What was your emotional reason for gaining weight?

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People often say there is an emotional reason for gaining weight. If this was true for you, what was your reason?

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  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
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    I was an average-sized kid up until about 3rd grade. That year, my dad was deployed for 6 months. I hadn't been old enough to remember his deployments before that, plus his deployments before that were for a few weeks not months. I don't really remember what all happened (ate more and/or played less), but I know the pictures taken before he left and when he got home are shocking.

    ETA: I was overweight/obese up through high school. My sophomore year in high school I finally got a health wake-up call and had to change my eating and exercise habits.
  • gaucincyn
    gaucincyn Posts: 21
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    My reason was,

    I found out i was pregnant March 2012. Lets just say It was bad timing i was a 21 year old college student. The baby's father was supportive until the day i broke up with him. Thats when the drama started. I kept going to school and working a very high demanding job.. In June 2012 i had a miscarriage and lets say if it wasn't for my mom being there i would've gone nuts. Continued in school in October 2012 i lost my second mother which was extremely hard watching someone die day by day. Her body went into septic shock due to complications with diabetes. That was my sisters mom and was hard to see my mom in pain as well. In November i got into a relationship.. but than in December 23 2012 my dad passed away. His funeral was on christmas. 2 days after i got back from mexico i discovered my bf at the time (now my ex) had been cheating on me. Lets just say i kinda gave up for almost 2 years..and now im ready for a change!
  • swertyqwerty
    swertyqwerty Posts: 81 Member
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    For me I think it was a few things. I was depressed for a long time, partly because of my childhood (we were poor and my dad was schizophrenic). Another thing is my family is really religious and I was brought up believing male attention was bad. You're not supposed to date outside of marriage. Many people in my community still do, but it's very secretive and people talk about you if it's known that you have a boyfriend/girlfriend. I felt really uncomfortable getting male attention.
  • DecemberPsalm
    DecemberPsalm Posts: 96 Member
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    I have been overweight since I was a toddler. My mom fed me junk and I loved food and would ask for seconds all the time. I used it to sooth myself, because I was/am very shy and have terrible anxiety. I sneaked food as a kid and when I was old enough to prepare/cook my own meals I devoured as much food as I could after school (my mom was at work and my dad was home but oblivious).

    I gained and gained until I was an obese teenager. I lost 65 lbs when I was 16 and thought I was ready to change my life, but ended up bingeing again and gained it all back. Wash, rinse, repeat.....and here I am now, 251 lbs and almost 29.
  • chilly1470
    chilly1470 Posts: 178 Member
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    My emotion was "LOVE FOR FOOD". I love all types, origins, ethnicity and so on. I love junk food and I would rarely eat vegetables or fruit, unless it was in a stir fry or a topping on pizza. I love desserts, all kinds. It overtook and was just like a drug addiction. Too much was never enough. Too little was not a factor. I carried a large lunch box cooler with me to work stocked with food. My weight came on from an injury in 1982 that limited my mobility and still does. I just chilled and ate. I have been fighting obesity since then. Now I am all in, or else I will die soon. I want to live.
  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,765 Member
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    I don't think I necessarily had an emotional reason. I just love food so much and love to eat delicious things and also grew up in a household with bad cooking.

    I quit cricket because I was sick of being the perpetual "12th man" and then got lazy, didn't do anything for ages.

    My two favourite things, especially if cold or too hot, are eating and sleeping. You see a problem there, yes?
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    Most recently it was comments from family members about my weight that were made over a 11 month time period. I just got to a point where I let them defeat me. At the time I had lost 25 of the 36 pounds that I gained when my husband died in 2009. You can see by my ticker how that worked out.
  • ravenmiss
    ravenmiss Posts: 384 Member
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    1st time around I gained a little during pregnancy so that was a kind of f**k it attitude but then gained more as the relationship with the father got abusive, then lost it, gained it back again after my dad passed away, my marriage finally broke down, my son was diagnosed with a life long disability and lots of other stress, then lots of happiness and food/wine was always the comfort.
  • sculli123
    sculli123 Posts: 1,221 Member
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    Get bigger and stronger for sports initially. Not so much emotional other than being bigger and stronger than the next guy.
  • TMM211073
    TMM211073 Posts: 153 Member
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    I don't think I had an emotional reason, I was simply greedy and lazy - combine the two and that is a recipe for morbid obesity....

    My emotional reason for deciding to do something about it was, I was pee'd off with being the fattest person I know.....

    xXx
  • laurahadenough
    laurahadenough Posts: 28 Member
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    I had a super skinny younger sister and everyone always called me fat.. a toothpick would've looked fat standing next to her.. looking back at fotos I was definitely not fat.. but I guess they years of torment made their mark.. I got fat.. whether to prove them right, subconsciously, or to protect me in some strange way.. I don't know.. but here I am.. a fat slob.. trying to change her life, with 40 plus years of feeling fat imbedded in my psyche .. that is hard to break, tell me tell you!!