Why did you get fat and what triggered the change?

I've always been "chubby" or "you have a beautiful face". I lost alot of weight in my early 20's in a completely unhealthy way... diet coke, crackers and diet pills but I didn't care I just wanted to be thin. Then later on I was in an abusive relationship and I just ate my way through it. After that relationship I helped care for my mom who was dying and again I ate through that just because it was so extremely painful to go through seeing her die.

Then one day in October I really decided that it was time to let go. My mother had passed that wasn't an excuse anymore... I wasn't in this horrible unhealthy relationship anymore... no excuse. I didn't have all that stress. Plus my looming high cholesterol, my high sugar and being diagnosed with asthma...

I needed to do something. So I'm doing it...

I put on weight my senior year of college. I was in a relationship and pretty comfortable. We ate out all the time and snacked all the time. We would do midnight runs to Taco Bell. Then we broke up and then I got my first "grown up job" at a bank, so I hardly moved as much as I had. And then I got back into another relationship and well. . .love apparently takes it hard on my stomach and hips. So now my boyfriend and I are both working hard to get back to our "happy" weight. It helps knowing that we plan to get married one day and love each other no matter what.

What triggered me to lose my weight? Well when I started my double chin in pictures, noticing that my clothes weren't very flattering anymore, my muffin top over my jeans, singing on stage for the first time in over a year and getting out of breath super quick, and my dad calling me out on my weight gain. Those are all some of my reasons for me wanting to lose weight.

I was always a "big boned" girl but I never lost the weight after my first of three kids. My husband got cancer when our daughter was 9 months so my focus was him plus our daughter. Then we had two more kids and I never put myself first.

My moment was in January 2011 that made me realize what I had done to myself. I ran the goofy challenge at walt Disney world. I was so proud I ran a half and full in one weekend. It was my first half and first full. I got pictures back and was so disappointed in the way I looked I realized how much I had let go. I refused to run again January 2012 looking/feeling the same. Then life handed me a lot of hardships this spring and summer I felt lost. I got off track and in November 2011 I realized I can't keep allowing hardships to allow me to use food unhealthy. I have been on track and focused. I'm using mfp daily to stay on track even if I'm having a bad day. It's helped me make god choices thanks to the support of all mfp's friends!

I've always been overweight since before I was 2. But two of the main reasons I became obese by 20 was 1. I became a chef and had tasty food around me all day long. And 2. I had disposable money that I never did have ever growing up as a kid so I could buy much more food that wasn't neccessarily 'basic commodities'.

I've been chubby my whole life but it really escalated in college. I drank a lot and ate a lot without caring at all.

I lost weight several years ago and kept it off for a very long time. After I moved to a sketchy neighborhood, I replaced my evening jogs with movie and popcorn nights. Then I took on a desk job, which was different because I had always held physically active, or at the very least walking/standing jobs and started going to school full time. As I started gaining weight, working out felt more difficult and eating convenience (read: high calorie, processed crap) food seemed easier. Next thing I knew, it was a year and a half later and I gained sixty pounds.

I've just recently restarted my journey after taking an exercise class and realizing how disgustingly out of shape I am, combined with seeing myself in the floor to ceiling mirrors on all sides of the room. Big wake up call, literally.

The "reason" I got fat? lol I guess the reason is that I was BORN.
I was born nearly 10 lbs to a diabetic mother. I was a very fat baby and toddler, a very fat child, a very fat teen, and I weighed 300 lbs by the time I was in high school. There hasn't been a single day in my entire life that I wasn't fat.

What triggered a change? I guess I've always wanted to be "normal". It's something I've wanted for as long as I can remember.

I was really underweight as a child, until I was put on meds for epilepsy and gained ten pounds in a week. Between that and the fact that I was told I pretty much couldn't do any physical activity for a year because it was too risky, I gained weight and it kind of just stuck with me. My family doesn't have the greatest eating habits, either. I really can't blame any of that, though, because it was mostly just me eating too much and not working out. Last year, I hit 201 and decided I needed to change.

For me, it was mostly emotional/stress/boredom eating and being too lazy and not caring enough to get active and take better care of myself. I wanted to eat what I wanted to eat and I wasn't that fond of exercising (sitting on my duff and watching tv was much more fun) and that was that.

What changed was a series of events... I tried losing weight quite a few times but it never stuck. I'd start out all excited and determined and then something would happen and I'd just give up. Mostly that something was an event or vacation that I just didn't put enough thought into to deal with within the spectrum of the diet I was currently on so I'd just drop the diet and go back to eating whatever I wanted.

Then 2 years ago, I saw pictures of myself from a couple of trips with friends and it really hit me that I had hit a whole new low. For a long time I still saw myself as cute even though I was heavy and I stil felt good about myself. However, I realized that for the last 6 months or so, I wasn't feeling so cute or confident anymore. No one else could change that but me so I got my head in the right place and planned on joining Weight Watchers the following January. The rest is pretty much history!

I was an overweight child. Lack of activity and too much food.

Crying in the stores because I couldn't find clothes to fit is what made me make the change.

The easy answer to how I got fat is that I ate too damn much and what I ate was crap!
The more complicated answer involves lots of personal history that includes low self esteem, family issues and poor life choices.
I will stick with the "I ate too damn much" answer as it puts the responsibility on my shoulders.

As for why the change. Was diagnosed with high blood pressure back in the spring and the Doctor told me that if I did not get my act together I would probably not make it to 50 years. As I am 46 years old I figured I needed to take control and responsibility ASAP!
So far I am down over 60 lbs from my heaviest and with exercise and medication my blood pressure is under control. And, I am slowly turning into a much better person than I have ever been.

Great question!
Thanks

it started with the example my mother and grandmother set for me
they were emotional eaters and when i was upset growing up they put food in front of me
bad stuff too

my dad died right before my fifth birthday....then my mentally ill mom tried her best to raise us alone....i coped the way she coped....
then my mom finally had a psychotic break (her most long lasting one of many)
and began drinking and partying with boys and men of questionable character when i was about 11

at age 12 i was raped by a 25 year old friend of hers ....he was someone i knew and trusted
he told me it was my fault....that the way i looked made him do it

needless to say i have been obese ever since

what followed was an ugly cycle of self hate and self harm
one abusive boyfriend after another
got pregnant at 15 and had a child with a disability

i went through therapy from age 15-28 to resolve my issues
and
i thought i'd worked through them

but no,

then i got sick and recently found out i have systemic lupus
so i decided i had to do it for my health


now i want to

I was always thin and athletic, until around age 25 when I hit a particularly rough episode with OCD. I stopped working out, stopped caring what I ate, and started drinking waaay more wine than I had any business to. My poor lifestyle led to a 30 lb weight gain.

I struggled to get back to the "old me" for years, and when I turned 30, I finally was able to say "Enough!". I was tired of seeing pics of myself and thinking "eew! I look so chubby!". I was ashamed of not being able to slide my pants over my big bootie. And I was tired of how tired and sluggish I felt. So I started watching my food again and exercising on the Wii. When that stopped being a challenge, I moved on to exercise DVDs, and then last year I re-joined my old gym. I'm 5 lbs away from my goal weight.

As a kid, I was always on the overweight or stocky side. As early as 9. It made no sense at the time, I was a very active kid compared to my peers. Played sports, was at the gym with my dad a few times a week playing games, and even began running late in Elementary school. My parents mantra soon became "It's for your own good." I don't remember obsessing about food until after it was being monitored. Through it all, I was overweight according to BMI, and the only consolation was that most doctors didn't guess my weight right when they put me on the scale. That doesn't happen so much anymore.

So I stayed active through high school, playing intramural sports when I wasn't playing school sports, and just active in general. But I always had a different image of myself than what I was. I thought I was deformed and massive, and obsessed and was withdrawn, self conscious. I went out of town for college and lived on ramen for two years. While I walked everywhere I needed to go, it wasn't enough, so came the first 30 lbs It was an art school, and the inner city YMCA was intimidating to a girl from the burbs. I was not one to simply go to the gym and run without a bigger goal or sport to do it for. I ended college at 20, at 220 lbs.

I spent my early 20s trying to figure out what to do with myself. I had lost my athletic outlets as school ended, and once in a while I'd join a gym or fitness class on a whim but could never stick with it. I was so ashamed, so hateful of my body to the point where I wish I could go back and smack myself, as that's a weight I'm still trying to get back to! I often felt defeated even as a teenager when I didn't get the results I wanted after so much working out. I often felt distraught because I already did SO much, how could I possibly fit in MORE? Especially once full-time employment at desk jobs started. I sunk in to depression, was not in a supportive relationship, escaped through video games, and these things just fed the problem. It took me years to snap out of it. But I did. I was somewhere between 280 and 300 pounds about 4 years ago, teetering between size 24 and size 26 pants.

Since then, I worked hard to not let my size keep me from doing things I wanted to do. After illness and a few months on WW, I dropped 30 lbs. I started up old activities in any way I could, which didn't last more than a year but brought me confidence and the reminder of how strong I am. So I tried new things. My weight has plateaued for a long time, but now I know it's mostly due to inconsistency - both in eating and activity. I have been participating in roller derby for a year, and recently made the local league. I can't believe how much stronger I've become in a year - even though the scale hasn't budged despite the change in lifestyle. I think I'm in a bit of a gain muscle/lose some fat cycle. Which is good but hard to gauge on a scale.

It's hard to not get discouraged. My final goal weight isn't even within the "normal" or "overweight" BMI range, but a weight that is reasonable for my build and history. 45 lbs shouldn't seem so daunting. But I've stared at it for a few years now, somewhere inbetween acceptance and knowing what would be better for my wellness. I'm in a perfect spot in life with tons of support and resources but some things just seem hard to pull together. But I do feel like I'm just inches away from really figuring it all out. I've always been anxious in seeing a doctor about it, curious if there is a metabolism or other issue that makes my body so damn resilient. Perhaps soon. But I'm always fearful of things that might trigger old mental habits, and the last thing I need is shame, even if it is from a medical professional. Shame never fixed anything.

I got "happy fat". Setting up house with my (then) fiance, cooking a lot, not going out dancing hardly ever, not riding as much as I was, and getting a desk job all created a perfect storm of cellulite.

For some reason I had no clue I was packing it on until I saw a picture of myself and all I could see was rolls and double chins. I got on the scale for the first time in months and was shocked to see I weighed more than the day I gave birth to my daughter (and I packed on 6 SIXTY pounds with her!)

I found MFP in the Android marketplace and logged for a week or so. Then I slacked. Six months before my wedding I decided I really needed to get my act together so I got back on MFP. (12 pounds heavier than when I first found MFP *face palm*) That's when I discovered the social aspect of it and I've been trucking along ever since.