I often read about people who say they were pretty much always overweight, so I was wondering about those who were thin/average all their life (like me) and for whatever reason gained a bunch of weight. What's your story? Also, are you finding it easier to lose weight since your 'default' weight was so low, if that makes sense? I feel like I have a really good metabolism, and that I really had to WORK to gain 70 pounds... it was A LOT of eating/binging. Even now, I unfortunately go off plan (really bad eating) about 5-10 days a month, but have been losing an average of 1.5 pounds a week anyway.

In my teens I was always between 110-118, and in my 20's between 115-130. I got pregnant at 26 and I did great with the pregnancy, gained 24 pounds and lost most right away. But that's when I started gaining my "stay at home mom" pounds lol. I was home constantly and ate to relieve the stress of a colicky baby. It became a habit I couldn't break, and I went up to 195 within 3 years.

But now I'm sooo motivated to get fit and back to my former weight!

What's your story?

I was thin all through high school because I ate fairly well and was in lots of activities like dance and swimming. Once I started university it all fell apart. I stopped swimming and dancing because I didn't have time so I lost all my regular exercise. I eat when I am stressed so after 5 years of school and eating my way through studying I gained 60 pounds.

I think I struggle in the same ways as people who have always been overweight because I am having to relearn proper habits and force myself to stay on plan. I think really the only difference is I know what goal weight to aim for and know what I will look like when I get there where as I know some people aren't sure where exactly they should be for maintenance.

I was under 100lbs all my life until college. Never on purpose, I simply had no food issues and didn't care one way or the other about eating, it never crossed my mind. My family was poor and we simply ate leftovers my mom brought from the grocery store (yep...) or canned soups.

Then I got to college and just ate restaurant food 3x a day and wham, 40lbs! Eek!

Totally understand you though, my son was extremely colicky and I really turned to food after he was born, so much for the whole "will lose baby weight" thing! Once he started sleeping better (only wakes 1x a night now at 14 months), I started to improve and had energy to cook better.

I was 120-130 through high school, college, masters' degree, and marriage. I gained a bit after each birth. Both my family and my husband's are very party-oriented. We entertain family, neighbors, business acquaintances, etc. Eating and DRINKING became a part of life that did me in. The fact that my husband has always loved my personality, is an equal parent to our boys, loves my family, is impressed with my position, my cooking, my entertaining, etc. has always allowed me to ignore the pounds and the fact that I enjoy drinking (as does he)

You can poke around the goal forum to see mine.

Pretty boring, thin until I met my now hubby, went to college gained weight due to stress and depression.

I never really had a weight problem until my early 20s. In high school I walked to and from school, to and from work, and jogged in the mornings. I didn't eat healthy, but I was too busy to focus on food really. So, I stayed in the 120 range, size 3 until graduation. My high school sweetheart and I moved into a place together a couple months after graduation and it all went downhill from there. I started hormonal birth control which did a number on me weight wise, I stopped working out and became sedentary, worked a sit down job, and continued my poor eating. I was gaining about 10 pounds per month and before ya know it, I was up to 190. I went up and down a little through the years but never really made an effort to lose. Now, 7 years later, I've made permanent changes and will eventually get this crap off.

I was pretty thin until I was 21. I was 114 (at 5'8" it was TOO thin) 8 years ago when I joined the Air Force. I gained some weight, but it was mostly muscle from working out. Then once I got into the "real" Air Force and my then new husband and I ate out constantly. I was about 155-160 before I got prego w/my first daughter. Now, 3 kids and a foot surgery later, I'm ready to lose the weight for good, but definitely struggling. I think when I was so thin, it was mainly because I was too busy working and going to school to remember to eat. I also had on and off eating issues - I went through a time when I was 18 when I'd pretty much only eat on the weekends. Now, I LOVE food. And I hate it because I love it. Doesn't help that I'm a good cook!! I'll be good for a few days, and then have a couple of days and totally un-do what I worked for...usually a week/weekend cycle. Hopefully I'll be able to make it more than 4 or 5 days this time!

Hmm, it seems like decreased activity level is a common reason for weight gain. Personally I've always been pretty lazy and never did sports in school or exercised (other than sporatically); it really was just a matter of me binging all the time, eating absurd amounts of food.

MonicaM, I totally relate about the drinking.... I really really enjoy wine (and other drinks ) and it's very hard for me to indulge without eating crap after. I'm getting a lot better at controlling it, but it's one of my main issues.

I was slim until I was around 30. In college, I fluctuated between 115 and 125, occasionally getting as high as 135. I kept my weight in check by walking everywhere, and dancing every night. I ate a lot, too, though - my go-to meal was a quarter pounder with cheese, large fry and apple pie at the campus McDonald's, and I could eat an entire large pizza in one sitting!

When I got out of college, I fluctuated between 125 and 135, although I am not really sure how, because my activity was much less then in college. Then, I got totally involved in weight training, and got back down to a size zero. Then, went to law school, and my weight fluctuated between 130 and 140.

Not sure exactly when my weight first crept up to around 160, but it happened, and I have stayed between 150 and 160 for many years. But, am ready to get it all off. I just hope that I don't lose focus again.

All my life I was up & down with my weight. One year in elementary school I would be over weight then the next I would thin out. That happened up until 8grade when I got my period. Then I was at my heaviest of 226 in the 9th grade. Then randomly at the end of 11th grade I dropped down to 165. I went from size 16/18 jeans to size 10/11. I was thin my wjole senior year and my first year of college. Then I got pregnant & sky rocketed up to 245. Now my son was only 7lbs 7oz.. which brings me to where I am today at 226. My mother says this is my "default weight" but I dont believe it. My sister was thin all her life & when my mom was my age she was thin. I believe those almost two years were how my body is suppose to look.. and im gonna get back to It.

Another former slender person. I was fine at school, I hated sports but I was always running around like a mad thing, between the stairs we had to climb all the time and being very busy doing music (who needs weight-lifting when you can lug percussion instruments around). Then I went to uni, and I developed ME/CFIDS at the age of 19. I was OK for a few years, put on a few pounds gradually, then put on a lot more weight suddenly for no obvious reason about five years ago. Some of it was due to sleep disorders leading to lack of routines and a chaotic lifestyle, and some of it was due to memory problems which caused me to have no idea by the evening whether I'd even eaten that day. I'd always been able to stay slim by eating when I felt I needed to, so I trusted that even when my hunger signals were no longer reliable. I felt starving hungry all the time. Eventually I got the sleep disorders under control, started noting roughly how big my meals were, although that alone wasn't enough to make me lose weight. When I was put on meds that had the accidental effect of reducing my appetite, I took the opportunity to start calorie counting and haven't looked back since, even though I wasn't on those meds for long. I've lost about 15lb so far and am feeling far more like me, although ironically I still weigh more than I did for most of my adult life. This is the first diet I've been on in my life and it's going well.

I was a really skinny kid, and a slender teenager averaging 120 lbs to 130 lbs (I'm 5'7). As a young adult (late teens/very early twenties) I was around 140 lbs usually. Then one spring I shifted from being a starve/binge eater to being a compulsive over eater, so I gained 35 lbs very quickly within three to four months. I have fluctuated between 165 - 180 lbs for the last few years (I'm in my mid/late twenties now). I no longer have either of those eating habits, so I suppose I maintain my weight now simply from eating way too high caloric junk and fast food being a staple of my diet.

I was a stick figure in high school - 125 soaking wet with no effort. I was in color guard and worked at McDonalds eating everything on the menu - didn't gain an ounce until college. I went on my first diet around age 21 when I 'ballooned' up to 135. By age 30 the weight starting piling on. Got married at 155, pregnant at 175 with both kids. Now in my 40s, I really ballooned up to 220 dealing with stress of my sick, and now passed, mom. I now weigh what I weighed when I got pregnant instead of when I gave birth, thank goodness, but still have a ways to go.

I don't want to be the stick figure I was in high school. I have a medium build and would be content at 150 but think that 160 would be more realistic. I just want to be healthy and not a runway model

I was mostly a normal weight through my life till highschool when a bunch of family members moved in the house and basically invaded my space bringing a ton of junk food with them.

Eating dinner became like a compition to see who could eat up all the food the fastest lol. But i was really ok till I was hit with some extreme depression in senior year and then I started the depo shot my freshman year college. I gained 40 pounds in 3 months on that shot. I topped of at 220 stress and comfort eating on top of the depo kept me there all through college and I have yet to lose it. That is why I am here.

You say you over came binge eating I am curious how you did that?