What is the root of your weight issue?

during my teenager years my dad being diagnosed with brain cancer my once free time miss athelete was spent taking care of her dad many hospital trips, fast food on the go, adjusting the year later being a fatherless teenager and moving to a town I hated and never wanted to come back to so I used food to express my anger. before I knew it my 125 pound frame shot me up to 250 pounds.

I am now 176 pounds and 36 away from my goal weight.

.... Is "I ate too much" an option? Seems too obvious :laugh:

I like to eat

Okay, actually funny you ask b/c I was thinking about this again last night while soaking in the tub. My sisters and I were talking and we think it has to do with our dad lost his job and after that we were barely making it (with 5 kids...). We didn't always have food to eat and would get sent to be early if there was nothing to eat.

We were probably the only kids at school who ate every drop of what was served in the cafeteria, because sometimes that was our only meal of the day....it didn't matter what it was, we ate it all.

As adults we we all struggle with weight and my parents struggle with weight problems now too. The only thing we can figure is...now we can have all the food we want...so we don't restrict. It's a very hard lesson to learn that it doesn't have to be feast of famine, there is a balance in between.

KIDS! lol, but serisously- I was a scrawny little thing and could eat whatever I wanted before I had my kids. I didn't realize how much my metabolism changed and continued my eating habits and the pounds started packing on. I've been on the deposhot and think that has made it worse. And I've not been working for the past few months and it makes it worse. I sit at home and just eat out of boredom sometimes. I've actually gained 10 lbs just by sitting at home in 2 months!

I already posted what I thought was my problem but after I read yours (HypersonicFit), I think that could be part of mine too. There was hardly enough food to go around- but when there was or I was at school, I'd pig out and people always thought it was wierd that I didn't gain weight. But I didn't get to eat like that at home. Now I can buy and eat whatever I want and I guess I spoil myself- and I'm definitly gaining it now.

I came from a very non-obese family and was always a little overweight as a child so I felt like I stood out from the rest, in a bad way. I was bullied for it at school too and when I came home was allowed to havea couple of cookies while I poured my heart out to my mom. It's not her fault but I eventually found comfort in my food when I felt overwhelmed by anything. I'm just realizing this at 50.

Now that I've realized it, I'm learing to redirect my reaction to stress. I bought an electronic keyboard and am going to start piano lessons. I love music and always had an aptitude for it in school. Music soothes me so I think it will be a healthy alternative to food when I'm stressed.

Lack of self control and an overestimation of how much movement and work I actually do.

That has always been the case and I have used every excuse in the book. My personal favorite was that my sister ate more/worse food than I did and moved less and was still a twig while I have always been very big. I am pretty sure I hit 200lbs before 8th grade. I realize now that maybe I wasn't honest with myself and I needed to quit worrying about what she does.

Feeling hopeless.

My mother had a terrible relationship with food and body image and she passed it on to me. (She still does whatever she can to be skinny without exercising or putting forth any effort.) There was no voice of reason in the house because I was alone most of the time. I went on my first diet at age 9 (thanks, mother). Except for that one year of being chubby, I was a skinny kid growing up and through high school but always thought I was fat. It was always feast or famine in my house, and there were so many restrictions and vacations from those restrictions, I was permanently confused. When I was finally on my own, I didn't know WTF to do, then I got on a bunch of medications and started to turn into the fat me I always thought I was.

Low self-esteem since childhood, ED in adolescence, gained weight rapidly because of medication at 17 (one of the top ones know for weight gain, thanks doc), never lost it, more low self-esteem, I didn't like myself, married a jerkface, gained even more weight, 4 years later realized I'm actually kind of cool, got divorced from said jerkface, started losing weight & getting fit... then hit a plateau at 205 and gave up for a reaaaally long time...

Fast forward to now, got back on MFP and started working out and actually taking care of myself rather than trying to eat like 800 calories like a dummy. Losing weight slowly... there's really no root anymore. I like myself, but this stuff is hard and takes time.

Like some of the others, for me the root of my weight issue has been due to a lack of time - or rather, time management skills - to live a healthy lifestyle. Since I was 16 years old I have been working two jobs and going to school full-time. At one point, I was working 60-80 hours a week, while having 18 hours of college courses (not including homework/study time). (And to boot, all of my jobs have been in food service, so you can imagine all of the garbage I have been eating the past few years! Yuck! Though, I did give up McDonald's - and most fast food places - years ago, and will only go very, very rarely on occasions where I may not have another option.) Currently, I work two jobs for about 20-30 hours a week, 13 hours of college courses, and I take part in several honors/service fraternity organizations doing service work, etcetera. Even with this free time, I have not dedicated time to eat a balanced diet. I eat maybe once or twice a day, and it's always late in the evening, and there has been no method to how I eat - despite having gastrointestinal problems. Time has been my enemy. Or laziness, depending on one's perspective. I'm also a foodie - I LOVE food, most kinds, and will try anything once... but I would not say this has been a major issue for me, at least not in comparison to the time aspect and lack of motivation to exercise (which can be attributed to my depression most likely). I have lots of issues, I suppose, but in reality they are all excuses. I should not have let my life and body get into the shape that I did, but it happened; now it's time for a change!

Not trying to blame my parents, but when you are around 6 to 9 years old or younger, you can't really decide what you eat (except to leave it on the plate). My parents didn't eat extremely healthy, probably because they didn't know how, or didn't care. I had joined softball and kept my weight at a steady place, eating whatever I wanted, though I didn't feel very skinny. After I quit I did attempt to eat a bit healthier. Make myself a sandwich, not consume sugary things as much, but it ultimately failed because I still ate the unhealthy dinners, and a good serving of it. Now that I am on my own and cooking myself I hope to make lots of progress. Especially since I now have so much time to exercise and look uo healthy foods.


Basically, habits were because my parents, why I am still like this now is my own fault.

I love food....plain and simple. I come from a family of good cooks (both parents were chefs) and I can cook pretty darn good myself. I also have struggled with hypothyroidism for 20 years, i don't think I even have a metabolism.

Reading through the other comments, most of mine are covered.

Love Food
Poor self esteem
Active as a youth, but once I started driving.... hello 20 lbs
Stopped smoking, hello another 20
Horrible marriage, divorce, another horrible marriage, hello beer and another 20 lbs

My entire family are big eaters. As a child, I had to clean my plate (still do).
Realized recently, as a child, the main times I felt accepted were when I ate lots (as much as my father) "She's such a good eater"

I also eat to feel in control. When my life gets crazy, it feels like the only thing I can control. Everything can be taken away from me; sanity, loved ones, money, happiness, but I can eat whatever I want and no one can stop me.
I'm getting better about the last one, but it is a hard struggle to change that mode of thinking.

I eat for any and all occasions. Celebrating a birthday, holiday, any day...food! Mingling with friends...food!!! Upset, angry, depressed, happy, bored...food, food, food... I never need a reason to eat, and I rarely find a reason not to eat. I like being in control in my life from relationships to education to career, but food is the one thing I cannot seem to control. And boy is it aggravating!

I, too, have PCOS, which makes things much worse, but I don't blame my weight on having that. In fact, I know that if I lost a lot of weight, the symptoms would melt away. Of course, staying away from carbs (a big help in PCOS sufferers who want to manage it) is like asking me not to breathe. Oh, the carbs!

I have obesity in my family, too, but unlike most of my family, I have been overweight since I was around 7 or 8 while they only grew larger after puberty. I am now officially considered morbidly obese, and I think my history of being overweight has attributed to that. All in all, the root to my weight is just me. And I hope to be the solution to it, too.