Why/how did you become overweight?

I was always underweight, but at the age of 12 I started a 5 year battle with anorexia and bulimia. With the help of some counseling and my best friends I was a recovering anorexic by my junior year in high school. Because of how bad my anorexia was I was always afraid to "diet" after i recovered. I gained 45lbs with my first pregnancy and lost it all withing 6 months just by being active and cutting out junk. I gained 29lbs with my second pregnancy but I had already gained about 15lbs back before I got pregnant. The second time was a lot harder, I lost 24lbs in the first 4wks because of breastfeeding but I hung on to those extra 5lbs. I don't know why I started gaining when I did, I have always eaten tons of carbs and fatty foods but I started gaining and couldnt stop.
It got to the point where I was staying inside as much as possible because I was so embarrassed, still I avoided dieting for fear i would "take it too far"

I am now at a healthy weight, healthier than Ive ever been in my life, I eat foods that are good for my body, i dont starve myself or binge and purge, but I have learned its okay to tell myself "no" (as well as yes sometimes) and I am the happiest ive ever been. I love my life.

Were you always overweight? not until puberty
Did you "let yourself go"? sure did, after high school I was no longer in sports so I just ate and didn't exercise at all other than running for the bus.
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? usually too much eating out and no activity makes me fat lol

Well, I put on weight for a number of reasons, one of them being the typical "couple bubble". You know the drill, meet somebody, settle down, go out for meals etc.

I've always been a foodie but I was never able to indulge greatly because I was always on a super-tight budget otherwise know as the "payday" diet....anybody else familiary with that?!? It is the kind of diet where you are forced to eat what is left rather than what you fancy with no money for extras.

I've always been a bit overweight, mainly due to lack of exercise and eating the wrong foods but it really spiralled when I hubby. We are both foodies, enjoyed eating out, my financial situation improved dramatically (due to new better paying job rather than hubby). We did little exercise and before I knew it I was bigger than I'd ever been....

Coming down the other side now though :-)

Did not have to deal with being overweight until I was well into adulthood. With that came stress, the loss of my dad, then came the antidepressants after that, then I piled the weight on! Not blaming it on the medicine, because I ate my feelings, meaning I am an emotional eater. No longer take meds, have been off of them for years, and I was still FAT! Now I tend not to emotional eat, and I am very mindful to ask myself if I am actually hungry.

Hi, all. I'm new here and wanted to share my story as well.

I had a great childhood with loving parents who cared about me and what I ate. Although both of my parents have always struggled with their weight and were always overweight (until my mom lost 35 pounds in the past couple of years and is now at a normal weight for her height [my dad is still overweight]), we always ate healthy foods—just too much of them. Don't get me wrong; there were snacks in the house, too, but we always made sure we ate a balanced diet. Due to problems with portion control and always being hungry, I have been chubby my whole life, but nothing extraordinary.

When I started high school, I was a normal weight—about 5'7" tall and 150ish pounds. I played sports and ate well (except for regular cabinet raids, which caused me to gain about 30 pounds throughout high school). I weighed about 180 when I graduated, but the weight was well-distributed and I didn't look too bad. When I started college and had no one to monitor my eating, I went a bit crazy and gained about 20 pounds my freshman year. I became vegetarian, which most people would link to a healthier diet, but I would just eat pasta, broccoli smothered in ranch dressing, cheese, ice cream, etc. I didn't own a scale in college because I was scared to face the truth.

When I went to a Planned Parenthood appointment for a checkup in 2006, I tipped the scales at 235 pounds. My blood pressure was pretty high, but even that didn't scare me into changing my lifestyle. I was diagnosed with PCOS, which could partially explain the quick weight gain. In the next two years, I put on another 10 pounds, reaching my highest weight of 245 pounds. I was unemployed, kind of depressed, and living in the suburbs where we drove everywhere.

In 2008, my fiancee and I moved to the city, and I started walking everywhere. I quickly dropped 25 pounds, and have yo-yoed between 200 and 220 ever since. I'm currently 207 pounds, 38 pounds down from my highest weight, and want to get down to about 150. I recently got bloodwork results back and, due to a healthier lifestyle, my cholesterol dropped from 200 to 160, though because of my PCOS (and insulin resistance) my blood sugar was a bit high at 102. I've been eating cleanly since the beginning of the year, joined a gym, and have been going 4–5 times a week, in addition to walking at least 40 minutes a day on top of that. I want to nip any potential health issues in the bud before they develop.

Anyway, sorry for the long-windedness, but it feels good to get it all out! I'm hoping to lose 1 to 1.5 pounds a week so that I can look amazing in my bathing suit when I go to Hawaii in November.

I'm 5'3" and have always had a very muscular body so according to BMI, most of high school and all of college I spent overweight. I am easily stressed and in high school and college I over ate- not to mention our cafeteria food sucked. All through high school and college I did workout about 3-4 days a week. During my busiest weeks though, I often didn't get any time in because of being a music major. All through college I yo-yoed on my weight because I would work on getting super fit during the summers that I had off and then I gained it all back around November till March because I usually super swamped with school.

My first year of teaching I was actually pretty fit, then I steadily started putting on weight because I started stress eating again even though I was working out consistently. I even did P90x 6 days a week and gained 20 lbs in that time. I hit close to 170 in May 2012 and was super upset, I've always been heavy because of my muscle mass, but this wasn't muscle, it was fat I'd gained, in masses.

That was when I realized that I NEEDED to lose weight not so I could attract boys or fit into my pants that were WAY too tight, but because I felt horrible and had no self-confidence in myself. That's when I started training to races and picked up running and biking quite a bit. I didn't start really losing pounds until August though when I started up with MFP and started counting my calories. I realized that I just simply ATE way too much.


What launched me into my weightloss in August was instead of eating when I was stressed, I made my number one thing to do after work (because it was my job that was/is stressing me out) and I'd work all my stress off on the machines and feel ten times better. I suffer from depression, but don't take medication because all it makes me want to do is sleep, but exercising keeps me balanced and keeps me from stress eating as well. Now I have to say my exercise habits have now became a feel-good addiction. I guess it could be worse huh?

How? My body started collecting fat and storing it.
Why? Because cats.

I was always thin growing up. After moving 1300 miles away from all of my friends and family, I found it hard to get off the couch. Im no longer out shopping, or doing whatever it was that kept me busy. I now spend my free time wayching tv. Needless to say, ive gained due to inactivity and stress eating.

I've been reading through this thread and pondering where it all started for me . . . I've never thought about it much, my family was big (tall & heavy), I was always the biggest kid in class, from the time I became aware of my weight, it was more than all of my friends, etc. -- but the root of the problem?

I'd have to say jealousy of my older brother. From the time I can remember, I've always been jealous of my brother. There was always a vast disparity in the WAY he and I were treated. He could do no wrong, while my behaviour was constantly being corrected. If he didn't want to do something, he would pout, and my parents wouldn't make him do it -- if I didn't want to do something, I got made to do it anyway. I believe it was my parents way of trying to help him cope with the death of our older sister -- I was only a few months old at the time so I was basically unaffected, but my brother was 4 and was devastated. Anyway, even down to chores, he was treated differently. His chores were to help my dad or grandfather build or fix stuff, which was maybe 1 night a week or a Saturday, mine were to do the laundry & dishes & clean the house every day. When he became old enough to get a job outside of the house (16), his job counted as his chore. When I got a job at 16, I still had my chores on top of my job.

All that said, the only way I found to ever feel I was getting anything equal to my brother was food. I tried to express my desire to be treated the same by eating as much as he did. I started at this fairly young and I remember my mother always saying that I didn't need to eat as much as my brother. He and I had a volatile relationship as well, if we fought, he'd tell me he wished it had been me instead of our sister that died. We never really got along until he moved out.

I developed pretty young (5'10", 160 lbs, and a 34C in 5th grade). I went to a very small school that was predominently hispanic -- girls were 5'2" and 100 lbs and I was a Jr. in High School before even the boys caught up to me. I was ridiculed for my height, my weight, any attempt at sports was a spectacle, etc. I struggled with my feelings about my weight all through high school but managed to maintain at 165 lbs. Looking back now, it was a very healthy weight for me, and I looked good, but I couldn't wear a size 4 or 6 like my classmates, so I was fat.

I joined the military immediately and went to boot camp a month after graduation. at 166 lbs, I was put on the 'Chunky Chicken' program. Once again my weight was scrutinized and everything I put in my mouth was watched. When I graduated from bootcamp, after 6 weeks of fish & veggies and constant marching and running in July in Texas, I was 148 lbs. The least I ever weighed since hitting puberty. It lasted about 45 minutes. I went to tech school, going to school at 3 p.m. and getting out at midnight and discovered Midnight Chow! Oh wow! A long night at school, then huge omelets and biscuits and gravy and pancakes and then right to bed. Brilliant plan! Then, off to Italy where there was amazing food and no drinking age! Woo Hoo!

I struggled with my weight for the entire 4 years, always on the weight program. Once I got out of the military -- Katie bar the door. Shot right up to 200. I've been somewhere between 185 & 215 ever since. Up & down & up & down. And in my head is a constant commentary about how happy I'd be if I had a flat stomach or if I wore a size 10 or if my boyfriend could pick me up like you see in the movies -- yet food is still my go-to for everything; celebration, comfort, love.

Wow that was really long and complicated -- but thanks, now I feel like should go have a good cry and let some of this stuff go.

Were you always overweight?

No, when I was young, I was not overweight, but I thought I was. I think that was part of the reason I became overweight, I always thought "Well, I'm fat anyway, no use in counting calories..." I'm 5'3 and when I graduated high school, I was 180 lbs. Then I went to college, became depressed, ate nothing but fast food, possibly 3000 calories a day and went to 220 lbs.

Did you "let yourself go"?

Certainly did. I think it was basically between having always thought I was fat and then becoming depressed and losing my sense of self-worth. Now when my depression comes back, I know to limit my intake of sweets and carbs so I only go 200-300 calories over my goal instead of going over by thousands.

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?

Mine was essentially eating way too much fast food. I still eat fast food today, but I don't eat nearly as much of it.

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!