If you weren't obese "all" of your life, what is it that caused you to become obese ?

[scstxrn 213]

I was chubby as a child, about what is considered 'normal' for kids now... but compared to my age mates, about 20 pounds bigger. I was the biggest girl on my cheerleading squad - but small enough to be on it, if that makes sense.

I was put on Lithium at the end of my teenage years after an errant diagnosis of bipolar disorder. I gained 50 lbs in less than 4 months. I lost about 10 lbs in the following year, then had an activity restriction during my first pregnancy. I didn't gain much in the first four months, but I gained at least 50 in the last 5. I lost most of my pregnancy weight, but with a new baby - exercise just didn't happen... so I gained it back afterward.

And then I lost 50 lbs and found 60.

And then I got pregnant again. And gained 30 more.

And then everything hurt, and I had two babies hanging on me, and ugh.

I gained another 40 lbs in nursing school.

And lost 40, gained 40, lost 30, gained 40... so now I'm looking at surgery. And I need to lose 150 lbs to be healthy, 180 to meet *my* target goal.

[☠carolinagirl☠ 18,722]

I became obese in my twenties. I really don't know why. So I would love to hear form the crowd, form those patients who were not obese for virtually their entire lives. What is it that caused you to become obese? Thanks for sharing. I am trying to figure out why I became obese and your answers may help me to find the answer.

what caused myself (and everyone else with a weight problem)

i eat/drank more calories than i could burn off..I blame myself. it was me that overate and drank too much (beer). and now it's ME who is making that change with assistance from my chosen WLS

Edited November 25, 2014 by ☠carolinagirl☠

[FairySleeve 297]

I was a thin girl (sometimes too skinny) until the age of 26 then the genes from my mother started working, my metabolism slowed down and I think it finally died or was on strike a few years ago.

I love good food but I never addicted to it, I could not eat between meals like I used to when I was younger and I never really over ate but it happened sometimes with some dishes I really liked. I'm not a sweet eater, not the fan of fried food, nor Junk food but I loved the coca cola but only share a can of cola with a friend at lunch not substituted it for Water.

I think that apart from the genetic, it's the choice of food and life style that caused obesity. I never liked exercising and I loved all the carbs (rice, noodle, Pasta etc you name it).

Mixing the carb with no exercise and my mum's genes = total disaster.

[LumpySpacePrincess 594]

I have been obese all my life, since I was 3. I experienced a few traumas very early in life that triggered my binge eating disorder and I have always just eaten too much because of that. The nutrition we had growing up was really good; no junk food in our house, I just ate way too much.

[James Marusek 5,244]

I gained weight over the years primarily due to my sedentary life style. Spending 40 years behind a desk will do it. Another reason is because I love to eat, to enjoy the taste of delicious food. Another reason is because I have a sweet tooth and consumed way too much sugar and also because I love carbonated beverages.

[Recycled 2,182]

If you weren't obese "all" of your life, what is it that caused you to become obese?

Pretty much what has caused everyone else to become obese............Too much food....too little of everything else.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Recycled

[Momof2inIowa 195]

I would have to say marriage, I tried to keep up with my husband and that packed on the lbs...pregnancy added a ton of weight because my first born LOVED milky ways...yes I am blaming her ha ha my second loved salads and buffalo chicken. that combined with no time to invest in myself to work out, laziness etc...believe it or not in high school I was a 2 time state champion in track, 6th in the state for the 400 hurdles...so maybe part of me felt like I did my time with the 3 hour daily workouts.

[lisacaron 5,075]

I will say this, having read through the replies on this post.There were many women here that replied they gained weight after or as a result of pregnancy.

I have said this for a LONG time, though Dr.'s really fail to listen to me and I'm sorry but I know MY body better then any of them ever could. I live in here...I know what goes in and what comes out and what happens on a 24/7 365 day basis no one knows it as much as I do.

I was thin, and I do mean thin through out my younger years and into my very first pregnancy. That child did not survive but I noticed that my "body" had changed. Not only in my "mood" with the hormones that were coursing through it but in the way my body responded to those hormones and the shifts that go on.

Suddenly it felt like trying to stick a square peg in a round hole, it just didn't fit.

Next pregnancy, I didn't gain an ounce in 7.5 months Dr.'s began to "worry" so I began to EAT. I had a skinny anorexic cousin and my grandmother used to tell her to eat Peanut Butter and macaroni and cheese to gain weight.

So I did that till I was ready to puke and then would lay down so I couldn't and that food would stay in. In a month I gained about 30 pounds, and the poor Dr. thought I might be diabetic. I had to go through 4 sugar tests because I would not tell her what I was doing to keep gaining the weight.

Fast forward to the end of that pregnancy and a weight gain of nearly 60 pounds, no diabetes I confessed to the Dr. and my son was born of average weight 7.5 pounds 3 days before his due date on Thanksgiving day!

The lovely nurse in the hospital (horrible experience there! A Nun there came to room and told me I should have died when I had major complications after delivery! Yes that happened.) the nurse told me as I squeezed into a control panty my mother told me I should wear after the baby, that the weight would not go away so easily nor would my "cravings".

I almost feel like it was some kind of curse because after that....I never ate the same way again. My body never reacted to food the same way, and suddenly I always craved bad food, and I was hungry all the time.

Fast Forward two kids later, my body now went from not gaining weight to easily gaining weight. As if once the fat cells were turned on they took over like a virus!!

Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone could figure out how to cure that virus or at least put it into remission?!

[Babbs 14,681]

My kids are 25 and 27...can I still blame it on pregnancy?

[Keeper 218]

I appreciate, but am also frustrated with this thread. We all have stories and whether some agree or not, our stories ARE connected to whether or not we ate more calories than we burned off. I gained 40 pounds with one pregnancy and didn't lose it, and nothing (seriously, no weight gain) with my second and then lost 40 right after. I was abused growing up, so I hid in a fat body. I got married and got comfortable. I went to culinary school, surrounded by good and rich foods all day. In my younger years because I was on my feet and working my butt off in restaurants, I was able to maintain my weight eating anything that I wanted. But I was never skinny or thin. As for genetics, one side of the family is all beanpoles and on the other short stubby round folk. I feel like I can relate to a piece of almost everyone here's story. Yes, we put too much food in our bodies. Maybe we did not exercise enough. Yes, we ARE responsible for those actions and more, but that by no means eliminates the "other" reasons we gained weight.

I am a food and carb addict. I am at my heaviest weight ever. But I want to change, so here I am on a crazy WLS journey.

I will change the way I eat and move but I CANNOT win this battle without facing the psychological reasons for the way I am.

Just my 2 cents.

[lisacaron 5,075]

My kids are 25 and 27...can I still blame it on pregnancy?

Sure you can! Mine are 26-23-20 but you know what my body has never changed back to how it was before I had them. I used to keep hoping that when I hit menopause it might revert but no such luck.

WE have to take into account what we eat, calories in vs out yes that is true. However that said, it doesn't always work for everyone. My intake is far less and my output of exercise is high and my body reacts negatively to this.

Sometimes even full out rebels and I get sick as my white cells start attacking thinking there is something to "fight" off. That's why it makes me think of a virus, but that is my own specific immune system response, everyone is different. However once I learned that most of our immune system is found in our gut...well that kind of had me thinking that maybe my theory of viral fat cells is not so far fetched.

Why is obesity such a disease in our modern world? Is it because we don't hunt and forage for our food anymore or is it perhaps because we have changed the chemical and molecular make up of the world we live in and the food we eat? I'm not environmentalist but it begs the question...why are so many of us obese?

[BigGirlPanties 957]

Along with most folks here, I was a "BIG GIRL" for as long as I can remember (teased in school constantly, so that didn't help any)... for one brief moment in history, I was a size 12...that didn't last but a blink of an eye...unfortunatly, I don't have any children ...so pregnancy was never an issue ... my whole family was big...Dad/Mom/Brother/4 out of 5 sisters (the youngest one has always been on the smaller size...guess there wasn't any food left for her!)

Tried every program under the sun, like most of us... lost...gained back plus more...I was never overly active, but like the rest, once you start working and stop "playing" more weight accumulated...

Well I've lost 125 now...waiting for knee surgery for 2015 (had to lose weight first) so I can become more active and lose the rest...but I have MAINTAINED for a year!!! A YEAR!!! Never before has that happened. I have definately changed my eating habits.

With my RA and problem knees, I was so lethargic I had become JABBA!!! Just a big pile of goo on the couch... I needed a walker to get to the bathroom...over 350 pounds...I couldn't believe it! Thank goodness for WLS, it has given me a life back!!! ....and I will NEVER go back ...

[Elode 8,093]

Puberty and babies...and food. Too much food!

[Beni 1,484]

My weight gain started with pregnancy. 60 lbs gained with my first child. I lost 40lbs but with each child I pilled 20 pounds. Then, with 3 kids I just didn't take care of myself, I was too busy caring for my family and I didn't matter. I used food as a source of pleasure. It's what relaxed me. But I must say, I was hungry all the time. Even after a Thanksgiving meal I was hungry. I am so glad I don't feel that hunger anymore. It was horrible and there was nothing I could do to control it.

[Mommabird 367]

For me, it was starting on birth control pills. They kicked off an uncontrollable weight gain. Decades later, I found out that what they actually kicked off was a hormone disorder called PCOS. Years of getting diets from doctors only to gain more weight on them. Once I was diagnosed, I was able to lose some pounds, but by then the damage had been done. Morbid obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and arthritis.