How did you gain weight in the first place

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  • Edie05
    Edie05 Posts: 10 Member
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    I was very skinny all my life (weighed 96 lbs when I got married!) and I could always eat what I wanted and didn't gain weight. I was a picky eater and food wasn't important. When I met my husband, he got me to try new foods and then my love affair with food started. I slowly started to put on weight. I had my first child and developed postpartum depression and was medicated with antidepressants. I never lost the 50 lbs I gained during pregnancy. Had 2 more babies and gained with them too. I just continued to eat what I wanted thinking eventually the weight would come off. I also hated exercise. I developed pre-diabetes and was put on medications and changed my antidepressants to Wellbutrin and the weight started to come off. I got down to a 135 (I'm 5"2') and stayed there for years. In the last year I decided I wanted to get back down to my pre pregnancy weight and started running. I'm now down to 112lbs, size 0 and feel so much better. I still love food. I just don't eat as much!!
  • Aestuavi
    Aestuavi Posts: 15 Member
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    I was always really skinny, so I just ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Cheeseburgers, pasta, fries, pizza, cookies and cakes were all part of my daily diet. When I started taking BC and stopped growing I gained weight because I didn't change lifestyle. I'm not 'fat' or at an unhealthy weight, but I do want to go back to my old weight - a little under 20 (vanity) pounds to lose.
  • hockey7fan
    hockey7fan Posts: 281 Member
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    We always had a ton of junk food in the house when I was a kid. When I was in high school I weighed 135 and was 5'5" and was told by all my friends I was fat. Then when I moved out on my own I ate out 3 meals a day and ate a lot of junk food in between. I didn't care - I liked food. I ate a lot. I never ate vegetables and rarely ate fruit. It was all fast food and restaurant meals and pizza.
  • Smoofalz
    Smoofalz Posts: 36 Member
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    Was chubby as a kid. Once I hit puberty I lost a ton of weight and was actually pretty healthy. Then when I met my high school sweetheart, now husband, we just kept gradually putting on weight together...These last few years I'v stopped gaining, but was just staying at basically the same weight and sizes.. (looked at some old pics and realized I've had the same jean shorts for like 4 years lol)
  • amy_huckaba
    amy_huckaba Posts: 9 Member
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    I was a skinny kid and teenager, so I ate whatever I wanted to and didn't gain weight. I had my kids young (at age 18 and 20) and lost the baby weight quickly, so I thought I was ok. It kind of just snuck up on me. I didn't change my eating habits and suddenly at age 25 I was 20 pounds heavier. Then at age 30 I was 35 pounds heavier. Now I'm 35 and need to lose about 50 pounds. It also could be stress eating because my kids are teenagers now.
  • BigT555
    BigT555 Posts: 2,067 Member
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    my extreme love of food
  • JulieAnn72
    JulieAnn72 Posts: 795 Member
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    Pregnancies, mostly. I did gain some in my 20s as I had never had to worry about gaining weight before, so didn't really think about what I was eating and drinking until I had gained a good 25 lbs in that decade! I was still in decent shape at that point, and probably a healthier weight than I had been before. But then I had babies, and while I got down to my pre-pregnancy weight each time, I stopped paying attention to my eating and drinking again a couple years after having my youngest, and packed on 20lbs. I lost it all in 2013, but now I'm slowly gaining it back again because I haven't been diligent about eating and drinking properly!
  • Veil5577
    Veil5577 Posts: 868 Member
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    Doctor put me on Lyrica for my back pain.
  • cherrilovee
    cherrilovee Posts: 194 Member
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    STRESS. I've never been "thin," but my over eating is all due to stress.
  • Chibukalu908
    Chibukalu908 Posts: 212
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    I see all these people putting their reasons and then-but I don't want to make excuses it really was my fault.....Well just so you know, their are cases were it CAN BE NOT YOUR FAULT...like not being able to walk on one leg for a year and then a month ago getting A METAL PLATE WITH SIX SCREWS, AND TWO METAL CAGES AROUND TWO DISKS IN MY BACK....so excuse me if that sounds like an excuse, IT'S NOT.....I Guess I COULD EXERCISE if I WANTED ANOTHER ROUND OF A BACK SURGURY THIS IS #2. (I'm still using a walker and reacher but hey that sounds like an excuse I should get my lazy *kitten* up and run a marathon! lol)

    I understand that you've been through an ordeal, but yes that is an excuse. You can keep weight down even without exercise. You could lower you calories to reflect the reduced level of activity you've facing currently.

    strong this

    A lot of times people will use an injury as an excuse as to why they gained lots of weight. The injury doesn't force you to overeat beyond your TDEE. It's just that most people who get injured and require rest continue to eat at the level of activity they had before the injury, or they turn to food as comfort and begin to overeat.

    Of course people's priorities often change when going through an ordeal like you have, and often body weight concerns fall by the wayside. But do know that it's still your responsibility. I think we all need to own up to our actions.
  • sistrsprkl
    sistrsprkl Posts: 1,013 Member
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    3 pregnancies and... food.
  • ketoambahh
    ketoambahh Posts: 67
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    I took lexapro for a year and my appetite grew tremendously. Mountain Dew and potato chips everyday. i'd get so angry and possessive about it that my Mom didn't even try to stop me. BAM. 50 pounds that year. That was 10 years ago. I wish someone DID stop me.
  • jstavix
    jstavix Posts: 407 Member
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    The only time I ever weighed what I was supposed to was the day I was born and it was downhill from then on. I was a chubby baby, chubby toddler and chubby child. At age 8 my mom put me on extreme weight loss programs which did not work. And she was also very abusive and said "sorry" with cookies. Thus began my effed up journey with food. Feel sad? eat! Feel depressed? eat! I finally am taking control of the little kid that lives inside of me and I am no longer emotional eating and I am trying to like myself again....
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
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    I took lexapro for a year and my appetite grew tremendously. Mountain Dew and potato chips everyday. i'd get so angry and possessive about it that my Mom didn't even try to stop me. BAM. 50 pounds that year. That was 10 years ago. I wish someone DID stop me.

    Even if someone had stopped you, it might only have delayed your overeating until you had control of your own grocery shopping, especially if you stayed on the medication. In fact, it might have ended up even worse if you'd been resentful about your food being controlled. I think part of the fun of my teenage job snackfests was finally getting to eat whatever I wanted without anyone saying no.
  • larrodarro
    larrodarro Posts: 2,512 Member
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    I used to be skinny and was always a big eater. I work in an office, but had side jobs cutting grass and firewood, so that helped. Over the years the side jobs fell away, and I didn't try to replace them. Then for four years I sat in front of a keyboard writing novels. I got up to 250 pounds, lost down to 218, then went back up to 240. Last year I decided I had had enough of it. I started losing in September, and 65 pounds later, I have leveled off at 175. I have been this weight for a little over a month now. I still sit at a keyboard far too much, but I eat healthier and do 600-1000 calorie worth of exercise a day.
  • sbv67
    sbv67 Posts: 5 Member
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    Well, I used to be very active. Then Arther came to live with me. You know Arther-itis. Started with Osteo and then progressed to RA. Severe Ra with Fibromyalgia. The years progressed as they do, and so did the RA. So now i'm 67 yrs old , have had 11 joint surgeries, countless hours of PT:explode: and I am not active at all anymore. My hips, knees, ankle, and feet are fully arthritic. Hard to walk when every step hurts.
    I've weighed over 200 lbs most of the past 40 yrs:noway: Docs are always on me about weight, and now let's throw Congestive heart failure into the mix. Are we having fun yet???
    Visiting nurses suggested this site for support and ideas on how to eat a low fat, low sodium diet. This is very hard and i'm already sick of having to weigh in every day!!!
  • beginforthelasttime16
    beginforthelasttime16 Posts: 533 Member
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    Under-active thyroid :)
  • ScoobyM34
    ScoobyM34 Posts: 71
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    Started when I moved to a new area in like 5th grade. Lost all my friends and became involved in video games and not being active. Working a job that does not involve alot of movement and eating McDonald's pretty much everyday got me to where I am now. Lots of Depression, and the meds for it, didn't help out very much either
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    Complete lack of regard to my body's nutritional needs. AKA, stuffing my face with high calorie foods.
  • SrMaggalicious
    SrMaggalicious Posts: 495 Member
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    I get SAD every winter (seasonal affective disorder) and this winter was especially brutal. I shut myself out from the world right after work and throughout the weekends. Every day, on my way home I would grab a large veggie sub with honey mustard dressing and 3 or 4 slices of American cheese, a LARGE bag of kettlle corn (no, bigger....yeah, that one...the one that takes two hands to carry), and 2 LARGE Hershey's chocolate bars. I would add in 2 bags of Utz Salt n' vinegar chips and rush home and gord myself, watching Netflix ad nauseum (House of Cards, Orphan Black, Orange is the New Black, & any murder/detective show on) until bedtime. Then I would do it all over again...I gained almost 40 pounds in about 5 months. Disgusting...really disgusting.

    I'm worried about this winter. I need to have a plan in place. Actually meeitng w/my doc on Monday to discuss antidepressants, maybe those ultraviolet lights people w/SAD use...and even a trip to Hawai'i??? It's a great prescription, if you ask me! :tongue: