Why did you gain weight?

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  • Sules02
    Sules02 Posts: 19 Member
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    That is a really good question.
    Of course, you don't gain weight without eating too much and exercising too little. I started to gain weight in college probably because my lifestyle had changed to a life of going to classes, partying, going out late and "pigging out" at a diner and not sleeping.
    I didn't know what exercise was so I gained 30lbs. Then in my early adulthood I found the outdoors. I became very active but yet still held on to about 15-20 lbs give or take. Yes, I accomplished lots, with rock climbing, hiking, biking and trail running and there were times in my life when I was thin and then I would gain it back so quick. As I look back, I think I did have a weird relationship with food. It was my comfort and my friend growing up but now it doesn't have a hold on me. I have been asking myself recently, why do I seem to throw up roadblocks and excuses now when it is so easily attainable for me. Am I afraid of it? Am I afraid of having the true body that represents who I am inside....HUM?? Am I the only one that thinks like this?? Is it fear? I am curious.......
  • LOREYENICK
    LOREYENICK Posts: 3
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    3 YEARS ago i moved from Romania in the usa to be with my husband and i guess the life here and the stress from being far from home and the fact that i was amazed that all can come from a bag or a can and is good and i don t need to spend hours making food like home made me fat.an also i was on the depo shot for 2 yesrs..in april we went to visit my familly and everyone was asking me if i m pregnant but...no i m just 40 ponds fatter ...so now i wanna be sexy and beautiful as i was when i first come in these great country i know my boo loves me and still thinks i m great but the mirror says different hings i hope that now i will win my fight and gain the old me back.Good luck everyone !!
  • AddieOverhaul
    AddieOverhaul Posts: 734 Member
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    I didn't have any problems with my weight until about age 25 or 26 - I wasn't in great shape, but I was on the thin side. Then a combination of things happened:

    - First of all, at age 23 - 24ish I was doing a lot of drugs. I would not eat or sleep for about three days at a time, sleep for a day, and then binge for a day, repeat (with some breaks that never lasted long). I think that messed up my metabolism. When I stopped doing drugs, I started to gain. (I've since dealt with the issues that made me use drugs in the first place).

    - Always wanting a good time, I like to indulge in food and drink in a social way. I also am a big time emotional eater.

    - We always had tons of junk food in the house growing up - I never ate all that well.

    - Switched from an active job to a desk job.

    - Spent a few years on medication for anxiety (Celexa, which causes tons of people to gain a lot of weight). Thankfully I have almost fully conquered anxiety and have been off meds for over 3 years. I will never take them again. I never had depression though, thankfully.

    All these things cause me to gain approximately 50 pounds. I have lost just over 30 of it. I can't wait to lose the rest AND get fit and be able to say "I'm in the best shape of my life!"
  • love22step
    love22step Posts: 1,103 Member
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    Too content after I remarried
    Cut back on exercise, but not on food intake
    Lack of sleep
    Strength-zapping anemia (problem fixed)
    Lack of a good plan (MFP provided that fix)
  • ucpg
    ucpg Posts: 158
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    Was always very active. Did sports my whole life, then when I was a young adult I did warehouse work. never had to worry about calories or anything. Then I got a great office job, and continued my eating habbits. Gained, gained, gained, gained, gained, gained.. That is why I gained weight.

    Totally my story! except i worked in a deli, and as a cashier on my feet all day, plus i played tons of sports in school and didn't have a car, so i walked EVERYWHERE probably 3-4 hrs of walking everyday. BUT then i got a car...and then i got an office job...and stopped playing so many sports...and well hello 20lbs later...

    PS: very thankful its only 20lbs but still very difficult to lose.
  • roguestates
    roguestates Posts: 223
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    I basically rebelled against my doctor. My doctor would have me in tears everytime I went in for an appointment. Saying that I was at risk for so and so. She would also bring up the past every time about how I lost weight before. I know, I'm bad. So I rebelled by eating anything that I wanted and whenever I wanted. To me, she wasn't the best motivator. She was great when I was losing weight, but total opposite when I was gaining. Also, didn't help prescribing me medication I didn't need. I don't blame her for me gaining. I've taken responsibility for that. I needed to do it when I KNOW I needed to do it. I had the mindset and still do... I only live once, why not enjoy it? I don't really want to live past 100 years old. Then again, I don't want to die young. I just want to live my life to the fullest now. Food doesn't need to be #1. I want to be fit now. My mindset is totally different now,.

    Berating you? Prescribing meds you didn't need? Please tell me you've changed doctors. So unprofessional, and frankly, dangerous.
  • WilmaDennis91
    WilmaDennis91 Posts: 433 Member
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    College food are not all that healthy. Plus I'm in cheerleading, so I've been gaining more muscles. I don't really know.
  • mali240
    mali240 Posts: 126
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    i never had a weight problem.. i ate/drank what i wanted and stayed about 110-115. then got married, got preggers... gained almost 45lbs.. 6 months after baby i weighed the same as i did leaving the hospital.. and i realized i couldnt eat what i did and looked how i wanted to. it was time to kick off the bad habits
  • yuckidah
    yuckidah Posts: 290 Member
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    Why did I gain weight? Because I like the taste of food, did no exercise (still don't), and dieted too often for too many years.
  • Prudiddy
    Prudiddy Posts: 262 Member
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    Ok, back in 98 I got pregnant with my first child (boy) I weighed 135lbs As soon as I found out I was preg. I quit smoking right away and put on 10lbs a month until his birth. On September 9, 1998 I gave birth to a 9lb.98oz baby. I was at my highest weight of 235lbs I started back smoking 2 months after his birth, dropped down to 180 then 1 year later got preg. with my second child (girl) quit smoking again, put on 60lbs in 9 months. Didn't start smoking again until 8 months later because I nursed her, lost all 60lbs plus and additional 20lbs kept it off until my divorce, started smoking again and shot back up to 206 were I then stayed until I joined MFP in April 2012 since I have lost 23lbs and counting. I feel this time I will keep it off for good, I'm getting too old to play yo yo for the rest of my life.
  • CHN_
    CHN_ Posts: 94 Member
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    I'd been normal/thin most of my teens, probably thanks to being active with various sports. Then at 17 I moved to the US for a year for High School, and there I gained about 40 pounds. I know it was down to what I ate, which was not even trying to be healthy (so I don't blame it completely on the US food, although in general it has higher content of fat etc that what I was used to, I just pretty much didn't care what I ate). I was active (played hockey, for the first time of my life, and did track), but it was not enough.

    Since I got back, I have had a hard time loosing the weight. I will loose some, then gain it back, loose, and gain back more, and so it's been for the past ten years.. A lot of it's down to me. I stopped with sports for a while, didn't train, didn't care about what I ate. So, basically, I never made a 100% effort. And the times I did, and I lost weight, I gained it back and then some when I didn't have time to watch my diet.

    So now, I don't diet, I am changing my lifestyle, meaning I eat normal, but healthy normal. And I'm working out regularly. And instead of crash dieting, I'm changing my life.
  • beebee0925
    beebee0925 Posts: 472 Member
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    I was an obese kid who wasn't active and I had an obese motther and sibling so that was basically all I knew.
  • Owlie45
    Owlie45 Posts: 810 Member
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    It wasn't about eating it was about taste. I would eat not because I was hungry but because it tasted good. Couple that with a pretty inactive lifestyle and the weight just packed on.
    I don't know why I let it get this bad, but better late then never.
  • KaidaKantri
    KaidaKantri Posts: 401
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    I honestly gained it from Birth Control. I was 115 all through high school, I hit 18 and started taking birth control and that's when I gained all my weight. I've never eaten healthy (until I decided I needed to lose weight and be healthy) until about 2 years ago, and since then I've been fighting my willpower to lose it. But now I'm set. I know the body changes at age 18 or around there, so it might have really been just my metabolism slowing down or something along with the birth control. I'm not making excuses, I'm telling the truth. Since i did start gaining weight, i didn't really care. I was too caught up in life to care about health or anything. But now that I'm older and more mature and more aware of what's going on, I've realized I've let myself go, and am working on fixing it.
  • SEMJGM
    SEMJGM Posts: 1 Member
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    After dieting and dieting and depriving myself of the food I wanted in order to fit into my size 6 wedding dress, I overindulged.
    Now I'm trying to lose the weight that I've gained since my wedding, but I want to lose it in a different manner than before. I need a healthier lifestyle, I can't just starve myself and not exercise.
  • Toomestwin
    Toomestwin Posts: 40
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    I got cocky. I was always in great physical shape my whole life, especially while I was in the military. I was one of those hard-charging paratroopers and could eat whatever I wanted and burn it off the next day. After I retired from the Army, I still went to the gym but also dined out more, especially with all of the Mexican food San Antonio is famous for. I never noticed exactly when it was that I was no longer hitting the gym and ordering extra portions at each meal. I rationalized that the weight gain was a natural part of getting old. Even though I was wearing larger-sized clothes, I would compare myself with others and rationalize that at least I'm not THAT person who clearly needs to lose weight. Then came the high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which I thought was a big fuss over nothing until I started to suffer some of the bad symptoms. The doctor tried to talk sense into me, but I was simply too arrogant to listen.

    When I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, the doctor explained in great detail where I was headed. THAT was the attention-getter. It wasn't until I started my journey that I realized exactly how overweight I was. I thought I was probably going to lose about 20 pounds and even out right there. In the last ten months, I've lost 50 pounds. I still have a ways to go before I'm completely out of the woods, but this is a new lifestyle for me and not just a temporary measure to reach a target weight.

    I'm a true convert and focus more on healthy eating choices as opposed to working within a certain calorie limit.
  • hottfarmchick724
    hottfarmchick724 Posts: 20
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    Several reasons.
    1. Little to no exercise, so I was eating more than I burned off.
    2. Huge love for baking and baked goods of all kinds. I truly did not want to give this up, but it was a big contributer to my inability to make a change.
    3. Got lazy/comfortable - the kind of comfortable that makes you settle into a way of life.

    All of those combined put 80 or so extra pounds on me over time.

    Now 40 is gone. :)


    how did you find the motivation to loose that 40? im in the same boat! i absolutely love to bake, well i love food in general! everything else fits to a 't' as well! im just starting out, could you give me some pointers?
  • carolynmittens
    carolynmittens Posts: 344
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    ate too much in china. then i ate too much in laos. ate too much in cambodia. and then i ate way too much in thailand. then ate too much in vietnam :yawn:
  • SARgirl
    SARgirl Posts: 572 Member
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    It snuck up on me, no tramatic event, high self esteem, bounced back after each of my children were born, always active, always busy....but I love food, rich food, pasta, sauces *mouth watering*, I'm probably "over active" but consumed 4500 calories a day (if not more)...now my goal is to be just as active and consume 1550 calories a day. Sheesh...I love to cook...I love to eat, But I will undo this!! Good luck to you!

    This is me too! I've always worked out but I ate way more than I burned! If I can do it so can you!! Good luck!
  • BookszLover
    BookszLover Posts: 9 Member
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    I ate way too much and just never really burned it all. Of course, now is the time to change all that!

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