What age did you start struggling with weight?

jgramkee wrote: »

I was 32 when I started having weight issues. I was trying to get pregnant and had to take a lot of fertility medication. The medication messed with my hormones and did a number on me. I had gained 60 lbs. and it has been a struggle to get the weight off. 5 years later I am still working at it. It has brought on a lot of depression and self struggle. I have never been this overweight. I am over 200 lbs now and I just want to drop the weight. I want to be comfortable again. I can't even bring myself to wear a bathing suit to enjoy time with my daughter in our pool. I feel like breaking down every time I look in the mirror.

I know the feeling about wearing a swimsuit. Try to overcome it because kids grow up so fast. When I was 295 I still took my boys to the water park and have great memories of that time. Plus the extra activity is good for you!

Literally when I turned 30. I was about 108 in high school, then 120's in my twenties. I got up to 175 three years ago, down to 142 by doing all the wrong things, then gained 60 pounds, getting me up to 200 pounds. Hence, MFP in April of this year. I feel lucky I haven't struggled my entire life but at the same time a bit unlucky as its hard to teach an old dog new tricks and I am now, at the age of 39 learning how to eat healthier and exercise healthier. It's a life changing process! Interesting, frustrating and rewarding!

This is a great thread. So many folks on here are so brave!

I started right after first grade back in primary school... Now I wish I had known so much more about how easy it is to maintain your weight, how every aspect of your body is in your hands, but of course as a young child I couldn't have known all that. My family and relatives have always had weird beliefs regarding weight and getting fat, so I just lived with those beliefs and thought I couldn't be anything but an overweight child and then adult.

I got "chubby" after an unremarkable first 7 years of life in the third grade. I remember being called chubby by family and having a protruding/rounded abdomen as well as chubby arms/legs. By fourth grade, I grew out of it thanks to a growth spurt. Never had a weight problem as an older child or teenager (or even young adult) beyond that. From the 7th or 8th grade through undergrad, my weight was set and flexed ~5 lbs around a rather skinny for me 123 pounds "set point" @ 5'7" tall.

I started gaining weight when I started sitting in a classroom and/or lab for 8-16 hours a day plus had a desk bound work study job. By August 1998 I was up to 136 pounds from that 123 I'd been since I'd started paying attention to what my weight was. 136 pounds was fine, no problem. July 2000 I was clocking in at 150. Okay, I was feeling a tad overweight. By June 2002 I was 160. Still alright, but not really happy as now mostly a size 12 versus 10-12. By December 2003 I was 168. Ugh. Lost down to 138 on the first diet written by someone (Atkins NDR) I ever tried that winter. Was 142 in July 2006 when I quit tobacco. By February 2007 I was 186 thanks to quitting tobacco, mostly.

I've been as low as 165 in 2009 and again in 2012 and as high as 238 in July 2015 thanks to riding the low carb yo-yo for eight years while trying to get back to 142. I started watching portion sizes last July at 238. I started counting calories last November at 212. Was down to 195 when I fell off the counting and logging truck in April and regained almost everything I'd lost since I'd started counting in half the time it took to lose it. Restarted at the end of June at almost 211 pounds.

Age 12.

Puberty plus moving to the US and having to eat the oh so healthy cafeteria food (if food it could be called). I about doubled my weight. Managed to lose parts of it when I changed school and had the possibility of taking my own lunch with me and had to go to school under my own power (bike/foot/roller blades). Gained some of it back when I moved back to Switzerland and got seriously depressed. Lost again when I started university and joined the fencing team. Gained again (up to my highest of 110kg) when an injury made all physical activity grind to halt from one day to the next (from 12-16 hours fencing + figure skating practice a week to 0). Kept on eating as if I were still practicing sports. Got depressed. Ate even more because I was depressed and fat. Got even fatter. Ate even more.

Happily losing now but it's going to take another 1-2 years to no longer be overweight. I'll get there eventually.

age 14. my Grandfather was in hospital a lot and died that summer. Me, tagging along, hung out in lounge and snacked on the "nutritious" but super high calorie snacks available. Plus a lack of enough exercise. And a family that thought my weight was "OK." I'm 6'3 after all. I was in the overweight BMI, but made excuses for myself.

Went to college at 218 lb. dropped a good 10 lb over the first year. Who would have guessed...walking everywhere, making smart choices at the mess hall. studying instead of going to drunken parties. {sigh, could have had more fun}

Been around 205-208 the past 15 years now. I'm really good at maintaining that. But just sick of being 20 lb overweight. No, its not "muscle." After almost 2 months, I'm at 194.5 this morning. Going to start strength training once the pool closes end of this month.

Christine_72 wrote: »

Asher_Ethan wrote: »

When i was 10. Looking back at pictures, I was never over weight, I wasnt skinny though. My mom made sure I knew I wasn't skinny because everyone else in our family was skinny. That started my life long battle relationship with food and my distorted body image.

Why oh why do parents do this to their children!!??

Good question! I remember my mom's boyfriend calling me Miss Piggy at dinners, and I wasn't even fat then. It doesn't help build a healthy food relationship!

I was skin and bones before I hit puberty then I got heavier than most girls in school. I don't remember a particular weight but I was heavy and everyone saw it with some even commenting on it. When I got pregnant with my first son I ironically slimmed down (probably due to 9 months of tossing my cookies) and could fit in my smallest shorts when I left the hospital after having him. I had two more boys and stayed within a normal bmi during and after pregnancy. Then I had baby #3 my daughter. I was like a ballon that kept filling and never burst. I remember the doctor telling me to watch my food choices. I developed cravings for things I never liked (ice cream, fries and chocolate). I still like those things now. I continued to gain weight after having her and then when I went back for another degree in college and ate my way through. Now I'm losing and happy to say I've gotten back into a normal BMI. Loads to go until I'm happy with he mirror but I'm now conscious that I have to work for it.

Around 20 I noticed that my body felt different in the shower, when I mentioned it to my gf she said "yeah, you are getting fluffy!" It didn't stop but that was when I first noticed it.

5. I look fine in photos at ages up to 3, but at 5, I was a chubby chipmunk. I was also aware that I was larger than the other kids at that age and had picked up on snippets of adult conversation about my weight becoming an issue. I went on my first self-monitored, calorie-counting diet at 10 or 11. I started that on my own; no one put me up to it. I was reading food labels and writing down the calories in a little notebook.