How did you get overweight?

a combination of things for me. Getting too comfortable in a relationship so not worrying about how i looked and eating out of boredom and stress. Also, generally not paying enough attention to food choices.

Denial is my answer, i just didnt want to think about it, didnt want to think about what i ate nor my size.
i wanted to eat the same as everybody, same as my bf that was one of those are are extremly skinny and eats only fast food.
i was told all my life that i am fat, and i didnt want to listen to it anymore, even thought when i look back at pictures,, i wasnt fat at all, i was normal, but my mom kept telling me that i was, even the doctor told her that i was fine. so being told all the time. i guess i became just that, fat. then i was so used to ignore it, that i didnt even listen to myself,

anyways .. now its all changed !!!
may

I got depressed during 7th grade and decided that it was a good idea to pretend to be anorexic at school (I thought this was considered "cool") and then binge every day after school at McDonalds. Needless to say, no one bought the anorexic thing and I ended up getting more depressed and changing schools. After that, my idea of a good sized meal was ridiculously distorted so I continued to overeat and I just got bigger and bigger until sophomore year of high school when I was forced to train for a philmont backpacking trip. That was the first time I felt like I was control of my body. I lost about 40 pounds and I've kept most of it off since then, but I want to lose a bunch more. I still eat emotionally sometimes, but it is a lot less often because I've learned ways of dealing with my emotions other than eating.
yay that's my story bye!

I was always larger as a child, but nothing too out of control. I lost some weight my freshman year of college, but then entered into a really hazardous relationship that was on and off for about 5 years. The weight started to pile on and it was a shock the day I decided to weight myself. I'm now only 39 pounds from my goal, and I put on a shirt this morning that I have never worn before. I feel good!!

i lived what i learned. my entire family is heavy. even as a child. i cooked the way my mom cooked, we ate what she made. over the years it just slowly packed on. then i met my husband also a heavy man, and in 3 years i gained 55 ponds. eating is what we did, movie, date night, party, bbq, friends, its just what we did. food is, i mean was my life. i think when your over weight you dont notice 5 or 10 pounds then one day 55 has packed on and you finally notice. then the changing day came. i hit my rock bottom. christmas 2007 we ate for 3 days off a buffet of snacks and crap. i couldnt breathe or walk i felt like garbage. that was the day i decide to take my life back. you can teach an old dog new tricks. i have taught myself to cook in a healthy manor. i have found any recipie can be converted into a good for you meal. yesterday i took a pizza casserole recipie from 672 cals per serving to 335 cals. yumm and i dont feel bad. for me its all about educating myself and making better choices. i dont want to be the ball of death with diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and just sitting back waiting to die. i want to be around for a long long time and i want to LIVE MY LIFE!!!! congrats to all of us.

buffet tables

For me, I have always been overweight whether it be slightly or greatly and it was usually on a steady increase.

I am an emotional eating and I have to admit that I lived most of my life with regrets. My childhood, teenage days and even early adulthood hasn't been the most exciting and I think I am blaming myself for my really boring life....really boring. But even then I was, sure, not thrilled about my weight, but it wasn't depressing me. I kind of lost all of my friends due to a situation,, very personal, but it prooved that thy werent; good friends to begin with. At the tender age of 18-19, someone finally looked at me... wanted to talk to me...wanted to date me and I didnt care who that person was because I was that desperate (its quite sad hahahah). :laugh: We dated for like 5 years and I tried to break up with him every year for 5 years and he would threatn me and my friends and its like i couldn't break up with him.... at one point e was my reason for eating more, a lot more.... and then ne day, I started to change my life. I got a new job, I went on vacation by myself (to stay with family) and then came back and broke up with him. BUT the reason I broke up with him is because 2 years earlier I told myself the only way to get out , is to get a new boyfriend or new interest. So I started losing weight (weight watchers) and I went to y oga everyday, I would do work out videos and home and for 2+ y ears I was really diligent.

That weight and confidence lasted a little longer than a year but I started to fall back into a state of sadness. Probably because I wasn't getting those interests/boyfriends that I thought I deserved. I ate more and more and more and I thought.... ahh who cares, its only a cookie, its only thing andi ts only that and a year later...60 lbs gained! WOW!!!!

So now its a year later and I need to get this weight off but my mind isn't in the same mindframe as above and I need to get my mind/body motivated.

Food, for me, has been a way to camoflauge pain. I started getting a little chunky after my brother died when I was 6. There is quite a difference between my school pic at 6 and at 7. Then I became a victim of sexual abuse. By my teens, I was heavy, but not obese. Then I lost weight due to several factors and was pretty good my senior year, except for the reumatoid inflamatory arthritis that cause the loss of the last 10 lbs. I went through a serious depression at 20 and literally gained about 100 lbs in the course of a year. I was a single mom, struggling on minimum wage to try to support my son and everything that I had avoided dealing with in my life was coming up - so I ate. And ate, and ate and ate. I would order 2 med pizzas from Pizza Hut and by the time I got done, my son would have eaten 1 slice - he was 1.5 - 2 yrs old, and there would be 1 slice left, if I was lucky!! That kind of stuff. I gained 5 - 10 lbs per month - so I know how much you have to ingest to gain that much weight. So trust me when I say when you gain 5 lbs "overnight" its water!! :laugh:

So my journey is about emotional health as well as physical health. The more I deal with my "demons" the easier it is to lose weight - after dealing with the thyroid issus that is :laugh:

I was an athlete in high school so I could always eat what I wanted without gaining weight. I never changed my eating habits after I stopped playing sports so I gained the normal after high school weight. Then there were issues with low self esteem and a horrible boyfriend which led to emotional eating. Ended up being 50 lbs heavier than I was in high school. I'm proud to say that I am now only about 30 lbs heavier and getting lower

Kels

Struggled with weight since college. Bottom Line

I love food and lots of it.

I lived in Charlotte, NC for a year and work 80 hours per week. the last 4 month i was there i lost 65 pounds through diet and exercise (and not having anytime outside of work and exercise to eat)

So I move to Birmingham, AL in May of 2004 and I am back in the land of the best BBQ in the world hands down. However, in addition to that there are so many restaurants called "meat and two's) where you can get a truly home cooked meat and two veggies plus homemade pie and bread. When I say home cooked I mean momma in the back cooking in most.

Well on top of that believe it or not Birmingham has some of the best restaurants rangin from Thai to seafood that are out of this world and very, very affordable.

So 2 years into being in Birmingham I went from 225 to 300 pounds because i like to eat.

Portion control is the most evil thing I battle everyday of my life

I prefer to blame it on menopause but I think it's mostly eating too much fast food and junk food, not exercising, being lazy and having an office job where most of my work day is sitting at a desk.

I was never the "proper" weight. I was always a pretty chunky kid, don't really remember eating anything too unhealthy when we were kids, like I don't remember being allowed to eat alot of snacks or treats. Eating out and junk food were treats.

As a teenager I was severly depressed for a good many years and used food to make me feel better, also ate when I was bored.

There were also times when I would diet, succeed then think that was all I had to do and get back into my old habits. So I have just been retraining myself over the last few years. I find I eat relatively healthy now, not the best because I am a very picky eater. I realize it will take time to experiment with different foods and preparing foods in different ways. I'm just positive now that I will beat this!!

Oh, I forgot. I have been with my husband for 8 years and I was keeping up with his eating. Unfortunately, he is 6' 2" and I am 5' 7" plus I am a girl! So if we were eating dinner or at a BBQ and he had a second helping or second brat, I had one too.

Recipe for disaster. Now I really try not to match him. He can eat a lot and not gain weight. Obviously that is not true for me.

I had oodles of children... and adopted my husband's love of junk food.

When I met him, I ate ONLY whole foods, organic...

Then came Steve.

Suddenly, I learned to appreciate the fun of Little Debbies and whatnot.

Gaining 50lbs average per each of my nine full term pregnancies did NOT help any!

By the time baby #4 rolled around, I was no longer losing EVERYTHING gained during the pregnancy within my "usual" 3 mths postpartum.

Shock.

Now, here I am. Bigger than I ever was.

I went from friends and family telling me I looked "too skinny".... to what I am today: someone too chunky with bad blood pressure!

carrie