For me I think there's a couple main things.

1. An undiagnosed thyroid condition that I probably had for a long time.
2. A lot of not understanding the basics of weight loss. I used to try to lose weight by exercising a lot but never understood why weight loss was so slow. I could lose a few pounds and maintain (and actually get in really good cardio condition) but never drop the pounds I wanted which was super discouraging.
3. Add 1+2 together and I formed the idea that I was someone who just couldn't lose weight, was always fat, and would always be fat. I was an extremely active youngster - always outdoors, biking, hiking, hunting, fishing, riding horses, bucking hay, riding my bike or walking to school but was always heavy.
4. After college I went into a really stressful graduate program and internship and after that transitioned into a really stressful time in my life and weight management was one of the things I just gave up on.
5. I really enjoy food. All kinds of food. I love trying new things and crazy combinations.
6. I was busy a lot and ate out a lot and my conception of portion control was distorted because I was using restaurant portions to define "normal."

I think that's most of it.

Oh my gosh! I am so sorry to hear this!!! Do you have children now?

I do. I have three beautiful children now :)

I compulsively overeat. I struggle daily..neh, hourly with this.

I got fat when I was young and have never taken the weight off.

I love to eat, especially junk food.

I have been an emotional eater since I was a kid, I drown my depression with food.

I am a binge eater, I often take in tons of calories all at once until I have that sickly full feeling. Oddly, I long for that feeling and I'm empty without it.

I have never had any idea how to lose weight, I only recently began educating myself.

I'm lazy and hate exercise.

...they are all just excuses that I need to overcome though.

There are so many reasons why I believe I am overweight.

1. To hide myself from everyone else. I've had horrible role models as far as men go in my life. My father was a Vietnam vet who never got help until he was in his late 40s. My oldest brother went from one girl to another, breaking hearts all the way. My youngest brother was 17 when he had his son and went nuts and disappeared for 3 years. My middle brother...well, that's a whole other number...
2. My brother's death. My middle brother was 20 when he committed suicide; I was 8. It was one of the darkest times in my life. My father was out of control, my mother was depressed. Both of my brothers went AWOL and I was left alone. Food was my only comfort.
3. Feelings of inadecuacy (sp). I am a very paranoid person (fortunately *ahem* I got my mother's nerves and my father's depression...) and always felt like I wasn't loved. It's the whole pre-rejection thing. If I make myself fat, than no one will come around and no one can reject me to my face.
4. Depression. I was okay with handling my weight under my depression until I hit college. My first year was bad, but my second year was Katrina. My parents, grandparents, and uncle and cousins moved in with me and it was ****. I lost my house, my life, and my privacy.

Basically, I eat my feelings. My mantra lately is..."Food doesn't control me, I control food. Food is not my life." It WILL stick.

Thank you to all who chose to post here and share your stories and your thoughts. Big hugs to each of you who have chosen to battle the myriad reasons why you overeat.:hug: Like my signature says, this battle isn't for sissies, but we are more than up for the challenge!

Alot of this is me as well--just add in some emotional eating ;). I was always very thin growing up & never, ever had to think about what I ate. After my first child I lost the weight soooo easily. I was breastfeeding & I was losing 2 lbs a day. I could eat like a horse & still lose weight & I did. After my 2nd child I was breastfeeding again & lost the weight quickly with little effort, but it was not dropping off like the first time around. After my 3rd child I was 60 lbs overweight--2 months on bedrest & carbs were the only thing that calmed the nausea. Breastfeeding was not cutting it this time. I went on WW & exercised like crazy & lost 45 lbs. It was hard but well worth it. After my 4th I was again 60 lbs overweight--more bedrest & carbs. Breastfeeding still not dropping the pounds. This time I just didn't get on plan. I have continued to make bad eating choices. I HATE cooking & love crappy food so it has been so much easier for me to just order out over & over--getting fat & wasting so much money. Also, eating makes me happy. It makes me feel good while I am eating & then unhappy after I finish eating things I know will just make me fatter. One of my struggles is that I don't like veges & healthy foods so I am not at all happy eating them & the prospect of eating them for the rest of my life & excluding foods that I do like is not appealing--perpetual joylessness. Soooo not the correct attitude I know. Now I'm 100 lbs overweight & I get winded chasing my toddler. Last time we went camping I was too out of shape to go on our usual hikes. It's hard for me to carry my 3 yo up the stairs. I absolutely have to take care of this because I can't play active games with my kids. I can't teach them how to ride a bike because I can no longer run alongside them. The bigger I get, the more tired I am. That is just unacceptable. I also want another baby & I can't get pg at this weight. My pregnancies are hard enough without struggling with all this extra weight on top of it.

I also think the comment that we need to burn more calories than we take in is not all supportive. Especially coming from someone with much, much less weight to lose than me. If weight loss was not effected by other things then we would all be thin. That being said, today I am going to burn more calories than I take in :D. I'm going to try really hard to do it tomorrow too. That's all I can do.

cfmama, I am so sorry.. :( but I am so glad you are here with us now!

Oh, this is a good thread....

Many reasons...

• my mother is a bit emotionally challenged and her version of reward/discipline/affection was always based on giving or taking away of treats. so from a VERY young age, i was taught to place a high value on junk food -- which led to being overweight as a child.
• laziness in combination with asthma, which has always made exercise absolutely the last thing i want to do.. i rarely work out.
• emotional eating. when i'm really happy/sad/stressed/worried/bored/any other extreme emotion, i'll reach for a snack even if i'm not necessarily hungry... if i'm REALLY sad/stressed, it could turn to binging.
• social eating. most of my friends like to go out to eat every time we see each other, this also carries over to gaining weight from coworkers wanting to eat out every lunch hour..
• skipping meals. i rarely eat more than two meals a day, sometimes it's just one meal with a few snacks... not good for the metabolism..
• fast food to save time. i'm not as guilty of this these days, but in the past picking up something from a drive-thru on the way home was a regular occurrence... saving the time i would have spent in the kitchen definitely had a major effect on my waistline.

I also come from many generations of alcoholics. I am not an alcoholic, but instead I am a foodaholic.

I was kinda normal as a child, then when I was a freshman, my dad died. I ate the pain away. And then at some point, I quit eating for the pain, but the poor eating habits were there and it became habit. Now it's been 25 years and it's just kinda what I do.

I agree that "To lose weight eat less and exercise more" isn't really helpful, and isn't what we were talking about. But please realize that everyone is welcome here at the 100 lb club, no matter how much they have to lose. Sometimes people just look at today's posts and don't really realize where they are posting.

I'm fat because I haven't made healthy eating and exercise a priority until last month!

This is an excellent point. One that I've thought of many times. Because at some point, all the food no longer serves it's original purpose and it just becomes plain old habit. It's what you've always done. So you just keep on doing it. It's all you know. You get in a rut and it's HARD to pull yourself out of it.

Rhonda- I know what you mean...

I've been trying to think about my weight issues and I realized that I have always had them. Even as a small child I thought I was fat when I was thin.

Contributing life events: My parents were alcoholics and got divorced... my mom developed an eating disorder (bulimia) and was skinnier than I was... I found my Dad's dead body when I was 12... lived with my Mom's abusive ex in my teens......... all of these things really had an impact on me.

No, they didn't make me fat... but I found that eating myself into a coma was the easiest way to deal with them. So now is the time to start 'dealing' with my past and accept it as a part of me and move on. It is all a very mental thing like you said. :)

I am simply amazed at the number of us with some form of alchoholism in our family history.