I'm just wondering when was the first time you became aware of being fat.

I think we all can remember a moment when you realized that your size was a problem or that you were different from normal weight people.

For me, I remember being about 8 and having a teacher tell me that I shouldn't have another piece of cake. I later overheard her talking to a mom who volunteered at our class parties. She told the mom to keep an eye on me because I eat too much and she felt it was her duty to make me lose weight. I was shocked because until that moment, being fat hadn't occurred to me. I just really liked cake.

I began my journey at 42, HW 275 CW 252. Surgery date: 3/31/16. I'm just thinking a lot about food issues and my beliefs about my weight. Hoping to get a handle on things before surgery.

I was 9. I wasn't super overweight yet, but puberty starts very young in my family (my mom was 9 when she got her first period, and I had just turned 10 when I got mine), and that's around the time I started gaining. I remember my friend and I were weighing each other with my mom's scale in the bathroom before we went out to play and I was over 100 pounds. I was very tall for my age, at least 6 inches taller than her, but we both were kind of confused by it. I didn't think a whole lot of it until I showed my mom and she said "I'm going to need to put you on a diet!" It was then that I realized something was "wrong" with me.

Funny enough, my diet wasn't my problem. I ate pretty healthy and didn't struggle with BED until my early teens. I honestly believe the nutritionists my mother frantically took me to, who all just accused me of lying and sneaking food, directly contributed to my unhealthy relationship with food and my self-image. I learned some hard, hard truths about our culture and my own place in it as an overweight person at that young age. I'm STILL trying to pull myself out of the pit of self-hatred I've been hiding in since that time.

Edited March 20, 201610 yr by Cervidae

I think those early incidents have a huge impact on our relationship with food.

I was on a diet since I was 10. The Easter Bunny and Santa would leave notes explaining why I couldn't have candy like my sisters got. Teachers were sent notes from home explaining that I wasn't allowed any candy or sweets and orders to supervise my lunches to make sure I wasn't trading carrots for cookies. By middle school I was drinking Optifast in the nurse's office at lunch.

It's not surprising that I developed BED when I was in college.

I was never super big. I'm 5'6 and maintained at 235-245 ( which is a lot) for a little over 20 years, only gaining 40 lbs over the past few years.

Edited March 20, 201610 yr by melyssafaye

For me, "that moment" was when we (fourth graders) were weighed in the front of the class by the school nurse, who announced our weight--having the teacher record it.

I was the only one in the class that was "100 and something). EVERYONE else was under 100#. It was then that I felt different. That was the first time I actually remember feeling "ashamed".

I think it was when I was around 7 or 8. I didn't feel comfortable going to church because my cloths never fit right and I remember sitting in church in super tight uncomfortable pants. A few years later my father past away which didn't help my emotional eating.

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I don't ever recall that"moment". I knew I was fat from the inception. I was constantly reminded by my dad, older siblings, then later medical or school (PE for example) but I was always fat.

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Middle school. The other kids let me know every day how I was different. Looking back, I was only slightly chunky, and I grew into it by high school. I got my period at the age of 14, and began to pack on some pounds again. When I graduated, I was 250.

I remember hiding candy in my room and my mom finding it. That is a strong memory when she told me "Your dad and I haven't been able to find out why you were gaining so much weight, now we know".

Middle school. The other kids let me know every day how I was different. Looking back, I was only slightly chunky, and I grew into it by high school. I got my period at the age of 14, and began to pack on some pounds again. When I graduated, I was 250.

I remember hiding candy in my room and my mom finding it. That is a strong memory when she told me "Your dad and I haven't been able to find out why you were gaining so much weight, now we know".

I was about 6 years old engaged in a school activity, I think the high jump when a kid poked me in the stomach and called me chubby. Shortly afterward it was my turn to do the high jump and I couldn't do it, just knocked the bar over. There were several other instances in my child hood where me being fat definitely got hammered in my brain such as my family making fun of my weight throughout, or the time when I was 10 years old in a bounce house and made it tip over with the other kids inside.

I was in 6th grade and me and a group of "friends" were talking about nicknames. One of the boys suggested mine should be "Jello" because I was fat. I was so embarrassed. I wasn't very big, probably just a little overweight. But after that year I started becoming very self conscious about my image.

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I was raised by chronically dieting parents at a time when aesthetics were very important to the whole family. My father, grandmother, and aunts always had a snarky comment for what I was eating or drinking, frequently shaking their heads and reminding me I had "such a pretty face". I don't remember ever being unaware that I was larger than my cousins and entirely unacceptable. My mother dragged me to regular sessions with a dietician when I was 7 or 8, where I was given a meal plan that outlined more food than I could even eat. The family soon got its way - I was bulimic by 10 and anorexic by 15. My thinking at the time was very all or nothing, and the only way I could overcome the anorexia was to switch from 'nothing' to 'all' and not think about it. Obviously, obesity soon followed.

The sad part is, I came across an old photo album just the other day while unpacking a box, and upon looking at childhood photos of myself, I'm not even sure I WAS overweight. Maybe by BMI terms I was, but I wasn't really fat. No, I wasn't a dainty thing like my cousins and most classmates - I was muscular and solid. I still am. Just a different body type is all.

I don't actually remember that one first moment. Seems I've always known I was fat. I can remember being a little girl and being ashamed that I weighed 70lbs, which was more than other girls. Docs would always lecture my parents. My mom would make pig noises when I'd ask for seconds. School clothes shopping was always a nightmare. There were no junior plus sections back in the day. Everything and everyone made it pretty clear I was fat and not acceptable.

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Yeah I my moment came in church when I joined the dance team and had to wear the adult dress because the kids was to small

I don't actually remember that one first moment. Seems I've always known I was fat. I can remember being a little girl and being ashamed that I weighed 70lbs, which was more than other girls. Docs would always lecture my parents. My mom would make pig noises when I'd ask for seconds. School clothes shopping was always a nightmare. There were no junior plus sections back in the day. Everything and everyone made it pretty clear I was fat and not acceptable.

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I used to buy clothes at Sears because they had a section called "Pretty Plus" for chubby little girls. This was back in the mid-70's through 80's.

Pig noises are the worst!

I don't actually remember that one first moment. Seems I've always known I was fat. I can remember being a little girl and being ashamed that I weighed 70lbs, which was more than other girls. Docs would always lecture my parents. My mom would make pig noises when I'd ask for seconds. School clothes shopping was always a nightmare. There were no junior plus sections back in the day. Everything and everyone made it pretty clear I was fat and not acceptable.

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I used to buy clothes at Sears because they had a section called "Pretty Plus" for chubby little girls. This was back in the mid-70's through 80's.

Pig noises are the worst!

Shopping at Sears and then later at Lane Bryant for jeans was shear torture.

The first time It really sunk in when I was doing ballroom dancing with my crush in 8th grade. My crush said "you would be really pretty if you just lost some weight" I was so mad I stopped dancing with him and sat down for the rest of the lesson. I think I was only 15 pounds over weight at the time too.

when I saw this picture