Why/how did you become overweight?

How rude and immature of yours to judge ANYONE and their problems. Shame on you, seriously.


ETA: some people gain from pregnancy, some people gain after being emotionally and physically abused by someone, it's not only a matter of eating too much, something has to cause the urge to binge, it's not that simple for everyone. Your post was one of the rudest I've read on this site.

sincerely, a victim of constant physical abuse that resorted to food to escape.

Thank you, you were much politer about that terrible person than I felt like being.

I've always considered myself a 'sturdy' girl, although looking back at my photos I did look pretty good - I just didn't appreciate an hour glass figure. At school I was on the hocky, netball and cricket teams and did a fair bit of cross country running.

In my teens I did a lot of drinking but with all the energetic dancing I did, I still stayed pretty fit. I continued like this until my 30s when I got a desk job. In 1999 my (then) husband became disabled and I became his full time carer, when I was also full-time carer for my elderly parents. In 2003 I had a child (which was a miracle as we had tried IVF 3 times and I was told I was not producing eggs), so after taking care of my three patients and looking after a baby, I didn't do anything but sit down, eat and try to relax. In 2006 I lost my dad and then my marriage ended, then 9 months later I lost my mum. I then spent the next few years just looking after my son and any me time was spent sitting down, comfort eating and being sad.

I'm now almost 50 and feel so ill inside - everything I do takes so much effort and I put off everything I can. I already knew I was borderline diabetic and after my latest routine blood test, it appears my cholesterol isn't looking good. This is the last thing I expected as I'm a lifetime vegetarian but can only put it down to too much dairy and convenience food. To be honest I am really scared that I've done too much damage.

Now is the time for a change, so I can face the milestone birthday with hope that I have many more years ahead of me to spend with my son and my new partner.

11 weeks of hospital bedrest with twins plus two daily shots of steroids..YaY

I went pretty much seamlessly from cute, chubby baby to plump schoolkid, to teenage fat, to pregnancy to middle-age spread, and now I'm 66 and still over-cuddly!
My mum cooked good food, but large portions, so my stomach developed expectations. I played some sport at school, being a scarily large goal keeper in hockey, and blocking out the goal in netball, so I had my uses. My Uni landlady was a young widow who spoiled us rotten and i put on 2 stone in a year.
I was generally between 11 to 13 stone for most of my adult life.The worst jump was when we got a car again about 11 years ago, because a new job said I had to have one: I went from walking miles and using public transport in my previous job, to feeling aggrieved if I had to park more than a couple of minutes' walk from my destination! In five years I went from 13 to 18 stone, then managed to lose about a stone staying at around 17 st, joined weightwatchers and got down to 15 st 5lb, decided I knew how to sort it out by myself and went back up to 17st!
My main problem is portion sizes, we generally eat reasonably healthily, but often too much; I'm getting a much better idea of what weights of foods I regulary eat look like now.. Now around 16 st and hopefully heading for about 11st 7. Only time will tell, but I want to have the energy to play with my 8 grandchildren, and live long enough to see them grow up, and maybe even some great grandchildren.

You've had a really rough time - hope you achieve your goals!

Were you always overweight?
No. But I haven't really been 'fit' since middle school either.

Or were you once a healthy weight?
Yes. And I guess I technically still am, but I despise the chub around my middle enough to want to make it a bit lower.

Did you "let yourself go"?
Sort of. I quit gymnastics in 6th grade. I had a different body type than the girls there and always felt big even though I was slim. I ballooned up a bit, gaining ten pounds in about a year, but kept it controlled and eventually lost it and a little more by freshman year. I was in track a little during middle school and the last couple years of high school, but after Junior year I started gaining a little weight, then due to getting a job and eating at irregular intervals, mostly fast food and store throwaways Senior year, accompanied by the stress of a very competitive Senior class (I had a 3.7 and wasn't even in the top 33%) I gained something like 20 pounds in half a year.

I hit track season and lost inches but not weight and when it was over, I ballooned again, gaining at least another 10-15 pounds over summer.

I figured to get out of buying more pants I can't afford that I should maybe do something to combat the Freshman 15.

Gave up Cocaine.

Were you always overweight? No. Was in great shape until about mid-30's.

Or were you once a healthy weight? Not according to BMI, but I was about 185 lbs and 5'10. Worked out everyday.

Did you "let yourself go"? Moved. Stopped teaching TKD and took on a more passive life style.

I actually at one point in my life weighed in at 125 lbs..I was very active with playing basketball up to 4 hrs a day. When I left for the military I was just too damn skinny and focused mainly on bulking and lifting heavy weights (I pick things up and put them down)....When I got out I had no $ (yes I didn't save), I got married and let myself go. Not no more though "ain't nobody got time fo dat!!."

For those of you who want to share, I am interested to hear your stories about why/how you became overweight.

Were you always overweight?
Or were you once a healthy weight?
Did you "let yourself go"?
Or perhaps it was due to a traumatic event, injury or medication?
And did anyone become overweight while still being an active person and (over)eating homemade, whole foods, or was it only through eating essentially crap food, processed foods, restaurant/fast food?

Thank you for sharing, I think your stories will shed some light and help us to understand our weight loss journeys, since the mental component is so important, and we have to know where we come from to move forward.

Feel free to link to other past threads or groups.

I was overweight as a child but not by much until I hit around 10. I was overweight because I had asthma and couldn't be a physical as the other kids I think. I am also bipolar since I was born so I am sure that contributed to emo eating for comfort.

At 11 my mother divorced my stepfather and basically "checked out" of being a mother to my sister and I and we had t fend for ourselves. At 14, I gained a substantial amount of weight and gained about 5-10lbs a year until I was 30. At my highest I was 285. I had major emo eating issues then

At 22 I injured myself and was diagnosed with sacroiliac joint dysfunction which is a big word for the joint that hold my tailbone to my hip comes out of place and pinched my sciatic nerve. I could barely walk for more than 1 hour for about 8 years. It would come out of place at least 3-5 times a day and I had pain at least 90% of the day.

3 years ago I started off small and walked every other day, I didn't really try to lose weight until about 2 years ago.

I started working out 3 times a week at a gym and eventually it increased to 6 times a week and sometimes double workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays. For about 1.5 years now my SIJD hasnt bothered my that much. Like I said, it used to come out of place 3-5 times a day and now it maybe comes out a few times a year!
I was one of these people who thought, I have an injury, I will have to live with it. Thats BS. To the people who think that, no matter what you have, it IS reversible. I now have psoriotic arthritis (Its almost the same as rheumatoid but affects the lower body, feet and toes more) an I STILL work out hard and it makes a more of a difference you could ever imagine. Thats your "magic pill". Exercise and lose weight. No more excuses people. You gotta do this, it really works.

I used to eat really unhealthy. I haven't eaten Mcd's in like 5 years but I have been known to eat other fast food a few times a year verses a few times a week before. Thats not including pizza, BBQ and restaurants like applebees though...haha. Most of my food used to consist of mixes, candy, cookies, pasta, soda...those type things. I would rarely eat fresh produce and no fruit.

These days I eat a lot of produce-fruit, green veg, lettuce, rice, frozen veg, lean meats, almost 100% homemade dishes, I drink the great value version of crystal light (I know, its bad for me), low fat coffee creamer, olive oil...
I used to never drink water and I do every day now.

I just found out I have a gluten intolerance and its been a struggle. Even though i eat healthy most of the time it has kept the weight on. I urge people to try going off gluten for a week and see what happens. I guess a lot of people only have success through low carb diets but they are actually gluten sensitive and that why it works. The thing is, you dont have to be 100% carb free, just wheat free and it works! Its making a difference with me.
I ate pizza last night and I am up 3lb from bloating, I am super itchy (I never noticed before until I went off it last week) and I feel horrible! Its just crazy.

Hope that helps

I was always a little overweight. But when I started birth control pill... Oh boy! I was hungry all the time and since I was very active at the time, I ate what I wanted. Gained 20 lbs in 6 months. From there, it just kept getting worse.

I was able to loose 15 lbs in 2008 with drastic mesures, kept it that way for a year, but then I went back to school and gained it back slowly but surely. Once I graduated I started working hard on loosing the extra weight but could only keep it stable. Doc says everything is normal so there is no medical condition preventing me from loosing weight.

I'm currently 5 months pregnant. Only took 5 lbs, wich is very good since I don't restrain myself at all and couldn't exercise for several weeks.

I was not always overweight, always pretty normal through out high school,(I'm 5'1, weighed around 128 then.) I didn't start gaining weight until I hit my mid twenties. I was in a bad relationship and I think I was stress eating. (My normal weight ballooned to 175). I was actually working out ALOT then, trying to lose the lbs, but I think just the bad ora of the relationship had an effect on my success. Even then I wasn't as big as I am now. I would take that 175 back in a heartbeat!! The thing that really did it for me now was having two children in the last two years, back to back. I was not at my ideal weight before I had my first child, then immediately got pregnant with my second before I could shed all the weight from the first pregnancy.Using MFP and planning out small, realistic goals. The problem with me is that I am very impatient and I am a chronic scale-goer. I literally weight myself every 4 hours, like the scale is going to drop 5 lbs in 5 hours...I just have to stay realistic. I still have bad days, but I see it as one pound at a time.

I was a thin kid, but I became less active as an adult and ate tons of junk at college. That combination made me fat. I had never learned to restrict food because I never had to before. My weight steadily crept up and I always said, "ok, I'll weigh xx amount, but not higher". Then it would get higher and I'd still say the same thing

I think I was normal ish til around 7years old? That's when my parents marriage went down the tubes. Then I was living with my mum and stepdad and I look back and wonder how I never got bigger with what we were eating. I had good influences from my dad, and developed a love of cooking. I moved 500 miles away from home for uni at 18, and partied too hard/had a couple of destructive relationships. Looking back at pictures I could guess that my highest weight was 230-235, although my start weight was just over 220. I think I fluctuated over the uni years and when I worked offshore on the oil rigs. Then I moved jobs after 4 years offshore and I was really unsure of myself and overeating. I decided last summer I had to do something and over about 7 months I've lost nearly 35lbs. Also, 6 weeks ago I badly broke my ankle and have kept up with the weight loss/logging/calorie counting. I don't want to be that fat girl anymore, I finally have the confidence to be who I want to be :-)

I was a normal weight growing up and through high school but I remember my mother poking me in the stomach and telling me I was fat. I was always one of the tallest kids in the class, until high school usually taller than most of the boys, and very self conscious of the fact I was "bigger" than everyone. I use to get teased a lot by the other kids. My dad would make comments about my "big feet"-we should just get boxes instead of shoes. I suppose he thought he was being funny but it hurt-a lot. In high school my girl friends and I would "diet", even though none of us were overweight, it seemed that was the thing to do. I lived over seas and didn't get my drivers license until I was 18 so I walked everywhere. After graduating high school I became less active and the weight began to creep up, especially after I started seeing someone. We would meet after work and he would always have a dinner prepared, even though I often got off work around 10 at night. That's when I started drinking as well. As time when on I would diet, lose a few pounds, stop dieting and gain back what I had lost plus a little more. I married and my husband was great at either sabotaging my diet efforts or belittling them. He became the "food police" and I would rebel. With each child (I have two) I ended the pregnancy with a net lose but the weight soon came back on. Again I was on the diet roller coaster. When I was a stay at home mom I joined the Y and was attending water exercise classes as well as Mommy and Me swimming classes with my children. My weight stabilized at that time. My husband lost his job and I returned to work and no longer had the time to attend the exercise classes and the weight crept up again. I am now 59, divorced from my first husband, and diagnosed with diabetes which has progressed to the point where I am now on insulin. I remarried almost 3 years ago, have a darling granddaughter, two step grandsons, and another step granddaughter on the way in a few months. My goal is to lose enough weight I can get off the diabetes meds, as well as those for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I want to be around to see my grandchildren grow up. I want to be able to spend as much time with my husband as I possibly can and be healthy enough to do the traveling we want to do. I had lost between 30 and 35 pounds before starting with MFP but it has been extremely slow--over about 5 years. I began with MFP in January and have lost a few more pounds and am keeping them off. I believe I will be successful this time because I have a whole new mindset now.

I let myself go and stopped caring. Food became comfort and before I knew it I was 374lbs and miserable and had to make a change! My story is as simple as that.