Why did you let yourself go?...

I've always struggled with weight, generally been fit and healthy but carrying too much fat as well.
It's always been very easy to gain and very hard to lose.

For me the catalyst for large weight gain was getting knocked off my motorbike when I was 31 and having my knee wrecked. Three months off work on crutches and severe muscle wastage plus eating as I was bored saw my weight shoot up.
Looking back I realise it also caused issues with my self-image, instead of feeling sporty, fast and fit I felt I had suddenly aged - as my surgeon said at the time "you're disabled, get used to it". (Thanks Doctor - you're sacked!!)
Although I liked the black humour of being called Robocop when I played sports in a shin to thigh brace it still reinforced I wasn't the person I wanted to be.

It took until my fifties to finally admit to myself that although my injury was caused by someone else it was me, and only me, that simply ate too much.

Getting to my goal weight and getting fit has restored my confidence and maybe it helps that I can now compare myself to my peer group and think I'm in better shape than most.

I never let myself go.

Because I'd never found myself in the first place.


I just followed the roles that other people prescribed for me - useless, underweight, malnourished, clumsy, ugly, fat child to an insane and obese mother, who resented spending money on food that her last unwanted child liked, so bought rubbish. Fizzy drinks were cheaper than milk, which I was forbidden to waste by drinking, for example. Went from underweight to overweight once she realised social services were sniffing around wanting to know why I was so thin. Lost loads of weight when about 15, went to about 110lb.

After that, trying to keep partners happy. Partners with screwed up attitudes towards food and women. Period of very little money, which led to eating anything and everything for fear of not having anything for the rest of the week. Money situation eased up, Discovered exercise, loved it, but became ill just as I had got used to eating a lot more. At the time, I was still heavily influenced about what I 'should' be eating, rather than what I wanted to eat.


Now I know who I am. For the first time. I know what I like eating, I know what I like doing. And I know that the outside will eventually represent who I am under my skin.

My doctor put me on pills that made me gain weight, im sure about a quarter of the weight gain was from me just becoming so overwhelmed with the side effects of the pill that i just figured what the heck, its all downhill from here anyways.

I was a really sporty kid & teen, but then laziness crept in. By the time I went to Uni, I was eating rubbish but still walking everywhere and doing lots of physical activity so I didn't gain. In the Summer before my final year I met my ex. I was slim, fit, and had just been travelling around Europe. He was very overweight but I liked him for his personality too so it didn't bother me. When I graduated and came home, I spent more time with my boyfriend and his habits rubbed off on me. This is not all his fault, I could have chosen not to have a pizza every Saturday, but it's hard when someone else is eating that stuff in front of you and you want it.

Fast forward about 4 years, our relationship is going down the pan for various reasons, and I get in a really down state. I was always in denial of the weight creeping on, and occasionally moaned about it but had no motivation to change because of the rut I was in. The OMG moment was when I saw a photo of myself on facebook that someone had tagged me in. I thought I looked terrible. Not just because of my weight, but also because I looked empty behind my smile. I started losing weight steadily there and then, but my relationship ended and I fell off the wagon for a bit.

My Mum had always told me my body was fine when I got upset about it, but only today, after losing 18 lbs and her complimenting me on how trim I look, she finally admitted that she noticed the weight creep on. (Mercifully she never commented on it as telling me I was getting fat would have knocked me back more to be honest.)

I am single, free and happy, and pleased to say I'm back on the weight loss journey with more enthusiasm than ever. I became mostly veggie in Feb, and taking my first Muay Thai lesson on Monday! :happy:

That was a bit more epic than I intended, but feels kind of cathartic to write it down!

Depression + middle age.

I felt like I was going to be fat forever so I just let myself go. I was never even skinny as a child so I though that thats the way that im gonna stay. But know I know that I dont have to be fat forever. I can change that. And I am

I never saw a doctor, but I think I might have been a little depressed. I lost interest in a lot of things, and I had no real direction. I was always a little heavy, and it got worse when I moved out and didn't have a health-conscious mom to keep an eye on my diet.

One day, I stepped on the scale and faced how far gone I was. 220 pounds, not active at all, gorging myself on processed garbage. I turned it all around when I realized I wanted to feel good again. I'm not exactly where I want to be, but I feel great.

I think the main reason I let myself go is laziness and stress.

Also, I began yoga on a weekly basis last fall and loved it. However, the tendinitis in my wrist/thumb/elbow was so intense that I just had to stop. And since then I am scared to do any exercise that involves my hands.

Also, I had zero motivation for the past few years. I was just focusing on getting my degree. Now that is done and I am getting married and being a bridesmaid all by November! So I need to get myself motivated and excited about losing weight.

Gained alot of weight during pregnancy (eating way too much), and while I have yo-yo'd since then, I have never been happy with my body since. I absolutely hate what my body has become.

As a kid I was a tiny bit chubby. Higher end of normal weight I would guess, looking at children pictures. My mum would not owrry about that, she always liked people being a bit round, as she calls it (she herself has never been even close to overweight, allways on the thin side).

I was an unhappy child, as there was a lot of family drama, divorce, bullying at school etc. going on at that time. This did not lead to emotional eating, but it lead me to my main hobby, reading. I would read books, immerse myself in other worlds for hours. Every adult approves of kids reading a lot, but it is not a physically active hobby.

My first big weight gain happend just with the start of puberty. I can look at pictures that have been shot at the beginning and end of a 6month period and I can see how I basically balooned. I don't know why, maybe, being a bit older I played less outside than even before, maybe hormones. But I wonder why no adult intervened. I was in a boarding school at this time, there where in my group for teachers responsible for 12 kids...

I had low body awareness, I would not realy feel my body. To me it was just the machine that needed to somehow function for my brain to go on going. I was the nerd, the know-it-all in my class and I embraced it. At this new school I was not bulied for it, but only slightly teased, sometimes even admired. I really started to not give a damn for my body as long as I could stay "the clever one".
I shaped myself into "that clever, practical girl you can come to with your problems, both accademically and emotionally. - The good friend who won't intervere in your romances."

I started to only really feel my body when I was swimming, hungry or extremely full (something which to me felt pretty good). I still read a lot. My body was just a machine, walking my brain around.

I stayed overweight, but not obese.

Then depression hit and the two things I stil could find some sort of pleasure in where my books and comfort food. Not always, not even thatoften, but more than in a lot of things. I had to stop studiyng, as I could not concentrate well, I lived away from my friends and my family who anyway each had their own ive. Allthat had validated me was destroyed. How could I be "the smart one" if I had tanked uni? How "the good advice giver" if there was nobody to give advice to and anyway I did not even manage to listen to my own advice? How was I "practical" if I did not even manage to pay my bills in time? I was a mess, depressed, low self esteem, you name it.

I went from overweight to obese.

I fought the depression and won, I met somebody who loves me unconditionally, I am working on my self esteem. I lost 30 kilos before joining MFP but stalled for a year and never gott the remainder of (well, at least I kicked "obese" in the butt). Heck, I even might go back to uni soon.

Live is good.

Depression and losing sight of myself.

^This

I didn't even notice I was gaining all the weight until I needed new pants...mine was medication induced. Needless to say, exercise is the best RX I could have ever asked for. It's not only put a huge dent in my depression, but counting cals gives me a way to focus my OCD and anxiety

My mother died in my livingroom. I ate my way through my grief. Within a year I had gained 75 pounds.

Oh my goodness I'm so sorry I hope you were able to get some grief counseling that is very tramatic. I wish you the best through your weight loss journey and healing process. My heart goes out to you.

Sounds like a lot of people were depressed or had something happen to them. With me, my mom is just an amazing cook!