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 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.

and you can and you will!

PCOS + Insulin Resistance + Metabolic Syndrome

PCOS + Insulin Resistance + Metabolic Syndrome

I developed all of these very early on. I was overweight by the time I was 5. My dad was not happy and always made comments. My parents tried so many different diets, doctors, exercise plans, etc. I would skip meals all day then come home and gorge myself (on a huge bowl of meatballs covered in BBQ sauce) because I was so hungry. Then I would eat dinner when my parents got home.

When I lived on my own I would buy a half sheet cake and eat it over 24 hours. I would go to Subway and eat a footlong sub AND a Soup. I could eat an entire chicken in one sitting. That's not normal...After I got married I reached my highest weight of 290. My husband is also an overeater.

I love my little sleeve. I had a bunless burger with caramelized onions, a slice of tomato and avocado for dinner and was so satisfied.

Edited January 29, 201610 yr by KristenVSG2014

In high school I was very active. I was on the school's dance team and worked out constantly. Then I went to college and met my future ex-husband. I've always been a people pleaser and put everyone ahead of me. My relationship with my ex was toxic from the beginning. I lost many friends because they couldn't support the relationship. I put him first for 11 years. He was very controlling. I didn't realize it, but I was losing my identity trying to make sure he was happy. I had to constantly ask him for permission to do anything.

I lost motivation. And most importantly, I lost what made me "me".

My divorce was finalized last spring and I feel like my life has started. Before I hid in my house to afraid to leave and relied on food to comfort me. Now I want more than anything to be out of my house. Be active. Im so excited for this next chapter.

Entering puberty: My grandma used food to keep my brother and I happy. Not her fault, we were out of control, and she fed us what ever we wanted. Moved in with my Dad and step mom as a teen, she got me eating healthy. Didn't start to gain weight until my early 20's.

No exercise and brown bagging it every day, lots of hamburger helper (carbs carbs and more carbs). Always worked in a field service industry, so I would eat poorly on the go.

Yo yo'd back and forth, even hitting goal weight at 29. Got bigger on the rebound every time.

Biggest downfall.....cheesecake. Or chocolate. Or peanut butter. Or....

I've been overweight since at least Kindergarten. I have a picture of my birthday party in 1st grade and I was almost a solid foot taller and twice the size of the other girls. Obesity definitely runs in my dads side of the family. So genes, never being taught better, feeling too hopeless to do anything about by the time I was a 200lb and growing middle schooler?

First of all I do not like working out. The only thing that was controlling my weight in high school was the fact that I was in the swim and tennis team. I know this as fact because I didn't do it senior year and that's when my weight started to balloon. I have an issue with portion control, I love dessert. And I am uppity with mine, I am not eating hostess donuts, I am baking pans of brownies and eating them all with Haagen daas ice cream within a day or 2. Or baking like 8 cookies and eating them with ice cream in one sitting. I could take down a 2 liter of soda in a couple of hours. I always came back for seconds with dinner and the 2nd plate was probably bigger than the first. Got pregnant and that's when I started eating 2nd breakfast/lunch/dinner. And everyday before my husband would get home from work I would be at bob's big boy eating a hot fudge cake.

I am still not sure what did it for me but I think I decided I had to do something about my weight when I realized my kid was damn near 1.5 years old and I was still in maternity pants.