If you are overweight, what, in your opinion, made you that way?

[SistemaAddict]

There's been lots of threads recently about weight inspired by the government trying to crack down on obesity yet encouraging us to eat out and posters bemoaning the lockdown lard/pandemic pounds. There has been lots of discussion about the causes of obesity or being overweight due to societal and financial factors but I wanted to ask what posters think made them either overweight or obese because reasons will vary. Certain medications and conditions can cause weight gain and/or make it harder to lose weight and the peri-menopause/menopause doesn't help.

I stopped breastfeeding a year ago and my appetite didn't return to normal after stopping so I gained weight. Then my asthma was bad from October onwards and my ability to go on bike rides was limited. Then lockdown and shielding and my 5 mile school hike up and down big hills went out of the window and I ate too many biscuits and chocolate and would eat in the evening while reading or watching tv. I gained around a stone and that took me into the overweight category.

In June I decided enough was enough and started 16:8 and limited myself to around 1250 calories a day. I bought a fitbit and started using my fitness pal. Both encouraged me to go on walks with the dc and to take more trips up and down the stairs than were necessary to meet my target of 25 flights a day. I stopped eating after dinner, watched my portion sizes and cut out most of the junk I was eating. I'm now a normal weight with a BMI of 24. I'm carrying on with my healthier lifestyle and improved habits but it's hard especially in the evenings when I want chocolate. My aim is to get to a BMI of 23 as that is where I look and feel best.

I don't want this to be a judgemental thread, or for anyone to fat shame posters, I just wanted to share my own reasons for weight gain and ask others' experiences because it's a very individual thing beyond "too many calories in vs calories out" and it can be very complex.

I was overweight because I'd developed bad snacking habits ie nibbling at chocolate and crisps throughout my working day. I found the motivation to stop when a hot young guy started at my work. He's an idiot but I'm never putting that weight back on.

And I still have chocolate every day, just not loads of it.

I nearly died of double pneumonia when I was 5 and have a syndrome where my lungs didn't develop properly as a result. I am an only, much-wanted child of parents who met when they were working in catering. They were both desperately keen to feed me up as a child, in between hospital visits etc. Also my dad was very fiercely protective of me and wanted to control where I went out and how I spent my time. I just read and read.

I was very determined to gain my independence as a teen (and lost a couple of stone or more in weight, going down to around BM18).

However, I found that low weight/ dieting seemed to be associated with being more physically ill.

I wanted to get on with living my life so put up with a BMI over 25. It crept up a bit - I did some successful low carbing after pregnancy.

However, after getting really ill, needing months of heavy duty antibiotics while also being on a nebuliser, my consultant told me I was "the perfect weight". By this he was referring to a research paper in which people with my condition with a BMI of 18 had a ten per cent chance of dying every year (and this added up over time). Conversely, as your BMI went up, so did your survival chances, and the best outcome in the study was with a BMI of 30.

I found it very hard to diet after that This would have been about 6 years ago.

I have lost about 10kg since lockdown started however. I think the risks from covid on top of other potential health issues now outweigh the potential other benefits.

Mouth hole bigger than bum hole.

Depression, poor self esteem. Not liking myself enough to stop killing myself with food.

Hating myself every time another diet fails, and feeling guilty - making me more depressed and less likely to like myself enough to diet.

Oh - and being given steroids (for a severe flare up of lymphocytic colitis) that made me pile on weight, which made me even less mobile and even more self-hating.

I'm not overweight by a huge amount, about a stone.

I'm this way because I overeat and don't exercise enough, plain and simple. I keep attempting to lose weight but I've got a sweet tooth and I'm weak willed!

Stress of coronavirus and lockdown. Turned to eating too many crisps, chocolate etc. Not walking to work and doing my usual 10000 plus steps. I'm hoping once I'm back to work in September I can lose the stone I've put on

Lost a parent as a teenager, was sexually abused. Food and sugar was/is my comfort.
Never learnt to cook until much later jn life, lived student years on junk food and take aways. Trying to finally break the cycle.
Still hate sports though.

I was very slim (low end of my BMI) all my life up until having my first child. I put on 4 stone with that pregnancy (not really sure why, as I honestly didn’t eat a lot) and found it very hard to lose. That struggle was mainly to do with having PND and turning to food for comfort, which I’d never done before. I s eating shit loads of chocolate and carbs and doing fuck all exercise, to be brutally honest.

I did eventually lose the weight and didn’t gain as much with subsequent pregnancies, but somehow that ‘using food for comfort/eating my emotions’ switch had been triggered and so I’ve gone up and down over the years depending on how I feel and whether I’m stuffing my face to make myself feel better or not. Currently in a good lace and not overweight, but I know that issue lurks for me.

Booze also gave me a belly. I was drinking far too much wine for quite a few years, which had little effect in my 30s but really started to show in my 40s. When I gave up drinking I lost a stone quite quickly without trying.

should have said low end of my healthy bmi

3 children, age and the fact I dont eat properly. I eat very little if you laid it out on a table, nothing all day then a chocolate bar type of thing. Unfortunately I have taught my body this is how I eat so it responds in kind by clinging on to every thing I do eat!

Cancer - chemo, steroids
4 abdo operations
A hysterectomy
Early menopause (caused by chemo)
Bowel issues (cancer)
For me it wasn't over eating. I am beginning to win though, running 3 times a week again.

The pill
Really liking food in general
Emotional eating

Now at a BMI of 32 so in the obese category, I don’t want to get hung up on BMI, but want to lose 3 stone. In the process of buying a house and moving cities which isn’t helping. But started logging food on Fitbit and am generally trying to be far more sensible with snacks etc.

My love of cake and gin and really hating exercise - boring, sweaty, boob killing rubbish - when I could be on the sofa reading a book.

Not RTFT.

My mum insisted I didn't leave the table until I ate everything on the plate. So I still don't and the portions are much bigger.
I hate exercise.
My job is mostly sedentary.
I am addicted to sugar.
I eat too much when I feel low.

Several reasons combined.

Mum couldn't cook, she had little interest in food except as a necessity, and that influenced the food. Dad did a lot of our food.

Mum's lack of interest in food meant she had some weird ideas, which basically fucked me up, despite Dad's attempts to keep us eating healthily.

I met an abuser and ended up in a relationship. The food issues inherited from mum developed into comfort eating, which got worse the longer I stayed with ex.

I'm now out of that relationship, and am eating a healthy diet at last. Weight loss is a consequence of eating better. Slow but steady.

I've just downloaded the NHS app and also myfitnesspal, I'm determined to get on the road to better health.

Bluntly, it was greed. I fucking LOVE food and have quite an eaty/ drinky social life. I have been much heavier and a fair bit lighter than I am now. Although I'm now OK at moderating when I'm eating at home, I am greedy when I go out/ holidays etc. Now I'm post-menopausal I gain weight easily and struggle to lose it though.

Boredom - will constantly pick if I am at home not doing much
Lack of sleep - I crave stodgy food and calories. My DS was a bad sleeper as a baby and toddler.

I love chocolate, cheese, cake, breads, wine.

Switched to time restricted eating and 800cal blood sugar diet plus HIIT in my living room and the weight fell off.
Now eat small amounts of the contraband and I enjoy it without the weight gain.

My BIL. When I was about 15 he started teasing me about getting bigger. I really wasn't overweight - just losing my stick like figure and filling out a bit. That made me self conscious of my appearance and started an unhealthy relationship with food- dieting then over eating.

Also my dm - who lived through the war and couldn't bear to 'waste food'. So you cleaned your plate whether you wanted it or not. I have early memories of sitting in front of plates of food that I just couldn't eat, but had to sit there until I did.

I've never really had a healthy relationship with food sadly.

I think stress, years of working shift work, nights etc and my whole sleep routine being messed up. I comfort eat a lot as I feel it's the only thing that cheers me up.

Stress.

Food and drink

Also my dm - who lived through the war and couldn't bear to 'waste food'. So you cleaned your plate whether you wanted it or not. I have early memories of sitting in front of plates of food that I just couldn't eat, but had to sit there until I did.

And the stupid thing is that they are the ones who are actually wasting food, by cooking too much.

I am very overweight, sturdy as a toddler, loved food. My mum said I would hum with happiness when I was eating. My dad worked in a chocolate factory so always had a bar in his pocket when he came home.
Parents then managed sweet shops around the South East. We moved a lot and I hated the first schools I went to and was bullied terribly. My love of food, living in a sweet shop and a lot of comfort eating led to huge weight gain. I did exercise a lot though, games and swimming etc.
Late teens and I turned to a combination of starvation and binging, swimming miles and dancing all night at clubs twice a week to keep it under control. Even then I only went down to a large size16.

I then contentment ate my way through to middle age when I found out I suffered from Hypothyroidism.

I love food and have belonged to a Slimming club on and off most of my adult life. I can lose a stone or more in a month but I plateau.
We are polar eaters, either very well or diabolical. More often eating well, meals from scratch, 5 to 8 portions of fruit and veg a day. At least a third or more of a plate veggies, a third or less carbs and a third protein. I walk for four hours a couple of times a week at work. I drink a couple of glasses of Gin and slimline a week. I know exactly what to do, but if I am not eating well, I cram everything in my face I can.

So a little Hypothyroidism added to the emotional eating, love of food and little exercise and I am a total mess.

I get a hit when I eat foods high in fat and sugar.

I don't have any other vices.

I am not overweight at the moment, but I have put a stone on since lockdown started because I have reverted back to eating too much because of boredom.

If I diet I feel depressed.
When I'm fat I feel depressed.

I've been battling this compulsion to overeat my whole life, I'm not sure it will ever go away.

I was a skinny child, and a sturdy (but healthy weight) teen and 20/30 something.

My whole life I didnt watch what I ate, pooh poohed dieting and was always hovering around a size 12.

And then I was 45 and a size 16 and a bmi of 27 and high blood pressure.

It was clear that if I didnt change anything I'd keep on gaining weight and it would negatively affect my health.

So I buckled down, lost 2 stone, gained half a stone back during lockdown and I'm now busy losing it again, combined with exercise to benefit my overall health.

So, biscuits and too large portions over many years which caught up with me basically.