Why did you all put on weight in the first place?

musicminx
musicminx Posts: 13 Member
in Motivation and Support
Was it because you were busy, sad, broke up with someone etc?
My troubles started when I was 21 and I went to live in the UK...not sure if the ingredients in the food I bought where different or because I started staying at home more? And then my weight went up even more when I moved to London (maybe it's partly down to living costs?). Anyway I put on 35kg all together!? I never thought that would be possible!
I have been living in Germany for a few months now and my weight is going back down already.

What's your story?
«13

Replies

  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I would use the word "how".
    I gained ten pounds a year every year. I was eating a little more than I was expending. It's taken two years and a lot of effort to reverse the trend.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    Ignorance of calories and calorie needs.
  • sofaking6
    sofaking6 Posts: 4,589 Member
    Car accident followed by heavy breakup of long-term relationship. Led to hiding at home indulging in sugar & 40 pounds over a few years.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    getting older and medications
    both are still happening but I'm fighting back now
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
    Stressful job, ate lots of chocolate and crap to make myself feel better (emotional eating). Happily it was a contract position that is now over. Plus just a lot of overindulgence over the course of a year.
  • Sandcastles61
    Sandcastles61 Posts: 506 Member
    I discovered for my height and age, a mere extra100 calories a day results in about a10 pound gain in a year..... So pretty much just a little extra here and there over what I needed did it for me :/
  • cp0416
    cp0416 Posts: 17 Member
    For me I think it was partly stress in the beginning but lately just over indulging way too often and not keeping up with the exercise to balance it out! I got married, we bought a house, and I started a new job all in the same month! (We're crazy people). We just moved to the city and we have lots of friends living close by. There is always something going on, someone to hang out with, a reason to go out to eat and drink. My husband is tall, skinny, fit, and always hungry! Too often I eat the way he eats without the extra exercise to offset the extra eating....and now here I am!
  • ManiacalLaugh
    ManiacalLaugh Posts: 1,048 Member
    I've always been a little heavy, but the majority of what contributed to my highest weight came from going back to college while working a full-time job.

    I told myself it was okay to gain a little - I had a lot going on. I expected to gain about 20...

    ....I gained 60.

    Should never have given myself "permission," but this was back in the days when I thought 90 minutes of exercise 6 times a week was necessary for weight loss and that was never going to happen on my schedule. If I knew then what I do now about calorie deficit, I think I could've kept the weight off or even lost some. (Of ourse there were all of those times I procrastinated on a project with food, so let's not get too delusional, here.)
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,148 Member
    I like to eat and food didn't judge me.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    I picked up my parents' eating habits at a young age
  • rachellosesitall85
    rachellosesitall85 Posts: 497 Member
    My weight directly stems from the sexual abuse I suffered as a child/teen. It's been my security blanket for years and shedding it isn't going to be easy but allowing myself to break free from the claws of abuse is the first step of my journey.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    musicminx wrote: »
    Was it because you were busy, sad, broke up with someone etc?
    My troubles started when I was 21 and I went to live in the UK...not sure if the ingredients in the food I bought where different or because I started staying at home more? And then my weight went up even more when I moved to London (maybe it's partly down to living costs?). Anyway I put on 35kg all together!? I never thought that would be possible!
    I have been living in Germany for a few months now and my weight is going back down already.

    What's your story?

    I would say it is because my lifestyle changed after college and having my dd.
    When I was you ger I didn't pay attention to calories and just ate and drank whatever. That was fine when I was more active but when I became more sedentary I ate the same amount. I didn't know how many calories I was eating or how many calories I needed for my activity level.
    I didn't try calorie counting until 15 years and 54 lbs happened. I could have lost weight sooner and kept it off if I had just done that instead of the strange diets that never mentioned calories.
  • Elle_Bronwyn15
    Elle_Bronwyn15 Posts: 296 Member
    Pituitary Adenoma and PCOS, paired with on and off poor eating habits/eating disorders and lack of motivation to work out.
  • Bizurke51
    Bizurke51 Posts: 190 Member
    my mom was too good a cook, i was too lazy as a kid. As I got older i just never cared what I ate or how much I was eating.
  • Steam_Powered_Awesome
    Steam_Powered_Awesome Posts: 301 Member
    Lost contact with my hockey mates after school so less active and I was under eating so my body was turning everything to fat. I crack jokes about having to eat like a pig to loose weight because I'm not use to eating this much
  • Debmal77
    Debmal77 Posts: 4,770 Member
    Married a really fussy eater. I realize this is no excuse, but so hard to cook two different things most days. I should have just stuck to my guns. Made 1 meal and said eat it or cook your own....but really hard to do. When I mean he was fussy, it would be easier to tell you what he does eat than what he won't. I love all food. Love variety and am so bored with what he will eat.
  • opalle
    opalle Posts: 234 Member
    I've been "shoulding" all over myself for days about this questions. I know why. After the boyfriend moved in I got less active and ate more. Snacking on the couch while watching tv, higher calorie dinners. He works a physical job and I work a desk job but my plate would be just as full as his at dinner. What's really bothering me is why I let it go this far.

    I should have starting losing when the first 5 pounds came on, I didn't. I should have done something when that 5 turn to 10 and then to 15. I'm kicking myself that I didn't do anything last year when faced with bumping up to a size 12, but my heavier aunt gave me some hand me downs, some 12 some 14. I thought that was my moment but I just put on the larger clothes and changed nothing. It's amazing how ridiculously I justified my size. (I don't look THAT bad, Bf still thinks I'm sexy, at least I'm not at my heaviest, I will get around to it soon, etc, etc.) Now I can't even fit the 14s and that original 5 is now over 35. But I also know "shoulding" myself isn't gong to take off the weight, only "doing" will.
  • darlingdearlove
    darlingdearlove Posts: 8 Member
    To be real, I'm lazy, I love food too much, don't exercise any willpower and sometimes I care more about indulging than trying to better myself. Or I guess I am so impatient I feel like "Well, I am already this heavy, I have way more to lose, what's another lb?"

    But I'm vowing to stop that, because any lb in the wrong direction is huffing and puffing up the stairs, complications with asthma, another size up, another day I could be miserable. Enough is enough, and it's time to be happy and healthy, and we owe that to ourselves, right?
  • arachnofobia7
    arachnofobia7 Posts: 50 Member
    When I look at pictures I see myself as a chubby baby, chubby toddler, chubby preschool, chubby 7years old, overweight teenager, overweight adult. My mum used to tell me that when I was a baby I just liked eating, also she held a view that as long as the health permits we should eat whatever we fancy (she struggled with cancer and often couldn't eat due to the chemotherapy). Another thing was that the family cooking was very heavy on carbs (including delicious home made cakes) so I was doomed to remain ''chubby''. On top of it all there was presumption that fatty = healthy.
    Therefore I don't know what it feels like to be SLIM!!! I'm pear shaped, so even at times when my waist was relatively small (68cm) my bum and thighs were big.My body seems to cling to the same weight of 73kg no matter what. On the other hand I never let myself to become obese, I wear the same clothes' size for twenty years. I hope that this time round I win this war and see myself looking and feeling better then when I was twenty.
  • pastorcoach
    pastorcoach Posts: 5 Member
    Finished playing professional sports, I was done running. 2 reconstructive ankle surgeries later, I just want to avoid the pain... Snowball, snowball....
  • 3AAnn3
    3AAnn3 Posts: 3,054 Member
    I ate more than my baby was nursing.
  • missjones513
    missjones513 Posts: 345 Member
    Food is comforting and I didn't exercise a lot. I knew nothing about calories.
  • peachyfuzzle
    peachyfuzzle Posts: 1,122 Member
    It started with a breakup, but I maintained decently well for a couple of years since I was really active. After I fell out of my activity though, the pounds crept on, and I didn't realize how big I had got. Even though I knew I was 300+ lbs, I would compare myself against other big people, and think "I'm not all THAT big."

    It took a long time for me to get over that line of thought. Now that I've lost a significant amount of weight, I gasp at how huge I was when I look back at pictures from last year just before my heaviest.
  • shrinkingletters
    shrinkingletters Posts: 1,008 Member
    Was in an abusive relationship (with a gd CHEF, jesus) for three years, during which I had two major losses in my family, my mother had to go on disability, my sibling got very sick, I was laid off from work and unemployed for 8 months....
  • TheBigDirection
    TheBigDirection Posts: 265 Member
    I was an emotional eater...

    Whenever I'd get upset, depressed, stressed, I would eat.

    And I was always upset over my weight, and so I would eat because it made me feel better.

    I was stuck in a never-ending circle.

    In the past few years I lost my mom, grandma, both grandpas, and a friend.

    And I ate...

    I'm now making a big effort to lose the weight and get my life back together. So far I've lost at least 30 pounds, but I still have another 300 to go.
  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
    rachellosesitall85 wrote: »
    My weight directly stems from the sexual abuse I suffered as a child/teen. It's been my security blanket for years and shedding it isn't going to be easy but allowing myself to break free from the claws of abuse is the first step of my journey.

    Thank you for sharing such honesty. Best of luck to you in your healing.

  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
    I overeat when I was younger for emotional reasons, but I was pretty active. However the habit continued into desk-life adulthood. It got worse when I went through major life changes (lost a family member, moved, had kids), and didn't decide to really tackle my issues until 2 years ago. I'm still a work in progress, but most days are good!
  • unrelentingminx
    unrelentingminx Posts: 231 Member
    I've been overweight all my life. My mum didn't have a huge amount of money when I was growing up so every meal was cheap, packaged ready meals and chips. Plus she likes to bake so there was always cakes and biscuits in the house. I was 16st aged 18 and a size 20 (uk). I started experimenting more with food when I left home for uni and have made a lot of progress since but still got a way to go. Currently 13st 7 and nearly into a size 14.
  • Ad_Mare
    Ad_Mare Posts: 5 Member
    I got a desk job and didnt change my eating habits to account for the new lack of movement. (mostly)
  • discretekim
    discretekim Posts: 314 Member
    I fell in love and cohaitated. This is a real issue l

Categories