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 like food, and eat too much of it through stress/boredom especially if I'm tired and can't easily distract myself (eg when home with kids all day during lockdown when I put on 3kg).

I've always loved food and hated exercise - simple as that, really. In my childhood and teens I could get away with it and was always stick thin, but during my twenties it gradually started to catch up with me and now at 30 I'm on the borderline between overweight and obese. (And still gaining).
I know how to lose weight, and I actually think I probably have a good metabolism- between my earlier lack of weight and the fact that I eat a lot more than my weight would suggest- so in theory weight loss shouldn't be too difficult for me.
I just have absolutely zero motivation right now. I definitely stress eat, and sometimes getting away from work for a Maccies is the only thing stopping me from having a breakdown. (I know, excuses, and there's other ways).

That said, my sister is also overweight, but has a really active job and eats very sporadically. Her weight was always really low, until she got the implant and changed anti-depressants when it skyrocketed.

I also know someone else (community HCA/carer) who has such an active job and so little free time that I honestly don't think it would be physically possible for her to consume the number of calories needed to sustain her current weight unless there's more to it.

Middle age combined with food and lack of exercise.

This is an interesting thread.

No one here is saying they are overweight because they don’t have any cooking skills or they don’t know what healthy food looks like or that fruit and veg costs too much (which lots of posters are saying on the overweight adults thread.)

For me it's lack of exercise and eating too much of the wrong foods. Over lockdown I was exhausted juggling work, childcare etc and I would spend every evening eating sharing bags of chocolate so gained an extra stone. I am approx 3 stone overweight but am back losing it again, going swimming and yoga and counting calories.

Some very honest answers here and lessons we can all take away as parents on how much our attitudes on food effect our children. The emotional connection seems to very complex. From experience all I can say is putting weight on is much easier than getting it off. I cut out about 40 km a week exercise that was built into daily life through lockdown, and you can tell.
I think this is becoming a serious consequence of restrictions on movement and social activities. Well done to those who have motivated a change.

I exercise a lot, I really enjoy it.
However I also really enjoy eating food and drinking - my portion sizes are too big for my needs.
So I have a fit strong body underneath a significant layer of fat.
What has finally inspired me to stop being lazy and start reducing the amount I eat is the Lose a Stone in 21 days where a mum like me was possibly pre-diabetic.
So now I'm not eating as much as I used to, have reduced significantly what I drink, and am intermittent fasting.

Had a baby which made me gain weight. Struggled to lose it because I find food uttlery delicious and love it.

That said, I'm only a couple of lbs over weight now and have done well with calorie counting.

Cake. Well no, specifically my over consumption of it. Eating too many calories in general.

@Bloodylush

This is an interesting thread.

No one here is saying they are overweight because they don’t have any cooking skills or they don’t know what healthy food looks like or that fruit and veg costs too much (which lots of posters are saying on the overweight adults thread.)

Yup.

Steroid tablets on and off for a few years

I'm 9lb outside of my "healthy" weight range and have been here or hereabouts for several years.

I could give every excuse under the sun but I eat high sugar high fat foods and don't exercise and that's all there is to it.

I'm physically and mentally healthy, I am economically able to support better eating and exercise habits, and although I have 2 small children I have a supportive husband or space in my home to support me exercising, I just don't. I also understand what a healthy diet would look like and understand calorie defects.

I am overweight because of my poor choices--simple.

Boredom, love of sugar, don't drink enough water so often crave and fulfil that craving with chocolate.

I love bread and cheese. I can skip the butter, but I love bread and cheese.

i gave up smoking 10 years ago 3 months after that, i put on 2 stone in 2 months. awful. i don't know if nicotine patches are connected at all (you use them in first 3 months). that might be implicated, but for me it was also the start of menopause and undiagnosed hypothyroidism becoming obvious/worse without the nicotine kick to overcome it. 10 years on, i've still got that weight and it's nigh on impossible to shift. (dead easy to gain more though). I lead a very active lifestyle these days, no more floundering in my armchair feeling terrible and it really pisses me off. i have no trouble getting to 11,000 steps and burning 2,500-3000 calories a day. i suppose i should be positive about the fact i've kept my weight "stable" in the past decade, i've dropped to 13 stone a couple of times with superhuman effort but never gone over. calorie deficit is a faff but the only way that seems works for me coupled with keeping protein intake up. i wonder if taking up smoking again would help the weight come off. i've just changed my health risks from those of a smoker to being obese, so i don't feel there has been any benefit.

Boredom! If I’m at home I just graze all the time. Funnily enough, if I’m out and about, food never crosses my mind. Wish I could Cure myself if the grazing.

Beer

A combination of things.

1. My mum doesn’t eat a lot and our meals growing up we’re stodgy meat & 2 veg meals like mince and dumplings. The most exotic I got was a spag bol that was mince and dolmio.
2. Too much processed food as a teenager. My parents would work long shift ours to make ends meet so between the ages of 12-16 I lived on ready meals after school. Which massively engrained poor eating habits.
3. Emotional eating. This started around the same age too. I hated myself from a very early age, my father was a horrible man to live with at the time as he was depressed and took it out on me and my mum. I ate to feel happy and still do.
4. I don’t exercise enough. I do 3 x 30/45 minute walks with the dog every day to hit my step goal but I don’t do anything outside of that.

By the time I left home bad eating habits were so engrained and entrenched in me, combined with a shit self esteem and general hatred for myself and inability to access the right mental health services (private counselling can’t afford it). Now, I certainly use food as a coping mechanism 100%. When I’m feeling good and stable my eating always improves, which keeps my mh issues at bay for longer but something happens and I’ll shove a pizza and kebab in me, and start the guilt cycle again. I know every single thing I need to do to break this and lose weight, mentally though, I can’t.

Habit.

apart from walking the dog, I have no other exercise, apart from normal day to day walking, housework etc, I eat too much bread, and sugar, its not hard for me to see why I am overweight, but I have ZERO will power

@Bloodylush

This is an interesting thread.

No one here is saying they are overweight because they don’t have any cooking skills or they don’t know what healthy food looks like or that fruit and veg costs too much (which lots of posters are saying on the overweight adults thread.)

I think it's a bit like expecting to cure an alcoholic by showing them how to fill a glass with tap water and teaching them that it's a much cheaper and healthier option. It misses the real issues completely.

Steroids, hashimotos, biologics,

A lot of it is habitual, and very difficult to break out of. A lot of these habits were learned in childhood and although I try very hard I can see me passing these onto my own children. They are:

1. eating eveything that is put in front of me (or cooked). Was always encouraged to finish my plate and that it was polite to eat what is offered regardless of whether I'm hungry or not

1. Eating at set times. Breakfast, elevenses (playtime snack), lunch, mid afternoon snack (afterschool), dinner at 6pm, supper (eg another snack). Again this pattern was provided in childhood and is difficult to break. I eat at these times, even if not hungry and feel weird if I don't as my routine is broken

1. Emotional eating. I eat/drink to reward myself if something good has happened. A treat. And I eat to comfort myself if something bad has happened to cheer me up. This is the most difficult one not to pass on to my kids.

All this adds up to being overweight. I can get it down if I concentrate and try really hard, but as soon as I stop paying 100% attention to it (which is exhausting) the habits creep back in

Genetics. We have fatties in the family. I don’t care what anyone says, we are programmed to crave sweet, fat, salt food. We also seem to be unable to maintain weight at 1800 cals, we gain weight.

Lockdown, stress, emotional eating, painful hips

Age/menopause and medication I need to take. I lost it enough, but it's way way harder now I'm older.

Oh and I don’t know if this is an actual thing, but I do think genetics as some role in your predetermined body shape. My maternal side of the family are all short and fat. My grannie even said when I was born “She’s got the (surname) thighs” ... I was destined to be called thunder thighs at school.