Success after being overweight since childhood?

I'm interested in hearing this too

I've been packing on the weight since my grandmother passed away on my birthday when I was 11. I'm 33 now. I'm only 5'2 and my highest weight in 2013 was 211.6 lbs. That's when I began losing weight. I too have had bloodwork and all of my numbers have been in normal to upper normal ranges. I started June 2013 to lose weight. I reached 155 lbs (so, 56 lbs lost) the beginning of May 2014 when (as planned) I became pregnant with my second child. I continued using MFP to log my foods and help me gain a healthy amount of weight for my BMI. I gained 24.6 lbs with her and delivered January 2015. I've since gone on to lose that pregnancy weight and am currently 134.8 lbs. I hit a "Normal BMI" last month and maintained pretty much all month (holiday indulgences) and have worked that all off. I'm not at goal yet, (somewhere between 110-115) but I don't doubt I'll get there. Probably will hit it this year too.

Here!

I've been overweight/obese since I was a child. I've never been at a healthy weight, never worn clothing that wasn't plus sized. Even in middle school my mom had to make all my clothes because shopping was a nightmare. I am 33 years old now, and I knew it was time for change after a lifetime of horrid eating habits.

My mentality was always that I thought I was too far gone already, and what was the point? I'd rather just sit on the couch and stuff my face, that's easy to do. It was comforting to do. It was all I wanted to do. I would eat massive quantities of food, feel super stuffed, and then get mad that I had to wait to eat more. This was how I lived my life, everyday. That emotional bond I had with food was more important to me than anything. It was my stress reliever, my feel good pick me up, my best friend. I found happiness in food that I was missing in other parts of my life. It was a cycle, I felt trapped, hopeless. I thought dieting was punishment, and that starving myself was the only way to lose weight. I knew food made me happy, but I knew the physical consequences of my eating habits made me miserable. I was desperate for change for a long time, and because of that I felt sorry for myself. I was stuck, it was eat what I want and just keep getting bigger, or eat "diet" food to lose weight. That was always torture for me and I always went back to my old ways.

I was tired of living my life this way. I was exhausted just doing daily chores around the house, my feet hurt if I stood up for more than 10 minutes at a time. I was just miserable. Feb 28th 2014. This day was not like any other day, it was the day I stopped feeling sorry for myself and decided I was going to break free. I didn't know how exactly, but I thought I would try calorie counting and see if that would help me. I actually considered paying for weight watchers that day, after a bit of googling "calorie counting". Weight watchers didn't give me any info without a credit card so I kept going down the list of search results. Myfitnesspal... hmm.. this is free? I signed up, spent the entire day reading the resources, forums, and trying to educate myself on weight loss. I knew nothing about nutrition, never paid attention to calories a day in my life. I made a plan, decided that no matter what I was going to commit to it. I made some friends, found all the nice stickies, I learned a lot.

I went into this process cold turkey, just jumped in head first and stuck to my calorie goal. I wanted to lose weight MORE than I wanted to continue along the path that I was on so I sucked it up so to speak. I put myself on a set eating schedule, that worked really well for me. I learned that it was ok to feel a little hungry between meals and snacks. A few weeks later I bought myself a food scale, and a Fitbit zip. Logged everything to the best of my ability. Bought a nice insulated water bottle, that goes with me everywhere. The weight started coming off! I CAN DO THIS!

Once I got my intake down and felt comfortable with the amount of food I was eating I then started to try new recipes and look for foods that had better macros yet were still tasty and satisfying. Once I found meals and snacks that I knew would be sustainable for me it made things so much easier. I learned that losing weight doesn't have to be torture, you can still eat the foods you enjoy if you eat them in moderation. I still eat out once a week, and I just adjust accordingly. If unplanned foods or treats find their way to me, I just shift my day around to make room for them, or if I don't think they are worth the calories I just don't eat them. I've learned how to balance everything, and I no longer feel emotionally attached to food. Treats are wonderful, I make sure to have one every week but they are not the main staple of my diet anymore.

My plans now are to continue losing weight, get to a healthy body fat % somewhere around 130lbs. I'm hoping to be there within the next 6-7 months. Learn how to maintain once I get to goal, and just keep on weighing and logging my food. Being more active and eating healthy feels good. For the first year I had to talk myself into my daily workout.. now I just get up and do it without even giving it much thought. This is a part of me now, there is no going back ever! I feel like I've conquered my disordered eating habits, I don't like that overly stuffed feeling anymore. I can tell the difference between true hunger, and boredom hunger now. I definitely don't think I would have been as successful without my food scale and my fitbit, they are invaluable to me. Calorie counting works! I still have a way to go to get to my goal weight, the smaller you get the slower the process but I feel amazing!


5'4 starting weight 268lbs, size 22. Current 144lbs, size 4. -124lbs in the 680 days I've been logging on mfp.
Need to update my progress photos as I've lost more, but these are my most recent.

I've lost 90 pounds, with 20 more to go. Now I weigh about what I did in junior high, and feel fantastic!

The key to success will be understanding that this isn't a diet, it's a change in your relationship with food and fitness that will be for the rest of your life.

I've been overweight from probably the age of 6 until my current age of 22.
I weighed about 260 lbs when I was 15 and put on 100 lbs in a year. Over time I maintained that gain and put on even more weight. My highest recorded weight was 383lbs but there was definitely a time when I was more than that.

I started making very small changes (stopped drinking pop and started drinking water, cut out certain fast food I couldn't eat in moderation) and lost about 20-30lbs in 9 months without trying.

Then I buckled down last February and I'm currently 259lbs. So about 125lbs down from my highest weight and almost 100lbs down in a year.

It's possible. I still have a really long way to go, but I'm committed to this. I couldn't keep living the way I was. You need to find your ultimate motivation and use that to help you get through the hard times.

I was an overweight child; I was about 200lbs at 15 (and about 5 feet tall). I lost weight on my own when I was in highschool through small dietary changes and increased activity (cutting out soda/light jogging). When I left home for college, I lost significantly more weight and weighed about 125 when I graduated from college. 14 years and 2 kids later, I weigh around 125 still, but am actually a smaller size (thanks to a heavy lifting program) than when I graduated from college.

I realized that I had learned bad habits from overweight/unhealthy parents. I read a lot about nutrition and exercise (borrowed materials from the library), and just incorporated SMALL lifestyle changes one at a time. It took a couple of years to lose the weight initially, but the lifestyle changes took. Even at 35 years old, you still have time to make small, manageable changes.

I don't have any adolescent pictures of me but i've always been heavy.. my story is posted here : community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10277427/im-not-done-yet-pic-heavy/p1

Growing up, I was always bigger/taller than the other kids. It didn't affect me socially or was a problem at all however.

My weight would fluctuate. I look at old photos and one year I would be close to a normal weight and the next year I would be chubby or slightly overweight. Then the next year I would be close to normal again.

I was the only overweight person in my family. That kind of sucked, but no one made fun of me or said anything about it. Most of my life I used food as comfort and wasn't active. Plus I used to keep up eating like my very athletic bigger/taller brothers. No one told me to eat less and those habits followed me into adulthood.

I lost a lot of weight without trying at the end of high school/beginning of university. Once I got into my career the weight slowly came on and I never got back near normal weight. Years later I became obese.

Worked my butt off to get the weight off in my mid-30's. Now I'm the smallest I've ever been as an adult and in the best shape of my life at almost 40. Feels really good!!! People from my past don't even recognize me.

What worked for me was digging deep and working with my relationship with food, getting active and staying consistent.

Hi all. I was an overweight child, then an overweight teen and then adult. My mum always told me as a child that I just had 'puppy fat' and that I would slim down as I grew. I was in adult trousers by the time I was 11 due to my size and height.
At age 16 I weighed 16 st (224 lbs) and was a UK size 18. At Aged 18 I went up to a size 20 (my largest).
I yo-yoed a lot in my 20s but always stayed around the 15 st and size 16 mark.
I joined MFP in November 2014 as a size 16 and weighing 210 lb. Today at 32 and 5'9'', I am a size 12, currently 175 lbs (although I still want to get that down a little more) and have reduced my BMI from 35 ('obese') to 25 (top end of 'ideal').
I have never been a size 12 before as an adult and always thought it was an unobtainable size for me. But it wasn't, I'm there, and I'm now working on reducing my body fat weight by strength training to build muscle instead.

ElvenToad wrote: »

Here!

I've been overweight/obese since I was a child. I've never been at a healthy weight, never worn clothing that wasn't plus sized. Even in middle school my mom had to make all my clothes because shopping was a nightmare. I am 33 years old now, and I knew it was time for change after a lifetime of horrid eating habits.

My mentality was always that I thought I was too far gone already, and what was the point? I'd rather just sit on the couch and stuff my face, that's easy to do. It was comforting to do. It was all I wanted to do. I would eat massive quantities of food, feel super stuffed, and then get mad that I had to wait to eat more. This was how I lived my life, everyday. That emotional bond I had with food was more important to me than anything. It was my stress reliever, my feel good pick me up, my best friend. I found happiness in food that I was missing in other parts of my life. It was a cycle, I felt trapped, hopeless. I thought dieting was punishment, and that starving myself was the only way to lose weight. I knew food made me happy, but I knew the physical consequences of my eating habits made me miserable. I was desperate for change for a long time, and because of that I felt sorry for myself. I was stuck, it was eat what I want and just keep getting bigger, or eat "diet" food to lose weight. That was always torture for me and I always went back to my old ways.

I was tired of living my life this way. I was exhausted just doing daily chores around the house, my feet hurt if I stood up for more than 10 minutes at a time. I was just miserable. Feb 28th 2014. This day was not like any other day, it was the day I stopped feeling sorry for myself and decided I was going to break free. I didn't know how exactly, but I thought I would try calorie counting and see if that would help me. I actually considered paying for weight watchers that day, after a bit of googling "calorie counting". Weight watchers didn't give me any info without a credit card so I kept going down the list of search results. Myfitnesspal... hmm.. this is free? I signed up, spent the entire day reading the resources, forums, and trying to educate myself on weight loss. I knew nothing about nutrition, never paid attention to calories a day in my life. I made a plan, decided that no matter what I was going to commit to it. I made some friends, found all the nice stickies, I learned a lot.

I went into this process cold turkey, just jumped in head first and stuck to my calorie goal. I wanted to lose weight MORE than I wanted to continue along the path that I was on so I sucked it up so to speak. I put myself on a set eating schedule, that worked really well for me. I learned that it was ok to feel a little hungry between meals and snacks. A few weeks later I bought myself a food scale, and a Fitbit zip. Logged everything to the best of my ability. Bought a nice insulated water bottle, that goes with me everywhere. The weight started coming off! I CAN DO THIS!

Once I got my intake down and felt comfortable with the amount of food I was eating I then started to try new recipes and look for foods that had better macros yet were still tasty and satisfying. Once I found meals and snacks that I knew would be sustainable for me it made things so much easier. I learned that losing weight doesn't have to be torture, you can still eat the foods you enjoy if you eat them in moderation. I still eat out once a week, and I just adjust accordingly. If unplanned foods or treats find their way to me, I just shift my day around to make room for them, or if I don't think they are worth the calories I just don't eat them. I've learned how to balance everything, and I no longer feel emotionally attached to food. Treats are wonderful, I make sure to have one every week but they are not the main staple of my diet anymore.

My plans now are to continue losing weight, get to a healthy body fat % somewhere around 130lbs. I'm hoping to be there within the next 6-7 months. Learn how to maintain once I get to goal, and just keep on weighing and logging my food. Being more active and eating healthy feels good. For the first year I had to talk myself into my daily workout.. now I just get up and do it without even giving it much thought. This is a part of me now, there is no going back ever! I feel like I've conquered my disordered eating habits, I don't like that overly stuffed feeling anymore. I can tell the difference between true hunger, and boredom hunger now. I definitely don't think I would have been as successful without my food scale and my fitbit, they are invaluable to me. Calorie counting works! I still have a way to go to get to my goal weight, the smaller you get the slower the process but I feel amazing!

What I take away from this is that it's really no different whether you've been overweight your whole life or became heavy as an adult, because the entire description fits me word for word! Under different circumstances, I probably would have been an overweight child too, because the way I thought & the behaviors were the same, I just had an involved parent monitoring what I ate. Your example will help so many people- you should be so proud! (and you look great )

Thank you! Just getting control finally is so freeing, and to know that I was capable of doing it so much sooner I just didn't know how.

I had an involved parent monitoring what I ate too. My mother was a single parent and once she realized what was going on (babysitter was a feeder) she tried so hard to stop my weight gain but by then it was too late. I was an overweight four year old with a newfound taste for cookies, ice cream, and various other sweets that mom had never had around me before. I wanted more, more more. Mom moved us away, she tried all sorts of methods with me, watched me like a hawk but I learned to be sneaky, and the older I got, the more sneaky. I wanted to good stuff and no one was going to stop me.

Without going into all the details, it was bad. I've read other people's stories about food hording and gorging and its pretty much the same so I know I'm not alone. It IS possible to break the cycle though and I hope that if anyone relates and feels trapped by their eating habits they will see that there is a way out. I dug deep, pulled out a big old can of willpower, determination, and a family sized bag of consistency

KathyApplebaum wrote: »

I've lost 90 pounds, with 20 more to go. Now I weigh about what I did in junior high, and feel fantastic!

The key to success will be understanding that this isn't a diet, it's a change in your relationship with food and fitness that will be for the rest of your life.

I totally agree you have to Change the relationship you have with food and your body.

ElvenToad wrote: »

Thank you! Just getting control finally is so freeing, and to know that I was capable of doing it so much sooner I just didn't know how.

I had an involved parent monitoring what I ate too. My mother was a single parent and once she realized what was going on (babysitter was a feeder) she tried so hard to stop my weight gain but by then it was too late. I was an overweight four year old with a newfound taste for cookies, ice cream, and various other sweets that mom had never had around me before. I wanted more, more more. Mom moved us away, she tried all sorts of methods with me, watched me like a hawk but I learned to be sneaky, and the older I got, the more sneaky. I wanted to good stuff and no one was going to stop me.

I remember this. When my mom was out the door, I was in her secret candy bar stash or in the jar of peanut butter! I remember drinking pancake syrup once! But I played outside a lot and always had long walks to school, so my weight was never a problem until I was out of the house. But regardless of how we got to that point, the process of changing our patterns is basically the same.

Smokey705 wrote: »

KathyApplebaum wrote: »

I've lost 90 pounds, with 20 more to go. Now I weigh about what I did in junior high, and feel fantastic!

The key to success will be understanding that this isn't a diet, it's a change in your relationship with food and fitness that will be for the rest of your life.

I totally agree you have to Change the relationship you have with food and your body.

It's like saying god bye to your best friend for me.

This is such a great thread! Those of you who have posted stories have done so well -- and those with photos are amazing! I love looking at success photos because it shows me i can do it!

I have always been overweight, as has my whole family. About 8 years ago (2007) I was 265 lbs and started eating better and working out because i wanted to lose the weight before I had a baby. I was down to 206 when i got pregnant in early 2008 and gained back all of the weight despite working out three times/wk until 37 weeks pregnant. After baby I lost some weight, but stayed at about 230 lbs.

Just before my baby turned 2 (2011), I started back on the fitness train determined to get fit so I could be a healthy mom. I had lost about 7 lbs when we found out she had brain cancer. I tried to keep myself in check and track my food in MFP for a few weeks, but it was something i just couldn't do given all of my other, much more important priorities during that time.

Fast forward to 2013 and I am back at it, losing weight and feeling good back around 210. And what happens when i look/feel good? My husband is all over me, and then I'm PG again ... a month after we find out our kiddo's tumor is growing again. I'm pregnant, she's on chemo, and food/fitness are not my priorities. Then I fall and dislocate my pelvis in month 8 of my pregnancy and i can't walk - awesome!

In May 2015, just after kiddo 2 turned 1, I told myself i had to start again. It wasn't easy, especially with two kids and weekly PT appointments, but I'm doing it! This time I was 270 when I started and 8 months later I am at 213. I don't eat super healthy or nutritious food, but i stay within my goal amount of calories each day and have a 12k step average (fitbit + mfp runs my life). I am wearing the same size now that i wore in high school and hope to stick with it long enough to get to my goal of 190 lbs.

Thanks again for sharing your stories!! It's so encouraging to me!