Place for those overweight as children

Growing up as a very overweight infant, then small child, then teenager, then into adulthood, I would like to be able to communicate with others with this same background.   No offense in any way to those who gained weight in adulthood after having a baby, getting married, or some other reason, but growing up overweight is a whole different ballgame.

Maybe we could have a forum/area for this? 

That would be me! I have been overweight since I was a baby.

ditto!!! but if we keep going that can change!!!

I know what you mean.  People will want to get back to their weight, but I've never had a weight to get back to.  In high school, I was already shopping at Lane Bryant.  In some ways, I can't even imagine what it's like to be a "normal" weight.  But, even those that gained later in life still have our struggles.  I wonder if their self-image comes less from being overweight as ours does, since that's all we've known.

I was definitely smaller than "morbidly obese" growing up but always overweight:  i was 70 lbs in the 2nd grade; 150 lbs in the 7th grade at 5'1", etc.   but didn't really get "obese" til end of junior high/early highschool and then morbidly obese in college... basically, i kept gaining and gaining and gaining... till i got all the way upto 325 lbs.  i'm now at 251 lbs but have so far to go... i'm 5'3" so at the very most, i can be 140 lbs.  i was just telling my friend how frustrated i am with this journey.  it really is a MARATHON, not a sprint.  and i have to remind myself of that constantly... cuz, 5 lbs is  not a noticeable difference on me but 5 months of 5 lbs (25 lbs) IS.  chipping away at such a huge goal really requires a certain amount of patience AND dealing with all of the emotions that i've associated with food and my life that have made me who i am today has been tough.  that is something i've really noticed.  being a "big" girl defines me.  i don't think that people who gained later in life have that same sense of self or self-worth tied to their appearance.  they KNOW a different way of feeling about their bodies that i can only hope to feel one day.

I completely fit in this group except I wasn't born overweight. I became that quickly though. My mother was a wonderful cook, but it was all country. Fried, smothered in grease and gravy. Yumm. My Dad was 5'8" and weighed at the most 140 lbs. his whole life. My sister and I would sit down and eat stewed potatoes with butter, fried chicken or pork chops, green beans cooked down in bacon grease until there was no liquid left, home made biscuits, gravy and always a dessert. Usually a pie that mom cut in 4 pieces and then cut hers in half again and gave that part along with the 1/4 to dad. But at 6 years old, 1/4 of a chocolate pie is way too much. At four our house burned and the doctor put me on a high protein diet to keep my skin healing. Not conducive to losing weight. I steadily continued to grow. At third grade I was over 100 lbs, by 7th I was at 220. Lost down to 140 for about a year and a half my junior and senior year of high school. Got married and quit watching what I was doing or staying busy, became the proverbial cannibalistic couch potato (eating potatoes). Now 35 years later I am at 291 down from 326 when I started CC. This is the first time in my adult life I have ever lost weight and a lot of it is due to the support you get here. I can't see my self going to weight watchers, time, money and embarrassment would get in the way. Everybody here seems to be in the same spot, and I haven't found anyone who likes the name "morbidly obese" . I really do hate that term. We are in it for the long haul. That seems to be the way to do this weight loss thing and hopefully it will work.

I am right there with you guys.  I wasn't fat as a baby but quickly became "chubby" and stayed that way the rest of my life.  You know the famous college freshman 15????  I LOST about 50 while I was away at school but picked up all my old habits as soon as I was back with the family.  I have always used food to comfort - that's how I was raised.  I am SSSOOOO glad to find people who understand.  My Mom tried to help me lose when I was in high school and that was a disaster.  She was thin and petite and would say things like just stop eating.  I feel that I have a home now!!!!!!  YAY for us!!!!

yep thats me in a nutshell too! i never realized for a long time when it started but when i look at pictures i was about 6 years old when i really started to gain weight, and i just keept going from there. my family always makes large meals and that was fine when i was really little because we always had my brothers and his friends there to eat everything, after he moved out there was just so much food all the time, it became like a bad habbit for my family to eat way more than we should. i stil have those habbits but i am slowly learning to brake them with CC. hopefuly with this site we can all get the suport we need to know what it feels like to be at a good weight, not just for the moment but for the rest of our lives.

glad i found people who feel the way i do!

~K~

Sorry for out of topic, but I'm here at work reading your topics and just want to say thanks to all of you because your all great people.  I love hearing your opinions to help others. 

I got overweight in Elemtary school and it just stayed that way. There were a lot of tears shed, to this day it still happens. Doctors blamed my mother, kids picked on me mercilessly. I just wish someone had icked me into gear sooner, because, as a whole, my weight has held me back from a lot of experiences, however, I don't regret the person I've become because of those experiences.

I hope we can all find peace with our childhoods.

I was the skinniest kid in class till the 4th grade and all the hormons started to shift.  Everything just got wider and kept getting wider.  But now its time for it to stop.  I have to find away to be a good example for my kids, I don't want my girls to have the hard times I did growing up.  Damn the President's Physical Fitness tests anyway!!!!!!!

I was "normal" until I was about 7, we moved to a new neighborhood were there were no kids and no sidewalks and I became and indoor kid.  The next summer I got sick and had to stay inside all summer since then I've been fat.  

I went to fat camp the summer I was 13, I was put on diets all through high school.  

Yeah this has been a whole life struggle.  When I get down to my goal weight, I'll weigh as much as I did when I was about 11 or 12.  

I was always just on the chubbier side of normal, then puberty hit.  My Mom had me on a diet all my teen years...without her I probably would have ballooned up very early.  As it is, I was always a bit overweight. 

When I got out of her site, I ate whatever I could get.  And after I got married my weight started ballooning up.  Then a child and another,  then in nursing school I gained 50 pounds from the stress of trying to work, raise children and pass school (as well as learn what I needed to know)

My hubbie is overweight too and has been since he quit sports (he is also disabled since 1991.  Stomach cancer gave him the equivalent of a gastric bypass and he has lost 125 pounds.

I've lost as much as 70 pounds, but always yoyo'd back up. I am not getting any younger (I remember when saccarin was the only reasonable sugar substitute)  I remember cyclamates... I will make it this time.  NEVER GIVE UP!! NEVER SURRENDER!!!!