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.

Extreme hunger in early childhood followed by developing disordered eating when I was going through puberty - binge eating.

I gained 7 stone through depression - went from a size 10 to a size 20. Just lost my way completely, found comfort and a glimmer of happiness in food.

I always say- I could be an alcoholic or a crack addict. As it is I carry a little more weight than I should. And I’m fine with that. I run and walk regularly, and at 57 have no high blood pressure or anything like that. I’d say I’m a 16-18 when I should’ve a 14-16 (broad hips and big boobs lol). So as I say, I’m fine with that.

There's a quote at overeater's anonymous:

“When you are addicted to alcohol, you put the tiger in the cage and leave it there in order to recover. When you are addicted to food, you put the tiger in the cage but take it out three times a day for a walk.”

I was always very slim ,always starving and it would take huge amounts of food to make me feel full. I was able to eat and eat and eat and never put on a pound . Then one day something changed and I packed on the pounds. I still have that huge appetite and have binge eating issues and constantly feel hungry.

Should have added that I'm now morbidly obese but attending slimming world.

Alcohol and crisps

Mayonnaise, cheese, booze, peanuts and a love of eating out.

A stressful job and a gym induced injury that hampered my ability to exercise for a while probably didn't help. But mainly the other things. There is fundamentally not much wrong with what I eat, but I probably eat too much of it.

I like food

Previous sexual assault. I can lose weight, but as soon as I get to a certain weight/size I end up putting it all back on again. I can't bear to be the size I was at the time of the assault because I'm scared it will happen again.

Wine and carbs and quite large portions but of healthy food, I’m a decent cook — not keen on most excercise apart from walking. I piled it on over the years straight after a gall bladder removal— so I always blame that —

Amazing thread. Amazing!

I'm fat because I eat too much and don't exercise.

It started with my parents. They gave double adult portions to a young child. My mum was a feeder and my dad was a compulsive eater. His breakfast was a whole box of cornflakes for example.

Then I began eating my feelings. Suffered some terrible things and comforted myself with food.

Then by the time I was an adult, I was fat, unhealthy, zero self esteem and self medicated with food and booze.
I'm middle aged and my size is my own fault. However, the start my parents gave me laid the foundations for a lifelong battle. It doesn't mean it's not adult me's responsibility now. It is, of course. It just means it's harder to go from fat kid to slim adult and to unlearn an entire childhoods terrible eating habits.

So much delicious food in the world

I was a size 8 until I fell pregnant. I had a miscarriage and spiralled a bit. It wasn’t necessarily more eating just less moving I suppose. I then fell pregnant again and was worried throughout the pregnancy so comfort ate I guess. I’m a size 12/14 now and classed as obese. I had a huge diastasis recti with nerve damage after having Dd. I have no sensations at all on my abdominal muscles which has made exercise really difficult. I had physio and a personal trainer and managed to close most of the gap but my core strength is non existent as I can’t engage the muscles so I get huge amounts of back pain.
After that I got appendicitis with surgery followed by a PE so overall I would probably say life got in the way.
I’m at the point now where I’m working flat out, 8-5 every day with a 4 year old that doesn’t sleep so although I don’t eat much I think my metabolism is non existent.

I definitely have to battle my genetic make up and the disordered attitude towards food that was instilled in me at a young age if I want to be healthy weight. Its extremely hard. However, at the end of the day I'm not a fan of exercise and I love food. And that's what it comes down to.

Mega high steroid doses and being bed bound with chest infections multiple times a year certainly don't help! Takes months to recover then bam back to square one.

Chronic illness that prevents exercise but also cos I eat far too much

Cake. And coffee. And chocolate. I put it in my mouth 🤷‍♀️

Sleep depravation made me fat. Breastfeeding a baby all night then entertaining a toddler all day. I despise coffee so sugar was the only thing that would give me a “hit” and keep me awake.

I’ve lost 3.5 stone since those days and now run 3 times a week. It’s amazing how just getting a good night’s sleep can affect your weight and your motivation to do something about it.

Depression, anxiety, autism, parents who never said I love you, not being allowed to have emotions as a child (I was shouted at if I cried), low self esteem.

I suppose my parents have to take the blame for my childhood obesity; I was twice the size of the other kids when i started school at 4.

Sexual abuse as a teenager. Court case that followed was so traumatic that I started comfort eating fast food as it was the only thing in my life I had any control over. 11 years after that trial, I'm still doing it.

My DD is only a baby and I desperately want to turn this around so she doesn't grow up like me, but it's very hard to unlearn this coping mechanism

M.E., fibromyalgia, arthritis, medication and poor food choices made because I'm too tired and sore to make good ones.

Eating too much.

I was a healthy weight as a child and a teen, but I danced every day till I was 16. Then I stopped. I naturally gained some weight (not much - still within normal bounds).

I lost it. I was raped. I comfort ate. I gained weight. Then I comfort ate. And I'm in a cycle where I gain a lot, lose a bit, gain a lot, lose a bit.

I was 9 stone when I was raped. I was 20. I'm 16 stone now at 37. I don't have the motivation. It's comfort eating, overeating, not being able to say no....Bad habits are very hard to break.

Not cycling to the office anymore
One stone gained

15 minutes of yoga just ain’t cutting it