how did you get fat?

I've been overweight pretty much my whole life.

most everyone in my family is big, we have a large bone structure, and usually a big belly that goes with it.

I had pretty awful eating habits my whole life.....

not anymore.

I think it was a combination of things. I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrone) which effects more than just the reproductive system. It does crazy things to all sorts of hormones (including the way the body processes insulin). I started gaining weight when I was around 8 years old and at the time, I had no clue why. Secondly, I would say that poor eating habits and not being active enough are responsible. I've always had very full schedules and eating fast food all the time was convenient. I still eat fast food, but now I make smarter decisions, like grabbing a salad from subway instead of a big mac. I also only drink water now because i'd rather save my calories for meals instead of drinking them. Since joining mfp, I sit down and check the calories in different foods before deciding what to eat and I plan my meals. I haven't been a member very long, but as of this morning, i'm down 6 pounds.

Combination of things caused me to gain. Since I joined the military I have a lot less free time and didn't go to the gym as often as before, my husband has HORRIBLE eating habits and its hard to cook 2 meals every day so I picked up some of his habits, I got pregnant--miscaried and developed hypothyroid. The thyroid issues caused me to gain 20lbs in a month, even with exercise and improved diet and I continued to gain. Now my eating habits are better, since I make my husband cook his own dinner if he wont eat the one I made. I have gotten approval to use some of my duty day to go to the on base gym. I'm still struggling with the hypothyroid, as the on base dr's are being very difficult and have not begun treatment. I have managed to lose some weight, but I can't keep it off-- its very frustrating.

Carbs & junk food (processed crap). Except for fruits & veggies, carbs are the devil in my book.

I got pregnant at 16 with my first baby. Before that I wasn't skinny, but I wasn't fat. I was probably 135. I just ate so much when I was pregnant, I felt like I could get away with it. But after I had her, I still had a lot of the weight. I didn't do much about it. Then I got pregnant again with Kalani and I got really worried, because I was afraid I would do the same thing and this time I'd go over 200! But this time, I had such a severe case of morning sickness that I lost 12 pounds and then in the end only really gained 10 or so, and it came off instantly. Now I am just trying to get rid of what is left- 50 pounds. And it isn't just all from the eating while pregnant with Kai, I stay at home all day with my kids and the food is just there. I eat when I am bored.

I blame my mom!
But not in the way you'd think. She was always cooking healthy, low fat meals with small portion sizes for our family, encouraged us to exercise, etc. So when I finally moved out I though - "I'm free!" I had the stupidest mini-rebellion in history. I ate all the things that were banned in our household - and for a while, it was great! Everything tasted so wonderful. But then my portions got bigger and bigger, and it got harder and harder to feel satisfied till I was eating as much or more than my husband - and I'm small framed and only 5'3". That's why for me.

I had the SAME exact problem! I love my mother, but she was ALWAYS health conscious and had great self-restraint. But being forced to grow up eating healthy made me very envious of my friends whose mothers would pack them fruit snacks and other delicious (sweet) treats. So part of that led to me having a crazy sweet tooth because I felt so deprived. Instead of having one treat, I would buy like two or three candies and justify eating it all bc I wasn't allowed to. However, despite my raging sweet tooth, I actually enjoy healthy food, but I had a problem controlling the portions. I simply ate for the taste.

I worked out or was active my entire life but when I turned 14 the weight started to creep. I also injured my knee which led to me finding it as an easy excuse to dismiss myself from working out. I really like MFP because when I am determined its a great way to stay focused and maintain some sort of control over my portions and excerise habits!

-snacking (in front of the TV)
-eating lots of fast food
-eating to deal with the sudden loss of my father
-baby weight

I am not going to lie, I love eating dead animals and ice cream and not exercising. Of course that is changing now, but that is how I plumped into my current status.

I think when it first really started was around 2005 when i was working nights. I usually woke up in enough time to take a shower and head to work. When I had my lunch break, usually around 7 or 8 depending on how our afternoon went I would just grab something fast food. I did that for about a year and a half and gained about 35 lbs.

During this time is when I met Ashley, and her mom would fry everything and I mean everything, so that helped add on even more. Despite her mom making the claim that she doesn't fry anything that she bakes(Which she has made this claim since Ashley doesn't fry anything and only bakes). People that don't fry stuff do not have nasty baking grease laying around for the hell of it.

3 babies in 10 years and I LOVE to cook! Nuff said

I have 10 pounds to be back where i was in high school.

Mine started at an early age. I was abused when I was a child up until the age of 10 when I got a voice and said something. I gained 100 pounds in a year from eating my emotions. Self expression was not something that was encouraged in my home. Then I ballooned from there. Between rebelling against my mother who never said anything positive to me and always criticized my weight, (and she was obese to top it off) to being on Depo birth control, to being in abusive relationships, I gained and gained and gained. In 2004 I started Weight Watchers and lost 120 lbs. 2006 I got married, gained 20 lbs. 2007 had my son 3.5 months premature. He was 2lbs when he was born and stayed the first 6 months of his life in the NICU. Gained 20 lbs while pregnant, lost it when I pumped breast milk ( he couldn't have my milk yet so I had to freeze it), he got sick and couldn't eat any of my breat milk so I quit pumping, gained the 20 lbs back. After he came home on a feeding tube, and over the course of the next couple of years, I gained some more weight back. In Oct 2009 I quit smoking, gained. 2010, my dad died and my son had to stay in the hospital for a week because he had pnemonia, gained, fighting a custody battle with my husband for his daughters from a previous marriage..gained...So here I am today. back at the weight I was at when I started weight watchers. I have read books and talked to God and talked to my friends and got advice and all kinds of other things to learn how to deal with emotions instead of eating them. This is truely the most difficult thing I have had to deal with for almost 20 years now!! I am seriously tired of being on this road!

Well I've always been big. In HS I had it under control because I played sports, but after HS, that was it. I still ate like I was playing ball, but with no activity. But the things I ate were not healthy things. It was mainly junk food.. Scratch that, it was junk food. While in college I not only smashed the Freshmen Fifteen, but hit the Sophmore Sixteen, the Junior Jiggles, and the Senior Seventeen. Three years after college I weighed in at a whopping 310 lbs at 26 years old. So I changed my diet and started walking. Then playing pick up games of basketball, and by November 2008 I was down 50 lbs. I gained 20 lbs gradually back from April 2009 until October 2009. In July 2010, I was back to the 260. Happy too, because that meant I had 10 lbs to reclaim my Senior year weight and another 10 to hit my goal weight to decide if I was to maintain or if I was going to lose more. Sad to say that I got transferred to another project across the country and ended up living out of a hotel for a month. When I finally got settled I found it hard to make time again. After Christmas I weighed in and had gained 22 lbs back. Right now I've lost 7, so I'm 15 away from being where I was a few months ago.

Mine started when I got pregnant, I thought the weight would magically come off after I had him and I'd be back to my skinny days in no time. Almost 5 years later and I still have about 25 more lbs to get back to that, it's hard!!

I honestly think that undiagnosed depression may have had a part in the weight gain and my lack of activity but I won't know until I finally go see a doctor about it next month. I remember telling my mom back in high school that I thought I had depression but she told me "Your in high school, a kid, you aren't depressed" of course she always made the comment that I "Used to be such a happy child" too.My diet as a kid was never great either but I was always really thin because I ran around a lot (and we were broke but you don't really noticed that as a kid). When I got into middle school there was this whole drama with my friends where someone had convinced a lot of them to not hang out with me anymore (yeah I know not really great friends) so I started going out less and staying on the computer more. My eating habits were catching up with me and by the time I was in high school I weighed 180lbs (I'm 5'3), things continued on that way. I actually tried to lose weight while in high school and it was going well until I moved for college in 2005.

I started gaining weight again but avoided the scale denying that I was and when I did next weighed myself in 2007 I was 300ish pounds. I was devastated but my husband supported my endeavor to get to a healthy weight. It took me another year and us moving to Florida to actually start seriously trying to lose weight but when I did it took me about 6 or 7 months to drop 50lbs.After about a year there I lost my job and became pregnant, we moved back to Georgia. I was depressed because I had lost my job and stopped really giving a crap about my weight lost for generally the entirety of my pregnancy. I gained back all 50lbs before it was all said and done. I dropped some of the weight off right after giving birth but it took me the entire year to get back to where I was before pregnancy so hopefully now in the new year I can get truly moving on losing the rest of my weight. So far so good!

Awesome.....

I sat and played an online video/pc game for 3 years. 6 months of those 3 years I didn't work so I sat home all day playing that game. I would sit and eat. Never went anywhere .. did anything .. no exersice.. nothing. I went from 130 to 191 in no time flat. I was never a big person or fat growing up. It is not genetics.. it was just me. I loved ordering food and playing that game. So what they say is true about MMORPG's .. you lose yourself and your life it don't watch out.

I woke up one day.. took a shower.. shaved and noticed hmmm.. I can't reach down there. Got on a scale and said holy crap. I went to the gym that day.. quit the online game.. and now I am on my way back down to 130. I actually wasn't able to squat down to get something off a lower bookshelf and go back up. My knees where SO weak. That also got me thinking.