What made you fat?
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christinev297 wrote: »Popcorn and jelly beans. I ate them all day and night.
When I stopped, the weight fell off easily.
I always see popcorn mentioned here as a healthy low calorie treat. I can't just nibble on a bit of popcorn, I eat a whole jumbo bag to myself.I ate 47g of air-popped popcorn tonight with lots of marge and shredded cheese on it. Only came up to a few hundred calories for being a HUGE bowl.
The problem here is not with the popcorn, or the HUGE amounts one can eat (btw, a "few hundred calories seems like a HUGE count to me!)
The problem is the nutrients you are not getting in those calories consumed. One thing you need to consider with everything you put in your mouth is the nutrient value. What vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc. are you sacrificing in that bowl or popcorn, or ice cream, or whatever? It's a trade-off and, while it may not seem like much to spend an evening munching on air-filled bits of corn kernels with 'marge' (OMG, ditch the margarine. As many calories as butter and FAR more chemicals and additives that you really don't want in your system!) in the long run, you're sabotaging your diet by not giving your body what it needs instead opting for what you want!
Sometimes, you need to step back and take the long view. Eating a whole bowl of anything... just one thing... is helping to establish an unhealthy habit which can turn around and bite you in the asterisk later on down the road. And, while you don't want to become obsessive about food, you do want to be aware of what you eat, how you eat it, and WHY you are eating it.
I guess the short-speak is, Eat to live DON'T live to Eat! You'll miss out on too much! And... Love yourself enough. Whatever your demons, love yourself enough to not let them own you.-1 -
Having the appetite of a 6'2" man but being 5'1".
I'm definitely a person who loves rich foods. I would gain weight, then I would starve myself and work out really hard to take it off. That kept me on a guilt/indulgence cycle. Life got a lot better when I realized I could have *some* of the foods I like in smaller portions, work out an hour or less, and enjoy all of life, all of the time. Amazing what moderation can do. 0 -
Dounts and milk chocolate:) yummmy0
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Growing up in a household where the portions were probably 2 or 3 times what they should have been. And a constant supply of cakes/biscuits/sweet/chocolate/pastries (my mother should be on TV for the quantities of food she'll buy if it's cheap - I remember being sat in a drive-thru while she ordered 20 bacon double cheeseburgers for the 5 of us).
As a teen/young adult it was depression and comfort eating, then the thought that 'I'm already fat, why not eat another packet of cookies?', and a social life based around regular trips to the local Morrisons for enough food to feed 4 people (5 giant cookies to myself, normal right?)
By the time I was 20 I weighed 245lbs. I don't know what clicked but something did, and now I'm at 156, and still working. Sadly I am now in the awkward position of seeing my sister go down the same route, at 16 she weighs more than I did at that age, and there's not much I can do to help her unless she moves out of my parents' House of Food.
Hopefully she'll find MFP one day and have that lightbulb moment.0 -
For years I was in a really abusive relationship with beer, Chinese food and sitting.
They would consistently force themselves upon me, all the time. I wasn't allowed to even look at some of my other friends, like veggies and exercise. I would try to resist or run away from them, but they would simply find me again the next week and the abuse got even worse. Eventually I told myself that it would just be easier to do what they wanted, rather than risking the abuse. I even got a scale and a treadmill, but they weren't afraid of those things. It was unbearable.
To this day, they are always looking for me. I'm constantly on the run. I've had to change my appearance and buy new clothes yet everywhere I turn they seem to be there.
I wish they would just leave me alone...0 -
Mainly for me depression and pregnancys. I have four kids and after the second my will to lose weight vanished. I also just eat to eat. I don't enjoy it but I feel I have to.0
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It began at age 8 when I became a latchkey kid. I ate when my mom wasn't home to stuff the lonely and bored feelings. My mom didn't and still does not know what eating healthy is. I was never taught portions or calories so I ate alot. Probably 3 or 4 portions. In high school I was the fat girl well actually the fat girl from age 8 up bc it got way worse. I ate for boredom, I ate fir heartache, I ate to cope. I started binging probably in my teens. I tried to lose weight. I tried to be anorexic. I tried to be bulimic. But I discovered only going to the gym worked and for a little while it did and I lost I was 16. But then I got into some bad relationships got inactive and ballooned to 245 at 18. Then I got some jobs and worked on eating healthy but still no idea what healthy was but by age 21 I was in the 160s then I had a drug problem that got me to 145 then a child to 180 tgen I got to 170 but still I hadn't an idea on portions etc. I had another child and got to 220 and then a third that got me to 250 during my last pregnancy that was when in the past two years prior to my 3rd child I started to try to lose I started exercise and diets I lost 20. I lost 2 babies. I gained more. I found out I have pcos and ibs and bipolar 2. I after the baby shed 30 overnight and then packed it on with a peanutbutter and nutella craze eating a half or whole jars a day and eating corn dogs and fish sticks bc we could not afford healthy food. But then in october I decided to take control and I have started the process I now know I never knew what healthy eating was or portions or calories. Now I have a good knowledge of what is good and I am no longer addicted to Mcdonald s peanut butter and nutella. I try hard not to eat my feelings. And finally of of a plan I learned what correct portions are and then the calories started to fall into place and now I am finally starting to lose and exercise is getting even better.0
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ReeseG4350 wrote: »christinev297 wrote: »Popcorn and jelly beans. I ate them all day and night.
When I stopped, the weight fell off easily.
I always see popcorn mentioned here as a healthy low calorie treat. I can't just nibble on a bit of popcorn, I eat a whole jumbo bag to myself.I ate 47g of air-popped popcorn tonight with lots of marge and shredded cheese on it. Only came up to a few hundred calories for being a HUGE bowl.
The problem here is not with the popcorn, or the HUGE amounts one can eat (btw, a "few hundred calories seems like a HUGE count to me!)
The problem is the nutrients you are not getting in those calories consumed. One thing you need to consider with everything you put in your mouth is the nutrient value. What vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc. are you sacrificing in that bowl or popcorn, or ice cream, or whatever? It's a trade-off and, while it may not seem like much to spend an evening munching on air-filled bits of corn kernels with 'marge' (OMG, ditch the margarine. As many calories as butter and FAR more chemicals and additives that you really don't want in your system!) in the long run, you're sabotaging your diet by not giving your body what it needs instead opting for what you want!
Sometimes, you need to step back and take the long view. Eating a whole bowl of anything... just one thing... is helping to establish an unhealthy habit which can turn around and bite you in the asterisk later on down the road. And, while you don't want to become obsessive about food, you do want to be aware of what you eat, how you eat it, and WHY you are eating it.
I guess the short-speak is, Eat to live DON'T live to Eat! You'll miss out on too much! And... Love yourself enough. Whatever your demons, love yourself enough to not let them own you.
How do you know she didn't work the rest of the day to meet her macro levels and therefore feel the popcorn fit into her day? When it comes to weight loss/gain, it's all about CICO. Burn more than you eat, you lose. Eat more than you burn, you gain.0 -
Autoimmune diseases have made me balloon up several times - basically every time I get a new one, I put on a lot of weight as my body thrashes around trying to sort things out, and then once I get correct treatment, the weight drops off again. When I'm sick I end up near 180 lbs. When I'm well I'm down near 145 or so.
First time was when I was about 26 - found out I had hashimotos disease.
Second time was when I was 33 and found out I had pernicious anemia.
Most recently at 37, I found out I have an autoimmune response to silicone - and a silicone BC implant.
Since getting rid of all the silicone in January, my energy levels are back and weight is dropping back off again. Thank goodness.
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8 quest bars a day...lol. I can't believe I said it. I only eat one these days. Except days when I eat two;)0
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For years I was in a really abusive relationship with beer, Chinese food and sitting.
They would consistently force themselves upon me, all the time. I wasn't allowed to even look at some of my other friends, like veggies and exercise. I would try to resist or run away from them, but they would simply find me again the next week and the abuse got even worse. Eventually I told myself that it would just be easier to do what they wanted, rather than risking the abuse. I even got a scale and a treadmill, but they weren't afraid of those things. It was unbearable.
To this day, they are always looking for me. I'm constantly on the run. I've had to change my appearance and buy new clothes yet everywhere I turn they seem to be there.
I wish they would just leave me alone...
Nicely done. 0 -
47Jacqueline wrote: »Eating too much and not exercising.
Someone blamed their mother
. lol
Mothers (well, parents/guardians) are to blame for some of these young overweight kids.0 -
Ive always been a big eater and could eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight. Once I hit my 40's it started to creep on. Of course, boredom, chips and salsa, and wine helped some too.....0
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not keeping track of my weight0
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Eating my feelings and having a bottomless pit for a stomach, I could never get full no matter what I did. One time I ate two big macs, two large fries and three little hamburgers in one sitting... and hour later felt like I could have done it again. I was so lonely (still am but am working on being ok with that instead of eating my problems) that food was the only thing that made me feel like I wasn't alone. Pathetic, but there it is.0
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I am a human rubbish bin when it comes to food. I just don't get full. The switch that is meant to click when you are full is well and truely broken and always has been.0
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Lots of Mexican Food, fried chicken wings and wine.0
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Too much food.0
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Bored eating/snacking
Fast food (too much of it)
Soda
Reese's
No exercise0 -
My food addiction and lack of self control.0
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This is an important question and we all should really pause and consider the answers. I'll post this before reading the other posts:
Genetics - I certainly don't blame much of it on this, but it definitely is a factor
Childhood nutrition - Too much formula/milk/juice/unhealthy meals prepared for me by a wonderful woman who was only doing the best she could with what she knew and had. I have no blame here, but it certainly set me up for a lifetime of struggle without a good role model
The notion that I needed to clean my plate because: a) people elsewhere were "starving" b) mother worked hard to shop/cook/prepare the meal so should be complimented by my need to finish every bite c) if I didn't finish, I'd be hungry later and would have to go without
A life-span of decades of yo-yo and fad diets
Internalized belief system that I could comfort myself with food
Having the focus of nearly every celebration in life be centered around food
Sedentary lifestyle - though I have exercised throughout my life, I spend far too much time in front of a screen and it has become habitual.
Lack of education and knowledge about nutrition. I have come a long way with this. I know now that "low-fat" and "fat-free" are often not the best way to go. Falling for marketing tricks like that.
I'm probably missing a few things, but these were the first that came to my mind.
*goes off to read the thread now*
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My activity level as a college student--biking everywhere I went and working out at the gym--changed dramatically when i got a desk job after graduation. My eating habits didn't change and I slowly ballooned up. I miss being able to eat anything and never gain
But there's no way I could fit that much activity in my day now, so I've gotta keep it in check. Sigh. 0 -
After I had my son, I was 20 pounds overweight. I went back to work doing home health, so I spent a lot of time driving. I started eating fast food and drinking tons of sugary/caffeinated drinks to stay awake. I would make a bag of Movie Theater Butter popcorn every night and eat the whole bag while I watched tv. And the kicker...I would make a big glass of chocolate milk (with 2% and Hershey syrup) every night. I would literally drink it in bed and sit the glass on the floor and then fall right to sleep. But I couldn't figure out why I was gaining weight! In my mind, I didn't eat more than anyone else. Doh!0
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I've always been a comfort eater (I ate all my feelings during my frequent periods of depression) and in recent years I also fell into the habit of boredom snacking. For 3 years I put away soooo much regular Coca Cola every day, and I paired it with huge bars of chocolate. I paid no attention to calories, I just ate and drank whatever I wanted, then complained when I got fat.
When I finally got over complaining about it and really started to be serious about losing weight, I found mfp, discovered the beautiful simplicity of CICO, and stuck with it.
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Eating to keep up with my husband, graduating from college and getting a desk job and getting pregnant.0
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