How did you get heavy to begin with?

steph1234523456
steph1234523456 Posts: 8 Member
edited November 15 in Introduce Yourself
Oh I know, eating..food. I don't mean that. I mean was there something that precipitated the weight gain? For me I was having so much inner grief about things...sad about many things that eating helped me not feel anxious and depressed. So you could say it was emotional internal problems that were too painful to feel that made me seek out something to calm troubled waters. And it was food.
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Replies

  • Savagedistraction
    Savagedistraction Posts: 312 Member
    edited January 2017
    I was fat after I had my third child. The reason was because I didn't exercise. I was in a new town and didn't know anyone and had no babysitter, was breastfeeding etc. Excuses really, but that was what actually caused it. Truth was I got lazy and didn't work out. When I started working out like I normally did the weight came off.
  • kristikitter
    kristikitter Posts: 602 Member
    Well. I've eaten at various times because I've been bored, lonely, celebratory, angry, out of control, and just plain complacent.

    I've been at my recent heaviest weight because of contentment in my work and home situation, and the abundance of snacks around me. I don't have constant willpower so I am prone to giving in to 'treat' myself. I go for afternoon teas with friends. I buy frothy coffees and pastries whilst shopping.

    AND my hobbies are mostly sedentary. Going to the theatre/cinema, reading. I have never ever liked team sport (no thank you to getting cold, muddy and out of breath) so I've never had a really active hobby (I do am dram but it's hardly active cardio!!). And then there's where I live - it's cold and rainy this time of year!! And whilst others can make themselves go out and jog in the rain, I just can't. I'm not that kind of person!!

    So. A short history of Why I Am Fat ;)
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    being unhappy in a very bad marriage
  • xFie92
    xFie92 Posts: 3 Member
    I lose control of myself. Thats all
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,128 Member
    edited January 2017
    Laziness ultimately - used back pain from an injury and working a desk job the last 3 years as an excuse.
  • melm1903
    melm1903 Posts: 29 Member
    Bereavement was my excuse in the beginning, then it just became a habit to not exercise and eat high calorie meals. I got a boyfriend who loves take outs just as much as me and I got comfortable. I don't know why I stopped because now I'm back exercising and eating well I feel soooo much better!
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,338 Member
    I was teenie...100 pounds soaking wet, size 0 (my mom said there is no such thing..lol...but I had a closet full of them!)

    I ripped the cartiledge between my abs one day, making the *kitten* bed. Couldn't move almost anything without pain for over a year. I recovered from that....only to injure my neck a year later. 80 lbs took nothing to pile on when I stopped moving.
  • strahant
    strahant Posts: 1 Member
    I did a good but very restrictive diet and lost 40 lbs but then rebelled and gained everything back plus some. It didn't help that I broke my ankle in the middle of this rebellion and was laid up on the couch for several weeks. I'm finding a more grace-full approach to weight loss is working much better, as I struggle less with eating something "because I deserve this."
  • Lone_wolf46
    Lone_wolf46 Posts: 2,709 Member
    I consumed more calories than I burned...
  • cambridgestylist
    cambridgestylist Posts: 37 Member
    Depression, agoraphobia, too much ice cream, and then starting a metabolism destroying, hunger inducing medication.
  • StarshipFighter23
    StarshipFighter23 Posts: 73 Member
    I got very depressed when a long term relationship broke down and although I tried to keep myself occupied to stave off the depression I still found myself with much time alone, and I ended up using food - specifically high density junk food - for comfort. I would regularly consume 2000 calories of junk in an evening watching a movie for example. Then a new relationship came along with a woman who liked larger men and, although no longer depressed and overeating junk, was basically de-motivating as far as my weight was concerned as we were comfortable and happy with each other. When that relationship ended rather than slotting back into my previous depression - junk food - weight gain cycle I decided to upgrade!
  • rachelr1116
    rachelr1116 Posts: 334 Member
    Too much fast food and sweets, not enough moving. I was always on the go as a child and teenager but once I got married and got a desk job I pretty much sat at work all day and then went home and sat in front of the tv all evening. Combine that with too many stops for fast food for lunch and dinner and it wasn't hard to gain 60 lbs.
  • letme1
    letme1 Posts: 522 Member
    Laziness/Stress :(
  • Jamie7861
    Jamie7861 Posts: 15 Member
    Used food as mood changer.
    If I was to celebrate I'd eat, if I was bored, I'd eat. If I was tired and had to stay up, eat
    If I knew I'd be around unhealthy foods during the weekend, I'd say " this week is Shot" and I'd eat u healthy all week!
    No more!!! Add me if ya like! Down 35 and going!
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,091 Member
    Lone_wolf46 wrote: »
    I consumed more calories than I burned...

    This.
  • jodie5277
    jodie5277 Posts: 17 Member
    I gained all my weight will my first child..i was young and told my self that it was all baby weight and i could loose it... And now i have been fighting with it for 19 years.... the up and down roller coaster.. i also am a stress eater and that does not help at all... I have health issues and just lost my sister very sudden so, i have put my foot down and am going to get on the right path and get healthy so, my mom does not have to bury two of her kids and mine wont be with out a mom
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Parents who didn't teach me about proper portion sizes/nutrition and not caring about those for my first fourteen years of adulthood
  • U2R2
    U2R2 Posts: 260 Member
    Got out of commercial roofing but kept eating like I was roofing ten to fourteen hours per day.

    Wonder what a Fitbit would have registered in my roofing days.
  • Reaverie
    Reaverie Posts: 405 Member
    PTSD. But Im over it for the most part now. Only took 4 years to stop thinking about it!
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,669 Member
    Mindless eating. Celebratory eating. Bored, sad, restless, angry eating. All the eatings. It was mostly nutritionally sound, but at an inappropriate volume.
  • DietVanillaCoke
    DietVanillaCoke Posts: 259 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    Parents who didn't teach me about proper portion sizes/nutrition and not caring about those for my first fourteen years of adulthood

    This^ was a big starting point for me too. I remember being very fat when i was 8-12 and i remember having a choice of eating an apple or some carrot cake. I figured the carrot cake was smaller so it would be less fat on me. I thought what you ate would appear on your body as fat unless you did a lot of exercise. So if you ate a whole watermelon, you'd be that fat etc... So I would refuse to eat things i didn't like and I'd just eat things that i thought tasted good. If we had nutrition in primary school, i may have learnt better choices and that may have improved my health, before it got worse.

    I ended up starving myself thinking that it was the only way to be healthy. I lost a lot of weight and then i started swimming and doing gymnastics. from 15 - 17 I was thin but once i started university, i stopped doing sports and started eating out socially with friends. I gained a 50lbs in 1 year. I was depressed and was having issues at home. I was put on anti depressants and anti anxiety medications and diagnosed with PTSD. I gained another 60lbs.

    Prevention through education is the key. If my family and I had been more educated in nutrition, I don't think i would have ever gotten this bad. Now i understand basic nutrition, I even did a unit at uni and I've lost 40lbs.
  • Kullerva
    Kullerva Posts: 1,114 Member
    Childhood trauma. I thought if I was big enough, I'd be invisible and no one would look at me. I was depressingly wrong. I lost weight when I realized I was affecting my health because of some ***hole who'd been dead for ten years.
  • dmwh142
    dmwh142 Posts: 72 Member
    Untreated or under treated hypothyroidism made it easy to gain weight and very difficult to loose. I am thankful to be on natural thyroid medication now and CICO works as it should.
  • ShrinkingViolet1982
    ShrinkingViolet1982 Posts: 919 Member
    I get pulled in by the siren-song of jelly beans. And cake. And, and, and. Too large portions. Eating because I'm bored, anxious, stressed, or sad. Food never upsets me :wink:

    Mostly just because I have little self-control, despite having managed to quit smoking years ago. Replacing sugar and bad food is harder because you still need to eat.
  • JenniferIsLosingIt
    JenniferIsLosingIt Posts: 595 Member
    Food has never said anything mean to me. Food is always there to comfort me. When i felt my voice was silenced (most of my life) I turned to food for comfort. Trying break that cycle.
  • necia_m
    necia_m Posts: 7 Member
    I moved in with a man whom made me feel as if I was starving myself. I used to eat normal portions with lots of fruit and veg. He refused to eat anything wholesome, it was all processed food. We worked different shifts so he made me feel bad for going on a run instead of spending time with him (aka watching tv). After a yr my weight skyrocketed and then I became pregnant. One thing led to another and 4 years later here I am.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    I have a brother who has always been in the "healthy" BMI. He's 2 years older than I. I have been bigger than him since I was 2. I don't remember things from when I was 2 so I don't know what caused me to become a fat baby, but it sure did persist.
  • choklityum
    choklityum Posts: 35 Member
    I was 28 and weighed 115 when I got married. I wore a size 2 or 0, depending on the item of clothing. My waist was 19". I weighed 125 when I got pregnant with my first son at 32; I gained 50 lbs. I ended up having an emergency C-section. Really limits your ability to do any meaningful exercise for a while. And I had a desk job. I was 37 and weighed about 150 when I got pregnant with my second son; gained about 25 lbs. Another C-section and still had a desk job. Hubs wasn't the help he promised he would be with either boy, so I was exhausted on top of everything else. Whenever I had the chance, I curled up on the couch and napped, watched TV, or read. And ate. Not healthy stuff, either.

    In July of 2008, my younger son died in an accident; he was 5-1/2. I didn't eat for 2 weeks. I lived on coffee, Diet Dew, and cigarettes. My weight dropped to 150. I took 3 months off of work. I alternated between not eating and binge eating. I was about 160 when I went back to work, still a desk job. But my head was still a major mess, and the not-eating/binge-eating cycle continued.

    I then spent the next 5 years in a job (still a desk job) that became increasingly stressful. My weight went up to 205, a number I NEVER thought I'd see and it horrified the hell out of me. I bought a Fitbit, signed up with MFP, and lost 30 pounds. Then the stress really started getting to me. Lunch might be a bag of M&Ms (the larger 11-12 oz size), or Hershey's Kisses, or cookies from the vending machine, and coffee or Diet Dew. Exercise was non-existent. And I didn't give a flying f***. About anything. But my weight's been holding between 170-180. At 5'4" (I've shrunk 2" over the past 2-3 years), I'm jumping back and forth over the overweight/obese line. Not ideal, but since my weight was more or less stable, I figured it's all good.

    A recent visit to the doctor gave me a swift and painful kick in the *kitten*. I have hypothyroidism, so my cholesterol numbers will whack out when my thyroid does. I was put on a statin last time it happened. Only this time, my thyroid was fine. So I'm back here, tracking everything I eat and making sure I get at least 30 minutes of moderate-to-brisk walking in. I did this to myself and I'm the only one who can fix this clusterf***.

    I hope you'll forgive me for this being so long. Up until about 30, I had no issues with my weight. A little slow-down with the metabolism, but I ran, did aerobics, and some weights to keep things under control. Until the first pregnancy. The above is a 24-year "history" of how I let things get away from me and how some things kept me from caring. It's so easy to let it happen.
  • mskimee
    mskimee Posts: 228 Member
    @choklityum is your profile pic Duran Duran?? Thats so cool, I love them!!
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