How did you get overweight?

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  • tracypaprocki
    tracypaprocki Posts: 49
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    It started after my second child. My marriage was bad and I was stressed all of the time. During my divorce I decided I also wanted to go to nursing school. So needless to say with 2 jobs, nursing school, 2 children and a divorce, I ate like crap. I then started working night shift and eating in the middle of the night (also like crap). Lastly I quit smoking. I overall had gained 50 pounds. Wow, I didn't really even realize how much. So far I've lost 35 pounds and still want to lose that other 15 pounds. It has taken about 1 and a half years so far. I hope I have now set myself up for the rest of my life to me healthy.
  • RKJR925
    RKJR925 Posts: 254
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    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
  • DBranchaud
    DBranchaud Posts: 827 Member
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    As far back as I remember I've been over wieght. I remeber being teased at school for being fat.I was about 190 in my last year before highschool. One good thing is that I'm in my final year of highschool and 170, and I never want to get big again. You think 170 wouldn't look bad ...but it does :( I'm only around 5 foot

    I hate looking a pictures of myself that show my body shape and My mom has been for years trying different diets and we've both failed.
  • mommared53
    mommared53 Posts: 9,543 Member
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    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.
  • Kkmama
    Kkmama Posts: 544 Member
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    I have been overweight since I was 8 or 9 years old. Girls can be really mean and I had a friend, or so I thought who turned all my friends against me. I still do not know to this day why she did it. But anyway food became my friend. I would run home from school and eat anything, usually toast or anything sweet and clean up before my parents got home from work. I did my first tour of WW at age 11 and lost some weight. But at 11 I really thought it was punishment. My weight continued to balloon until grade 12 where I went to WW again and lost 35 lbs. Then off to college in the fall and by the time I came home at Christmas all the weight I lost had found me again. I have lost and gained the same 50 pounds for over 20 years.
    So hear I am and this time it is going to work. So I am hoping to lose this weight once and for all. It will be a slow process, as I don't want to diet anymore, I am making much better choices and now am exercising everyday, and doing it so I don't hate it. I walk every day and work out at the gym 3- 4 times a week.

    Thanks for asking the question. And thank you everyone for answering so honestly. I find having extra weight very isolating, but I feel that I have unconditional support here.

    Enjoy your day. It is raining here today, in Ottawa, Canada. And I feel bummed, but am going to get to the gym today just to get the endorphins going.
  • peej76
    peej76 Posts: 1,250 Member
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    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!!
  • abbychelle07
    abbychelle07 Posts: 656 Member
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    I was a skinny kid and teenager until I went to college. I don't think I ate differently in college than high school, but I hit 18-20 and my metabolism went CRASH! I still ate cookies and pizza and everything else as the weight just piled on. Also possible that I used to exercise and walk more places in high school. I definitely ate like a pig when I was skinny though.

    When I think about it, my mom has pictures of her in a teeny bikini when she was 18 or 20 and then really heavy pictures pretty much since then.

    I am totally going to warn my daughter...you can't eat like you are young forever! Not that I want her to count calories, but just to let her know that your body can really change and it's a bummer. Family history of hitting their twenties and ballooning.

    I am cooking so healthy lately, I hope I can keep it up and teach my daughter to eat well from the beginning! She is one year old now.
  • abbychelle07
    abbychelle07 Posts: 656 Member
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    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.
  • carrierella
    carrierella Posts: 109 Member
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    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
  • carrierella
    carrierella Posts: 109 Member
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    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
  • amandagreen1980
    amandagreen1980 Posts: 286 Member
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    What a great topic, i just spent ages reading all the interesting posts!

    Well, i have been on the heavy side most of my life too, or so i thought anyway. As a child i had a tall skinny younger sister so always felt fat compared to her anyway, and most of my friends were tiny too, so i always felt fat and didn't reallt have a clue what to do about it so i deceided to just accept it and not worry about what i eat. Actually looking back at photos i wasn't that big at all, its all comparisons really!

    But then i met my boyfriend (now hubby) when i was 17, at first i lost 14 lbs and felt great! Then we got comfortable and i put weight on slowly, it crept up on me and before i knew it i was 60lbs overweight! I then decided to do something about it and lost 60lbs in a year and felt great, i was wearing short denim skirts and timy tops and getting loads of attention!! (i'm a leo so i loved that!)

    Then my boyfriend became my fiancee and with contentment the weight started to pile on, even my upcoming wedding didn't do much to stop me, i put the whole 60lbs back on in a bout a year. Then i decided to lose some for my wedding and ended up losing 30lbs which wasn't too bad, i looked great on the wedding pics and was very happy! Then we went on a caribbean cruise for 2 weeks for our honeymoon and i just ate and ate and ate and ate, i swear i put on 10lbs in 2 weeks!! The clothes i took on honeymoon didn't fit me for the last couple of days it was that bad!!

    I think i would have done something about it when i got back from honeymoon but then my mother got diagnosed with cancer. So not using it as an excuse, but with me when i am trying to get my 'diet/lifestyle' backon track it has to be in the forefront of my mind, i have to give it my all, and i just couldn't with my mum being ill. And of course i just comfort ate and didn't bother looking in a full length mirror for a few months. My mum got diagnosed in august 2006 and i weighted roughly 190lbs, she had chemo etc and was in remission by February 2007 then i could finally breath and had the shock of my life, i finally weighed myself and i was 230lbs!!! I had put on 40lbs inabout 5 months! i felt like crap and it had gone too far, i couldn't do anything about it as it was just too overwhelming! I now had a mammoth 84lbs to lose!!

    I didn't do anything about it until October 2007. And the thing that made me do something about it? I went to go and be part of the x-factor audience and we got vip tickets so we ended up being on the tv loads! it was very exciting but when i watched the show on tv i felt sick, i couldn't deny it anymore, there it was in full view of the whole country, how OBESE i really was! I googled a calorie caounter, stumbled across mfp and have never looked back. I have lost 63lbs in 6 months and have 21lbs to go!!
  • icandoit
    icandoit Posts: 4,163 Member
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    Went to work for a bagel place and also was a cook. Lots of taking and the easy convience of drive thru.
    All a thing of the past now.
  • InaBluMoon
    InaBluMoon Posts: 8
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    :embarassed: Skinny my entire life. Athletic and in the 60's not many girls were. I was always called, "the skinny curly haired redhead". I vowed to gain enough weight with my first child to never be called skinny again. Didn't work. Lost the weight with the other children. Then two things happened within 6 months. I was in my 20's and had an emergeny hysterectomy and then had a serious accident. Someone hit and ran me. I was found 50 feet from my bicycle. Long time/coma hospital/surgeries and the weight started piling on because I ate to make the pain go away. I always baked and still do. My husband is a great guy and helped as much as he could. His weight is perfect and mine went up very gradually. He never mentioned my weight. Not one family member is overweight and the amazing thing-no one every brought up my weight.

    So I want to become healthy. My parents are. The push for me came because my husband's old 60's band is having a reunion in our home state. The old band members haven't seen my weight and they are all fit...just the push I needed.

    I still bake but now log my calories.

    I love this site.:laugh:
  • GTOgirl1969
    GTOgirl1969 Posts: 2,527 Member
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    I became overweight when I got pregnant with my first child. I gained almost 70 lbs.:noway: :frown: holy crap!! I didn't lose much of it afterward...I was so tired and stressed out with having the baby that I just ate and ate and ate! I lost about 50 lbs. when I was going through some relationship problems.:grumble: but I gained it all back and then some. I'm taking it off slowly this time so that I have more of a chance of KEEPING it off.
  • Cruizer
    Cruizer Posts: 5
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    I am an emotional eater. Food is comfort for me. I have had a weight problem since I was 10 years old and have gone up and down so many times that I have lost count. My highest weight is 230 and my lowest (Adult) weight has been 135. I am 5'8 and my healthy weight is between 145 and 165. Right now I am 230 and this site is acutally helping me pay more attention to what I am eating.
  • abbychelle07
    abbychelle07 Posts: 656 Member
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    I am an emotional eater. Food is comfort for me. I have had a weight problem since I was 10 years old and have gone up and down so many times that I have lost count. My highest weight is 230 and my lowest (Adult) weight has been 135. I am 5'8 and my healthy weight is between 145 and 165. Right now I am 230 and this site is acutally helping me pay more attention to what I am eating.

    I am 5'7" and 205, hoping for 145. Good luck! Keep going!
  • Mireille
    Mireille Posts: 5,134 Member
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    This is an incredible thread! I feel so connected to everyone.
    I was always a little overweight most of my life. I think my weight problem started around the age of 6. We were pretty poor and ate a lot of PBJ sandwich for dinner. Once my dad became a trucker, money was better and the cupboards were always full of food. I think I used to eat because I was terrified that things were going to be ruff again. Than at about the age of 10, my parents started having marital problems and separated. My mom went through a huge depression for about a year and a half and we basically fed ourselves. We were 4 kids, 7, 10 (me), 15 and 17. I remember sitting in front of the tv on Saturday morning with my siblings, each of us with our own big bag of chips. That was breakfast for the longest time.
    Then we moved out of the province when I was 15 and I was devastated. I didn't want to leave my friends. Once we got there, my brother and I went to the corner store every night and each got a large bag of Sour Cream Cheddar chips (man, those were good). I gained weight quickly (about 175lbs) About 6 months later I decided to go on a crash diet and lost 30lbs in 1 month. I had an apple for breakfast, soup for lunch and an apple for dinner. I stopped having bowel movement and my period stopped. Everybody kept telling me how great I looked, blah, blah, blah not realizing or not wanting to realize that I was harming myself. I too had a mom who always commented whether I looked thin or fat. I used to hate going home for those dreaded first comments.
    We ended up moving back to my home town a year later and I stayed healthy (size 11-12) up until after I had my second child.
    I started a child service out of my home and I started eating all the cookies and goodies I was baking and started using it as a method for feeling good. I became a serious emotional eater. At 181, I decided to make a life change. Some days are great and some are days I struggle. I need to learn how to handle life challenges, big or small without using food. Once I can do that, I will feel so free!!
  • ali106
    ali106 Posts: 3,754 Member
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    Wow!!! Thank you all so much for sharing all your stories and for starting this thread awesome and like many of you I relate to soooo many of you! ...hugs!

    I was pretty average growing up but had super skinny friends and always felt chubby, looking back at pics of me as a child I was NOT...oh and then I had an aunt who thought it was cute to call me the "chubby ballerina" because I was in dancing and her pencil rail daughter didn't like it....so that started my issues with weight, probably about 7 or 8....

    I think in highschool I weighed about 135 my freshman year, I'm 5'2" and used to have an athletic curvy body so it was skinny for me, like a size 5 jeans....and again because of all those darn Jordache Jean's adds w/ the skeletor women in them I felt huge! lol...I started doing diet pills w/ a girlfriend at school and got sooo wired on them we both vowed NO MORE! we both lost 10 then gained back 15 so that started the yo yo....oh plus I danced my whole life and played sports so I had a good appetite and was ashamed of it so instead of eating a healthy meal I'd just graze on like lettuce no dressing and diet coke and then at night PIG OUT in private....its was horrible....I even dabbled in purging...gross I know but that's were I was...I was suppose to be skinny skinny like a ballerina, not a chubby ballarina which I think was always burned in my mind...sigh... so I stayed in check w/ my weight as unhealthy as it was....

    I quit dancing to start working and college and gained another 25 lbs....so from 18-24 I was about 160-150 and felt gross, still was like a size 8-10 but def. chubby....then my dad died suddenly of congestive heart failure when I was 25....it rocked my world....he was overweight and Italian old school so we ate really good (BAD) food so when he died like that and left us four kids ( I was the oldest, my baby brother was 14) and my mom like that I reevaluated my life....my health etc.....so did my mom....

    I began running again, eating really healthy and dropped 40 lbs....I had met my future hubby by then and he loved me at all my weights....so I was doing it for me.....when we got married I weighed 128 was a size 4 and soooo fit! and ate normal, no binging, no dieting, just being smart!

    I got pregnant three months later and was sooo thrilled, I jogged/walked and did lite aerobics up to 8 mnth and felt great! I gained 44 lbs but it was all belly....I was happy....

    My son was born in Dec and OMG....the fear and insecurity of having your first baby, then being so cold that you're stuck inside and no one really visits....that had me in depressed mode, not w/ the baby but w/ everything else...I was breastfeeding and the nurse said you'll need a little more cals because of it and the weight will drip off you!!! OKAY....that was a lie! lol for me...plus I think I played w/ that "alittle more" ....it was more like all day grazing....sigh....I went back to my first appt and did not lose anything after the baby was born....talk about depressed....

    I got back into it finally and lost like 25 lbs and was happy, then my son was diagnosed w/ Autism and well that led to more stress and emotional eating gained it all back....and the guilt of doing for myself.....

    Basically anything would and will make me feel guilty....I want to make things harmonious around me and when I can't or its too much for me....I turn to food and stop exercising....

    Now...I'm doing really well...., lost 12 lbs and 14 inches since the end of Jan and even though I'm doing it for me, my intentions are helping me w/ the guilt....I'm doing it for my son too!...who has come soooo far, bless his amazing beautiful soul!...so if he can do it, man I can do it! lol....

    sorry to ramble and group hugs!!!
    Ali

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