What was the last straw ?

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So I was looking through the success stories section and there was a thread titled "What was the last straw" or something like it . Nine pages in and not one weight gain success story . So I decided to make one for this section . If there was one before then can someone bump it up for me please?

My story - I was always a tiny little thing, being 25 years old and weighing 90 pounds was depressing. I hated the fact that I had to adjust every single dress or skirt I bought ... What was the final straw for me was when a 16 year old girl told me she had never met anyone with skinnier legs that her . She was about 70 pounds , -A cup and not my ideal body goal one bit. That same night I researched gaining weight , I bought a pill to help me with my appetite and it went from there . I took it for like the entire summer and went from 90lbs to 125lbs in two and a half months. Maintained a weight of about 110lbs for the last two years and some ... Which brings me back to now.

Had a big project to work on for the last four months of 2014 and was so comfortable eating two meals a day and getting full. Fast forward to Christmas and New Years parties when friends and family started seeing me again , I got the "oh you lost a lot of weight ! ,"you got really small" comments . I just brushed them off until last month I tried on my cute shorts and they hung on me ... I got my old shorts that was in the back of my cupboard and they fit !!! Yep I felt bad for myself but it only hit me when I saw a picture of myself with a couple of friends and my arms and legs looked like toothpicks. I got on the scale and my brother told me I weighed 99 lbs !!! I gasped, wanted to cry and decided ... It's time to gain back ten pounds and then gain ten more and keep gaining until my face or stomach looks fat ( whichever comes first)... And here I am now ... Going from eating 750 calories to about 2900 on a bad day .

What made you decide to want to gain weight?

Replies

  • anask4
    anask4 Posts: 86 Member
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    Wow, sounds like you definitely made the right choice!
    I was always a really overweight kid. 2 years ago I went on a diet that lasted over a year and lost about 60 pounds, down to 130 lbs from 190 lbs. When I first started, I had no idea at all what I was doing. I would run for 90 minutes a day, not do any resistance training, and eat like 1000 calories a day. Eventually, I learned the proper way of doing things but the damage had been done. I lost a lot of lean body mass and even when I was down to 130lbs I was unsatisfied with the amount of fat I was carrying. I cut down the cardio and began focusing on lifting weights, especially compound lifts.From last summer through this past winter, I kept cutting on and off, but I came to grips with the fact that I needed to gain to get the body I wanted. I started eating at maintenance and began eating at a surplus about a month ago.

    Long story short, I was ignorant and put myself through hell only to realize that no 20 year old man should look the way I did. Now Im focused on killing it at the gym and packing on muscle. I'm definitely happier now than I was.

    Good Luck on reaching your goals!
  • kiyapiya
    kiyapiya Posts: 25 Member
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    anask4 wrote: »
    Wow, sounds like you definitely made the right choice!

    Long story short, I was ignorant and put myself through hell only to realize that no 20 year old man should look the way I did. Now Im focused on killing it at the gym and packing on muscle. I'm definitely happier now than I was.

    Good Luck on reaching your goals!

    Thanks for replying! Good luck on your journey as well !!!
  • terizius
    terizius Posts: 425 Member
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    I'm noticed the same thing. I am just now beginning to create a website that talks about peoples transformation stories, to include the "how they did it" portion. That is usually lacking in the threads here.

    Anyway, its so hard to find people that have had success gaining weight/building muscle! I think the changes are usually more subtle. After all, how does "I gained 10 lbs!" compare to "I lost 100 lbs!" Since I'm bulking now, I really want to see those weight gain, muscle building stories.
  • MissMary75044
    MissMary75044 Posts: 517 Member
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    I've always skinny, I was a skinny underweight kid, skinny teen and now into my 30's I am still skinny. Generally I don't get a lot of negative comments, but I recently dropped from 110 to 103. I had three people comment on my weight in one day.
  • terizius
    terizius Posts: 425 Member
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    ^^ So, are you going to try to change that now?
  • kiyapiya
    kiyapiya Posts: 25 Member
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    terizius wrote: »
    I'm noticed the same thing. I am just now beginning to create a website that talks about peoples transformation stories, to include the "how they did it" portion. That is usually lacking in the threads here.

    Anyway, its so hard to find people that have had success gaining weight/building muscle! I think the changes are usually more subtle. After all, how does "I gained 10 lbs!" compare to "I lost 100 lbs!" Since I'm bulking now, I really want to see those weight gain, muscle building stories.


    I agree , gaining ten pounds for me would make me so happy but to others it's like nothing . It's like gaining weight is no celebration over here .
  • MissMary75044
    MissMary75044 Posts: 517 Member
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    terizius wrote: »
    ^^ So, are you going to try to change that now?

    Yes. Trying to at the very least get back to a healthy BMI
  • suzaka
    suzaka Posts: 39 Member
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    I was always a skinny kid throughout high school and even college. I think what motivated me to gain weight was more out of a necessity for health reasons. My doctor told me I had high blood pressure (yes even though I was skinny, it can happen to anyone), and from there I decided to eat healthier. I ate more protein, did more resistance exercises, and led a more healthy life. I think gaining weight was more of a byproduct of wanting to live a healthier life, though I welcomed weight gains because for some of us, gaining weight is very difficult. I would just suggest that you eat healthy fats though, like avocados, salmon, quinoa, nuts and beans, etc.
  • tiffanyaiv
    tiffanyaiv Posts: 107 Member
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    Yes. Trying to at the very least get back to a healthy BMI
    [/quote]
    Same here
  • terizius
    terizius Posts: 425 Member
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    Miss and Tiffany, good job for seeking that healthy weight gain. Keep us posted and reach out if you need anything.
  • tiffanyaiv
    tiffanyaiv Posts: 107 Member
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    Also lookin forward to buying new clothes and Being able to do my yoga without my spine and hips hurting from digging into the floor and chairs lol
  • kiyapiya
    kiyapiya Posts: 25 Member
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    tiffanyaiv wrote: »
    Also lookin forward to buying new clothes and Being able to do my yoga without my spine and hips hurting from digging into the floor and chairs lol

    Lol I can only wear dresses now because NONE of my jeans fit .
  • tiffanyaiv
    tiffanyaiv Posts: 107 Member
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    Treating ourselves to new stylish clothes soon!!
  • emezrahi
    emezrahi Posts: 12 Member
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    One day, i was driving with my friend & stopped at a red light. some girls were standing around and (might have been) checking us out. Me, being happily married, didnt pay any attention & continued conversing with my friend. Then, one of them said (loudly) "Skinny *kitten* *kitten*". Im not normally offended by anyone, but this really hit home & i found myself thinking about it the next day. I think it was an accumulation of every time someone made a skinny joke, or said something like "you can eat ANYTHING! Youre so lucky!".
    I have gained 20lbs, so far (145 to 165lbs), but it still hurts when someone says crap like that.

    Its NOT OKAY to make fun of, or comment on skinny people. its just as f*cked up as calling someone fat, or saying "wow, you really need to cut back on that Krispy Kreme, John".

    sorry for ranting, i just needed to get that off of my chest.
  • Brolympus
    Brolympus Posts: 360 Member
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    Former toothpick (and still mostly skinny) dude here. Ran marathons and half-marathons, did distance running competitively in school. I'm 6'4" and weighed 160lbs at my thinnest. That is ridiculously light for somebody my size. I look at pictures of me from high school and cringe at how thin I was. I got teased pretty relentlessly for it; family, friends, enemies. Didn't matter. "you should eat something!", "you're a toothpick!", and the occasional harsher comments as well. I was constantly overlooked by girls, my male peers never took me seriously. I just figured I was genetically doomed to be skinny. I ate a ton, but never got bigger (little did I know I wasn't even eating a 1/3 of the protein I needed to). Being a male and being skinny is just as bad as being a male and being fat. It's like....be jacked or don't bother....but I digress....

    Fast forward to my early twenties, still running 60+ miles a week because it was the only thing I was good at, and I started developing knee problems. Found out I was damaging the cartilage in my joints (chondromalacia), my doctor said I had the knees of a 40 year old man. I was forced to take 6 months off from running or my doctor said my knees might not recover and I would wind up needing surgery. I was actually on crutches for about 4 weeks the pain got so bad. Parallel to this, I was also a bit of a drinker, but that had never been an issue due to the calories I was burning up every day. After 6 months of drinking and no running...well.....you can guess what happened. Ballooned up to 220lbs, none of it useful weight. I was actually happy about this somehow because I was no longer thin.

    It all came to a head one day when I was trying to move furniture into my condo after graduating college. I was under the delusion that I was in shape because I was no longer thin, so I tried to be the weight-bearer moving a 300+lbs washing machine down some very narrow steps in my basement. I failed hard; the load shifted and I got pinned under the weight against a wall and couldn't lift it up. I was even more embarrassed when my aunt had to squeeze through the gap in the stairs to save me, and then quickly lifted the load like it was nothing and finished the carry with almost zero assistance from me. Very demasculating.

    Took me awhile to learn what to do since I didn't really have any friends that were serious lifters. MFP definitely helped out. Been on a consistent diet and lifting routine approaching 1 year and in the best shape of my life.
  • kiyapiya
    kiyapiya Posts: 25 Member
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    tiffanyaiv wrote: »
    Treating ourselves to new stylish clothes soon!!

    Yeaa !!! I reached my goal weight and went up two pants sizes , but now I think I want to gain another 10 pounds so I'll start shopping after that. Can't wait!!

    emezrahi wrote: »
    One day, i was driving with my friend & stopped at a red light. some girls were standing around ....

    Its NOT OKAY to make fun of, or comment on skinny people. its just as f*cked up as calling someone fat, or saying "wow, you really need to cut back on that Krispy Kreme, John".

    sorry for ranting, i just needed to get that off of my chest.

    I think society thinks it is okay to make fun of skinny people because it is more acceptable to be skinny than fat . To be honest it isn't cool at all and I wouldn't even think of making fat jokes or comments to anyone ever (even if I'm thinking it :smile: ).
  • kiyapiya
    kiyapiya Posts: 25 Member
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    Brolympus wrote: »
    Former toothpick (and still mostly skinny) dude here. Ran marathons and half-marathons, did distance running competitively in school. I'm 6'4" and weighed 160lbs at my thinnest. That is ridiculously light for somebody my size. I look at pictures of me from high school and cringe at how thin I was. I got teased pretty relentlessly for it; family, friends, enemies. Didn't matter. "you should eat something!", "you're a toothpick!", and the occasional harsher comments as well. I was constantly overlooked by girls, my male peers never took me seriously. I just figured I was genetically doomed to be skinny. I ate a ton, but never got bigger (little did I know I wasn't even eating a 1/3 of the protein I needed to). Being a male and being skinny is just as bad as being a male and being fat. It's like....be jacked or don't bother....but I digress....

    Fast forward to my early twenties, still running 60+ miles a week because it was the only thing I was good at, and I started developing knee problems. Found out I was damaging the cartilage in my joints (chondromalacia), my doctor said I had the knees of a 40 year old man. I was forced to take 6 months off from running or my doctor said my knees might not recover and I would wind up needing surgery. I was actually on crutches for about 4 weeks the pain got so bad. Parallel to this, I was also a bit of a drinker, but that had never been an issue due to the calories I was burning up every day. After 6 months of drinking and no running...well.....you can guess what happened. Ballooned up to 220lbs, none of it useful weight. I was actually happy about this somehow because I was no longer thin.

    It all came to a head one day when I was trying to move furniture into my condo after graduating college. I was under the delusion that I was in shape because I was no longer thin, so I tried to be the weight-bearer moving a 300+lbs washing machine down some very narrow steps in my basement. I failed hard; the load shifted and I got pinned under the weight against a wall and couldn't lift it up. I was even more embarrassed when my aunt had to squeeze through the gap in the stairs to save me, and then quickly lifted the load like it was nothing and finished the carry with almost zero assistance from me. Very demasculating.

    Took me awhile to learn what to do since I didn't really have any friends that were serious lifters. MFP definitely helped out. Been on a consistent diet and lifting routine approaching 1 year and in the best shape of my life.
    Brolympus wrote: »
    Took me awhile to learn what to do since I didn't really have any friends that were serious lifters. MFP definitely helped out. Been on a consistent diet and lifting routine approaching 1 year and in the best shape of my life.

    Wow this story was serious ! Thanks for sharing !

  • jdscrubs32
    jdscrubs32 Posts: 514 Member
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    kiyapiya wrote: »
    So I was looking through the success stories section and there was a thread titled "What was the last straw" or something like it . Nine pages in and not one weight gain success story . So I decided to make one for this section . If there was one before then can someone bump it up for me please?

    My story - I was always a tiny little thing, being 25 years old and weighing 90 pounds was depressing. I hated the fact that I had to adjust every single dress or skirt I bought ... What was the final straw for me was when a 16 year old girl told me she had never met anyone with skinnier legs that her . She was about 70 pounds , -A cup and not my ideal body goal one bit. That same night I researched gaining weight , I bought a pill to help me with my appetite and it went from there . I took it for like the entire summer and went from 90lbs to 125lbs in two and a half months. Maintained a weight of about 110lbs for the last two years and some ... Which brings me back to now.

    Had a big project to work on for the last four months of 2014 and was so comfortable eating two meals a day and getting full. Fast forward to Christmas and New Years parties when friends and family started seeing me again , I got the "oh you lost a lot of weight ! ,"you got really small" comments . I just brushed them off until last month I tried on my cute shorts and they hung on me ... I got my old shorts that was in the back of my cupboard and they fit !!! Yep I felt bad for myself but it only hit me when I saw a picture of myself with a couple of friends and my arms and legs looked like toothpicks. I got on the scale and my brother told me I weighed 99 lbs !!! I gasped, wanted to cry and decided ... It's time to gain back ten pounds and then gain ten more and keep gaining until my face or stomach looks fat ( whichever comes first)... And here I am now ... Going from eating 750 calories to about 2900 on a bad day .

    What made you decide to want to gain weight?

    If you take a look at my profile picture, what made me want to lose the weight in the first place was because I could barely fit into the suit in the bottom left hand corner of the picture. However I lost way too much and ended up like I did in the top left hand corner of the picture. What made me want to increase the weight was again in a different suit for a friend's wedding and I saw a picture of me. Finally realised what all my friends had been telling me. I had gotten too thin and this was despite me being in the gym. I was also running a lot which didn't help. So early last year I started with a PT and joined MFP. Since then, once I started eating more and exercising differently, I'm more or less what you see in the right hand side of the profile picture.