What did you eat to get heavy?

Pizza and wine! With a side of pizza and wine! Eating out is definitely what got me here, too. Its just so darn convenient!

Too much daily wine.

And I liked burger and fries and ranch. So I would eat burger, fries and ranch most days.

High calories. Not necessarily overeating for me...that with several glasses of wine. lol

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How I gained:

Slowly for me too. I got the 'freshman 15' and then was preggers straight after graduating. I actually lost some there (morning sickness) and then when I gave birth and had the kiddo to take care of, I wasn't sleeping right so I snacked a lot, stress ate, and generally ate too much crap. Ladle on some depression (I didn't even REALIZE I was depressed, but looking back, I really was), a healthy dose of denial and sheer laziness and voila-200 lbs on a 5'7" frame. I just ate too much!

How I lost:

Ate less and tracked it. Nothing was cut out per se-I certainly still eat pizza, chocolate and ice cream and the occasional alcoholic beverage, but I ate less of it and told myself that those treats would still be there later. Over 60lbs later, I'm trying to keep that mentality even though I'm now maintaining That's kinda tricky, lol. I drink a lot of water too, almost no juice (other than occasionally ice tea) and only rarely drink soda. And I get out to exercise more.

To gain weight I just ate a little too much and moved a little too little over the years. My weight crept up gradually.

To lose I ate smaller portions. That's it. I didn't do anything that I couldn't do forever. Now I lift weights, walk a lot, hit my macros, and try to get plenty of veggies.

Too much fast food and not enough home cooked meals.

Too many starchy carbs - I still eat them now but when I lost the weight I took a break from them for a while, long enough to totally change my idea of what counts as a portion size. I used to think the recommended serving of pasta on the packet was a joke because I could easily eat at least twice that much. Now I think it's a normal serving and possibly even slightly more than I want because I'm short. I stopped building my meals around starches and started building them around protein instead.

Everything.

I was slim until age 14/15 (mid 90's) when bagels were all the rage. Unfortunately this was also during the low fat craze. I didn't even know what a calorie was but I was counting fat grams. I used to eat three bagels a day as snacks, between meals, because they only had two grams of fat. As I got older I became a lot more educated about nutrition. I no longer followed fads, but portion sizes became my issue.

I think my weight gain was a combination of not enough exercise/no strength training, and bad food choices. I drank too much alcohol, which also led to snacking. I had a bad habit of eating rolls of saltines with slices of cheese, large bread rolls (bolillos) with butter at dinner, chips without portion control, and heavy lunches followed with snacks.

I exercise more and smarter now (incorporating circuits, weights, cardio and HIIT) and make slightly better food choices. I still eat snacks and sweets, but my portions are better and alcohol consumption is way down. I also don't let little mistakes derail my day or week.

My God OP, you are stunning!!!!!!

And it was a crap ton of fast food and closet eating for me. I still eat fast food but I just eat it differently now.

I ate large quantities of some of the food I eat now but I also ate a lot of junk and fast food. I ate general tso's chicken with white rice, an entire order dinner size, egg rolls, and egg drop soup. I would go to McDonalds and get large orders of big mac and fries with diet soda of course...because that mattered and I would eat taco bell, Wendy's, Popeyes. A lot of fried chicken and fried food and cheesy food like cheetos and cheez-its. I wasn't ever big on sweets though, sugar wasn't my downfall. All of my junky go tos would put weight on me like no one's business because i ate as much as I wanted in front of the TV, which distorted my hunger signals. I ate for emotional reasons that I've sorted out for the most part.

To lose weight, I eat primarily healthy and clean foods but I eat junk food in smaller quantities too. I tend to avoid trigger foods often like fried chicken or cheesey things though. I eat mostly vegetables, a lot of fruit, whole grains, and meat but I eat candy, french fries, burgers, cake, donuts, bread, etc but all in WAY smaller quantities. I was so shocked to learn how much less food I can subsist on after counting points. I ate so much unnecessary food and my body told me so by putting it on my hips. After years of trying fad diets, like Paleo, Plant based, etc I will say anyone with emotional eating issues should not cut out food groups completely it does not lead to long term success. I've had the best success counting calories/points, weighing and portioning food, and eating primarily clean versions of my favorite foods but having what I want when its important too.

A lot of weight loss forums/success stories focus on what to eat to lose weight. But I'd like to switch it up and talk about what people ate to get to their heaviest? And how did they change that and what is different now? I've noticed on weightloss shows they often show overweight people, pre-diet, gorging on junk. I know that for me, it wasnt so simple.

How I gained:
For me, I got into a bad habit of eating exclusively restaurant foods with hidden fats and calories. Id always skip breakfast then order a salad, but it'd be loaded with cheese, fried chicken, buttered croutons, etc. I would fluctuate between starving and stuffed. I noticed high fat foods put weight on me moreso than say, starches like bread and pasta. I ate a lot of desserts too. I was never a binger or a snacker, I just ate the wrong foods and was def guilty of waiting too long between meals- then Id make the wrong choices.


How I lose:
Well, I just started but Ive completely changed everything. FIrst of all I try to eat "clean"- meaning mostly whole organic food fresh food. Nothing in a bag..For example, I eat fresh cucumber salads w lemon & sumac with bit of hummus. But I dont buy pre packaged hummus. That stuff has so many preservatives in it. Real hummus has a shelf life of only 1-2days in the fridge. I try to do as much plant based eating as possible- green salads with lemon and olive oil, brown rice in squash, with 2-3 oz of fresh animal protein at each meal. I eat grains like rice or a slice of homemade bread. I really steer clear of pre packaged food. I avoid restaurant food I think its all bad.

I always eat breakfast. Ive learned I can not do a grain or fruit based breakfast. Some people do smoothies in the morning. I actually do smoothies for dessert sometimes, only a few ounces 1/day but it cures any sugar craving and is full of fiber. I add spinach and some chia seeds too.

For breakfast I have the same thing everyday bc its easy: whole wheat organic lavash + raw spinach+ egg whites+ 1slice cheddar (my only dairy), and fresh avacado. I get so much energy and I find that I never get too hungry so when lunchtime arrives I dont overeat or choose the wrong thing. Breakfast is sooo important to me.

I eat 3 meals/day one snack (smoothie). I used to skip meals all the time which lead to crazy appetite swings and inadvertant overeating and poor food choices and sugar cravings. I always drank a lot of water, but now I exclusively drink water and nothing else. Before, I drank a ton of diet coke.

I gained in two stages.

Seven year ago I changed jobs and it involved travelling; hotel food Monday - Friday with little chance for any exercise. Yes the hotel might have had a gym but by the hours were long in the office and when you got back to the hotel room so it was pretty much whatever room service did. Full fat, creamed soups all with buttered veg.

That took me from a size 32 waist to a size 36-38. I have four suits and a tux in my cupboard that I out grew in this period. My tux I once. 12 months later when I needed it again I couldn't even squeeze into it and rather than face up to anything I pretended to be sick to get out of the evening.

Then a couple of years ago I changed positions and started to work from home. No more hotel food! But what actually happened was that my commute, the last minute the dash through an airport or the walk around an office complex now only took 10 steps between rooms. I started to spend upwards of ten hours on my PC each day; six days a week with few real breaks. Since I knew a lunch break wasn't on the cards I'd make a maybe a cheese and biscuit platter for that 1 hour conference call. Maybe a round of mini sandwiches and some crisps for the next call. Breakfast at 8am then a brunch around 11. Sandwiches at 1pm and then something when the kids got home around 4pm. Dinner with the wife was around 6pm and supper before bed.
When I did leave the the house for work it would include restaurants, full latte choco coffees and a muffin.

18 months of doing this and I went from a 36-38 inch waist to 40.

The last six months, I stopped cycling. I had spent some of the time at home cycling with a friend to do 140 mile ride. I did 40 miles per week although being the fitter and skinny one of the group I'd sometimes not break sweat on these rides as we trundled along at 5-7mph. Over the last six months, from about Nov 2013, my bike didn't move and that pushed me over the 100kg mark and into a pair of 42 inch jeans, which I only just squeezed into.

The kicker, the thing which made me make a change, was a night out with my wife about a month ago. She looked amazing and I stood in the bedroom, squeezed into a pair of jeans knowing only my comfy, elasticated, around the house shorts now fit. I could only look at her knowing I'd ruined her night before we'd left the house.
We went out and I couldn't sit the whole evening; my wife stood next to me but I could see the embarrassment in her face when people mentioned in passing "you've gained a little weight". My trousers straining under the pressure of the fat they force above the belt line and my shirt buttons pulled to the extremes, the threads holding them in place just managing to withstand the stretching Half way through the night food was served and I stood holding a paper plate with a pork pie and a slice of cake on. My wife look at it, looked at me and then poured her drink over the top of it so I couldn't eat it.

That was the moment I know I needed to do something.


Edit: I've just read that back and it's the first time I've actually addressed the reason I've ended up the size I am.

Everything