Why did you gain weight in the first place?

Well, the bottom line was post traumatic stress, and depression. I've been through a lot! Still going through a lot! Just learning to take better care of myself in the process. That's really all any of us can do for ourselves.

I don't usually overeat in a big way, unless it's a special dinner out or Thanksgiving or something. I just eat more calorie-dense foods too often for the amount of exercise I was doing. It was fairly subtle, but it adds up to 30 lbs over time. This is my second time dropping the same 30.

Cheese is a good example. I like cheese very much. You can't eat very much full-fat cheese at all, imho, with a metabolism like mine (not that mine's bad; probably average). It's just not a great food to enjoy if you also want a small dessert, lol. It's not so much a trigger for me, but the 'over' calories certainly add up well enough to gain some weight!

So cheese, desserts (not even huge ones at all), avocados, nuts, and the occasional lasagne dinner. Oh, and wine! 2 glasses here and there, but still. It's just too many calories all together every week for me with the workouts I do (did). I have to pick and choose a bit and make sure to workout. Then I'm cool, if I keep at it

For me it's because I think I'm a hedonist when it comes to food! I look forward to food events, I look forward to particular meals. If doughnuts/bagels are brought to work, my heart just soars with "yayayayayay". I just find certain foods "exciting" and I want to eat them whether I'm hungry or not or even after I'm full. I don't want to be told what not to eat or how much of it, so I would eat what I want, and while that might have worked when I was in my 20s, it definitely does not work now at the age of 43! I had thought it might be loneliness before and that I was overcompensating for some major changing in my life by comforting myself with food, but I am just as bad when I'm around friends/relatives. I just love good-tasting food. For example, I have SUCH a thing for ordering Asian food (especially very spicy Thai noodles), pouring myself a big glass of wine and hanging out at home watching a movie. This could be me alone or with friends.

SO I know that I've gained weight in the last two years, especially from those kinds of habits. Ordering in food too often, indulging at special events too much, too many exciting cookies (that are only there once a year) during the holidays, etc.

Takeout and drinking (and then the subsequent pizza/falafel at 3am after drinking.....) Especially Chinese takeout- serious weakness right there! I would get it on the way home from school way too often just because I was feeling crappy and wanted to cheer myself up with food and TV. Sometimes I would get 2 spring rolls, dumplings and an entree all at once! I could never finish the whole entree but even 1/2 plus the appetizers is SO many calories! aaah! no wonder I gained weight this summer

My boyfriend orders lots of takeout, and it's just so easy to let him get something for me too... but now I say 'no' every time and I cook my easy meals every night. It's gotten easier, although I miss ordering fun meals every night. That's what makes it so easy to fall back into old habits!

I ate to many calories and did to little exercise.

Thats about the gist of it!

My main issue is that I can be an emotional eater. I have a mentally ill teenager, and 6 years ago I had a non-verbal 18 month old in a body cast for 5 weeks due to a freak accident. I was depressed and didn't know it, and self medicated with hershey's and godiva. I also like anything carby--cookies, cakes, pasta, bagels--and I love to bake. Over the next few years, I packed on almost 45 lbs.

about 2 years ago I joined a gym and was determined to get back in shape. Almost 9 months ago I finally hired a trainer. He taught me to take my emotions to the gym instead of the kitchen. When things have me upset, I get on the treadmill and run like my life depends on it...or I borrow boxing gloves and beat the heck out of the heavy bag.

Too Many servings! HAHA when I was a little girl I would have at least 2 servings every meal... ugh fatty... so ive never been skinny or healthy. then when i started my job, i was drinking A LOT and it didnt help the seriously this place is like willy wonkas factory... people are ALWAYSSSSS bringing in some kind of food. from cheese and crackers to cakes and cookies.... I gained 60 pounds working here.

also, shortly after i started working here, I got a bout of depression, so I am sure that attested to the gain (and the alcohol)

now, looking in the mirror I am not proud of what I see anymore. Before I had decent self esteem and I thought that I was fine because I had no problems getting dates and blah blah.. but now I realize I am not healthy. and its not ok to eat a whole bag of chips in one sitting, or a bag of cheese sticks in a day. Thats not good. so NOW i am changing my life and NOW I am improving the person staring back at me in the mirror.

Pregnancy! A 70 pound gain! About 20 more pounds and I'm back at my pre-pregnancy weight.

It's all DH's fault because he's a good cook. ;-)

In 2003 we married, moved for my job, and he retired (he was 65). So he took over the cooking. He makes lots of good, down-home stuff and although it's basically healthy, I wasn't good at exercising portion control.

Finally got it off with 5:2 fasting and moving my workouts from 45 to 55 minutes a day during the week, longer on the weekends, and getting a HRM to make sure I was working hard enough.

I was always almost underweight, spent most of my adult life at 5'6, 110 pounds, so I developed a lot of bad habits based on my super fast metabolism. The my metabolism deserted me at age 30, but I still eat like a teenager. My waist went from 24 to 37 inches in a year. And I cant seem to get it off. My whole office is a snack heavy zone, and everyone here has gained weight.

I've been up and down fat-wise for most of my 42 years, yer typical yo-yo dieter.

Mostly governed by psychology that I barely acknowledged yet understood. My initial slide was triggered by the death of my father in my 20s and I've been on a health rollercoaster ever since.

But, yes, on a metabolic level the root cause is I consumed more energy than I burnt.

But I have never formally tracked it until now. I thought it would be boring, turns out that, being a geek, tracking suits me.

I hope that logging, being aware of my intake and building natural exercise into my days (I am not a 'work out' kind of person) will help me maintain a good level of fitness.

That and being more in touch with myself, self-awareness if you will.

I was thin and fit my whole life. Then I got married and had a baby. I lost all of that weight, but then I pretty much gained weight again because of constant over eating. I didn't binge, I just indulged in large portions all of the time. I've basically been maintaining my weight for over a year and a half even with some huge difficulties thrown into the mix. Moderation.

My mother was a feeder and we always had a full plate and bread and butter on the side and often a dessert as well. So now I love to see a mountain of food on my plate and until recent years I was never very big on exercise. So I guess I gained weight by eating more calories than I burned.

There was also a time I could also binge eat for Australia and England, but that was generally comfort eating and thankfully the very worst of that is now behind me. I will still go crazy if you take me on holiday and put a breakfast buffet in front of me but I now know that can only be a temporary indulgence and not a way of life!

I love food.

I ate to much cheese cake while I was pregnant, and now I'm sweating it off,
of course boredom eating hit me a lot, still does,
I get bored easy. Cleaning, dishes.. life is stressing without no help.
but now that 'Im counting the calories, I've stalked up on more
"healthy" snacking foods, and punishing the family, and making them eat healthy to... muhahaha <jk