How did you grow up?

I grew up eating a ton of vegetables and fruit. Rarely ate meat and never ate salads. I used to eat a english muffin with butter for breakfast everyday and a tall glass of orange juice. Kicked the orange juice habit in college.

Home cooked Croatian meals made from scratch!
and thats what i cook for my family too

I was born early eighties and mum always cooked a real homecooked meal - money was tight and it was cheaper, lovely midweek roasts, stews, spag bol, bubble and squeak, toad in hole all the favourites. xx

:drinker: I grew up eating greasy southern foods. Breads with EVERY meal. Meat and potatoes. beans and greens cooked with tasty grease. I tend to stay too busy, so as an adult I have high blood pressure due to frozen and canned foods. Worse yet there was alcohol with every single meal. Yep, I had some adjusting to do.

I'm also a child of the 70's-90's. It was easy when we were kids because we ALWAYS were running around outside playing so it didn't matter what or how much we ate. My problems didn't start until I was in my late teens and became more sedentary and started eating more junk. I wish I knew then what I know now!

I grew up as an only child being raised by my mom only. We didnt eat actual "meals" ever...maybe just a baked potato or a salad or veggies...She never drank soda. We never watched TV. She supported my busy lifestyle with dance, gymnastics, and cheer so I was always very fit. She placed alot of emphasis on "fun", and loved to celebrate any occasion. We went to the pool every day after school and work...and she owned ALOT of bikinis.

So as an adult. my life is EXACTLY the same. I never really thought about it until reading this post but I guess she laid a really good foundation for me food and activity wise.

Thx moms!

*** let me add i do eat protein/meat now, which my childhood was probably lacking.

I grew up in a lower middle class family where my father worked hard to earn money and my mother worked hard to make the most of it. Which meant a mostly-vegetarian-ish sort of lifestyle with peanut butter and government cheese and milk being our primary protein sources. We had a small victory garden and ate what we could of our own food when possible, our local food co-op became our grocery store, we'd buy raw milk from a local farmer because it was cheaper, and my brother and I both got paper routes just as soon as we could and most of the money went into the grocery jar.

You learn the value of a quality calorie and the value of the hard work that goes in to a dollar real quick.

I'm not saying we were starving, or that we didn't have nice toys and stuff (my father had a small woodworking shop downstairs and he'd make us awesome toys), but there was a whole lot more love and hard work going on in our house than money.

And whenever a neighbor would invite us over to dinner, my parents would accept. Instead of wine or something, my father would just make up salad forks or a platter or something in the wood shop. We got invited out frequently. The neighbors also learned that we kids could eat a lot, and we never turned down taking leftovers home. Of course, we also knew that we might have to go mow their lawn with the old reel mower to show our appreciation.

Good times.

My parents were totally CLUELESS!
I learned it all on my own. It must run in my blood, because after my grandfather died, we found some old scrapbooks he kept as a teen where he logged in calories, exercises, height/weight and measures of endurance and strength. It also included pictures.
This was from the 1920's.

I was pleasantly stunned.

I was born in the late 70s. My family (aunts, uncles, mother's parents) were (are) large people. My grandfather died of a massive heart attack (he was also diabetic) and my grandmother was so large when she died we had to buy and oversized casket. However, despite all of this my siblings and I (there are 7 all together) maintained healthy weights as children, teens, and even in our young adult lives. It's only been since the past 6-8 years, that we (two sisters and I) have picked up weight.

We grew up eating chicken with everything...There were a million ways to make chicken--baked, fried, boiled, grilled, in casserole, in salad. Chicken was cheap back then. It was rare that we ate steak. Occassionally we would have fried fish or sloppy joes or hamburers. We also ate bologna and hot dogs for lunch, BUT we played outside ALL THE TIME!! And we always had fruit and veggies that we ate all the time.

I believed I learned what not to do by looking at my aunts, uncles, and grandparents because they were obese and have chronic disease problems.

I do believe that how a person grows up affects them. My aunts and uncle didn't spend as much time as my siblings and I did outside and they ate foods that was always fried and laced with lard, bacon fat, gravy, etc. I'm not saying that we didn't eat fried foods, but I think because we were active, we weren't overweight children....

I grew up in Europe, we ate potatoes, vegetables and fish or small piece of meat. No fast food, no processed food, applepie on birthdays. No pop. And we didn't drive everywhere either, bicycles, or publuc transit.
This was in the dark ages.
When I came to the States I promptly gained a lot of weight...
Now I eat vegs, fruits, whole grain. No dairy, no meat. I do drive everywhere and make up for that by driving to the gym

Growing up in mid 60s/70s first generation from an Italian family so pasta at every dinner..even at BBQs! BUT-we are Southern Italian so lighter red sauces, no heavy cream sauces & believe it or not my dad hates mozzarella/ricotta or anything really cheesy stuff(most condiments too) so that really helped keep the calories down. Salad at the end of every dinner with just oil & vinegar,splash of lemon.

I never knew that pasta salad could be made with mayo until I was 19!

More fried stuff than I ever make now but somehow even that seemed lighter? No soda unless we had company..we did eat the sugary cereals once my mom went back to work, but no desserts except at holidays or when we had company('you HAVE to bring cake to someone's house-what are you an animal?')

My brothers & I were all into sports so always very active...we all struggle as adults now so I don't know what happened..busy lives..way more choices..too much processed stuff..and yes-I agree Stagezz ..I am miserable too trying to keep up with all this measuring & counting & weighing...and I just started!

It's been fun reading about everyone's else's childhood tho..keep 'em coming! And good luck to all of us!

I feel your pain, I grew up eating 50's style comfort food (raised by my grandmother). the only saving grace is that my grandmother also struggled with her weight and learned healthier option, taught me portion control and never forced me to clean my plate. That said when I was on my own and no longer in competive sports (I wrestled in High School and did some coaching in college) all of that went out the window for a while and I got out of control.

I have gained that control back- I started easy at first. Just eating whole foods (meat, veg, fruit, nuts etc..) and avoiding grain (I have some allergies and intolerances that required I cut out most of it). I figured out simple delicious meals that were fast and easy to prepare. Started just doubling my dinner prep so that I had lunch the next day (I also invested in a lot of to-go containers).

I also have a hectic work schedule, I have made the gym my second job and I MAKE time to do everything else.

It's all about investing a little of your "personal time" and meal prepping like a mo'fo. I spend about 2-3 hours on Sunday getting everything together for the week (making mini-frittatas for to-go b-fast, cutting veggies and fruit cooking a crap load of chicken breasts prepping the ingredients for possible corckpot meals if I know I'm going to be working late) portioning it out into containers so all I have to do is grab and go in the morning.

If it's all preportioned and premeasured there's no need to stress about all the counting- it's pre counted you just need to add it to your diary.

It's a commitment you have to make to yourself. If you're not willing to make the commitment you're going to struggle.
I know, I got injurred recently and gave zero f*cks about anything. I gained 20lbs back in 3 months. I've been back at it religiously for a little over a week and I feel 1000 times better and I'm weighing in tonight but I'd guess I've lost 5 of it already.

This is a lifetime of work. You don't get to quit and it's not easy but OMG is it worth it....

:flowerforyou:

I grew up 25 miles south of Chicago. If you don't know, that means I ate pizza.... a lot. Like seriously, 3-5 times a week.

I grew up very poor and it was normal to go days without eating anything. Then when we got money every once in a while my mom would make huge meals (always a meat and potato meal or something like spaghetti) and we would eat until we felt like puking. Never any fruits or veggies in the house, ever.

Both of my parents worked full time while I was growing up and my mom's the youngest girl of 5 (9 kids total), so she was the baby and never learned to cook. So my diet consisted of convenience foods (hamburger helper, fast food, etc.) and the only veggies we ever ate came from a can...no fruits except an occasional banana. The only drinks we ever drank were soda, no water and milk was only used for cereal. Unfortunately, I continued this when I moved out and with my kids

Since changing my eating habits almost 2 years ago, things have drastically changed. My kids are learning to eat a variety of fruits and veggies (as well as myself). We rarely eat out (compared to what we used to) and I try and not feed them as much convenience foods. It's all about baby steps and changing to healthier things!