites: 6 hotdogs, 6 pieces of baked bread, 2-3 plates of shrimp alfredo, half of a pot pie, etc (not in the same meal!).

Exercise:
No strength training & never challenging myself when doing it; only 1 mile daily (8-10 minutes, then go home); not participating in dance or sports.

Now, I only drink water, eat very healthy & in moderate proportions, & I avoid anything with high cholesterol, sodium, sugar, & anything with saturated or trans fats. I do not eat processed foods for the most part, except yogurt (Greek no-fat plain) & crackers (moving to no-sat/trans-fat, low-sodium soon). I exercise daily & always challenge myself. I belly dance & I actively pursue how to become better. I'm becoming physically stronger & faster everyday, & a far cry from how I used to be!

Well growing up my mother cooked almost daily so junk food/fast food was not an option! I wasn't overweight, I was actually a very active kid but there was this taboo about junk and fast food and when I did get it at other people's houses or at parties it was like WOW!!!! A happy meal was earned by making striaght A's on my report card, I read many books because of the Book It program so I could get a free personal pan pizza. Anything academic that was tied to food, I was there!

Then I went to college and I wasn't so active (unless you count dropping it like it's hot in the club), I over indulged, didn't exercise, drank, got high, which lead to late night food runs to Taco Bell or to get pizza or whatever was open! By the time I earned my bachelor's degree I gained 100lbs!

A few years later, I lost 85lbs and kept it off for a couple of years, until I went back to school to get my master's degree and between working full-time and going to school and internship, I quit! I stopped working out and started stress eating, I don't know what it was about sitting in front of the computer or reading that made me have to have something to munch on, but that did it! All those all nighters, research papers, study sessions, and picking up something "quick" on the way, did me in and I gained every ounce of those 85lbs back in those 3 years!

So "here I go again on my own" Whitesnake! I think that was a Whitesnake song! LOL

Sedentary lifestyle
Drinking way too much Mt. Dew (seriously, I use to go through at least 1 64 oz fountain cup a day)
No portion control (what I've heard referred to the Walmart effect. Huge portions of cheap food)
Not giving a damn.

I'm something of an emotional eater, although I eat when I'm happy. This last year has been really good, so I spent the first half of the year gaining 20 pounds. In the end, it was my girlfriend and her mom's weight loss success that spurred me on to actually start watching what I eat, reading labels, trying to make better decisions and actually stick with using MFP to hold myself accountable. 65 days and counting, it's the longest I've ever stuck with anything health related.

Mine started when we had our 1st son and he was so sick and nearly died a handful of times and his health issues lasted until he was 12. They were really intense for 8yrs. Then I was diagnosed with MS and became paralyzed in fear, fear of throwing my body into a flare up or getting injured.

Now I have been working out for 10month, 60lbs down, walked 5 5k's, did the Warrior Dash in August, suffered a full achilles tendon rupture and continued to wo while healing. I was in the gym 1 week post op working out from the waist up. THough I held myself back and let life hold me back, I have taken back my life and despite the injury I feel better than I have in yrs. I am still healing but as my trainer said today, "I don't want you to be fast right now. I want you to be the little engine that could and keep moving and going forward. You'll get there quit being so hard on yourself." SO that's what I'll be

You are totally AWESOME!!!!!:flowerforyou:

I couldn't agree with ^ more!!! :flowerforyou:

college life - as in "a lot of parties and night out". booze is not strictly involved, most eating out

my downfall is eating anything that crosses my path.. i will spare nothing to stop through drive thru fast food joints, eat pizza and wings , eat white flour based breads with gobs of butter ,ice cream galore ,sweets .. its all my downfall

I went from exercising fanatically and counting calories to staying at the hospital, eating hospital food (AKA fried chicken tenders and French fries), ...

You'd think hospitals, being HOSPITALS, would have healthier food. But I guess it's like dentists with lollipops; they want to keep you coming back.

I know! I have never understood why hospitals have such horrifically unhealthy food. When I would visit my nana when she was in intensive care, the best you could get was a little fruit cup. They had hot dogs, nachos with fake cheese, everything. I wish they could at least put in salad bars or something :-/

The first time I gained a lot of weight was when we barely had enough money to scrape by. We lived off of hamburger helper and the cheap menus. When we moved, things were a little better and I lost the weight. But, this time around I blame the weight on college. Definitely stress eating, portion control, and night binge eating.

woman.... they an't nothing but trouble

Very true. And I just love trouble...

My downfall was my car crash of 2006. I was rear-ended while waiting for pedestrian to cross at a crosswalk. The person who hit me was going so fast that the airbag was deployed in the car that the offender was driving. I gained 90 lbs in the year following the crash (I had just lost 20-30 lbs and was down to 160 lbs. Can't wait to see 160 again. Goal weight is 130-120 lbs)

Since the weight gain I've been trying to figure out when my initial weight gain started. It was when I got my first car (or when I got my first boyfriend who had a car). That's when I stopped walking or taking the bus. HUGE MISTAKE!

I thought I ate unhealthy food when I was stressed. The reality is that I eat bad food when I'm tired and sick, simply because it's easier and I don't feel like cooking or going to the store.

I rarely get stressed so maybe I learned how to manage my stress so the next thing was eating anything when tired or sick. This is when I eat the most unhealthy foods.

My granddaughter's pre-school started teaching her how to eat properly at age 3, with a discussion about what foods are healthy and what foods we need to be careful about. She is 8 years old now and we still have conversations about healthy foods. She is a bean pole as I was when her age. She has known me at 258 lbs and now. She is very complimentary and aware of people who are overweight.

Her mom was a few hundred pounds overweight before her gastric bypass and is still about 100 lbs overweight. My granddaughter has determined that she doesn't want to be fat. She is very active but eats a lot of sweets. Her mother still hasn't adopted a healthy lifestyle so I worry about my granddaugher and contine to teach about healthy lifestyle.

When I was first married I weighed about 108 lbs. My mother-in-law was a great cook. When we would go for a visit she would say "have some dinner". We would say "no thank you, we just ate". She would say, "Eat again". and we would. I gained about 42 lbs in the first year I was married. My mother-in-law was over weight (from Georgia) and died at age 53 from a heart attack. Your "no" has to mean "NO!"

marijuana ... just jokin .... no seriously

Yep, I did that phase at 17-18 years old, definitel did not do me any favors.


It was fast food for me. I think... okay, well I KNOW.... it's very addictive and I was most definitely addicted.

I went from exercising fanatically and counting calories to staying at the hospital, eating hospital food (AKA fried chicken tenders and French fries), ...

You'd think hospitals, being HOSPITALS, would have healthier food. But I guess it's like dentists with lollipops; they want to keep you coming back.

I know! I have never understood why hospitals have such horrifically unhealthy food. When I would visit my nana when she was in intensive care, the best you could get was a little fruit cup. They had hot dogs, nachos with fake cheese, everything. I wish they could at least put in salad bars or something :-/

Ours has excellant choices. OK I confess to the chicken tenders today but we also have healthy options. Here are some of todays choices.

•Soup of the Day: Broccoli Cheddar | Vegetarian Chili
•Entrees: Citrus Baked Cod | Carved Pork Loin with an Onion Gravy
•Saute Station: Mediterranean Tacos
•Hot Vegetables: California Blend Vegetables | Roasted Red Potatoes | Peach Cobbler
•Quick Grab: Pizza | Oriental Style Chicken Wings | Plain Chicken Wings