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How did you gain your weight in the first place?

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Replies

  • markiend
    markiend Posts: 461 Member
    ate the same amount but sat around too much
  • NikiChicken
    NikiChicken Posts: 576 Member
    Many reasons, but the biggest was probably because I just gave up.

    I was always overweight - from the time I was a very small child - and I just kept getting more and more overweight/obese as I aged. I had tried to lose weight many times and had limited success, but I never really learned that you don't have to quit eating all your favorite foods and exercise like crazy to be successful, so I would crash diet, lose 10, 20 even 50 pounds, then burn out and gain everything, plus more, back. I had gotten to the point where I had convinced myself that that it was just how my body was and there was no point trying to change it and once I got to that point, it was easy to just keep gaining.

    I never had a real "Ah Ha" moment to start my weight loss though. One day, I started planning a vacation that was going to require a lot of walking and I realized I couldn't walk a block without being in pain and out of breath. I decided to start walking every day at lunch until my vacation so I could at least maybe enjoy the vacation. I started walking every day and after about a week of that, I decided that since I was walking, maybe I should track my food intake as well and just pay attention to actual portion sizes and how much I was eating. After I lost 20 pounds doing that, THAT is when it dawned on me that I could change things without making myself completely miserable.
  • MrsSylvie
    MrsSylvie Posts: 301 Member
    up till around july of this year, i basically blamed my gaining weight the last few years on my not very active lifestyle, my food choices and eating one big meal instead of eating more regularly throughout the day.....turns out the major culprit was the 870 calories i was consuming everyday just with my must have four big mugs of sugared milk coffee!
    it was really an eye opener for not once did i ever consider my coffee drinking as the reason for my weight gain. needless to say getting rid of my sugar coffee addiction and logging everything into mfp, has made it pretty easy to lose weight now.
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
    Beer, beer, too much fattening food, and did I mention beer?
  • jbuzzed
    jbuzzed Posts: 10,172 Member
    Boredom and way too large portions.
  • klund13
    klund13 Posts: 98 Member
    Unfortunately my parents did not teach me good eating habits as a child. Then I became a teenage mother and wife which led to a bout of depression and me eating my feelings. Then I had 3 more children in a span of about 8 years. During that time I consumed way too much pizza, chinese food, and Dr. Pepper putting me about 80 pounds overweight. I have lost 40 so far, so I am halfway there!
  • RobynLB83
    RobynLB83 Posts: 626 Member
    Binge eating chocolate by the lb.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    If I wanted to eat something, I just ate it.. didn't matter what it was, if I was hungry or not, etc, etc. And I ate huge portions of stuff.
  • doesthisappmakemelookfat
    doesthisappmakemelookfat Posts: 103 Member
    I wish I could click on these and reply right underneath. (are you reading that MFP?). Thanks for the input. Keep'em coming. Very interesting. Boredom seems to be a biggy....
  • kdz526
    kdz526 Posts: 210 Member
    My family tends to be on the larger size. Every holiday or get together there is a TON of yummy food. As a kid, i was chunky but not way over weight, and as a young adult I just ate whatever and did not think twice about it. College is where I really packed on the pounds. Beer, late night munchies with friends, beer, eatting whatever crap I could get (cheap food can have alot of calories). I do find that when I am celebrating, its food related rewards, when I am upset or stressed, its food related soothing. Finding what triggers the mindless munching and diverting myself from that to something else helps. The knowledge of how many calories are actually in something, dissuades me from partaking now, which before I had a IDGF attitude, I want it, i shall have it.
    I knew I was over weight, but untill i actually put forth the effort to gain the knowledge of how over weight I was, and what I could do about it, it did not click in my head. The internet and apps are wonderful tools.
  • cbnorris
    cbnorris Posts: 204 Member
    just eating what I wanted when I wanted and not exercising. I'd say after I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had my thyroid removed it seemed to pile on even more.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    It went something like this
    Oh, hi food!
    OMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM
    Bye, food.

    In all seriousness, though.... Lots (and lots and lots) of emotional binge eating, and the whole "I've put on xx amount of weight" (proceeds to eat the fridge). Also, I would go days eating only 400-600 cals, then binge a few days later... *shudder*

    I had the whole salty-sweet-salty-sweet-salty cycle going on. I was eating at maintenance for me at 230lbs....

    Now I do IIFYM and CICO.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I graduated college at 30 and took a job that was primarily at a desk and involved 12 hour days on average and about 25 weeks of travel per year.

    prior to that, I was always a pretty active person. I was an athlete growing up and even though I didn't participate in sport in college or do any deliberate gym going, I was still pretty active...ultimate Frisbee with the guys, Frisbee golf, hiking and backpacking in the mountains, and I didn't own a car for most of that time so I walked and biked everywhere.

    getting a job after school changed all of that.
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    There were 2x I gained weight. 1st time I was relocated for work and lived off a per diem. Fast food and eating every meal out for 2 months.
    The other time was when I stopped working out regularly but kept eating the same.
  • Bj0223
    Bj0223 Posts: 133 Member
    married a military man and moved around a lot. I gained 15-20 pounds at every new base. I didn't know anyone and didn't get out much. I would say emotional eating, I missed my family and friends. 18 years later I found myself 80 pounds overweight.

    However the last two years I have logged my food and added exercise and have lost almost 70 pounds!

    Husband is 2 years from retirement and we are staying put in Tucson :)
  • brenn24179
    brenn24179 Posts: 2,144 Member
    neglectful parents, emotional eating when overtired or stressed at work. Food is like a drug to me like alcohol to an alcoholic, easier to eat than cope. Now trying to count calories and deal more with life, face it rather than run away and eat, run to the gym instead or some other exercise.
  • ckfox95
    ckfox95 Posts: 73 Member
    Honestly, I was so bad. I ate too much of whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Lots of eating out, lots of fried foods, beer, chocolate,etc. I would sit down in front of the TV and snack all day long.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    I became less active but didn't adjust my food intake downward when I was in my early-mid 20s. At a certain point I lost weight and then when I was very close to a healthy weight got pregnant. As much as I didn't like being fat, I wasn't uncomfortable enough to make any changes for a few years after that.
  • Devol82
    Devol82 Posts: 80 Member
    Stopped being single lol then it was dates out to eat all the time, that started it, now when I am bored at work or tired I want to eat/snack all day, so I am working on fixing that issue.
  • devilwhiterose
    devilwhiterose Posts: 1,157 Member
    My grandma died when I was around 17. I ate an XXL bag of m&ms in one day. That was my gateway drug. M&Ms.

    From then on, it was cheetos and mountain dew. Add college and Monster energy drinks with a poor diet from working and going to school. Sprinkle in stress of work, a boyfriend, and never being home.

    Move across the country with your spouse and those extra 20 pounds and end up having 2 pregnancies in 2 years (one of those being twins). Throw in having your combat military husband deploy 3 times in 4 years while raising 3 kids under three and working a fulltime job. Said spouse gets out of the military and has adaptation issues. Time goes by and the daily life is just one big balancing act.

    I gained my weight from overeating, eating poorly, and stress.

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