Why did you gain weight in the first place?

13

Replies

  • SDavidson71
    SDavidson71 Posts: 6 Member
    I gain about 10 pounds a year if I don't actively count calories. So a little less than a pound a month and it doesn't take much to gain that. Overeating by about 120 calories a day over my maintenance is one extra cookie, an extra serving of something. I have never been one to eat a whole pizza or half gallon of ice cream. Definitely didn't exercise or anything either but that was just laziness.
  • donthesitate
    donthesitate Posts: 255 Member
    I was a binge eater. It had gotten to the point where I probably should have sought help for it, but at the time, I did not recognize it as a true problem because "real" binge eating disorders to me had to involve purging. When I moved back home and started a less stressful job, I was able to recognize the problem, and have been slowly working on it, which includes relearning how to eat in front of others!

    I was a binge eater also, I cycled between binging and starving myself for years and didnt see the problem, thats just how I ate, as I got older I realized it was a problem and wasnt helping my health or self image at all so I started eating small meals+ adding more exercise and it helped me change my habits and im still working on eating in front of other people, it just feels so awkward
  • vanillacoffee
    vanillacoffee Posts: 1,024 Member
    Being a student, needing cheap and easy foods while studying, and being unhappy.

    (Luckily, I am getting over all three!)
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    I got ran over by an 18 wheeler on my 21st birthday and couldnt walk anymore and got depressed and stopped living.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    I was lazy and ate too much.
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
    I was lazy.

    Way to be a total story topper Yoovie :tongue:
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    Stress and anxiety (lifelong) and being very ignorant about healthy habits and nutrition facts.
    Lifestyle of being sedentary, combined with eating tasty foods for comfort.
    Being married to a guy I was not in love with and using food and shopping as our only sources of entertainment, also he was much more overweight than I was so I got extra lazy/comfortable always feeling like I was completely up to par compared to his fitness/weight level.
    Just being so used to being so overweight that it did not faze me or strike me as a problem. That contributed to reaching my all-time highest weight of 307.
  • jeffd247
    jeffd247 Posts: 319 Member
    I got ran over by an 18 wheeler on my 21st birthday and couldnt walk anymore and got depressed and stopped living.

    STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR YOURSELF!!!1!one!


    (Okay getting run over by a truck seems legit. Nvm)

    xD
  • mapenguinkeeper
    mapenguinkeeper Posts: 191
    ditto on the PTSD and depression also boredom
  • skyebare
    skyebare Posts: 57
    I have a sweet tooth from hell and I was on strike about working out for a while cause of the military.. Went through my rebel stage after I got out and refused to run... well then I fell off a telephone pole at work ( I worked for a cable company), and tore up my knee... SO combo of sweets, rebelling to work out, and my work injury.... All those combined made me the fatty I am today.. lol
  • change_21
    change_21 Posts: 23 Member
    I got comfortable, stopped caring, plus for awhile I liked being looked at as just another person who doesn't take care of herself. Never really wanted the attention - it made me even more self conscious.

    But the attention now is even worse, I've come to realize.

    at least before people would look at me because I was attractive (or crazy)
  • Jessica1173
    Jessica1173 Posts: 62 Member
    My triggers for eating are happiness, feeling unloved and unsupported, (definitely) anger and anxiety.

    I am really not sure why I gained so much weight the past few years. I know it is bad for my health and for my relationship with my husband but I still gained the weight. It really does not make sense to me. I used to be a lot thinner. I am 100 lbs heavier than I used to be when I was living with my parents 7 years ago at age 22. I am actually a lot happier to be a alive than I was then so it is really not a happiness issue.
  • thesophierose
    thesophierose Posts: 754 Member
    Food is what I had control over, and I picked some awful food choices to down my feels in that in the end made me feel even worse.
  • shaydon80
    shaydon80 Posts: 138 Member
    A trigger for me is male attention. I guess unconsciously I would rather be invisible to the opposite sex, because the attention makes me feel vulnerable.
  • IpuffyheartHeelsinthegym
    IpuffyheartHeelsinthegym Posts: 5,573 Member
    because looking like Skeletor did not appeal to me anymore...
  • Getawayfromthecake
    Getawayfromthecake Posts: 124 Member
    Food tastes really good!
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
    A combination of thyroid and adrenal problems resulted in a 30 lb weight gain in the matter of weeks due to the condition and subsequent treatment. My decade-long fight with anorexia resulting in minimal LBM and screwed metabolism certainly didn't help.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    I was lazy.

    Way to be a total story topper Yoovie :tongue:

    crap. i forgot i cant participate in these :-/

    sorry guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • jlapey
    jlapey Posts: 1,850 Member
    I don't really have 'triggers'. I think I gained weight in the first place because of life in general. I'm getting older and slowing down a bit, I have a very sedentary job. My partner is a chef and my partner's family (Italian) is very close and will find any excuse imaginable to get together for a ridiculously large meal. It's no one's fault but my own. I had to learn a little self control and force myself to be more active. So far, so good. By this time, next year, I hope to be very close to my goal. Not that it ends there.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    I got ran over by an 18 wheeler on my 21st birthday and couldnt walk anymore and got depressed and stopped living.

    STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR YOURSELF!!!1!one!


    (Okay getting run over by a truck seems legit. Nvm)

    xD

    i DID stop! and lost a backstreet boy!
  • jaysull21
    jaysull21 Posts: 58
    Here's a brief summary for me:

    * - Sedentary job.
    * - I was always skinny until my mid 20s, I could eat anything (and did).
    * - I stopped exercising somewhere around my mid 20s (light bulb!)
    * - Convenient food with busier schedule
    * - They opened a Chinese restaurant in my tiny town, and I love me some General Tso's.
    * - I stopped caring about how I looked.
    * - I probably had a bout with depression. There's probably more to it than that.
  • Northorpe
    Northorpe Posts: 27 Member
    I've had a weight problem since I left home at 17, started eating junk because I did not have to prepare anything. Started my first diet at 18 because somebody said I had "thunder Thighs" but I was a UK size 10, so diet started lost weight and on it went again and more. It all became really bad when I stopped smoking 12 years ago, I replaced cigarettes with marshmallows, I ate 4 large bags a day of Haribo pink and white ones!. 4 Year ago I started to lose weight and have been managing to keep control of this, I reached my target weight last October but have gained 8lbs back which I struggle with daily. So Marshmallow make me physically sick now, thanks good for that.
  • Ameythist
    Ameythist Posts: 20 Member
    I started gaining weight in second grade after my mom got laid off work. We started eating a lot of cheap box dinners and never anything actually healthy for you. This progressed into high school when my schedule started getting really active. I actually lost a bunch of weight in high school from marching band and always being on the run. Unfortunately, going to college reversed all weight loss because I did not make healthy choices at all. Now that I've had my first child I am making a lot of changes because I know lifelong food habits are learned in childhood and I want my son to be healthier than I have been. Losing weight is just a bonus.
  • sdrichardson713
    sdrichardson713 Posts: 16 Member
    Hypothryoidism since I was 9....did well once I started meds at age 17. Quit smoking at age 24....became addicted to food instead. I'm sad, I eat. I'm happy, I eat. I'm bored, I eat. I'm trying to replace food with exercise though and it seems to be helping a lot.
  • Phoenix_Warrior
    Phoenix_Warrior Posts: 1,633 Member
    Slowly gained weight after high school ended and didn't really care/tried not to notice until after I had my first child. I gained and lost 50 lbs with him (though I was already about 20 lbs up from my high school weight at that point) and then did the same yo yo again with my most recent child. I can only blame myself. I was on a see food diet for years with little regard to my health.
  • stillnot2late
    stillnot2late Posts: 385 Member
    I gained weight on purpose. I was 18 years old, married, and weighed 97 pounds and looked horrible. Bought this product called WEIGHT-ON (I could not increase my calories enough). When I got to 130, I was satisfied. So what the H*LL happened?
  • FitFabStar
    FitFabStar Posts: 23 Member
    boredom is my biggest issue. i work from home and when I get a down time the first thing I do is run to the kitchen.

    Next would be my self control. I have been overweight since I was probably 11 so this is years and years of me being used to eating anything what I want and now that I need to limit it, it's very hard.

    Another would be the fact that I ate some sort of fast food or dined out way too often. Now it's hard to fight the urges when i leave the house.

    Discipline and self control would definitely be the two things I need to work on the most. That is the only way I will ever be successful
  • Legs_McGee
    Legs_McGee Posts: 845 Member
    I like to eat. I was always thin growing up - and very active - and didn't have to watch what I ate. And I didn't. And then the pounds started slowly creeping on during my late 30s. I've never been overweight but I was bigger than what I wanted to be.
  • ruffnstuff
    ruffnstuff Posts: 400 Member
    Sad? Food will make me feel better. Happy? Have something nice to eat. Angry? Chocolate will make things better? Celebration? Lets go out to eat etc.

    THIS....combined with growing up as a (forced) member of the clean-your-plate club. Though I was never overweight as a kid or teen, all that extra eating and drinking caught up in adulthood. I can't even blame my kids cuz I'z fat before they came :) Nice thing is, I'm 15 lbs less right now then when I got pregnant the first time. Feeling good and keeping it going. For me I've found that I don't especially have "triggers" more than I have times where I'd rather say f' it and eat all the cookies! I'm finding now that I have more will power and I just don't overeat. I just don't chuck my progress out the window when it feels hard for a day or three. I know it's only me who can get me to where I want to be, so I keep doing what's working for me. I have also been pleasantly surprised at how quickly my appetite changed in that I really notice being uncomfortably full and do NOT like it (even when I've planned a meal within my cal limits). When I think back, I felt like that a lot prior to MFP but kept eating anyway.
  • natmckn
    natmckn Posts: 48 Member
    Ok, it makes sense to me that a major support factor to any sustainable weight loss is to first understand how we got here in the first place. Only then can we recognize what we need to change, fix, cure, or remove from our life in order to lose the weight and in the end KEEP IT OFF. Isn't that always the most frustrating point: losing it and then gaining it back, and then some? And I think a lot of us can find support in others who are going through the same struggles and changes on this deeper, personal level.

    Does anyone care to share what their "triggers" are that cause overeating? If you all are anything like me, there is more than 1. . . . . . .

    This isn't intended to make excuses, only to identify causes, or through sharing,help others identify their triggers that they might not consciously recognize.

    When I was in college, if I got stressed, I would lose a bunch of weight because I'd be too preoccupied worrying about other things to eat. Then I graduated and moved back home, got a desk job, and gained a bunch of weight. However my metabolism was still in great shape and my first job had a gym inside the office, so I was able to lose it pretty quickly and easily. Then I changed jobs, got engaged, got married, lost my free gym membership, and it was like a switch was flipped in my mind. I started turning to food when things got stressful. I tried previous successful diets to try and lose weight that no longer worked. I started lying to myself.

    I was doing really well at the beginning of 2013 with the fitness portion of things, and I guess I just figured the eating would fall into place, but I still overate. I began to get extremely discouraged because I saw zero change in my weight even though I had finished my very first 5k.

    Then, I had some pretty stressful/tragic things happen this summer that just really knocked the stuffing out of me. I lost all motivation to take care of myself in any way. From July to September I just didn't care, and I leaned on food the entire time to get me through it.

    I'm now at the heaviest I've ever weighed in my life. I'm finding it very, very hard to keep on track. I come home from work and eat everything in sight. I make stupid excuses every weekend when I'm out and about. I'm hoping by getting this all out there and out of my system that I find just the tiniest bit more motivation to "stick to it" and get back to where I'm comfortable with myself again. I don't want to continue down this road and be in a REAL bad spot five years from now.

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