Why did you get fat?

I'm so sorry you went through that. That kind of loss is certain to manifest in physical and emotional ways and I want to send you some hugs.

Mine is just simple: Because I was athletic in school. When I stopped doing sports but kept eating like I was burning thousands of calories everyday, it started piling on. Gained 10 lbs./year for a decade. Voila! 100+. Of course, along the way, there were realizations, denial, frustration, learning, etc.

I joined MFP in 2011 and lost 80 lbs. Kept it off for a few years and then put it all back on when I stopped being vigilant. Now, I'm back at losing again. This time, for good!

I don't even track calories using MFP anymore (because the database is so screwy) but the social aspect of this site is really beautiful. It's helped me see stories like yours and understand that some people have different reasons for their struggle.

Thanks for sharing it.

@Gozergirl you raise a good question. Clearly the huge painful loss like you experienced can cause some of us to eat more.

My view looking at how I got to a 35 BMI it was environment, physical sickness/pain and emotional pain.

Environment can start at home as a small child due to the type of food and its quantity put in front of us. Later it may just be we find ourselves with mainly carbs in our easy reach due to convenience and low cost.

In my case my physical health issues was a drag on me so I started grabbing a Dr. Pepper and Milky Way candy bar to 'pickup' my energy which caused weight gain so I had to keep doing more and more of it to keep up my energy.

As the arthritis crippled me more and more then the emotional pain of not being able to complete my life plans due to physical limitations became a huge factor in my eating lifestyle.

I am convinced NO fully physically and emotionally healthy person sets out with a overt goal to become obese.

Some say the "WHY" is not a concern but they are wrong. Until we step backwards to see the WHY it is very hard to stop the actions of the pass that are factors in our weight gains.

Just age really. I've put on a stone a decade since my 40's. I am 60 now, so I was 8 and a half stone in my 40's and now 10 and a half stone. I'm not hugely overweight I know, just uncomfortable and my clothes don't fit. I don't want to put on another stone this decade. I developed a craving for chocolate which I still have to fight.

Was running 6 mi/day and swimming 2mi/day, then had a thyroidectomy and transitioned from the military to a cushy civilian life. I felt like I was put on the sidelines and lost some great teammates while I was out and got really low. I still ate like I was in training although I rarely if ever worked out and put on ~75lbs over the past 14 years. I finally was able to grow from this, the final straw being getting my son in scouts and signing up as den leader - I was not going to set a poor example for my den and changed my habits.

For those who have lost loved ones, you have my thoughts and prayers as I simply don't know how I would cope with this.

I gained weight because I felt so lost and unhappy. My weight bounced around for years. I was 219 pounds biking 30 miles a week. I sustained an injury and eventually crept up to 300 pounds. I went overseas and changed. I started tackling all the issues that caused the over eating. I've lost 134 pounds with 10-12 more to go.

Mostly because food is really delicious.

I was lazy. Pure and simple. It was easier to sleep in and not exercise. It was easier for my wife to stop and pick up take-out, fast food, pizza, etc. than it was to plan and prepare meals. Lazy.

I moved out of my parents' house for school (was 155 lbs) and got very lazy. I ate take out, drank too much, lazed around watching this cool new thing at the time called "On Demand TV"... Of course, I also stopped swimming. I let my lifeguard training expire and in hindsight, this was my demise. I let myself go and was always kind of skinny fat with a nice enough booty and big boobs. The cycle kept up - lazy student always eating fast food, add alcohol to that. I got to 225 at my heaviest.

In 2012, I'd been living with my now-husband a few years. We were more food secure and had more time to prep food properly; we overhauled our diet and shopped and cooked. In 2013, I started doing more physical stuff - hikes, bike riding, got back in the pool, started weightlifting. We walk everywhere. My husband loves to run and does many long distance races each year.

In 2013, I started focusing on wedding planning and getting nice and svelte. A month before we got married, I really messed up my ankle. I sprained it very badly; the tibia was bruised inside and some of my tendons broke. I couldn't work out, but I maintained my weight at 180 lbs for a few months. The injury took a long time to heal and I got lazy again, lost motivation and kept devouring food. I was 220 in June. Today, I am 212 and looking forward to losing the pounds again. This time for good!

One thing led to another and the next thing I knew I was 60 and 30
#s over weight. Call this change my mid-life crisis. I want to be young again so I'll try regaining my youthful weight. Cheaper than a Corvette.

I didn't love myself, I let all the bad/horrible things that I could not control, control me and thought I must of done something to deserve it and I was not worth anything or being truly loved. I now chose me and I love me and I now I deserve to me happy and healthy.

I graduated college at 30 and started working for a CPA firm. Basically, I was always very active growing up and involved in all manner of athletics...in college I was still pretty active and didn't own a car so I rode my bike everywhere...when I took a desk job, most of that changed.

I've been heavy for as long as I can remember. Poor food choices, lack of exercise then later in life came stress of my job, focusing on my kids and a divorce. Finally putting myself in my priority list! Oh and I really just love food, lol.

An abusive relationship with (bonus points) a chef, two deaths of people I was very close to, being laid off and then unemployed for 8 months, and the depression that came with all that.

I got fat because of sexual abuse since the age of four and I was raped at age 9. For some reason, I had a target on my back and had a number of abusers. The only way to stop the abuse and also comfort my damaged inner child was to eat and get fat. My fat was my shield. My fat was my protection. Food was my emotional teddy bear.

Don't feel sorry for me. I spent over five years in therapy and have positively dealt with the pain. I love myself now and realize that it's all experiences in life, positive and negative, that make up who we are now. So, this is who I am, accept it or not.

Yep, I'm still overweight. But I'm working on it - and I'm being successful. Even though we've accepted our demons, do they ever go away? Working through the head stuff is never-ending, but with a positive attitude, anything can be accomplished.

I got fat because I ate way too much fast food and never enough at home growing up. I ran cross country in high school for a year and did gymnastics for both my high school (also for a year) and outside of school for 8 years. My weight was normal while doing those. Junior year of high school rolled around and I quit all sports but still had terrible eating habits. Then I moved to college in 2009 and continued with my awful eating habits. I also developed an unhealthy relationship with Starbucks (drank it upwards of 3-4 times a day my last few years of college). I did college gymnastics my first semester, but got hit by a drunk driver on December 4, 2009 and hurt my lower back and right shoulder, so I quit gymnastics. The only form of exercise that I got after that was walking around campus (which is one of the largest in the nation) and when I took 2 PE classes (diet & exercise and walking), even though they were only 50 minutes long and were 2 days a week. Besides that, my excuse for eating terribly was that I was in college majoring in biochemistry/pre-med and had no time and didn't care enough about cooking and eating at home/properly. I also got extremely depressed my sophomore year and was put on anti-depressants. I turned to food every time I was upset and definitely when I was stressed (which was all the time considering I majored in biochem/pre-med).