Why did you let yourself gain so much weight?

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  • SallyJones1985
    SallyJones1985 Posts: 55 Member
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    I comfort eat. Plus I've been sexually assaulted a few times and I think I felt that the more obese and unattractive I became, the less chance there was if it happening again. But then it happened when I was at my biggest (18 stone 11 lbs) and I figured that if it could happen at that weight, it could happen at any. It's been a long long journey for me, but I'm getting there
  • cyberiantigeress
    cyberiantigeress Posts: 30 Member
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    Gave up smoking and didn't have motivation to stop eating. Now though it's been nearly 3 years since. I've lost 10 ks and 10 more to go but December is not a good time lol.
  • starling01
    starling01 Posts: 81 Member
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    Got older, depressed, and ate a lot. I'd been thin my whole life, didn't own a scale, and just somehow didn't believe I'd gotten fat until my doctor weighed me, and the scale said 200 lbs. It was weird - it was like I'd turned into my fat grandmother without noticing. I don't even like food very much. I'd happily take a pill and do away with the whole cooking, eating, cleaning dishes process if I could. Eating didn't help with the depression anyway.
  • Bonny132
    Bonny132 Posts: 3,617 Member
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    I was always very active, after uni I started working and spent less time in the gym. Met my ex partner of 12 years who introduced me to partying, I should have known better but I was young and stupid. Pounds crept on, then woke up one morning, after a really stressful time at work and looked in the mirror... I was so disgusted it pushed me over into depression (I was run down through work and really stressed too) I then ate anything in sight that was not nailed down.

    Yes, that includes half defrosted food, eating so much I would throw up and continue the binge. Needless to say the pounds did now not creep on but I rapidly gained weight.

    After ditching the counselling which made me feel worse, and the happy pills, I took back the control of my life (I do not recommend anyone else trying this btw) and I started making positive changes to my life. I instantly lost 200lbs of "him" ate healthier, but too much alcohol and partying. Then decided I was too old for this, and my journey started for real. 15kg down and counting. So for me it was not one reason why I got fat, but I was the one that stuffed my face with all those calories. Yes I was introduced to a more unhealthy lifestyle, but I should have recognised it for what it was and stayed strong, I should have worked and stressed less. Easy to say now, and I wish I had acted earlier, but I am here now, tackling the issue, one pound at a time.
  • shrcpr
    shrcpr Posts: 885 Member
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    Gained about 30 pounds as a teenager when I spend the summer with my grandma and only ate hot dogs and potato chips. Lost that when I returned home to better eating habits, discovered exercise and kept it off throughout my 20s and 30s. A few years ago life happened and I basically drank myself into gaining those 30 back again. It's been a tough few years of losing/gaining but hoping I can avoid the alcohol enough to lose it for good this time around.
  • percolater
    percolater Posts: 55 Member
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    I quit smoking and told myself I wouldn't worry about weight gain until I was well past the urge to smoke. So I gained 60 pounds in 8 months. I had always been thin and my own family didn't recognize me!

    I then went on a diet and lost it all but it came back as soon as I quit dieting. Thus the yo-yo. I've lost and regained that 60 pounds about ten time now. One time I didn't even count calories, I just quit eating sugar and since sweets make up a big portion of my daily calories, that was enough to lose sixty pounds -- but donuts and pie returned and so did my weight.
  • PhoenyxRose
    PhoenyxRose Posts: 70 Member
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    For me, my weight gain started at age 5. I was taken to the doctor to test for any diseases and whatnot since it was a rather sudden weight gain (according to my mom) and I've been overweight til now, 16 years later. I didn't really know why I was over weight during this period, in my brain it was either I just was or because of my sweet tooth. It wasn't until I was researching childhood obesity for a class this semester and remembering that my mother said her mother died when I was around 5 and that after she had my brother (when I was 4 1/2) that I put the pieces together and realize that at first it wasn't my eating habits that were causing the gain, I was copying my mother' seating habits and poor coping skills. I've also realized my parent's saying of "waste not want not" really screwed with my ability to stop when I'm full and it's been a hard time I training myself from that. Another thing was that by 14 I was already dieting, and doing it wrong. I'd unwittingly done the lemonade diet after deciding I wouldn't eat unless I was hungry and ended up with dehydration and fainting spells because of it and then I tried doing Atkins but could never get past phase 1. After that I just kind of gave up because nothing was working and my health teacher was an idiot and had no idea how to teach nutrition so....

    Tldr; I'm fat because of bad habits from my parents, because high calorie foods are tasty, and because of a lack of knowledge of how to eat healthy and lose weight in a healthy manner. I've now fixed my problems and am on my way to losing weight :)
  • incisron
    incisron Posts: 550 Member
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    Ignorance and love of food. Getting more of my own money + my step mom divorcing my father and leaving = more freedom to eat horribly. My step mom used to cook dinner, dish out the portions herself and keep the snacks under lock and key. My poor daddy had to work and usually brought fast food, frozen entrees and pasta dishes that came in boxes and could be prepared quickly and he wasn't strict about portions. A single chicken pot pie from Marie Callenders = 1,000 calories. He'd buy me two whopper jrs from Burger King, fries and a medium shake from Burger King, or a big chili cheese burrito, two tacos and a big soft drink from Taco Bell, or let us fix our own big plates of pasta Helpers. When he was away, there were packages of Oreos, big boxes of big creme pies and fudge rounds, ice cream, big tubs of powdered drink and sugar and when I wasn't starving myself in a desperate attempt to lose weight, or buying packages of junk and eating them, skipping the "real food" and thinking I'd lose weight that way, I was stuffing my face. I went from being a normal to chubby kid to being quite heavy, then moved to moms, gave up for years and gorged on the delicious dinners there.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Because I love food, and didn't mind being fat. It didn't affect my health so I was alright with it. Once it started affecting my health I knew it was time to take action.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    I was lazy and piled it on slowly. So slowly i didn't even realize it.

    I saw a picture of myself one day and was SHOCKED at how i looked. I didn't even recognize myself. I weighed myself and realized i had gained 35 pounds over the course of 3-4 years. I am not even kidding when i say i didn't realize it.

    I also thought i didn't eat *too* bad. I was wrong. First day logged i ate like 2,800 calories. :open_mouth:
  • samlovesthesnow
    samlovesthesnow Posts: 173 Member
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    I echo the above - I was in complete denial. I just didn't notice how much bigger I was!
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    I've never been overweight but I was actively anorexic for a long time. I was anorexic binge/ purge ( not vomit purge exercise) and for a long time I'd starve myself all week and binge badly all weekend so I wasn't underweight (actually was about bmi 24) until I was so depressed and disgusted with myself that I stopped binging as regularly ( bad one every few months) and dropped weight quickly until I was bmi 15.4. Thank goodness I went through inpatient and day hospital programs and am behaviourally in recovery (though I think I am gross at my current bmi of 21)
  • rswick89
    rswick89 Posts: 8 Member
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    I gained 120 lbs--more than my previous pregnancy weight-- my first pregnancy (I was eating healthy and light exercise),even though it was a medical reason I felt defeated. I only lost 40 of it, and became depressed. I focused on accepting myself vs. Trying to lose weight. Second baby I gained 60 lbs, and lost 30 of it. That was 6 months ago. Two weeks ago I decided I was done being fat and wanted to drop 100 lbs to get to a healthy weight. I'm only 5 lbs down but it's a start.
  • ultrahoon
    ultrahoon Posts: 467 Member
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    Personally, it was because I loved food and stopped caring about myself for a long time, I feel into a dark spiral of depression and eventually got diagnosed as bi-polar. I let my gut get out of control, my teeth go bad, my relationships with people sour, the whole 9 yards. I first noticed I was a bit fat a good 3-4 years before I did anything about it. Most people gain it nice and slow, then all of a sudden they realise it one day looking in the mirror / at an old photo of themselves.
  • Pawsforme
    Pawsforme Posts: 645 Member
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    My thyroid conked out.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    For me I think it was just so gradual it went unnoticed plus laziness.

    Like if I go from the earliest weight I can remember to my highest weight it averages out to be like an extra 125 calories a day.

    There was never a year where I suddenly gained 20kg or anything like that.
  • momoftwins985
    momoftwins985 Posts: 653 Member
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    Undiagnosed hypothyroidism at first. But I got bigger even after proper medication, so I can't fully blame my thyroid. Some was the fact that I was in denial, some post partum depression. I used breastfeeding twins as an excuse not to lose weight since I was scared of my already low supply getting lower. Couldn't go to a gym since my twins had separation anxiety. Really just a bunch of excuses that piled on one after another. I believed that they were legitimate and believed that I just would always be fat.
  • BurnWithBarn2015
    BurnWithBarn2015 Posts: 1,026 Member
    edited December 2015
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    Any excuse you can think of. ( i have used/abused them all)

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  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
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    There are lots of reasons I started overeating when I was young, because I used food to deal with my emotions. However, in the end, I was hiding my head in the sand and in denial about not only how big I was but about my own role in using the food since I no longer needed it to cope after a certain point. It had just become a bad habit I needed to kick. By that point, it was pretty much what juggernaut said. It was delicious, and I was lazy.
  • RetroPolkaDot
    RetroPolkaDot Posts: 83 Member
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    I was thin as a child and was always outside being active. By the time middle school and high school hit I was the only one my age in the neighborhood and I had quit riding my bike for hours after school. I ate for comfort because I was lonely. I didn't have any friends in school and just drifted by as if invisible. I lost a bunch of weight when I first went to college but I gained it all back plus some when I struggled with a medical issue and related depression. I gained even more after a close relative died. It had creeped up so slowly that I hadn't really realized just how overweight I had become until I saw some pictures of myself.

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