Have you always been overweight?

I don't think it's fair to minimize the effort of someone's weight loss simply because they were once not overweight.

I don't think it's minimizing weight loss if the person were once thin. For those of us who were always fat, we have no idea what it's like to be fit once. It's a scary process because we are going into the unknown. It's what we want but at the same time it's something we've never been.

Since I've been on MFP and reading all the comments I do, people who have always been fat have a different mentality than used to be thin people and the process may come with a lot of happiness but at the same time it may come with a bit of bitter as well.

I've also done a lot of research on it in the past because I was trying to find support groups for me so that I wouldn't let any bitterness stop me from becoming a healthy person.

I agree! I've always been 20-30 pounds heavier than my peers, overweight but not obese. And a part of me wants to be really fit and all for aesthetics reasons! Which is awesome and all right? But I think deep down (or not that deep) I'll probably carry a bitterness that guys have barely any interest in me right now, which is probably a combination of my introvertness/chubbiness. 23 and forever alone =\ it's been kind of hard to be the handmaiden to so many other girls and be the "nice fat girl" or 'bro' to all my guy friends that I'm pretty sure that another major core reason for wanting to lose weight is my bitterness. And my secret desire to be the hottest sexiest virgin in her 20s rocking a bikini on the beach

I don't think it's fair to minimize the effort of someone's weight loss simply because they were once not overweight.

I don't think it's minimizing weight loss if the person were once thin. For those of us who were always fat, we have no idea what it's like to be fit once. It's a scary process because we are going into the unknown. It's what we want but at the same time it's something we've never been.

Since I've been on MFP and reading all the comments I do, people who have always been fat have a different mentality than used to be thin people and the process may come with a lot of happiness but at the same time it may come with a bit of bitter as well.

I've also done a lot of research on it in the past because I was trying to find support groups for me so that I wouldn't let any bitterness stop me from becoming a healthy person.

I understand what you're saying. What I said was more in response to the statement that those who have not always been overweight have an easier time losing weight.

No one has it easier. Losing weight is hard, perhaps the hardest thing we can undertake in our lives. Having been overweight our whole lives or not, each day we now must wake up and make choices that affect our bodies and our minds. They aren't easier choices on one set of people over the other.

I don't know what it's like for you. I can't pretend to know. I can tell you about the self-loathing and disgust I had for myself. Did you have that? I'd guess yes. I can tell you about the futility I felt every time I placed another unhealthy mouthful of food in my body, that little voice that would tell me to just go ahead and eat it, because the problem is so monumental, I'll never be able to do anything about it. You too? Mmmm hmmmm.

But I can also tell you about something you might not be able to relate to. You see, as I gained over 100 lbs in 8 years, I put no weight on in my mind. The picture of me in my head was thin. So imagine my dismay, my shame, my *horror*, every time I passed a mirror and saw the truth of what I was.

Does any of this make me better than you? No way. Does it mean my losses have been easier? Not a chance. And that's why I had to say that it's not fair to state that I have had a less challenging time with the 81 lbs I've lost as compared to anyone else's 81 lbs. If we separate ourselves into groups like that and effectively negate the effort of the other group, we stand a great chance of missing out on some really valuable insight and experience.

And that would be a shame.

When i was young i was in my country water polo national team so very athletic. Then i had an accident which didnt allow me to continue but sadly my appetite wasnt damaged at all so i quickly gained weight. After that i kept it and slowly gained more due to abuses that now belong to the past!

i was skinny until i learned about beer and stopped playing sports. I was 155lbs and 5'11" in HS. Graduated college at 220lb.

I have always been fat except for one point in my life in my early teens when I did things I was not supposed to be doing. I was still barely in the overweight BMI category even so. Being "skinny" seems both exhilarating and scary, I'm not sure what I will do once I reach my goal weight. Even at my current weight (lowest ever as an adult although that is a relatively short period of time) I'm not really sure what to do with myself.

Interested to see the responses because, as I said, I am really not sure how I will feel once I'm not overweight anymore.

I've always been "bigger". Ever since my father passed away in 1990, I used food as a comfort mechanism.

In 5th grade, I remember hitting 100 lbs and my mother freaking out. In middle school, I'd say I was a normal to slightly higher weight than my classmates. Though, if you would have asked me then, I would have told you I was a cow! I remember being a size 8 and 150 lbs in the 8th grade and being so sad that I couldn't share clothes with my friends (who were all size 2).

I steadily gained weight throughout high school, weighing 185 lbs at graduation. Freshman year of college, I gained the freshman 15 times two! I moved home for the summer and did Weight Watchers and lost all but 5 lbs of the weight I'd gained that year. I maintained at 185-190 for the next two years of college, went through a TERRIBLE breakup which turned into depression. I gained over 50 pounds in a year. This weight would follow me for the next 5 years. Yo-yoing up and down for several years before finally deciding I needed to change.

At my heaviest, I weighed in at 273 lbs. That was April 14, 2011. I hadn't weighed myself for almost 3 years. It was a shocking number, but I am happy to say, I will NEVER see that number again. I am 115 pounds lighter, as of today, and still going!

Only since I was born :huh: :huh: :huh: :huh:

College really started my downward spiral. I was probably 150 - 160 when I started (5'8") and I thought I was all right. Even to this day, I remember seeing a pad of notepaper in the bookstore that had a picture of a pig looking scared standing on a scale and the scale read 150. I remember thinking how can 150 be fat? That's less than me! And I know I can't blame it all on the paper. My parents fed us well, made us eat right and I really never had any issues before going away to college and never thought about myself as fat, skinny or whatever before that. So being in college (and drinking!) and being in charge of what I could eat for once, I put on probably 40 - 50 pounds in those years. Weight just kept going on. I would go on some restrictive diet and lose 30 - 40 pounds, only to have it all come back. I reached my highest of 260 about 2 years ago. And I really have nothing to blame, but myself and the fact that I just really like the taste of stuff that is pretty high in calories.

So now I am on MFP. I tried this with a new attitude of "everything in moderation." I make what I can a little healthier (e.g. a turkey burger instead of a regular burger), but if I really want something, I have it. I have found that if there is something I can't have, I will only want it more. I've lost 65 pounds so far (although been stuck at minus 65 for about 8 months now), but this is the lowest weight I have been in more than 20 years. I don't care if it takes 2 more years to get off the last 25 to my goal. I just wish I had discovered this secret and how easy it really can be a long time ago.

So in my adult life, this is the first time I have been close to being where I should be.

Me, though I haven't reached my goal weight yet. I've been here for 2.5 years and need to lose another 20ish lbs. I was never a fat child, but was a bit "chubby". But once I hit puberty, around age 13 to 14, my PCOS kicked in and I started gaining weight. I was obese before I graduated high school.

I haven't been overweight my entire life, but I've always had bad eating habits.

I've kept my weight down over the years through fad diets and extreme eating programs. Once I entered my 40s, that no longer worked. So, now I eat a nutrient dense diet and I'm losing weight and feeling much better.

Like a lot of people here, it started in college It's been yo-yoing since.

Ive always been overweight. I was wearing a size 10 in the 5th grade. This has become the norm for me. Sometimes I just think this is suppose to be my size.

Always been overweight like i've said before. Born fat, grew fat, grew fatter xD I've never exploded suddenly with weight, it kind of has always been there and as i grew up so it did with me. I'd say it's mostly due to health issues and not really watching what i eat. My whole family is big xD

I think one thing this thread shows is that just because you might be thin when you're young doesn't mean you'll stay that way.....

I've always been overweight. Not hugely, just "plump", probably near upper end of normal. My family was pretty good about healthy eating, but I was never into any sports, and yeah, genetics. Started to really put it on after 30, culminating in 180 lbs (after pregnancies, surgeries and other stuff.)

Decided to do get my act together, lost 50 lbs over 2 years. Maintained at 130 (which is less than I've been even in college, aside from short bursts) for another 4 or 5 years. Then it started creeping up again, and before I knew it I was up to 166 a few months ago. Now working on it again - but I know I can maintain. Just need a bit of effort.


Edited for trying to make sense.