what made you fat/gain a lot of weight?

was it more diet or exercise related? Is it something you learned since childhood, something you feel predisposed to, or caused gradually? 

I was very underweight as a child and grew up in an overweight family.  This was during the 70's, when Kool aid was in my thermos and we had a deep freezer filled with Hostess snacks.  I had issues with food (really picky) and so I avoided a lot of foods and binged on the stuff I liked. 

Fast forward to adulthood, my metabolism normalized in college but I stayed thin because I was so active (never exercised).  I married at 27 and immediately gained 30 pounds the first year.  A combination of being more sedentary (husband had a car and I changed jobs), less active night life and eating junk food out of boredom got me fat.  We made more money than I ever had access to and instead of shopping, I go out to eat. 

Just some really poor habits and being an emotional eater. 

for me it's going out to eat. my friends and i go out CONSTANTLY. whenever we want to get together, it's a bar/restaurant. and of course i can't sit in a restaurant full of food i love without being triggered. so i ate. every single time we went out. and we went out multiple times a week. and it added up, very very quickly. i put on 65 pounds in less than a year. sooo bad. but now i'm working my ass off, getting rid of this weight!! i dont go out to restaurants nearly as much (i try to limit myself to once per week), i log everything i eat, and i've cut back significantly on my booze intake (for every beer, i have two waters). 

I was never a big drinker until relatively recently (past 3 or 4 years).  My job requires lots of social drinking and that's when I noticed the substantial weight gain. 

SSRI

~H~

Mine was a combination of bad choices, distorted body image, and depression. I always thought I was the "fat sister" because my younger sis was always smaller. Looking back, I was perfectly healthy and normal, just build differently than her which I can now see has it's perks as well. From a young age I felt like I was the fat one therefore in my mind I was fat. That lended itself to the "I can't help that I am built this way" mindset, which of course leads to justifying eating badly.

None of that was too much of a problem until after I made a very bad choice. Or rather, STOPPED making a very bad choice. I did drugs for two and a half years  in my late teens and early twenties and when I quit my body went into a tailspin and I gained 100 lbs in 6 months. For years afterwards, I struggled with the idea that being thin was NOT a sign of health for me because it meant that I was putting meth into my body. An idea that was especially hard when people were constantly telling me how amazing I looked. I had to accept that to that point in my life being thin was a big red flag that I was in trouble, so to flip that whole scenario in my head was a struggle. Finding a healthy balance between the two extremes... thin and strung out or obese and overweight... that is my struggle now!

Couple that with my already distorted body image and BAM!... Here I am! The older I get the more I recognize all of the misconceptions and excuses and I work to remedy them. So far so good!

This time a year ago I was happily and obliviously stuffing my face with whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and in any amount and maintained. Then I dropped 12 pds in a week (had an issue) and when my appetite returned I couldn't maintain my regular weight anymore. I kept sliding up and up because I still ate and ate and didn't exercise.

I've hear that metabolism can really start to get messed up for some women when they get in their 30's. I think mine finally caught up to me. I should've known...mom's been telling me ever since I was 11, "eating all that junk is going to catch up to you". All through my teens I said yeah yeah mom. All through my 20's yeah yeah mom. What can I say...mom was right! :)

This is something I have done a lot of soul-searching over...of course I was a psych major ;)

I was always the fat kid growing up, even though I look back at pics and yes I was a little pudgy but when i hit my teens i was pretty hot. I had large hips, thick thighs, and a big butt though, just the way i was built...but hearing fatass a few too many times really made me internailize the idea that I was FAT. I was always ashamed of how I looked, and that translated into major issues with food. I messed up my metabolism with those crazy no-fat diets in the 80's/90's, toyed with bulemia for a short time, developed a pretty serious binge disorder, drank heavily for about 10 years and my favourite drink was paralyzers, aiee...then I hooked up with a guy who liked big girls and I think on some level I felt I needed to gain weight to keep his interest, he also loved rich food and we ate a lot of it, I gained like another 70 lbs in 4 years...a few years ago found out I have PCOS...god any ONE of these things may have made me fat but altogether, it was pretty much unavoidable! There is evidence that PCOS is genetic, but not all women with PCOS are overweight, and not all women with PCOS pre-disposition will express it...so I think, all in all, it's a combo deal of genetics and environment and personality factors. It's a complex issue, and everyone is different. There is power in knowledge though, I know what got me here and I know how to make my way back.

Ignorance right from childhood (parents didn't know any better) made me overweight and out of shape.  I ate tons of processed food (butter, frozen foods, chips, fried foods, cookies, cake, chocolate) to an extreme and never had an exercise routine or regular "physical activity". That was ignorance. 

I educated myself through reading and with the help of this web site understood the true meaning of a calorie and regular "physical acticity".  Now that I have lost 60 pounds, I know what moderation means, understand the food pyramid guidelines to eating well and the overall importance of a daily routine of "physical activity".

i gained weight over the past year or so for the most part because i was really skinny, and while i wanted to gain some weight, i started listening to people too much saying "oh eat whatever you want your so skinny" and um, i did.  not a good idea!  on top of that i started a birth control pill that i was ALWAYS starving on.  i mean it, it didn't matter what i ate, always hungry!!!!  i've switched so that's back to normal, but i got so used to eating a lot and whatever i want too and my eating habits were just a bit messy... wine and pizza should not be an evening "snack" and because i have beer i do not need to have cheese fries... i need to get my habits back in order and just lose a few pounds to reach the nice middle ground i was originally wanting to be.

 

I started trying to lose weight when I was younger (about 13) because I noticed my legs where bigger than all the other girls, I was the classic pear shape and I developed a woman's body at that age so I thought I was fat! especially because I was tall (I was already 5'6 when I was 12) so I felt like a giant. Basically I tried to lose weight in my thighs and gave up after a while.

I then heard that you should eat more smaller meals in a day, so when I was about 14 I ate healthily and more smaller meals and managed to lose a bit of weight (though I was never even near overweight, just had huge legs). I got in to the habit of eating more meals to keep the metabolism up but I got bored of being healthily and started eating high calorie foods again and because I was used to more meals, I carried that on but with the high calorie foods! Gained weight because of this and lack of exercise over the next few years and yoyo dieting every time a few months before holidays.

as a child, i constantly ate when i wasn't hungry, and had a generally bad diet of sugary foods and starches. this continued, and i began to binge as a younger teenager (13-15) and thus i gained weight...when i reached 150 pounds, that made me realize i had to do something about it. 

eating too much, too often, constantly finding ways to skip gym class, and having a way too intimate relationship with the ice cream container.

Emotional eating as some sort of lame compensation to make up for the fact that I was having a pretty s**tty year- sounds like a lame reason but that's how it happened!

I was always tiny until I turned 30 and broke my leg in the same year.  Being laid up for 2 months, I started to gain the weight immediately!  I have been battling it ever since.

I wasn't sedentary at all - I was in dance etc 3x per week - but I ate out of stress. That, combined with an unknown aversion to gluten/wheat and an addiction to "health" foods that were crap with no nutrition caused me to gain 20 lbs over one summer.
To fix it....

I cut the artificial everythings, started buying veggies and fruits, whole grains etc, and went vegan. That fixed my constant craving for nutrition, and made me feel physically a WHOLE lot better, which made my workouts that much more effective.

I bought a treadmill and a recumbent bike (along with a new tv!) to workout with (and I actually used them!).

To alleviate the stress eating I started consciously eating VERY VERY slowly. I got into the habit of a pre-meal mantra/pep-talk, to try and separate the food from my emotions. I STILL have to consciously tune into my stomache and how full it feels before/during/after I eat to make sure I'm not mindlessly stuffing my feelings away. I go into "eating blackouts" still, where I'll be so anxious about something that I'll eat fast and not thing about the food at all, so I end up eating till I'm stuffed, and then because I didn't chew well it doesn't digest well and...well it turns out badly.

I stopped dancing too, because that was a cause of alot/some of my anxiety. I feel pressure more than other people - it doesn't mean that I have more hard situations in my life, it's actually quite the opposite...but I just have a different sensitivity to things, and I get stressed out quite easily.

I worked in a chinese restaurant for three months, gaining 30 pounds in the process. They sent me home with free food every night. :(

1959: Born into a Southern family that started the day with bacon AND sausage AND country ham AND eggs AND homemade biscuits AND gravy AND huge globs of butter AND topped it all off with pancakes downing in maple syrup.

1969: true to life Tomboy. Played baseball, football, swam in the pond, climbed trees, rode horses, and ran every where I went. There were 14 boys in my neighborhood and no girls except me. They treated me as one of their own. Still ate the giant jumbo breakfasts and the even bigger dinner (lunch). Wasn't fat, just a little pudgy.

1973: the same boys I played basketball and football with were now cute to me. They all acted weird when I was around. Oh heck! I had breasts! Jeez, now things really went haywire. I started filling out in my hips and I liked make-up and clothes and Tiger Beat magazine. Still eating the huge plates of food AND going back for seconds! Now my favorite white hip-hugger  bell-bottoms with the big red and yellow circles can't be zipped! Better eat some more fried chicken and cornbread to soothe my nerves.

1974 - 1978 high school. dear Lord! high school! Always comparing my body and hair and face with every other girl in sight! How depressing. Outweighing my peers by 50 lbs! Not being able to wear the clothes they wore and not having "brickhouse" on the back of my t-shirt! Thank goodness my daddy has the mentality to bring Goo-Goo Clusters and Baby Ruth's into the house.

1979: working in the real world now. in the mills. working from 11 PM to 7:00 AM,  seven days a week, on THIRD SHIFT. Have just enough time to eat once a day. Grandma about to have a heart attack over me not eating. Drinking gallons of coffee to stay awake.  Loosing lots of weight. 

1980: Meet Mr. Wonderful! Get married in August. We're pregnant in January! Gain 100 lbs. !!! Can't see my feet. Eating from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed.

1981: Have a beautiful baby girl. Realize I don't know a thing about raising a child. I can barely cook! So grateful people bringing food to help out. Give me the fried pork chops and sausage dressing to help with my nerves.

Next 26 years: Getting high every day. Copping a bag here, a lid there. I mean I'm getting high every day on a bag of Frito's and popping a lid on the mayonnaise. I can't bend over anymore. I can't walk across the yard without getting out of breath! With every bite of meatloaf or mashed taters I can feel the anxiety and worry just slip away. Relaxation in a cupcake. Fried chicken is like valium to me. Some turn to whiskey for help. Others turn to heroin. I get stoned on eating entire pot roasts, entire pies, 2 lbs. of potatoes. Sad thing is, that good feeling is gone too quickly and I need a fix every few hours. And when did I get crow's feet?!

Jan. 2008: Complete 180 degree turn. Eat ONLY whole grains, veggies and fruits, healthy fats, gallons of water, lean meats and exercising. Losing weight and its not so bad!

April 2008: down from 270 lbs. to 235 lbs. and counting. I'm getting healthier and more fit with each passing day. I can ride my recumbent bike for 45 minutes at 14 mph. I have the energy of a 6 year old. I FEEL good inside and outside.  Now I just have to find a Disco so I can do "The Hustle". They still have Disco's, don't they?

German-Irish stock, meat, potatos and gravy - Yummy!!!  Heavy as a kid, heavy parents.  3 of us kids - 1 girl, 2 boys. 1 brother very very skinny.  Funny about genetics. My dad is fat, his brother is skinny and married skinny - 2 girls 1 boy.  The boy is fat and the girls are skinny.

Lost 50lbs between Nov 1976 and May 1977 - atkins diet.  I am a carnivore. Worked fast foods but just ate the meat - triple deckers with pickles onions and mustard, no bread.

Did aerobics and maintained for about 4 years - got my heart ripped out and stomped on.  Suddenly x-large family size pizza's with everything was a single meal for me.  An entire box of Lu's dark chocolate schoolbos were a snack size serving.

Another couple years and more food, I saw a year old photo.  I knew it had to be near 300lbs since I had not weighed my self for at least 2 years and I was 265 then.  Freaked and lost 25lbs the first month - I barely ate, then broke a tooth and only had 2 chocolate milkshakes a day for the next month (til I coud see the dentist) and lost another 20. Went on a modified atkins (1 day a week, if I wanted pizza, burgers, etc, I had it - in moderation)

Met hubby in '99 at 133lbs.  Gained 5 in a month because he liked to go to Denny's.  Every nite!  Lot of drinking and partying and good times.   Jan 2001 I was at 158 and 4 months from my wedding.  Back on modified atkins and married at 137 lbs

I maintained 137 to 145 until 2003 when I was put on anti depressants and everything went down a very large hole.   zombie - no emotion at all, I was lucky I could even go to work.  

 May 2004, strict diet, 30-60 min excercise every nite for a month and I gained 7 lbs.  I nearly cried when my Dr told me it was the PremPro I was taking.  It went in the trash immediately even though it was a new RX and I had bought the 3 month supply.  The Prozac went in with it.  I still have to take the water pills and thyroid and potassium.  

Menopause, pills, massive water retention -enough to go up 2 pant sizes in 1 day!  Fortunately, the water retention is about 98% undercontrol.  I  only have the very rare problem.  I can actually wear skirts again without worrying about my legs.

Problem is pretty much all of our friends keep saying I look fine, I don't look anywhere near 190's.   What they don't get is that my stomach is never ever allowed to relax and show the "real thing"  My dad used to slap my stomach and tell me to "suck that gut in". It is automatic once I get out of bed, the muscles are always pulled in.  I have to concentrate to let them out.  I did the other day and OMG!!!!!   I wont be doing that again in front of a mirror anytime soon - UGH! We're talking at least another 5-6 inches here!

Have not been able to get any diet to work, too much stress and even when I was really trying, it wasnt working. 

I now understand that the atkins was not working because even though the carbs were low, I was not eating enough calories.  (I used to do atkins and take in 2000 to 3000 cals a aday with no trouble) so I was in starvation mode.

I'm doing modified carb/cals until I can get the taste of starch out of my system so I can go back to modified atkins.  I can track carbs much better than calories.  

However, I just turned 49 so its going to be more difficult this time.  I am having trouble eating enough food again.   I'm trying to put together low carb hi cal snackies (I like my snackies - actually prefer those every few hours to a regular meal) so that I can grab and eat while I'm taking a break from housework or homework.

Sorry for the ramble, I took a painkiller earlier (PT is teaching me to use my back muscles instead of my shoulders) - I'm having a hard time doing the excercises today, they hurt!

What an interesting topic!

Unlike most people, I can actually trace my weight gain to 1 food: CEREAL/GRANOLA.

I was always very aware of what I was eating, but I never really ate cereal or granola at home. Then I got to college and the dining halls have tons of different kinds of SEEMINGLY healthy cereals and granolas. I didn't realize they were so high in calories and packed with lots of sugar. It makes me so angry that they market themselves as HEALTHY when they are really just JUNK. I ate cracklin' oat bran cereal, because I thought it was healthy. Ughhh. No! It actually has 17 g of sugar per 220 calorie-serving of 3/4 cup and is loaded with saturated fat. And also, I didn't realize granola was like 600 calories for a cup. It was horrible. I was always snacking on cereal when I was staying up late doing work.

Lesson learned though. I study labels religiously now.

I was a social eater.

Food was the thing to do when my friends and I hung out with each other. ALLL the time, and I come from a culture of food pushers.  Mom is Filipino and she loves to feed people.  Then, in college I became sedentary. I never realized the importance of exercise because in high school your forced to do it wether you like it or not, and I never realized the importance of nutrition. 

When I began to gain weight, I realized this and began my way to a healthier person.