Success after being overweight since childhood?

KerryITD · January 2016

thank you all for your stories--I really needed them today!

ElvenToad · January 2016

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

ald783 · January 2016

I was overweight as a child (probably starting around 3rd grade), lost weight in high school, then gained a LOT of weight in the last couple years of college and law school, then lost it in the 3.5 years after that. Weight and health is always ongoing so I don't like the term "success" necessarily but I think after doing this and tracking for the past 7 years and keeping the weight I lost (115 lbs) off for the past 3.5, I at least feel like I have incorporated healthy eating and exercise habits into my life.

When I was younger and I would yo yo constantly and diet and lose and gain weight, I never really did anything in moderation. It was always trying to be extremely perfect and healthy and eating as little as possible, and then going to the other extreme. I think there is something boring and unglamorous about making small, sustainable changes and losing weight slowly, but I think that is the only reason I have been at it this long. It can be difficult to reprogram your brain after years of bad eating habits but it can certainly be done. Just be patient and incorporate small changes and you will get there!

Smokey705 · January 2016

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.

shadowconn · January 2016

My sister succeeded at this. She was a fat baby, fat child, fat teenager. Somewhere in high school, she got sick of it and started running cross country and doing other things. It took her about 10 years to get the body she wanted. She is still constantly tweaking it, and it's been prolly 15 years since she started. I should slso say she still has to be very vigilant. She likes to eat, and she pretty much refuses to diet, so her weight is maintained by copious amounts of extreme exercise. Marathons, ultra marathons and crossfit.

try2again · January 2016

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.

marise51 · January 2016

sunshynes_ wrote: »

I've been "the chubby one" (at the least) since as early as I can remember--have always been overweight to one degree or another. I went all through primary, junior high, high school & college having to shop specialty sizes. My highest recorded weight was 260...may have been higher, but that's my "official" number from the scale when I decided it was time to change my life. At that weight I had high blood pressure, asthma, reflux, sleep issues, racing heartbeat with minimal activity (like even getting out of bed in the morning) & a number of other health problems, & was on medication for most of these issues. My BMI was over 47, well past the morbid obesity category into obesity class III.

March of 2014 I decided that it was time to take control of my life & change it for the better while I could. I was clueless about actual portion sizes/portion control, so started out with Weight Watchers. While on their Points+ plan, I steadily lost 1-2 pounds per week. I remained with that program for a bit, until I felt I had a handle on the portion sizes I actually should be eating, then unsubscribed from it & found MFP. Have been logging my food/exercise here & finding great support in the message boards since.

For me, learning to monitor *why* I was eating was almost as important as watching what & how much I ate--discovered that I often go to food out of boredom or stress. Learning other (better!) ways to deal with that was huge for me. I also do some sort of activity most every day, usually walking or resistance training.

Over the course of the last 22 months, I have lost 106 pounds (current), dropped my BMI by over 19 points, stopped all meds for BP, asthma, & reflux. I've gone from a (tight!) size 22 to a 10 or 12. All this by someone in their mid-40s, who has been overweight their entire life. There have been plateaus, weeks of gained weight, & moments of wondering if the work is worth it (spoiler alert: it is!).

It CAN be done!

Wow great transformation and wonderful words of advice.

marise51 · January 2016

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.

malibu927 · January 2016

I was always the big girl in school. Born to obese parents who didn't teach me portion size/nutrition and didn't care much even when illnesses kicked in (my dad was diagnosed with T2D at 42, my mom has high blood pressure and severe arthritis in her knees). Weighed over 200 pounds by the time I graduated from high school. At 32 two years ago, I decided to do something about that...248 pounds down to 186 in fifteen months, which put me into overweight rather than obese.

I'm at 213 now because the second half of the year was majorly stressful and I turned back to my old habits, but I'm determined to make it farther. And I've inspired my parents in that we're hopefully purchasing a treadmill for all three of us to use.

emamun · January 2016

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!

Lourdesong · January 2016

Overweight or obese always. I graduated from high school at around 280-ish. About a year later I dropped 120-ish pounds in 6 months on a stupid diet consisting of diet shakes and cans of soup. Put the weight back on once I started eating (and partying) "normally" again.
I had a little success years later with low-carb but not a lot, maybe 40 lbs lost over the course of a year, then put it back on as well.
Most of my dieting-life was crash dieting, though, even from childhood, trying to correct for very indulgent behavior with severe restriction of food which I couldn't stick to for very long and would binge and/or give up.

I'm 159 now, from 287 my highest known weight ever, using MFP for coming up on 2 years in May. The main differences between this time and all the times before is I feel like I actually understand weight loss and how to achieve it this time, and that it doesn't have to be some nightmarish torturous thing. Before I did a lot of winging it, not really understanding what I was doing or why. I always knew the reason I was overweight/obese was because I consumed too much, but I didn't really know how to correct for that, I always assumed losing weight isn't possible without going to extremes and suffering.

But knowing and doing are very different things, and I don't think I'm so special that a pregnancy or getting too comfortable after a couple years or whatever life event that might throw a wrench in my routine could make it where I lose focus and start to tolerate weight gain because I'd rather eat more than eat a little less. Who knows. But having some kind of fitness goal in sight even after reaching my weight loss goals is my strategy for keeping focus. And trying to maintain my ever-growing aversion over the last few years for denial and lying and excuses and victim-playing.

Elliewebber · January 2016

Hi

my story isn't quite as impressive as some of the others on here but I've struggled with my weight my whole life too. I've always weighed my age in stone since I was a bout 4 so when I weighed myself on my 16th birthday and realised I'd hit 16stone (216lb) I realised I had to do something. I started logging on here and quite quickly lost 4stone (around 6months) to get me to 168lb but life got in the way and I stopped logging for three years. Now I'm back aged 19 and luckily I had only put on around 25lb. Been back for a few months and I'm back down to 176lb and so happy with myself

20lb to go so the light at the end of the tunnel is visible !!!
Unfortunately I will always have to watch what I eat because I think being big from a child your brain and body is so used to it that it very quickly reverts back to wanting lots of food X

BreakthroughThisLifeTime · January 2016

THANK YOU ALL FOR SHARING.....I NEEDED THIS INSPIRATION!!!!!!!!!! YOU ALL LOOK FANTASTIC.....KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!

KatrinaLawrence · January 2016

Okay, so I don't know how old I am in the first photograph or how much I weighed, but I asked my mother and she told me I was 7 - 8 when I started putting on more weight than was healthy. The second photo is me in high school, again I don't know age or weight sorry. The third one is me at the beginning of this year, about 135kg. The last was taken Christmas day at around 80kg. I am only 21, but I have been obese for most of my life, and now I'm not.

Keep on keeping on guys, I know it's hard to change lifetime habits, but it's worth a try! Only 16 kg to goal weight. ^_^

camilledaisy · January 2016

Thank you all so much for sharing your stories! I've been overweight- actually obese all my life and at 43 had started to come to the conclusion that I couldn't change. After reading this thread I am feeling hopeful that with persistence and patience I can actually achive a healthy weight.

neldabg · January 2016

Hi! It's good to read about your decision to commit. I myself am down 60 lbs from my highest recorded weight, and I have been overweight all my life, hitting stage one obesity when I reached my mid-teens.
I realized that being overweight is what comes naturally to me. People mean well when they preach about instinctual eating, but just listening to my body isn't enough because it truly is difficult for me to know when to stop eating. Therefore, keeping a food diary and a portfolio of my progress in exercise is crucial to my success. I've learned to embrace the idea that there is no one correct way of eating and that as long as it doesn't harm/hinder me, a life of monitoring what I consume is perfectly fine and doable.
At the end of the day, you must do what works for you, but personally, I had to view health as one of the things I HAVE to do. I HAVE to shower, brush my teeth, go to school, etc. daily, and now, I've added exercise and hitting my macro goals into the mix. Seven months later, my healthy weight and lifestyle are just another part of my life now. Motivation will only take you so far; habit and commitment will carry you through for life.

BradenTraub · January 2016

Check out my success story. I've struggled with my weight since elementary school. Even as a young child (9/10/11 years old etc), I felt VERY strong embarrassment over my weight.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10315070/24-years-old-lost-120-lbs-and-never-been-happier/p1

Meganthedogmom · January 2016

I've been overweight/obese ever since I can remember. I can't recall a time I didn't at least have a belly. Overweight as a young child, and probably obese by 8 years old.

Both of my parents are obese. Nearly every picture I see in photo albums of myself as a child I have some kind of candy/soda/ice cream/food in my hand. I've gone on diets both as a kid, with my mom, and several times as a teenager and young adult. Nothing ever stuck until recent years.

My highest recorded weight was 251 (I'm 5'3"). I've lost 85 pounds and would like to lose 25 more. This is the smallest I have ever been my adult life and it feels great! Even as a teenager I was wearing a size 16 jeans (currently wearing a size 10/12)

airangel59 · January 2016

It's do-able..one day, one pound, one step at a time and stick with it. We didn't put all the weight on overnight so it's not just going to come off overnight.

Check out this forum for support with others going thru the same journey : http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3322-100-pounds-with-no-surgery

Success after being overweight since childhood?

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