Why did you let yourself go?...

Complacency and denial.

^^^^
that in a nut shell

I moved out of my parents house for the first time in 30 years. I moved in with my boyfriend and his roommate to a city i have never lived in . So moving in one week, getting used to a different routine, eating the boyfriends cooking (bacon fat to cook eggs) . Also around the time of the move it was the holidays so of course there was the company food and the gift of food the clients like to bring. Not exercising . So it was a perfect storm and stress lots of stress.

Because our society allows mothers to use pregnancy and having children as a valid excuse to get fat and stay that way. Pure and simple. I used my children as an excuse to not work out.

really? I feel the opposite I think society puts an unrealistic and expectation on mothers to lose their baby weight. Victoria Beckham, Gwen Stefani, Heidi Klum, etc. I was pregnant while Britney Spears was.....I was in a race to lose that baby weight!!

to the original question.....I never really felt like I let myself go, just have to try harder to stay toned as I get older....

Exactly! Honestly I do think saying anyone pregnant is getting fat is wrong. Honestly, I know people who have gotten pregnant and were so worried about "getting fat" that they starved themselves BUT still got extremely large. It happens.

Anyway back to the question. I never "let myself go" persay. I never was a girly girl or anything. Never really was overweight untill I got pregnant with my first and just kept eating like I had been (teenager diet ha) and gained a ton of weight. I had her and my world just revolved around this little baby. Appearance was never important to me and since I was still pretty healthy, I didn't care. My world was her. Then 2 years later I had another baby which I actually lost a bunch of weight while pregnant but again had him and was so focused on two children under three that I ended up gaining some weight and keeping it. Throw on a year later my husband losing his job and struggling untill we lost everything and had to move in with my mother in law. The dynamics at that house put me into a depression which wasn't the cause of the poor eating but eating out because of other factors. Gained quite a bit but then 9 months later moved and soon lost 50 lbs felt great but decided another baby would be a great idea. I really did try to not gain but pregnancy is unpredictable and I gained back that 50 lbs and kept it on now 18 months after he was born. Of course my home life is crazier with two children, homeschooling and all that stuff so yes I am put on the back burner for now. My children are more important then I am and I refuse to take time away from them leaving at the daycare at the gym. Not to mention my third child has proven to be quite the difficult child.

I was unhappy and ate to fill a void in my heart. I poured my time into a career and outside activities and did not care enough about my self to schedule "me" time to exercise and eat right. I had been taught that "real women" did not do that....they gave their time to others and that I was not important enough to do that. I still struggle with these issues but know that I need to give myself the gift of time in order to take care of myself and my kids. It is still a struggle.

Because when you're dating a guy who has no interest in pursuing anything (including you!) but peak levels on MMOs all day AND night, it's pretty f@$#ing easy to drown yourself in more poor choices. -____- Every attempt I made to regain control crashed and burned because he was too lazy to even feign support, let alone try it with me.

So, new, fit boyfriend. New, healthy choices. New, rockin' life.

Depression and losing sight of myself.

This is the biggest thing for me.

But there were little things along the way. Going from a fairly active lifestyle (at least on my feet most of the day) to a cushy desk job. Going from a single woman living alone who was content to have cereal for dinner, to a married woman who ate regular meals. But mostly... depression and not giving a damn. Staying thin was no longer a priority. When depression hits, NOTHING is a priority.

There's no deep, meaningful or emotional reason why I gained weight. It was simply because when I finished my GCSEs at age 16 my lifestyle changed a lot - I wasn't doing P.E/Gym lessons any more and I wasn't walking to school and back every day. Yet, I continued to eat the same. My calories in started to exceed my calories out.

From what I understand about myself at the age of 46 ...I let myself go --- willingly. And I have no excuses. No children, no childhood traumas ....I grew up in a typical Italian household...Was very active...youngest of five. Went to college -- played sports my whole life -- softball - volleyball -- swimming --gym memberships. Was always tall 5'10..... even when I was 13 yrs old. Carried my weight well being athletic. Worked...bought a home by myself . Maintained it myself. Retired early (age 35 on disability) and moved to Fla.
That is when it went down hill..... I had no boundaries any longer. I did what I wanted, when I wanted. I had no financial restrictions. I wasn't accountable to anyone......took up some recreational habits (drinking...pot) that hurt my waist line. Gave them up after 7-8 yrs. Here I am ....100 lbs overweight and wondering why ?? Because I can't control myself. Can't control my portions. I need rules....guidelines...to be made accountable. My husband doesn't critique me, but when he does slip, it's in a real nasty way that makes me snap back at him. A vicious cycle no doubt. I am a highly educated person, with a deep understanding of nutrition. Sometimes I feel down-right over educated when it comes to food/diet/nutrition. I know fad diets are silly. That didn't stop me from trying HCG a few years back. And I lost 50 lbs on it....felt great....but what a blow to my social life. So that went out the window.
I know what I am supposed to do. I'm just not doing it. I have the beginnings of those aches and pains in my knees, my hips.
I play tennis at a 4.0 level and it is hard on the body.....I am at a crossroad .....want to continue my fabulous life.... I LOVE my life...but I must lose weight before my health declines so badly that I lose everything.
I am well aware that this should be my priority in my life....making myself do it is the hard part. It's almost like I am pushing myself to break.... Comments/thoughts appreciated as always...good or bad....I've said it all to myself already.

I had four babies in five years...before I even got off the pregnancy weight, I was pregnant again . I have PCOS with insulin resistance and hypothyroidism, which made it difficult to lose ANY weight after having a baby, on top of the close pregnancies. Throw in severe PPD and boredom eating from being very isolated and having no one but toddlers to talk to all day. Not making excuses. It's just the "why." I didn't actually keep gaining. I maintained weight about 20 pounds heavier than what I should have been. After the PPD fog lifted, I was able to be more disciplined, with the help of MFP, about what and how much I was eating. I now actually weigh less than I did before I got pregnant the first time. I still do sometimes have problems with eating out of boredom (I always have plenty to do, but I think it's mental boredom/loneliness), but I started crocheting and sewing to keep my hands busy in the evenings when the kids are in bed and I'm tempted to give in to munching.

Pure laziness. I've always been thin, so it was never really "letting myself go." But being a naturally small person (on the short side too), I know I am risk for osteoporis, which kind of scares me. For me to be healthy I need to work on building muscles. I'm a nurse so I particularly need to watch my back. I already have joint and back problems, and some muscles would help me. I go back and forth on working to improve this, but then I get super lazy. But I'm back on track. Also I was with my parents the summer after uni and they severely lack the fruits and vegetable I love, so I gained a bit out bored eating junk food.

For me MFP is a good place because it helps me balance out eating with exercise. The more active I am, the less hungry I get and I know I often don't eat enough.

Undiagnosed medical

Depression and losing sight of myself.

... depression and not giving a damn. Staying thin was no longer a priority. When depression hits, NOTHING is a priority.

True story. And it's so hard to force myself into exercising when some days I don't even care about if I'll wake up next day. :frown:

I grew up in a house with relatively thin family members. We ate junk food, and I ate more than they did. I didn't have the tools as a child to know what and how to eat. I knew I wanted to lose weight (it was an issue as long as I can remember), but until I grew up, moved away and started cooking for myself, I really just felt overwhelmed and lost. My main motivation now is to provide my children with the right tools and information to live healthy lifestyles. They may choose not to at some point, but they'll never have the problem of not knowing HOW to.

I hated myself, I was around people that constantly put me down my entire life. I was told I couldn't do things due to having asthma and then after gaining a lot of weight due to a heavy steroid dosage over a summer (weekly checkups on my kidney's and all that fun stuff) I was bullied due to being fat.

That's the short version, wrote the entire story and it just seems too much like pity me and I don't want to come off that way. It's my fault I was the one in control and I allowed others to put me down and make me feel like I wasn't in control. Now it's just me I walked away from everyone that hurt me and put me down. It's something I should had done when I was 18.

Now I'm happier than ever but got a few lbs to drop to feel better physically about myself.

I just had other priorities and it seemed like such a mysterious endeavor. I have probably owned a bookshelf full of diet books in my lifetime, all with very different messages.