Share the REAL reasons why you're fat (or too thin)

I had a hard time staying away from junk when all my naturally thin friends were eating it, I would put on weight as a result and become depressed and then eat more junk. It's quite the nasty cycle.

Overeating snack foods (salty, sweet, chocolate, etc.). Love food and don't know when to stop - the pace picks up and, before I know it, I've put away 3000 calories in a sitting. This has happened every night for months (including tonight) with the exception of 3 last week, just when I started MFP. I need to stop for good - if you understand this sort of thing and have advice, please reach out!!!

I've had some extra pounds for years because I love junk food. Whenever my mom would go food shopping and our house would be stocked, I would come home and fill up a cup with a **** ton of ice cream, and mix in cookies and peanut butter. I went to college, and actually stopped snacking and was actually losing weight. Then I became the victim of bullying, and whenever I was sad or lonely, I would eat. And thats how I gained twenty pounds in a matter of months.

when i was younger i was very thin ... i was raped by my boyfriends best friend at the time... not to go any deeper then that i got it in my head if i was fat i wouldnt ever be raped so i packed on lbs to say safe

grad school.

I got married to the wrong man hahaha!!! I gained like 40 lbs in one year and all thru my marriage I was fat. Until now I am focusing on me. I easily stressed & I am or was?? an emotion eater so that might of also been the cause.

Hi there! Lack of discipline and laziness in controlling my food intake got me to just over 200#. I used to be a college ball player and I miss my former athletic self.

In all honesty.. Because I was extremely lazy. I was mostly sedentary what with studies, gaming, and just plain lazing about watching TV, surfing the internet. I was also eating a lot of junk food and match that with the laziness, I was bound to put on weight. In fact I'm surprised I didn't put on even more weight because of those reasons!

Then I became depressed because of my weight, then ate more, then got depressed again - vicious cycle, But I'm changing all that now, and I want to be in the best shape of my life this year for sure.

I grew up with the fat lifestyle.

In elementary school I ended up being like, 130 pounds. I was innocent and didn't know any better, I got bullied by people for it. All I'd do was eat crap and be on the computer all day. Although, I was actually a semi-active person. I would go outside and go hiking in the forest behind my house with friends like everyday. But, all I ate was a crapload of junk food, and who knows how much.... obviously alot. Moving on...

In middle school I became smarter, realized I could lose it. I tried sometimes, but usually I maintained my lifestyle. Eventually, growing to 250 pounds. I was a completely different person as a little kid, I played the "fat kid" role pretty well. It made me an insecure and insufficient human being. Now it's made me a pretty messed up person to date.

By highschool, I became 350+ pounds. Hitting my peak of 366. At this point, I'm just depressed. Life itself is meaningless, I don't know what people have to live for. Got put on antidepressants and things are going better. I realize I AM a fat person. I'm a binge eater, I'm addicted to food. I have the fat mentality. It's up to me to find a way to defeat it and change myself. Why am I doing it now? Because I do realize there is at least one thing I want to live for. Love.

And how could I "love" anybody else when I don't even like the way I look? Once I lose all the weight, I can only hope that I view myself in a different light. Growing up in todays society where everyone needs to be perfect, everyone needs to live the typical human lifestyle, it's tough. It's actually pretty ironic, if people had treated me better, I'd probably be normal.

You could say I'm fat because I'm lazy. But it's not completely true. People put me in my role as a child and I grew into it, way too perfectly. Then once I became smarter then that, I became a depressed human being, not because of my weight. Because of the way I view existence, which made me a living zombie. The only thing that has changed is that I got a motivation and I believe that once I lose my childhood insecurities I can view life in a better way. I don't know if I'll ever be that way though.

I was an athlete, and then I ended up in a wheelchair. Depressed me comforted myself with food and became too preoccupied with eating all the while I was missing out on living my life. I used my physical pain as an excuse to not do anything about it.

Now I want to push through that pain, and regain my strength and shape to live life to the fullest!

I am a closet eater. I eat extremely healthy at work. When I get home from a stressful day I reach for comfort food.

Because when I was in high school, everyone called me pudge. I was 130 pounds while my friends were 120-125. So I went on my first diet and lost 10 pounds THE WRONG WAY! Gained back 20, lost 20 gained back 40 etc. Eventually I was 299 pounds. Now down to almost 190 (grr, 2 weeks of sabotaging myself and staying the same!)

I think a lot of it is genetics. My parents were both on the heavier side, as are both of my brothers and my sister. So, it's been a battle for a lotta years.

Having said that, laziness a small part, while my love for pizza, wings, chips, cookies and other unhealthy things play a HUGE part.

There's also the lack of discipline. When I'm motivated, I eat right and exercise like a mad man, and the weight pours right off of me. But maintaining isn't easy for me. I'm an all-or-nothing kinda guy, so I'm either being very good or very bad...usually very bad.

Yes - thank you! I'm not a moderation type person at all! It's either I'm being very good with both food/exercise or I "fall off the wagon." I also agree that genetics plays a HUGE part. My brother got the great metabolism where he can eat whatever he wants and I have to watch what I eat or i gain.

Main two reasons why I "fall off the wagon" and binge are: boredom and stress.

I treat food as a reward (holidays, after an active day.. etc)
I treat food as a "skill" (Learning how to make something that tastes great and people tell me how good it tastes)
I treat food as a friend (boredom, being alone)
I treat food as revenge (angry with husband)

Being overweight isn't like smoking. I can live without smoking. I can't live without eating. I love food that tastes good, but I don't like many vegetables and despise chicken. I'm not fat due to quantity......I'm fat due to quality.

I eat too many fats, carbs, sugars. I've been on MFP for a long time and so that's how I analyze the bad foods I consume.

I have always been an emotional eater. Over the past 15 years I have learned recognize exactly what sets me off, so I give myself the option of overeating to comfort myself to a certain extent.

I have managed to keep within 5-7 lbs of my goal that way - keeping 70 lbs off for 25 years.

Since mood affects my eating so much I know that exercise is key to keeping me happy. I have had several major surgeries, (spinal fusion, several knee operations, etc). I can't do all of the exercise I used to do but I always try to walk several miles/ several times a week.

I think we just need to be nicer to ourselves - it makes the whole weight issue easier.

I really like having this community - being able to share food issues helps quite a bit.