Why/how did you become overweight?

I was always thin growing up, then I had kids. That changed my metabolism drastically. The medication I had been on all my life for epilepsy has/had a side effect of weight gain, which I did not see until my hormone levels had been affected. I got lazy and depressed and gave up.

Had ovarian surgery, which screwed up my hormone levels even more so I recently switched my seizure meds to one that has a side effect of weight loss instead of weight gain. Since I have been off the old med completely (about a month now, lost 6 lbs prior to joining MFP), it has been a lot easier to lose weight.

I was a skinny kid and I was never overweight until my first pregnancy. I gained 60 pounds with each pregnancy. After the first pregnancy, I settled out about 10 lb heavier than before, and after the second I settled out about where I had been after the first pregnancy. I do have a sweet tooth and my eating habits were not great.

Side note: I did not have gestational diabetes, but my second child weighed 10 lb, 9 oz, and I just barely passed the long glucose tolerance test each time. At the time I was told I was at risk for type 2 diabetes.

When my kids were little, I was physically active with them until the youngest started kindergarten. Then my activity level dropped off and work at the office went crazy. I started skipping breakfast and lunch, grazing at the candy dish at work, and gorging myself at supper. My weight started to creep up over the course of several years - about another 10 lb.

Then near Valentine's Day in 2006 I started playing an MMORPG - lots of sitting and lots of chocolate. Within a month I put on 15 lb. Over the next few years my weight continued to creep up even though I cut back on the junk food. In 2010 I had back problems that ended all exercise and could not seem to get a handle on getting my weight back under control. Finally at a physical I complained to my doctor that I could not seem to lose weight and she suggested that I track what I ate. I did and it was eye-opening. MFP has been extremely helpful for me in losing weight.

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?

I do know one person who might meet that criteria, but he was on medication that made him gain weight.

I was born without a thyroid gland, and was normal weight until I got to puberty.

But as I've come to realise, it wasn't the thyroid gland that made me fat, it was the Wendys!

I ate a calorie excess for all four years I was doing my undergraduate, and surprise surprise, weighed 120kg at the end of uni (I was 70kg at 16, 99kg at 17 and 120ish at 20). All of that was helped along by an abusive boyfriend who was stick thin, and always wanting to eat crap - if I didnt go along with him, why did I not love him, why did I not want to spend time with him anymore? And eating Wendys/McDonalds/The highest calorie sub from subway was way easier to do inbetween lectures/labs/studying in the library than bringing my own lunch.

I knew what I was doing was wrong, I just couldnt help it. But gave the boyfriend the flick when I weighed my heaviest, and dropped 15kg that first summer alone. That was 2007. I lost even more after that (got down to the low 90kgs for a couple of years), but then returned to uni and the same habits creeped back - only this time it was kebabs and stuff from the cafeteria. And alot of full fat lattes.

Now I'm out of uni, again, single, and focusing on work and getting thin - wont let uni be an excuse for when I go back and do my PhD!

Were you always overweight? - No.
Or were you once a healthy weight? - I was in a range between healthy and a little pudgy, but still healthy most of my life.
Did you "let yourself go"? - I guess. I gained most of my extra weight when I stopped nursing my son and gave up veganism in the same month. I just kept my eating patterns what they had been for years of pregnancy and nursing and ate lots of cheese and got large.
Or perhaps it was due to a traumatic event, injury or medication? - no.
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? - I was active when I was overweight. I ran regularly, walked long distances, was in better cardio vascular shape than a lot of "skinny" people and had better endurance. I also ate mostly organic whole foods, just ate too much of them.

I got overweight from sitting on my backside, playing too much Xbox and eating the wrong foods.

Damn you Call of Duty!

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 always a little overweight. In highschool, I was 140-150lbs and then college made it up to 170-180lbs. But lost 30 and got down to 150lbs. But I gained 20lbs back by letting myself go and eating too many calories from bad foods. So I started trying to watch my calories and what I ate, and dropped the high calories bad foods.
So while plateauing at 170, regular milk had always made me brake out in zits, so I switched to soy milk in my college years. After college, I noticed I was bleeding more often than usual and eventually the bleeding got really bad and I started gaining weight- even though I was eating healthy. It wasn't until my doctor tried putting me on birth control, the bleeding got out of control and I ended up in the hospital that's when we found the uterine fibroid- something I believe was caused by the soy and the birth control. But the hormone disaster caused me to gain 50lbs. So, I really should weigh 130lbs, the first 40lbs was my fault, I should've known better, everyone was saying, count your calories and I didn't listen. It was the next 50lbs that was caused by hormones malfunction. Now that the fibroid is gone and I'm no medication, I'm losing the weight

Trained in the martial arts growing up, so was very active. My mom cooked most of the time although I preferred fast food.
Got a job at Mcdoanlds at the age of 16. MISTAKE. I was around 140 the , wearing a size 10 or so. Ate constantly. Quit martial arts. Ate more. Met my future husband and had my son. Really let myself go after that. I was still working as a restaurant manager and eating constantly. Had my daughter and got divorced. Big weight gain. Stress of being a business owner and raising my.2 kids...I got up to my highest weight of 235; I started working out and lost 50 pounds. Kids got chicken pox and I lost the habit of going to the gym. Gained it al back.
I got so sick one week that I couldn't keep anything down. Lost 10 pounds and decided what the hell, I'll keep going. Currently down to 181 with another 30 lbs to lose.

I was skinny up until I was around 11 or 12 and I was eating badly for a while and when I hit puberty I gained weight. I've heard it's common since I've eaten really badly since then but I put on any weight since I was maybe 14. Only thing now is taking the weight off.

I was a normal weight until I started university. After that I started eating a lot of junk food- high sugar energy drinks, muffins, cookies etc.

It was not unusual for my breakfast everyday to be a large hot chocolate and a muffin, or a chocolate danish.

Slowly my weight crept up and up. In my 3rd year I decided I needed to join the uni gym (which I should have done in 1st year, hindsight is a wonderful thing), and that stopped me putting on weight, but I never lost more then a kilo.

Then whenever I stopped going to the gym my weight would keep going up. I would start again, the weight gain would stop, but would never lose.

I finally hit the point where I was borderline obese according to BMI, and a friend of mine was using MFP, so I decided to give it a try, and I finally started being able to lose weight.

I am now almost back down to the weight I was at the beginning of my 3rd year at uni.

Born that way! 10lbs at birth... But, now I'm getting to my ideal weight, finally!