anyone found the root cause of why you gain weight?

13

Replies

  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
    I have looked for all kinds of plausible excuses ( even hypothyroidism and the loss of my thyroid to cancer was not an acceptable excuse, because I did lose almost 50 pounds without problems once my meds were well adjusted ).
    The root cause of my weight gain after menopause was self pity eating due to health problems ; especially bread, rice and pasta... almost daily and always much more than I should eat. I like good food, I like to cook...so I did and ate what I made
    My maintenance calories are 1639 and I often ate more than 2000 calories mostly from those foods.....no wonder I gained weight over the last ten years.
  • jeffd247
    jeffd247 Posts: 319 Member
    I like beer and Chinese food better than I like exercising and grilled chicken.
  • emilyj97
    emilyj97 Posts: 3
    Poor portion sizes paired with a very sedentary lifestyle. Also occasionally eating my feelings.
  • ThriceBlessed
    ThriceBlessed Posts: 499 Member
    Because I used to eat more calories than I burned. :wink:

    Seriously though, I am pretty sure most of it was just because I like food. Yes, occasionally I would eat from stress or boredom, but many times I just eat because the food tastes good.

    Our bodies were designed to store energy in the form of fat so that if a famine comes along we will survive. Our brains were wired to enjoy higher fat and sweeter foods because those foods pack more energy (calories) into every bite and enable us to have more for the hard physical labor of survival and also to store more for the lean times. In modern times most of us don't face those times of famine, and many of us don't live very active lives, our "labor" often consists of sitting at a desk pecking away at keyboard with our fingers. Our bodies and brains are still wired for survival of harsh conditions... our natural inclination is to eat up and conserve energy... its what kept our ancestors alive. So now days we have consciously discipline ourselves to do what goes against the natural inclination of our minds and bodies.
  • ClaudiaTheNice
    ClaudiaTheNice Posts: 74
    Eating to much and dieting (and by dieting I mean going on crazy restrictive diets, failing and then just keep eating to much until next time I try a crazy restrictive diet).
  • jlynnm70
    jlynnm70 Posts: 460 Member
    Basically because I LOVE food. But mostly because I care more about everyone else than I did/do myself. I cook what the family likes, even though I'm the only one who needs to be careful about my weight. I also married a chef who tends to cook everything in butter! I had 4 kids (and am a step-mom to one) so I was always grabbing stuff on the go while dealing with them. Lack of self control - eating a whole bag of chips/chocolate rather than one serving. Working 2 desk jobs for more than 55 hours a week, therefore saying there isn't time to work out. (or being too tired when I got home to do anything other than sit and watch TV or read a book).

    I've finally decided to make ME time - if that means I take over the TV to do a video and have the kids laugh at me as I dance around the living room - so be it. I cook for ME not them - and when I do cook for them I make sure that there is something for me - an extra helping of veggies or salad rather than the mac and cheese they want. I try to take the 'better' route - rather than get 'showgirl' parking, I park at the back of the lot (weather excepted!). I take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator when I can, I get up and stretch and wander around the office to get a few extra steps in - whatever.
  • Phaedra2014
    Phaedra2014 Posts: 1,254 Member
    I am not sure of my root cause, hope some of ya can give me more insight into this. I guess mine is stress,boredom, toxic people, rainy days,sadness,happiness, who knows? I am trying to learn ways to comfort myself though and exercise helps a lot and disciplining myself to just don't do it and to love myself not do destructive things to myself like overeating. It could just be a bad habit and when I was a kid food was comforting and now I have to find other ways or maybe food taste good and I keep on. It seems some people have found the root cause, have you? heck, maybe we don't need to know just discipline ourself like overspending has its consequences so does overeating.

    It's a very complex question. I think most people who regain weight are those who lost weight solely through willpower and having a number on the scale as their goal.

    Well, once you hit that number through the application of willpower, then what? It is easy to sabotage the achievement. Weight loss requires much more than willpower because all the conditions you mention above - boredom, stress, toxic people - can break one's resolve very easily.

    What you need is a skillset (skillpower) that consists of various tools in your weight loss toolbox: seeing a therapist, having exercise routines you love, understanding the mechanism that leads you to food once any vulnerability sets in.

    We live in a world full of triggers, stressors, people, circumstances. It is impossible to avoid them all. Discipline and willpower are good when you also have other factors that hold them together. It is up to you to find your tools. It's really not enough to say be strong or stay focused. I'm sure you are.
  • doctorsookie
    doctorsookie Posts: 1,084 Member
    too much eating and too little moving.:grumble:
  • RockinTerri
    RockinTerri Posts: 499 Member
    My root causes of why I gained weight -

    Larger food portions (thanks to my grandmother, who had huge plates of delicious food waiting for me when I got home from work at 10 or 11pm - and you didn't throw out grandma's food!)
    Fast food convenience
    Lack of exercise (walking to fast food places for lunch plus the little I got at work was about it for years)
    Health issues (primarily gynecological which caused me to sit A LOT!)
    Stress/depression due to said health issues
    Medications (one medicine I was on caused me to gain 10 pounds in a month!)
    Lack of motivation
    Refusal to do what I should be doing
    Laziness
    Denial that I had gained what I had

    My root motivators now -

    Wanting to feel better
    Using the knowledge that was in front of me all along
    My daughter
    Enjoying the foods I eat
    Having more energy than I've had since high school
    More time with friends (workouts are great together!)
    The way my hubby looks at me
  • DrMAvDPhD
    DrMAvDPhD Posts: 2,097 Member
    Pretty simple. I ate more calories than I burned.

    Now, I can think of some reasons (read: excuses) as to why this occurred, such as marrying an excellent cook, being in grad school and hence losing my free time, and aging. Maybe even some medical conditions that prevented me from doing activities I used to enjoy.

    But the ROOT CAUSE of my weight gain was eating above my TDEE. The same is true for every single person who ever got overweight.
  • melissajane83
    melissajane83 Posts: 54 Member
    I ate very bad when I was pregnant. Cookies, pizza and Mexican food! I gained 62 lbs and so far have only lost 11 of that.
    So eating bad food was the cause for me.

    Now I am watching what I eat and doing Zumba. I hope to have it all lost by this time next year!
  • gmstarr1
    gmstarr1 Posts: 66 Member
    1) Eating fast food and at restaurants WAY too much and not paying attention to calories...amazing how many calories are in some of that stuff

    2) Addicted to Coca-Cola. Over the years I've gotten more calories from Coca-Cola than food. When I was living with my parents as a child/teenager, soda was a luxury...when I got married, some how it became a necessity. (It'd be fun to blame my ex-husband, because he's overweight by a lot, and I wasn't overweight when I got married, but he didn't hold me down and make me eat and drink.)

    3) Too much time playing video games in front of the computer/tv and not enough activity (again tempting to blame my ex-husband because he doesn't like to exercise...he recently got a small tiny little dog because he said he didn't want to have to go on long walks with her, but again he didn't hold a gun to my head to keep me indoors and in front of that computer and tv)
  • RockinTerri
    RockinTerri Posts: 499 Member
    Pretty simple. I ate more calories than I burned.

    Now, I can think of some reasons (read: excuses) as to why this occurred, such as marrying an excellent cook, being in grad school and hence losing my free time, and aging. Maybe even some medical conditions that prevented me from doing activities I used to enjoy.

    But the ROOT CAUSE of my weight gain was eating above my TDEE. The same is true for every single person who ever got overweight.

    Sadly, that's not 100% true. You can also gain weight by not eating enough. That happened to me at one point in my life - I ate like a bird. No, I wasn't anorexic, I was depressed. I also gained 10 pounds in one month strictly from medicine. I know that because after I was removed from the medicine and NOTHING ELSE CHANGED my weight leveled off.

    And yes, inactivity can be caused by medical conditions. But if you eat the same way you did when you were active, then yes, you are taking in more calories. It doesn't mean that you always overate.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    more calories in than out and being lazy are symptoms of a problem they are not the root cause
    just my little two cents.

    That is the case for some...not the case for all. I have no food issues...I've never had a binge...I'm not an emotional eater or whatever. I do enjoy food very much and I'm a total foodie...I used to eat a ton of food, most of which was very good for me because I was an athlete growing up and proper nutrition is paramount to performance. Also, being a foodie I'm not too into junk food...I like good, wholesome food.

    When I ceased my training and "normal" life took over, I continued to eat like I did when I was training. For me, it's pretty straight forward. Not everyone has food issues or other underlying emotional issues as a root cause. I've figured out how much energy I need now for my current activity level and I'm totally fine...

    For me, it was just a matter of matching my intake to my output and having a better understanding of that relationship, not some deep seeded issue.

    100% agree there is no magic answer one size fits all.
    but id put my money that for *most* emotionally eating are the core issues.

    Three are a lot of people for which emotionally eating are at the core to be sure...but I would really hesitate to say that it is most. I know there are a lot of people in basically the same boat i was in (really active and then became less active but kept eating the same amount of food...creatures of habit)...I also know a lot of people who have perfectly healthy relationships with food...they just eat too much and basically have no concept of what a serving size is and just think it's normal to eat restaurant portions for every meal, every day. That's not an emotional issue with food....that is just being clueless as to how much energy you are stuffing into your pie hole.

    I just think a sweeping statement that most people have some kind of deep seeded emotional issue going on is just...well...rather sweeping.
  • DrMAvDPhD
    DrMAvDPhD Posts: 2,097 Member
    Pretty simple. I ate more calories than I burned.

    Now, I can think of some reasons (read: excuses) as to why this occurred, such as marrying an excellent cook, being in grad school and hence losing my free time, and aging. Maybe even some medical conditions that prevented me from doing activities I used to enjoy.

    But the ROOT CAUSE of my weight gain was eating above my TDEE. The same is true for every single person who ever got overweight.

    Sadly, that's not 100% true. You can also gain weight by not eating enough. That happened to me at one point in my life - I ate like a bird. No, I wasn't anorexic, I was depressed. I also gained 10 pounds in one month strictly from medicine. I know that because after I was removed from the medicine and NOTHING ELSE CHANGED my weight leveled off.

    And yes, inactivity can be caused by medical conditions. But if you eat the same way you did when you were active, then yes, you are taking in more calories. It doesn't mean that you always overate.

    Yes it does. Medical problems (like depression and/or undernourishment) and solutions (medications) can very well make you BURN LESS CALORIES (i.e. slow your metabolism). But in the end, the REASON that you gained weight is that you EAT more than you BURN. Simple physics, matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, just moved around.
  • mochamommy
    mochamommy Posts: 187 Member
    Gluttony and laziness





    Let the HATE begin!!!!!
  • blessedwith3boys
    blessedwith3boys Posts: 136 Member
    I know I am an emotional over eater. I eat when I'm bored, emotionally hurting, lonely, or just because I enjoy something like chocolate for instance. I think this is my biggest problem.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    I am not sure of my root cause, hope some of ya can give me more insight into this. I guess mine is stress,boredom, toxic people, rainy days,sadness,happiness, who knows? I am trying to learn ways to comfort myself though and exercise helps a lot and disciplining myself to just don't do it and to love myself not do destructive things to myself like overeating. It could just be a bad habit and when I was a kid food was comforting and now I have to find other ways or maybe food taste good and I keep on. It seems some people have found the root cause, have you? heck, maybe we don't need to know just discipline ourself like overspending has its consequences so does overeating.
    Great conversation starter, Bren. For me, food was a way to cope feelings, was used for comfort, and my added fat felt like protection.

    I have been through treatment for an eating disorder (bulimia, years ago), been through counseling, and have been doing self improvement work both physically and spiritually for years. I am at the point where I believe I no longer use food for these purposes.
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    Bad things related to growing a person inside me like severe edema, joint issues, and dizzy spells that gave me a choice of sitting on my *kitten* as much as possible or possibly losing the person growing inside me. Not a hard choice to make and worth every extra pound and stretch mark.
  • srcardinal10
    srcardinal10 Posts: 387 Member
    My root cause is that I like food too much thus I eat copious amounts of it...along with washing it down with some booze.
  • Snow__White
    Snow__White Posts: 1,650 Member
    PCOS,certain medications i had to take,not eating and binge eating
  • Momto4minions
    Momto4minions Posts: 173 Member
    The quote, " I use fat for protection," just hit a little close to home.

    I can totally agree. I previously said it was eating with the kids and mindlessly...but I think it really was further back, even before some medical issues with pregnancies. I started eating for comfort from trauma and just let that extra padding let me feel invisible. I wanted to feel invisible at times.

    Food, eating disorders, weird thinking about food and control, are all a life long battle for me and learning to eat healthfully and mindfully is the gift I am giving myself.
  • RedScathach
    RedScathach Posts: 24 Member
    I gained weight due to depression and not loving myself enough to take care of myself. I maintained that weight gain because I was lazy and kinda hedonistic and didn't pay attention to what I was eating. It's funny, once I really accepted and loved who I, with a little exercise and paying attention to what I eat I am slowly losing.
  • leahxxoo
    leahxxoo Posts: 23 Member
    Boredom, laziness, pizza
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    The obvious answer is I ate too much.

    The root of the problem would be that I wasn't knowledgeable about my intake. I figured 3 meals a day wasn't too much no matter how many calories were in them.
  • suncluster
    suncluster Posts: 539 Member
    cramming my pie hole
  • Iwishyouwell
    Iwishyouwell Posts: 1,888 Member
    I wasn't moving enough while eating tons of calories in high carb, high calorie desserts.

    I don't have a general food addiction. I don't "love" food. But I did have a super unhealthy relationship with sweets, a "last hurrah/start Monday" mentality that had me woofing down tons of sweets because, in my mind, I would be "perfect" tomorrow. And that "perfect" day never arrived, so I eventually ended up pretty much spending years where each day was a "last hurrah" calorie blast, failed "perfect" days, rinse and repeat. I just really, really loved the taste of cake and ice cream.

    Once I finally kicked that and put my relationship with sweets into a perspective that worked for me, the root issues disappeared. I'm grateful that I don't have any larger issues with overeating, hunger, binging, or food in general. Once I dealt with the sweets the rest of the stuff just fell into place.
  • Amelia7779
    Amelia7779 Posts: 53 Member
    I love to eat, especially high calorie foods. Also, if I get out of the habit of exercising for whatever reason, it's hard to get the motivation back.
  • leannegray31
    leannegray31 Posts: 9
    I spend too much time eating for fun, and not enough time moving for fun :). And almost all of my favorite foods involve some combination of cheese + starch (loaded potato skins, cheese fries, fettucine alfredo, mac & cheese, pizza, nachos, grilled cheese sandwiches... about the only exception would be brownies, lol), and I can eat those things in outlandish quantities without even thinking. And I tend to eat treats as though every day is a special occasion.

    Sure, I am also hypothyroid and have some other health problems that have exascerbated my weight gain over the years, but really the biggest cause is that I eat crap and I don't exercise enough.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    eating too much and zero exercise….

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