How did you gain weight in the first place

A combo of drinking too many calories (sweet tea and several cups of sweetened coffee with cream), eating little but ridiculously bad foods, PCOS and then to top it off, my thyroid went bad and didn't get diagnosed for years so that added some, too. But mostly, it was the calories in drinks. I eat more now but much better foods when possible and other than a cup of my special coffee a day (2 if I earn it), I drink water with flavor drops. I also exercise 6 days a week now unless there is a good reason that I can't. I still have changes to work on and a way to go to reach my goal, but I'll just keep swimming. And now I have that stuck in my head... I love me some Nemo. lol

My weight has swung multiple times in my life. The most recent major weight gain (which isn't that recent anymore) came during 2009 and 2010. In 2008 I was playing lacrosse at school, club soccer, and club volleyball (which wound up competing at a national level) and I had been losing a bunch of weight from that. Then at the end of 2008 I was playing varsity volleyball at school, still losing weight from that.

The year 2009 was the polar opposite. In January, my left knee locked out of nowhere, and from then on I was constantly in excruciating pain. Since I was so seriously involved in sports and I was only 14 at the time, surgeons were hesitant to do anything besides send me to physical therapy. Long story short, that made the problem worse, and I wound up having surgery at the end of April that year. I stopped going to PT days before my volleyball tryouts in the fall. I was horribly out of shape and had already gained some weight from that, and almost every athlete has trouble trusting a freshly repaired injury. On top of that... my right knee decided to do the EXACT same thing my left one did, mid-season. I just played through it since I knew my fate was already sealed. When we lost in the county semi-finals, I couldn't even walk and had to get carried to the bus. I had surgery done on my right knee just before Christmas '09, and didn't finish PT until May '10.

I couldn't tell you a number because back then I had no desire to know, but it was probably close to 60 pounds gained based on pictures. Between going from a ridiculously active lifestyle to a completely sedentary one overnight, dealing with the constant pain, and having one of the few things that truly made me happy (competitive sports) temporarily removed from my life, I was a depressed, angry teenager, and I ate my feelings away.

Now that I've been in college for two years I've shed some of the weight (at least visibly, I know I've put on some muscle too), I think I'm ready to finally start tracking my weight and make a serious effort to shed the rest of it. Carrying around the baggage of my knee surgeries is, ironically, bad for my knees and I need to do something about it.

ate more than I burned.
any other excuse is bull****

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (not the same as type 2), and was underweight at the time. Back then, the treatment methods were not nearly as advanced as today. So the endocrinologist and CDE basically came up with insulin doses and food amounts (based on the no longer used exchange diet). I had to eat the same number of exchanges for each meal category (i.e. at the same times each day).

At first, it was tough to eat that much, and I was basically being told to "eat, eat, eat!" After a few months, it became easier as I gained weight and appetite. Within 1 year, I had doubled my weight. After a few years, I had gained so much weight that I developed type 2 diabetes as well. My appetite continued to increase, and I developed Hashimoto's disease (which is common for those of us with auto-immune disorders such as type 1 diabetes). Since I don't make amylin, I am not able to regulate digestion speed, which means that I can be hungry again shortly after eating.

Since type 1 diabetes treatment methods have improved to allow flexibility in meal times and amounts, I've eaten what I wanted and steadily gained weight. Whenever I tried to lose weight, I would end up with hypoglycemia... treatment for that means I have to eat more calories, which cancels out the benefits of exercise I would have just completed. I tried for years, on occasion, to lose weight and would always give up because it wasn't working. I have finally figured out how to very very very slowly lose weight safely, and that is what I'm doing now.

Wow that's a hard one....erm I think for me it began in Uni, final year. The majority of which was spent in my room or in the lab on my *kitten* doing very little other than revising/working. I fueled these stints on energy drink and often (and I mean OFTEN) partook of convenience/fast food because I simply didn't want to waste time cooking etc. During my spare time I'd sit and play games at my computer.

That kind of followed on from there, once I got a job it was working at a desk, I'd go home by bus, sit at a desk, eat poor food and game. Then I met my girlfriend and a year later we had a baby, which led to more restless nights, energy drinks and convenience food.

Only now am I doing anything about it, now she is older and sleeps through the nights!

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Pregnancy.

I've always been a snacker but with all my exercise and such I was always able to maintain. If I gained a couple of pounds then I would just eat a little less and snack a little less and then keep working out. But since pregnancy I lost quite a bit of it but am still holding onto some of my pregnancy weight over two years after the baby. I'm definitely not gaining but either maintain or lose very slowly if I don't watch my food intake (especially snacks).

I work from home and sit in my office all day. I don't exercise. I love to eat. That's my magical trifecta to being obese!!!

At various times I have worked at it and taken the weight off, but I always seemed to go back to old habits and end up weighing more than ever.

Now that I am 60 years old, I realize that I am actually living my life towards an early grave. So I have snapped out of it, and although I still work from home and sit in my office, I am moving more...exercising more...cutting out junk food and eating healthy. Drinking water instead of diet soda. Making myself accountable for my own actions.

Time will tell, but I finally think I have it right. Just started back on MFP yesterday so I can't get all flag wavy, but I have a lot more self-realization now than I did before, so I think I just might succeed.

Break of my five year relationship, and I quit being vegan and went crazy on mac and cheese.

I was kicked out of college, too much Sigma Chi, not enough class. I had no skills to speak of except that I was funny and had a great radio voice so I did stand up comedy and radio for a while...well, I never paid for drinks, food..drugs...nothing...and after a while that piled on to the tune of 100 pounds. Once I grew up and decided I needed to do more in life, I went back to school and eventually started losing the weight. I have 30 maybe 40 pounds left to lose and am on track to be there by December hopefully, and wound up getting an MBA so all things considered, I'm doing ok now.

I got a BF :laugh:

I brought my horrible eating habits from highschool to college...and then from college to the desk job.

Two SEC Croissants, Triple whoppers and 3 helpings of meatsauce spaghetti don't do much when you run around school all day carrying a 45lb bookbag, then go to tennis practice where I'd run around campus 2mi then do a series of drills for an hour or so...then go to soccer practice and run around for another hour...then go home to play street basketball with the neighbors.

Buffet breakfast, class, buffet lunch, class, AIM, internet, alcohol, taco bell, bed.... There's a good start to the weight gain. Freshman 35 anyone?

Fast food breakfast, fast food lunch, big dinner + no activity = first few years of professional career...That solidified the weight gain.

Pictures of myself at 240...start the reversal process.

I have PCOS, a thyroid condition, metabolic syndrome, depression, insulin resistance, gained weight during my pregnancy, just went through a breakup, can't afford to eat healthy, don't have time to exercise, and work a desk job.

All those things but in no way is it because I eat too much.

I'm guessing there is some sarcasm there. I'm not going to pretend that I couldn't have made some better choices, but there have been a lot of times when I had to eat something or I would have a seizure and perhaps even die. If you have never tested your blood sugar to find it read 20, then you really don't know what I mean and shouldn't even go there.

I was just looking at a report yesterday that showed I've tested with low blood sugars 40 times in the prior 7 days. I have to eat carbs when that happens. For people who have no medical issues and can lose weight really fast and safely, great! Just don't knock those of us who have legitimate medical challenges that cause difficulty for weight loss. We are on this site because we are making an effort. Just because my efforts don't provide the same rate of return as yours doesn't mean that it is because I "eat too much."

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Most of my adult life I gained back weight just by eating what tasted good and not paying attention to nutrition and ignoring the scale and upward expanding clothing sizes.

But this last time was different. This last time I decided life sucked and started digging my grave with a spoon. Not sure what snapped me out of it. Maybe it was taking too long.