Why did you get fat and what triggered the change?

Addiction to food. I was also busy with my sons and just didn't have the time to learn to cook better foods. I also was not really able to afford to cook healthy foods. Now I'm about quality cooking. My sons are older and it's me time.

Growing up I used to only eat really unhealthy foods and eat way too much of them. I remember I could sit in front of the TV with an XL bag of cheese puffs and eat the whole thing in a few hours while I was just 10 years old. I used to not eat many real meals at all, just desserts and other junky snacks and if I did have meals it would be things like fried chicken, chicken nuggets, pizza, poptarts, etc. Whenever anyone mentioned vegetables to me I'd be the first to say "ewwww!" Taking in this many calories without any activity = massive weight gain.

I changed because I was sick of the way I looked and felt.

My trigger point to gaining weight. I was always a little on the heavier side. But my real point is when I turned 17 and started driving and being more independent. I was gaining before then, but not to the huge extent. I think part of it was my mother is very into fitness and stuff and always harped on me about eating and kept junk out of the house, so I think I rebelled. Also in school I got picked on a lot and suffered from depression due to this and I think I tried to feel better by eating McDonalds and stuff. I got up to a high of 308#. I tried diets, mostly because my mom made me and I was unhappy. I've lost weight on diets before, but get bored and gained it back. I made the decision last year to have surgery. I had the lap band (i sort of wish I didn't), but I think it really gave me the motivation to lose weight right and keep it off. I'm actually not using my lap band and am losing weight on my own through diet and exercise, but I feel having the surgery gave me the extra push I needed.

I've had a few yo-yos:
- Started gaining weight in 8th grade when the cafeteria let you choose "a la cart" options like Little Debbie snacks.
- Lost weight midway through high school after a bad breakup.
- Gained weight being "comfortable" in my new relationship.
- Lost weight at the end of college after a bad bout of bronchitis/pneumonia.
- Lost more weight after a bad breakup.
- Gained weight again being "comfortable" in a relationship.

The day I got engaged, I was like "the working out/eating healthy can NOT be put off any longer...I have a year before the wedding to lose weight so I can look great."

And now here I am! I also grew up in a not-necessarily-unhealthy family, but a very meat-potatoes-bread-little veggies with a bedtime sweet snack every day family. Once you have a lifetime habit of doing that, it's hard to break. I'm definitely going to raise my kids differently from the second they come out of me on food choices, etc.

One reason: I like to eat!

To become a better equestrian. Fat people don't really barrel race.

Honeysprinkle: you and me have almost the same story and weight ..... exept i didnt have trouble with my tyroid! You are doing great keep up the good work!!

thank you!

When I was younger I used to Eat ALOT of Junk food. Used to have the most unhealthy breakfast's (perogies loaded with all the toppings) Basically whatever I wanted. + I used to finish every last bite of food on my plate.

NOW I eat healthy, still treat myself (within my calorie intake) & I eat until I am satisfied.

my mom got re-married and moved 3 hours away. without her around to cook meals, i just ate fast food every day. plus, i was depressed, because i missed her. i tried to fill up my emptiness with food and within a year or so, i was overweight. it's like i didn't notice how much weight i'd gained until the doctor actually classified my as "overweight" at my check-up.

since then, i've lost over 50lbs. that was 2 years ago. sadly, i've also developed an eating disorder along the way. i've always had disordered eating habits since i was about 17, but they've developed into a full-blown ED at this point. i've been threatened with hospitalization multiple times in the last few months, especially when i became underweight this past summer (i've put on about 9lbs since then, unfortunately).

I went thru 2 pregnancies in two years and I literally ate for two.

i got fat from....SSRI's, getting older, and a society structured around making you fat (yes, we're individually responsible for staying fat, but there's a reason why we're fatter, on average, than the Japanese or the French).

Why did I change? I went for a walk with my friend and found it hard to walk and talk without breathing hard...and we weren't exactly power walking! I was young and personally didn't mind looking fat, but I was deeply embarrassed by not being self-sufficient, ie, not being able to move my own bodyweight without huffing and puffing and sweating. My habits were making me, literally, disabled. And given that I may face unavoidable disability someday through age, illness, or accident, I sure didn't want to look back on these years and feel like I had squandered the gift of an able body.

Getting married and not caring anymore about how I looked.
My desire to change is to be healthier and to be able to be around for my 3 year old when she has kids of her own.

I picked up the extra weight somewhere between kid 3 and kid 5. I also had a great metabolism, combined with constant nursing/pregnant. Made eating something I just tended to do.

And now the youngest is 1.5, I am not pregnant and I Would like that old body back, or at least close to it.

First I never lost the weight with my first child, however, I did lose the 30lbs from my second child. Also, I quit smoking and gained 48lbs. So total, I need to lose 78lbs to get back to where I was. I feel gross and disgusting, I don't like the way my body looks or feels. This is what triggered me to lose weight.

I was quite thin when I was 12, but then we moved into a horrible, horrible area. Out of the entire neighborhood there was only 1 family who were nice, so we bonded with them. Whenever I use to go over there, they'd feed me, then I'd go home and eat again. After about a year or so, I'd put on quite a bit. We lived there for 5 years, which for about 4 of those the same thing happened.

I could've turned down the food, or started eating better, but I didn't, as I was young and just enjoying myself. After we moved out there, I just continued to eat badly. I use to drink a lot of caffeine too, drinking about 2 liters of different caffeine drinks a day.

Living in that area was horrible, was a very nasty place. Suppose I just carried it with me when we moved. Now though, I'm finally doing something about it. Simply motivated by wanting to feel better, and be happy with how I look.

Hmm let's see... in 7th grade my grandpa was diagnosed with terminal cancel, and I gained 30 pounds. From then until I was 17, I weighed 170-175. I got pregnant at 17, put on over 30 pounds, and developed high blood pressure. I weighed 206 when I got married when my oldest was 4 months old. Over the years I lost some weight, and only gained 18 pounds with my second daughter, and after her got down to 180. Then I got pregnant again, but with twins, and gained alot of weight. My weight has went between 200-220 for the last couple years, and I struggled with some major post-partum depression, which definately hindered my weight loss as well, since I didn't care enough about myself to take care of myself.

What finally made me decide to get with it? Well, my husband came back from Afghanistan in January a much different man than he left as. After 9 years of marriage, there were moments where I really didn't think we would "make it". So one morning, after a horrible night of crying and trying to deal with his issues, I just realized that I couldn't take care of him, and that I needed to take care of myself instead. That I could be happy with or without him, and I knew what the first step to accomplishing that was. Things have gotten better since then... I think that maybe I was trying too hard with him, and he needed the space to work out his own stuff, and my deciding to be independent and focus on myself gave him the room to do that. But that hasn't changed my goal to be healthy again! There is no way I am stopping until I get to where I want to be!