Curious - what made you overweight in the first place?

I thought about that the other day. I never had a weight problem until I got pregnant with my son at the age of 29. Before that, food was not how I got pleasure. My mind was full of the weekend plans, trips, guys, going out, work, travel, etc.

Food just was not on my radar. Sure I liked it, but once I had my son, my life as I knew it changed. I no longer had all that excitement going on. Was time to settle down. And then bacon started smelling realllllll good. I became a French fryaholic.

Just what happened for me. Once I settled down, I started deriving quite a bit of pleasure from food. Became my reward, thing to look forward to, carb high, etc. And the problem with dieting is that I sometimes feel like there's nothing in its place. Takes work to get interested in something else when you're almost 50. Who wants to go clubbing anymore?

Been married 20 years. I love my husband. But I'm afraid I got sidetracked!

Sat on my *kitten* and did nothing but eat for ~a year...gained nearly 100#

I think for me it was mostly eating food with no real nutritional value and in excess...not appreciating veggies/fruits and how wonderful they truly are. Also, I was never really encouraged to be active as a child, I guess. No extracurricular activities whatsoever. I think that a lot of it was ignorance by my parents part and my own as well. As an adult I take responsibility for allowing myself to get this way.

As a kid, I had an unhealthy eating lifestyle but got a good bit of exercise. So, healthy eating was never really something that I was taught but my activity level and enjoyable activities cancelled that out. As an adult, I went through phases of extreme poverty (eating only ramen noodles and bologna for months - which made me physically ill in addition to gaining weight), and had a time in my life where restaurants were prominent as well as extravagant eating. I don't think that I have ever known what appropriate portion sizes were, and I still struggle to adhere to them now even though I know better. I have had sedentary jobs since my late teens, and have been in college my entire twenties to now. It left little time and energy for me to focus on myself and I actually stopped really seeing myself, if that makes any sense. I was in a horrible relationship that broke my self-esteem and I just stopped caring for myself. Fast forward to now, I have a son and am in nursing school. My fall back options are unhealthy ones, and I struggle to limit my portions and eat healthily. What I have come to realize is that no matter when I decide to care for myself, there will always be set backs, hurdles, and hard decisions. I have promised to myself that no matter how many times I fall behind, don't lose, or over eat that I will never give up on myself again. I will continue to strive for progress even when none is being made. The key to maintaining a healthier life (sustainably) for me so far has been to eat healthier things that I ENJOY and exercise that doesn't cause me pain (i.e. riding my stationary bike or even doing some heavy cleaning). My goal is to eat less and move more, and even if you "fall off the wagon" for a day, a week, or more to get right back on and try harder this time.
So, in a nutshell "Never give up!" as Dora the Explorer would say lol.

wayyyyyy too much alcohol when I was younger. Got a beer belly in my twenties and never did anything about it until now.

The first time-not caring. I dropped 60 pounds a few years ago and kept it off till this year. This time it was an injury that made me unable to work or workout at all. So I sat on the couch on painkillers getting fat for 6 months. It's coming off though-I didn't gain it all back-about 35 pounds of it

I was a chubby baby, chubby child, chubby preteen, chubby teen, and now chubby adult. My lack of activity through out the years along with my not so healthy eating habits did help that, but i'm working on it.

I know some people think genetics play a big role in your body type. I feel that it's not as big an influence as you think. I was adopted so was not raised by my bio parents. My bio mom is a body builder and has always been fit, so what happened to me? My (adoptive) family likes to eat. So as a kid I learned to eat and took it to new heights.
I have lost lots of weight in the past and fell off the wagon due to stress that was beyond my control. I know my body and if I don't work out every day I will not be able to maintain my weight due to my thyroid.

Eating too much of the bad foods and not enough of the good foods like fruits and vegetables. I still struggle with that. I am active yet PCOS makes weight loss frustrating at times.