I've spent a bit of time lately thinking about how and when I got so fat. I'm surprised by my own conclusions.

1. Sugar: Brownies and fudge for Snacks during college. Every day. Net Gain: +30 lbs

2. Weight Watchers*: I lost the weight and I gained it back, plus a little extra. I re-joined, lost some weight and gained it back, plus a little extra. I'm sad to say I joined many times before I learned my lesson. The end result was always the same. Net Gain: +15 lbs

3. Phentermine: I loved Phentermine. It made me happy, gave me energy, and completely destroyed my desire to eat; I shed pounds like rain off an umbrella. I gained the weight back faster than you can blink and it brought many many many friends. In retrospect, I think I lost a lot of muscle and my metabolism slowed way down. Net Gain: +40

4. Cyproheptadine: An anti-histamine. The doctor told me not to worry that it was also used to treat anorexia; I should have worried. Net Gain: +15 lbs

You know what's not on this list? All my other bad eating habits (besides sugar). I have plenty of them, but I truly don't think they've played a significant role in my weight gain over time. My weight has been incredibly stable apart from the periods listed above. It gives me hope for the future.

*I know I'm about to receive a lot of flak for this one!

I too had a huge appetite. I used to walk home from elementary / middle school the whole time promising myself not to eat. By the time I got home, I devoured anything that wasn't moving and then ready for a huge dinner in a few hour. I think that appetite came from a high carb diet. My parents were in the dairy business and I could drink a quart a day of cow's milk, for example. We also had a lot of pastries, Cookies etc around. I think WHAT i ate contributed to the hunger monster.

If anything will make a person fat, it's milk. Why do you think we give it to newborn babies that then almost double in size within a month!!!

actually it's not recommended for neborns to have while cow's milk for the first year. The Protein in it is much harder to digest than breast milk or formula. And babies od any species frow tremendously in their first few months

I was skinny as a rail up until about middle school. I gained a little bit, but was just fat enough to be considered a fat kid. Lovely.

I lost the extra weight when I left high school and was on a pretty good trend. Then, when I was 25, my brother died. And so did my waist line. I was so incredibly depressed and sedentary that I spent most days just eating constantly until I was ready to drink my cares away.

I specifically remember one phone call with my mother where I said I had noticed I was gaining weight because of how fat the back of my neck got. It bothered the shit out of me, but I was too depressed to care or figure it out. It took a few years for me to say to myself, "You're better than this."

My mum was morbidly obese then president of Weight Watchers, then morbidly obese. Rinse and repeat.

By nature or nurture, I am exactly the same. It is all or nothing. So I have always been either eating 800 calories at day and exercising like a demon or eating 5000 calories a day doing absolutely nothing.

I lost more than 80lbs seven times in the last 15 years. Each time I maintained for probably a few hours....

I too had a huge appetite. I used to walk home from elementary / middle school the whole time promising myself not to eat. By the time I got home, I devoured anything that wasn't moving and then ready for a huge dinner in a few hour. I think that appetite came from a high carb diet. My parents were in the dairy business and I could drink a quart a day of cow's milk, for example. We also had a lot of pastries, Cookies etc around. I think WHAT i ate contributed to the hunger monster.

If anything will make a person fat, it's milk. Why do you think we give it to newborn babies that then almost double in size within a month!!!

actually it's not recommended for neborns to have while cow's milk for the first year. The Protein in it is much harder to digest than breast milk or formula. And babies od any species frow tremendously in their first few months

Hahah. I meant human breast milk. Milk is extremely fattening.

I was skinny as a rail up until about middle school. I gained a little bit, but was just fat enough to be considered a fat kid. Lovely.

I lost the extra weight when I left high school and was on a pretty good trend. Then, when I was 25, my brother died. And so did my waist line. I was so incredibly depressed and sedentary that I spent most days just eating constantly until I was ready to drink my cares away.

I specifically remember one phone call with my mother where I said I had noticed I was gaining weight because of how fat the back of my neck got. It bothered the **** out of me, but I was too depressed to care or figure it out. It took a few years for me to say to myself, "You're better than this."

Oh Christopher I'm so sorry. It's understandable to grieve and cope that way. I'm proud of you for coming out it and finding a better path. Life is hard.

Short answer, me.

Yes my family has a tendency to be overweight and obesity does run in the family, but I control what I put in my mouth.

Being overweight is one thing, allowing myself to weigh as much as ~375 pounds is another.

I rewarded myself with food, ate to deal with stress, snacked for no reason, did not exercise and should have eaten smaller portions and less of the high caloric items. I could go into blaming my family or others, who may have sometimes been a catalyst, but ultimately, the "buck (or fat in this case) stops here".

I could type a tome regarding how my parents damaged me and led me to find comfort and love through food. But trying not to rehash those old painful memories.It still makes me cry.

Much effort is being made to forgive myself for being unworthy of parental love

Suffice to say......

Show you child acceptance no matter what.

Make sure they know they are loved and appreciated

Treat them with respect

Be aware of social difficulties that they may be dealing with at school, give them a safe place to fall.

In other words...You just can't give birth and put them in a corner and throw food at them when they cry.

I developed a preoccupation with food early on. Enough was never enough. There were times I would eat from sun up to sun down and throw up at the end of the day because my stomach couldn't take it any more.

I was skinny as a rail up until about middle school. I gained a little bit, but was just fat enough to be considered a fat kid. Lovely.

I lost the extra weight when I left high school and was on a pretty good trend. Then, when I was 25, my brother died. And so did my waist line. I was so incredibly depressed and sedentary that I spent most days just eating constantly until I was ready to drink my cares away.

I specifically remember one phone call with my mother where I said I had noticed I was gaining weight because of how fat the back of my neck got. It bothered the **** out of me, but I was too depressed to care or figure it out. It took a few years for me to say to myself, "You're better than this."

Oh Christopher I'm so sorry. It's understandable to grieve and cope that way. I'm proud of you for coming out it and finding a better path. Life is hard.

Thanks, Bella. I can't lie - it still makes me well up when folks are supportive in this way. It was, undoubtedly, the worst time of my life and not something I endeavor to repeat. Life is absolutely hard. And nobody gets out alive. Good thing there are always ways through it and people to help you get there.

Pre sleeve I went to a Dr who specialized in weight loss. Goal was for me to not gain 100 during the 3 months after band was removed.

Anyway, she educated me on carbs and Protein. I never forget her saying "cows milk is designed to turn a little calf into a half ton steer in a very short period of time. Unfortunately, it has a similar impact on people "

I think excessive milk and a generally high carb diet I was raised on is what set me up for a lifetime of always being hungry. Just an insatiable drive to eat.

I put myself on my first diet - my mom did not do it to me. I was in 3rd grade and lost 30 pounds.

How i got obese..

I was normal size growing up, 3 kids later, fulltime job, stress, kid's activities, my love of snacks I just ended up where i am.. every year the scale would go higher and every year i said i would do something..now i finally have!

I have a very obese father who raised me on his own and never taught me about portion sizes and healthy meals. I'm a fat kid turned fat adult. Then I finally started working out and eating healthy and I discovered alcohol. I gained about 70 lbs over the course of 2 years because I was going out 2-3 times a week. I started working out again, got down to 198 lbs from 255 and then I got dumped and I ate everything I could get my hands on and barely left my house. Ballooned back up to 267 pretty quickly.

I've had two drinks since October, which is a HUGE deal for me. Those were post-surgery and I felt immediately sick so I have no desire to drink at all. I've also learned how to control my emotional eating and have been sticking to a super low carb diet. For once I feel like I can actually beat this obesity thing.

How did I become obese?

Mass quantities of food and alcohol......

12" sub with 2 bags of chips and large soda,

1/3 pound burger with a plate of fries followed by a piece of cake,

lots of vodka, whiskey, rum and beer (my liquor store bill often exceeded my grocery bill),

a pint of Ben and Jerry's,

a whole Tombstone pizza,

A tube of Nestles premade cookie dough.

Basically I didn't have that chemical trigger that told me to stop eating because I never ever got full.

Huge family dinners lots of pasta and wine. Eating out at least 3 or 4 times a week , app dinner dessert more wine.. Basically just eating whatever I wanted and not realizing how big I really was ..

im gonna be blunt, what made us all gain weight and get fat..was food

the reason we ate, those vary but in the end it all comes down to food. we ate a lot, we ate often, we ate badly, we ate food.

Now i know a troubled childhood where my father hoarded food ( he was legally blind and was home at all times, and hated people and the only time he wasnt yelling at or hitting people was when we were eating. as a result ( yes therapy breakthrough) ive come to realize i equated happiness with food. When things went bad, i went out and ate more, bad day at work, eat some snack cakes, rough day get an extra donut. etc etc. its what I did. its what i ate. its who I was.

But its not, who we have to be.

NOT , who i will be ever again.

Whew, little emotional there for a sec.