Whenever I tell someone new about my history of weight gain and loss, one of the first questions they ask me is whether or not I was heavy as a child. And the answer to that question is “No, I was just a normal sized child and a slightly above average sized teenager.” The next question they ask me is generally, “Well then, when did you gain all your weight?”
The truth is that I began gaining weight in college, mainly because of poor eating habits, having the freedom to visit Denny’s restaurant at 11:00 p.m., and total lack of movement. During college I lived freely and started down the road to obesity. My weight went up and down like a yo-yo, for there were periods of time throughout the four years that I had the sense that I should get moving, so I would occasionally run on the track or ride my bike around campus. Those meager activities kept my weight from spiraling out of control. When John and I married I weighed around 165.
The real pattern for weight gain started after we married. If I weighed 165 when we married, by our 1st anniversary I weighed around 180. And by the 2nd anniversary was getting close to 200 pounds. So for me, the weight gain began in earnest during the first years of my marriage.
Why?
- Ate out at least four nights a week and four lunches per week
- Worked at my desk job
- At night I watched television with a big plate of tortilla chips smothered with cheese
- On the weekends I went to the movies, my lap full of an extra large buttered popcorn and a large Coke
- Stopped exercising or moving except for walking to the car or the vending machine at work
Week after week of that kind of sedentary lifestyle caused my weight to spiral up. I felt it happening. My work suits no longer fit and I had to buy some “tide me over” clothes. I was tired all the time. I started to become extremely dissatisfied with my appearance. But still the weight came on because as unhappy as I was with what I was doing, I felt powerless to stop.
In the interest of full disclose, I did join WW at least twice during the first three years of our marriage. One time I lost 22 pounds and was close to the goal weight they had set for me. Yipee! I thought. But did I keep going and get to goal? No. I quit going, started eating everything in sight, and gained those 22 pounds back. And the worst part? 10 more pounds came with it. So although I did try and lose weight during that time, I couldn’t seem to get it together.
So now you know when my weight started pouring on. I often wish that I had just stopped my poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyle at that point. I would have saved myself years and years of heartache, trauma, and pain. But I didn’t. The weight gain continued in the third year of marriage with my first pregnancy and didn’t stop until my third child was born.
Whether or not there was a point in your life that you can say, “That’s when it started,” or whether you have struggled all your life, you can make a positive change now. Although I wish I hadn’t been overweight for so long, I’m glad I didn’t wait any longer to improve my health and fitness. I’m glad that I’ve now had 12 years of maintaining a healthy weight rather than 22 years of obesity.
I’d love to hear where your journey started. Did you struggle as a child, did the weight come on in school, or was it after you were on your own that your struggle with weight began? Diane
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I was heavy as a child after my parents got divorced. I started coping with food and it became my crutch. Everyone was worried about me, but no one intervened. I started my weight loss journey my junior year of high school. modeling after the Atkins Diet, because my aunt lost so much weight. Then WW, then WW again. Then WW again. pattern. I don’t think that it’s WW–it’s me. I believe that now more than ever. Thanks for sharing your story. The guest post from john still touches me.
michelle´s last blog ..Delta
My parents got a divorce when I was 12, and that combined with puberty caused the majority of my weight gain. I was my heaviest during my second year of high school. I managed to take it off for the last two years, but then it started to creep back up again during college.
By the time I got married, I was at my lowest weight ever and determined not to gain the (what I heard of as) the “Newlywed 9″.
What I always find interesting and great about your story is that you lost the weight after your third child, and not your last. Have you ever written or considered writing a post about keeping the baby weight minimal and getting it off from your last pregnancies?
Lara (Thinspired)´s last blog ..The Hangover
I was always a skinny thing because of sports. But in my early 20’s I got wrapped up in an idiot guy and stopped focusing on self improvement. THEN, I discovered crunchy cheetos, and it was all over. A bag everyday (or was it two bags?) after lunch. I gained 10 pounds that year and never fixed my habits. Then the whole pregnancy thing just shot it out the window. I thought I could eat whatever I wanted while pregnant. But that is a lie. Umph.
Yum Yucky´s last blog ..Searching For My Greedy Eyeballs
I already had a chemical imbalance of sort (undiagnosed) – and then I was in bed for my whole 2nd pregnancy with severe ‘morning sickness’ (the 24 hours a day, whole pregnancy kind). That pregnancy really did something to my whole body – physically and mentally. I am sure that I had fairly severe post partum and almost some form of post traumatic stress (I have never been the same since). I got into REALLY bad food habits with the nausea of the pregnancy – the ‘eat whatever sounds good’ kind. And was actually TOLD that by my doctor who also happens to be obese. And actually I NOW understand that what as adding to the hormonal problems of the pregnancy was blood sugar – how and what I was eating made me spiral up and down and really added to the ’sickness’. Knowing then, what I know now, I could have made that pregnancy VERY different. Mostly what I know now is that I needed a LOT of help during and after that pregnancy. But at the time – I was in too bad of shape to even realize that I was in serious trouble. And NO one around me saw it.
vickie´s last blog ..Pig Out – one cookie, hold the frosting
I was always thin as a child and teenager due to lots of activity, but my eating habits were poor. During college I didn’t have a car and walked/biked everywhere, so I stayed thin there. I first noticed I was overweight when I was getting married for the first time at 25. My future MIL made my dress and she said, “now don’t gain any more weight or this won’t fit!” I attribute the gain to my poor eating habits finally catching up with me and lack of physical activity, as I worked everyday at a desk and sat on the couch watching tv on the weekends. Now, at the age of almost-40, I am trying to change.
Amy H.´s last blog ..Tampax Series – Number 6
My problem started when I was 18 months old and hit a cronic state about first grade. I ws 200 lbs on my first day of school. In those days they ran no tests to find the cause, just mentally bullied you into thinking that you were lazy, undisciplined and just not thinking. Turns out I had polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and it causes several metabolic imbalances in your body- amongst which is insulin resistance. It was finally diagnosed in my late 20’s , when I went through infertility treatments. Not only did the condition make me very overweight, but it gave me horrible acne and the bonus of a beard starting at age 16. This time around I fight with the affects of PCOS plus Menopause ( or as I call them the gruesome twosome) , struggle but I never give up.
Diane´s last blog ..Intuitive leanings
12 years, you are so inspiring…I hope to have your record behind me as I too never want to gain that weight back..You are going to have to be my friend FOREVER and make sure I stay on track…I do, my desire is huge, but I want to put all the help around me jussssssssst incase I have a slip..
If you hadn’t gone through what you did you would never have been able to inspire as many people as you do…you had to live that to share and help others as now you understand first hand and I know you know….that makes the difference.
Marcelle´s last blog ..My Wedding Day
I am very similar to you weight gain past. I was never overweight as a child, in late high school I started gaining a little, and graduated a size 10(not sure what I weighed I already started to avoid scales). The point my weight gain really got out of control was after I met my husband. Then only got worse with the 2 babies.
I think that is why I relate so well to your blog, we have a simular weight gain history. It is just you are 12 years ahead of me, and where I hope to be in the future.
I also hope that some day I can inspire people the way you do, not just with your blog but also the way you stop by my blog(and I am sure others too) and leave notes of encouragement.
I was big from the time I was about 12. I stopped moving and playing with my buddies since I got so big I couldn’t do sports. I’m young enough that I can get there!
I wasn’t heavy, but rather just plesingly plump. That’s what they called it in my day. I just steadily gained through high school, college and beyond. I’m really motivated this morning reading your post. It’s so interesting how you gained your weight and that you lost it and have kept it off.
I’ve realized it does not matter in the least whether you were heavy as a child or not. You can still get over the genetics and lifelong habits.
This is so interesting to read all the comments so far this morning because everyone has really come from a different place to get where they are today. Really since reading your blog I’ve lost about 35 pounds and attribute it to you and your encouraging words and excellent attitude and plan. I wasn’t super fat as a little girl. But then I started getting bigger and bigger upon marriage. For me just the sitting and being able to eat anything I desired was just enough of a pull to cause me to gain weight. Then it was easier to gain when I was already big. The pounds liked each other.
I gained a few lbs when I left home, too. Freedom to eat whatever I wanted, whenever can take a toll on a girl. It wasn’t until I wanted to make a change did I seek out information on just how to do it.
Joanna Sutter´s last blog ..Hallelujah! Chips!
Diane, thanks for the insight into your story. I am posting about this on my Thursday Q&A post, so I’ll refrain from telling about it here.
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I have struggled with my weight ever since I was in elementary school. It may have started about 4th or 5th grade. My brother was tall, and extremely skinny, and was an athlete. My dad was a rancher, and working kept him pretty active. I, on the otherhand was not an athlete, did not like to exercise, and was extremely uncooridnated. But I ate the same amount as they did. An as a result, gained weight. My mom was not overweight, but was not very active. She’s always been able to maintain a healthy weight, mainly b/c she has self-control. We didn’t have a lot of money, so we also had the “clean your plate” rule. In college where I was able to actually choose what I could eat, without having to “sneak” it from my mom, was where I gained the most weight probably. I’m not nearly as heavy as I was, but it’s still a struggle for me.
Please add this to your topics –
what has happened as you (personally) have added blogging to your life? Obviously something, somewhere had to ‘give’ for you to have the time.
Did it have an impact (for you) on the scale?
Do you limit yourself in any way to stay balanced? And do you really have to watch yourself and your priorities? It is easy to get ’sucked in’.
In weight loss blog land – there ARE some people (still in weight loss) that are so busy talking/writing about IT – that they don’t actually DO IT.
And sometimes maintainers get sucked into the busy-work of it and regain. I have seen this happen (often) with maintainers that write books. The pressure of the writing, the rehashing old memories – it can be an emotional roller coaster. And then the publicity tour/activities seem to shatter their routines. I think that often this occurs because they are not yet REALLY settled into the reality of maintenance. They barely touch down in maintenance and learn how to APPLY it and then boom – they are off and really distracted.
I think that would be an interesting topic for you.
vickie´s last blog ..Pig Out – one cookie, hold the frosting
Vickie – I do think this would make a great topic. Just so you, and anyone else who is reading this knows, I’ve maintained my same weight throughout my blogging time! I think since I’ve maintained for so long, through so many life experiences (including 4 pregnancies) that throwing blogging into my day hasn’t affected my weight. Now time management issues – that’s another conversation entirely!!
I’ll add this to my list. And by the way – you are right. I have seen a lot of people who write a book, or get on tv regain their weight back.
That is a great question. I did not struggle with my weight until I had my daughter 19 months ago. I have always been athletic and able to get in shape quickly. However, after having Kylie, things started to change. It has been a struggle and I am taking the steps now to change it! Now I make sure I find the time to excercise.
Staci´s last blog ..Challenge
I love hearing more about your “journey”! I can’t even recall why I started my weight loss journey that summer I did in high school… but I am glad I did. I started gaining weight in elementary school. I learned lots more along the way too! We never know it all at once! Jeez, I am still learning!!!!
I was slightly overweight from about age 9 on. At 15, I decided to go on a diet and lost a lot of weight. Too much actually. That lasted a couple of years until I met the man who is now my hubby. Stress, college, and then marriage and kids, and I was at an all time high. So glad I took control!!
Melissa´s last blog ..Halloween Cuties!!
I had always been thin, actually a bit too thin until my mid 20s. Then my weight went up a bit, but it was healthy. I didn’t have serious problems until I went through a really stressful period of my life. I sought stress relief in food, and stopped exercising. I had always exercised at least four or five days a week. I gained weight quite quickly and also developed health problems quite quickly, such as high blood pressure. When we wanted to have a second child, I knew it wouldn’t be safe to do so at the weight I was and with the medical problems so I started making healthy choices and got pregnant at a healthy weight. Unfortunately, the pregnancy was high risk and I was very stressed and worried the entire time. I gained 50 lbs, and it took me quite some time to take all the pregnancy weight off. Now my focus is truly on health, balance, and making good, healthy choices and being a good example for my kids.
My journey is all over the place. I was average size until puberty, then I was chunky. It’s up and down after that. I gained the most weight after I met my now husband and he did too. If we can gain weight together so easily you’d think we could motivate each other to lose.
Robin´s last blog ..Daily Lessons
I’m not sure I could pinpoint when I started gaining weight. Like you, I was a healthy weight child and teenager (although I THOUGHT I was fat!)… that’s probably how it all started. I went like this: down 10, up 15, down 15, up 20, down 20, up 25… you get the idea, then two pregnancies mixed in… one day I stepped on the scale and I was almost 170lbs (probably my highest NON pregnant weight) and I was shocked. I stopped in my tracks and lost it all again. Now I’m 125. I have a new (and fierce) determination to stay that way, or else I’ll continue my up and down pattern until I weigh over 200 and beyond. I will do ANYTHING to prevent that…
Janet´s last blog ..Day – 170 Ideas to Add More Healthy Calories
I was a pudgy kid who wore a size husky! Somehow I was convinced that husky meant something good
I was always very active, so I think that saved me from going too far into huskyworld.
I’d rather remember that fateful day when my karate instructor told me I was getting fat, and got my attention to change it all.
I was a short slightly pudgy girl who, since she was 10, was always trying to loose weight. I grew up in a slightly hostile environment (at least that was how I perceived it) with an overweight unhappy mother and a demanding father. Food was my escape. I was athletic and that “saved” me from being really overweight until age 16 when I had major knee surgery and was not rehab’ed properly. I stopped moving and started putting on serious weight despite always dieting. (Starve-Binge!) After loosing 25 pounds and then gaining them all back over Christmas break, I had had enough! That was my breaking point! All that work, GONE! From then on no more dieting. I started eating “normally” and exercising. About 30+ pounds came off! Then I met my husband who showed me kindness and true unconditional love! So now I weigh the lowest since I was 16! Probably over 50 pounds less than my top non-pregnant weight. I am happy and fit and I love my husband all the more!
I was always a chubby child, but never obese growing up. I lost weight twice in my teen years on WW, but as soon as I ate “normal” my weight shot up and with a few extra pounds. Yet, I still wasn’t over 200 or anything.
Then I got married and gained 30 pounds the first year. In the past 14 years I’ve only been able to keep real control of my weight for about two years and that was 7-8 years ago. Unfortunately I didn’t stick with small portions and walking and my weight finally reached it’s highest last spring.
Diane, one of my goals is to have your kind of story in the future “I was this and now I’ve lived a healthier, thinner lifestyle for 10+ years.”
I found your post today very encouraging!
Leah´s last blog ..Controlling the Candy
p.s. I forgot to mention that I always said I was a “happy” eater, because I didn’t live in a hostile home, my parents are still married and my husband loved me at 5″4″ and 170 pounds and never quit loving me even when the weight crept up over 200.
I’m just learning to be a happy eater with smaller portions.
Leah´s last blog ..Controlling the Candy
I was thin as child, teen, and young adult. I can trace my “upward” spiral on the scales to a very specific event: My Pop’s stroke in July of 1989.
I had to quit my job and stay home to help take care of him and I took solace in food. Lots of food.
I went from 135 to 165 in about 10 months. After I married my DH in May of 1990 — it really got out of control. The day I delivered my daughter, I was 205 pounds.
My heaviest (recorded) weight was 298 in January 2009.
I was finally doagnosed with Clinical Depresssion and started taking Zoloft.
I am now IN CONTROL of both my emotions and my eating habits. I’ve lost 63 pounds and am working my way back to a healthy, maintainable weight.
GeorgiaMist´s last blog ..Contest at MISSY MAINTAINS!
If you look back at all my childhood diaries and journals (which I still have most of them) you would think I weighed 300 pounds by how often I mentioned hating my weight and wishing I could lose it. I can’t tell you the number of times I mention “I’m starting a diet today” yet never saw it through. However, when I look back now at those pictures, I don’t see an overweight child at all. Even in highschool I thought I was HUGE, but I look at my yearbook and I wore jeans with a belt and had my shirt tucked in. I was a size 12/14 which actually looked pretty healthy in hindsight. For years I maintained between 160 and 180 till I got pregnant. And then got pregnant again. Then I had some “female” and hormone issues that I think had a lot to do with the last 20 pounds I gained. Anyway, I’m so thankful to be on my way now to a healthy weight…and like you, I’m glad I did it before I had to live a lifetime of obesity. I caught it before the diabetes, high blood pressure, etc started kicking in…which is a good thing!!!
Josie´s last blog ..Hot 100 & Injury Update
I’ve heard it called “Post Marital Blimp Out,” or as Chunky Monkey Mamma puts it, “When you’ve caught the bus you can stop running.”
I had about 5 to 10 of post marital blimp out. Another ten when my mother was dying and I would stop home for candy on the way home from the hospital– isn’t that cheerful? The remaining 25 after my first child was born. I wish I’d been able to pull this off sooner, but I am cheered by the thought I’m doing it now and am only about fifteen or twenty pounds from a healthy weight.
Larkspur´s last blog ..Today’s To-Do List
always ‘kinda chunky’ as a child…and got heavier as I got more unhappy. Did manage, however, in my mid 40’s to lose 60 lbs. in 4 months. But got down to a size 2 petite back when petite clothes didn’t exist for women, so I ‘had’ to put more weight on, and the unhappier I got, the more I gained. Totally an emotional eater-happy or sad. Eventually, got too scared that I’d die prematurely and was in a life that I had way too much to live for, so I’ve pulled up my proverbial bootstraps and changed my life’s course.
Sunny´s last blog ..Happy Hump Day!
I got heavier as I hit puberty and began to turn to food for emotional support.
For me, I was slightly chunky in grade/junior school… but it was no big deal, I was still healthy. Kinda like baby fat type chunky, not overweight chunky. In high school I lost all that baby fat when i joined track and field in less than 2 months. I stayed healthy& skinny all through HS and a year or 2 AFTER graduating, i started to gain. While living away from home I feel that i did a good job at staying healthy and would work hard to lose any weight I found myself gaining… and then i moved back home. Seems like I’ve been packing on the pounds slowly over the last 9 years (going on 10). And of course after meeting my husband… it seems to have been in overdrive!! Sometimes i feel like I’ll never get there… Doesn’t help when hubby seems perfectly ok with helping me NOT lose weight. Which makes me wonder where that girl I was over 9 years ago who was able to put her foot to the peddle and do what needed to be done to lose 10, 20, even 30lbs when needed. Complacent is where she headed.
But no longer do I feel complacent. I can’t wait fot this kiddo to be born so i can start working harder at not being complacent again. 
Jules´s last blog ..OH YEAH!!
I’ve never heard of the term “newlywed 15″ but that’s definitely when I started gaining weight.
Shelley B´s last blog ..Getting Back to Business
I was a little thick as a child, but not heavy or obese so much as solid.
I have always struggled with loving food and overeating, but due to a high activity level I did not gain weight until high school, and even then it was not a lot.
Emotional upset and sedentary lifestyle during college contributed to my weight gain, and marriage and grazing while breastfeeding spiked it. Being short just compounded my weight issues, and for some reason I wasn’t ready to change my habits until several years after the weight was a real quality-of-life issue.
It’s hard for me to pinpoint where the gains really stepped up, as they were sneaky and progressive, but the big leap when I was a teen (from 160 to 185-ish) was definitely the beginning of an identifiable ‘problem’.
Still, whatever the reasons I AM ready to change now, where I was not before. There’s no looking back and that weight is coming off, slowly but surely!
Taryl´s last blog ..Much ado?
I was the same way. Never had a weight issue until I went to college, stopped doing sports, eating junk, etc…
I think you nailed it when you say, don’t wait any longer, do something today, instead of another 5-10 years wanting to change, but not doing anything about it.
I went through a few years (around 9 or 10) when I was a little ‘chunky’, but the weight came off as I grew out of it. My problem with weight was after my husband and I moved in together. I would get off work at 10pm and he would have a dinner waiting for me. I felt bad that he did that so I would eat it even though I wasn’t hungry. And the fact that I started eating the same amount of food he ate (the whole time being mad because he could eat that much and not gain weight when I couldn’t).
brenda´s last blog ..Chicken Cordon Bleu
I gained with the same sort of pattern, yo-yoing the entire way. It didn’t get noticeable until after my babies were born. The last few years have been a real stinker because there are people who only know me as fat, while others don’t know that I’ve gotten this way, and there are some who know me both ways. I just want to cut myself out of this suit and move on…
I was always fat (even when I wasn’t!) Since I was taller than the other kids, I thought I was fat. Ironically, my mom always cooked healthy food for us (portion controlled, balanced meals with low-starch or sugar content), and I was pretty active. Remember, those were the days when parents would tell kids to “go outside and play” — so I was always running, riding my bike, doing gymnastics, jumping rope, playing hopscotch or walking to the mall. I was rarely sedentary.
And yet, when I look at pictures of myself, I was always a “chubby” kid with a little round belly (especially at ages 4-5-6). How could it be that I had “baby fat” when I ate so well and moved so much? I decided it was genetic, since my parents were both on the chubby side, too. Not obese, just chubby.
By the time I hit Junior High, my “big butt” translated into “fat butt”. Alas, there was no J Lo in those days to celebrate our “cause”, and there were no “husky” sizes for girls. I began to act like a fat person and sank deeply into my shell of mortification.
Cruel kids even had a rhyme for me:
Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Cari’s Butt is as Big
As A B-52
Nice, huh?
All I know is, my bloomers didn’t “bloom” in PE and I couldn’t wear the designer jeans (Dittos, Jordache, Calvin Klein) like everyone else. I didn’t embrace my curves because, to me, they were just “fat.”
By Sophomore year of high school, I’d shed 20 pounds and looked good — but was still “bigger” than the other girls who had no curves. I was 5′6″ and weighed 145 pounds. I wore about a size 11-13. But that didn’t last long. From that moment on, I gained 10 pounds a year until I weighed 189 pounds on my wedding day (which, consequently, was 20 years ago today
Yes, I was “fat” the day I got married. I covered my arms with big, puffy renaissance style sleeves and wore a merry widow with boning to snug in my waist. By the time I learned I was pregnant, I was in week two of the WW program and had lost “5 pounds.” I began my pregnancy weighing 04 pounds. After I delivered my daughter I gained 70 pounds.
Up and down I went — lose 20, gain 30….lose 40, gain 50.
Until I found myself tipping the scale at 316 pounds.
I always told myself I could never be thin. Genetically, I was predisposed to “fat”; I had thunder thighs and German “kankles.” Clearly, I wasn’t designed to be petite.
And yet, today, here I am, 150 pounds of fit, health and slimness. I wear a size 4-6 and I’m downright TEENY! I guess the bottom line for me is, I’ve learned that I should never have bought my own press. I had limited myself because I bought every lie I was peddling.
My saving grace is, after 40 years, I finally got smart and learned that I’m a pretty amazing person who can accomplish whatever I decide I want to do. Maintaining a 170 pound weight loss is top of that list.
Thanks for provoking those thoughts, Diane!
As a kid, I was a little chunky but eventually grew into my body. The “real” weight gain started after becoming a stay-at-home mom when the isolation and boredom became too much for me.
Gigi´s last blog ..Re-start
I never had problems growing up – I do remember around 10 weighing “too much” and then my growth spurt hit and I was “too skinny.” Sigh. I went from being a good size to being too thin until my senior year when I had sinus surgery and was put on Prednizone. BIG mistake. Gained 20 pounds. Overnight. seriously. I couldn’t fit in my clothes. It was awful. It took me 2 years to lose that. THen I stayed around a size 2/4 in college until senior year… sedentary lifestyle + binge drinking caught up with me so I lost weight and got back to a 2 my second year in grad school. Then I gained slowly… 20 pounds over 3 years and was like THAT’S IT! I’m losing. And that’s when I started the blog last September. I was bigger then I wanted to be as a bride and refused to be bigger then I wanted to be as a wife!
fittingbackin´s last blog ..My 14th Month: October 2009 Monthly Assessment
I was overweight from childhood on. I had one period in college where I got down to about 160 from 200 pounds, but I really didn’t learn anything during that loss about what I would need to do to keep it off. So I gained that weight back plus another 50 pounds! I had no idea of what I would like look or even what size I would wear when I got smaller.
I think the most difficult thing for me is learning what it is like to be a normal size person. I find it a bizarre feeling at times.
I was a chubby child leading to a chubby teen leading to a chubby adult and I really always thought of myself as hugely fat regardless of whether I actually was. But in looking back I can see that there definitely some spike times (the years after college when I sat all day and then sat all evening and snacked continuously, and after the births of each of my children). I guess that it averaged out to less than ten pounds a year that I gained, but it sure felt like more.
Sarah´s last blog ..C25K – Week 3, Day…Yes.
I was born CHUNKY – 10lb 11oz, but was pretty normal as a kid. I always thought I was fat in high school, but I look at the photos and realize I was totally hot!
I was just several inches taller than most of the other girls. LOL
In basic training they put me on the chunky chicken program and I looked positively ANOREXIC, so I still can’t figure that one out. I guess their standards of “healthy weight” were just really out of whack, plus they robbed me of an inch on my height!
I was a little heavy after having my kids, but then got thin again when I went vegetarian when we lived in Korea. I gained the most weight after my son was diagnosed with CF. We were dealing with a lot over a couple of years and I was stress eating. My “binge food” is salty chips. But I’ve never had a huge issue with major amounts of food or been morbidly obese. A size 22 at 5′11″ looks a lot different than on a shorter person. I much prefer being a size 10, though.
MamaBearJune´s last blog ..Wednesday – down again
I have dealt with being overweight my whole life. Even when I was kindergarten I was pudgy. But I went from “pudgy” to obese by middle school and camped out there until I decided I’d had it in January of 2008. I had a brief fling with thinness my senior year of high school when I lost about 60 pounds, but I slowly gained it back in college and then gained even more when I went to grad school and then got married.
erin´s last blog ..Running Just As Fast As I Can
My weight came on like that. About 1 pound a month until I was morbidly obese.
Then I was all, where did that some from?
Queso and liquor, queso and liquor. Still working it off today.
You are such a beacon of hope for so many. Thanks for sharing your story!
I was such a ’skinny-minny’ as a kid. Really. I never learned good eating habits because I could eat as much of whatever I wanted and not gain. I weighed 120 when I got married at 19. I never worried about weight, but at 40 it started climbing….up and up until I hit 220! I still have problems with my eating, even after losing 60 lbs. I know quite a few people who say they see themselves as fat, no matter how much they lose. Me? I still see myself as that way too skinny little girl I was growing up; it is part of my problem, too. If you don’t see yourself as you really are, you won’t eat healthy, whether it is eating too much or not enough. Nobody said it would be easy!
Ida´s last blog ..Some days you just gotta wear a whore hat……
Oh those college years! So dangerous! My weight gain started when I was 7. I’ve been active my entire life but still no dice. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized that a lot of my issues had to do with a medical condition. I used to feel so bad about myself, but now I know what is wrong and how to work with it.
MackAttack´s last blog ..New Feed!
Hi Diane!
College is tough… I was working full time, throwing two newspaper routes and going to Jr. College at the same time (early 90’s) and I lost all of my gains of the past few years I had achieved through the Fit or Fat plan.
You see eating right and exercise soon was edged out by coffee and doughnuts and cramming for tests.
Anyway your story is an inspiration… my wife and I are trying to finally (in sync) get into shape at the same time… probably better for longevity
John W. Zimmer´s last blog ..Exercise & Meds are a Good Combo!
I have been always heavy. When I was 6 years old, the doctor told my mother I must make some kind of diet. In all my life, I have been eating veggies, and exercising a lot. But, when I stop counting all I eat, or I stop exercising… pounds come.
5 years ago I was 150. All was good. But I have some troubles at work and I was very sad. So I left exercising. I know, it was a bad thing. I end up on 165 or so. Then I started exercising again, but unfortunatelly I had a lesion on my feet. One year without running, and I was 180…
One year ago I changed my life style again. I found a nice boyfriend, who is always drinking cola and eating sweets. I left my health diet, and in less than 6 months I was about 210 pounds! Now, in two months and a half, I’m 196 pounds, and I’m happy with exercising and eating healty again. My objective are again the 150 pounds. And I know I can do it!