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How did you get fat?

59K views 682 replies 593 participants last post by  sunszelta 
#1 ·
Hi! I hope this isn't too triggering or anything, but I was wondering how everyone got to the weight they are now/highest weight.

For me, it's basically not knowing about calories (not tracking them, no sense of the amount that is in certain foods) and making a loooot of excuses to just eat whatever I want. For example, when I had a long day at work I would come home and think to myself, it has been a hard day, I deserve to eat some pizza and ice cream. But then, every day there was another excuse. Also I never really focused too much on my weight and try to justify being fat by thinking you don't need to be thin to be pretty. This was all pretty much before my ED started (although I didn't have a great relationship with food to begin with)

Realizing how I got to this place helps me with keeping myself on track, so I'm curious about your stories!

(First topic I made so if this isn't something that should be discussed please let me know)
 
#562 ·
I've never been skinny. But it got so much worse after uni, I was depressed, homeless, and was struggling with an undiagnosed chronic illness. I comfort ate, started drinking a lot more and exercising a lot less and managed to gain like 3 stone.

(But I'm doing a lot better, mostly. I've lost 36lbs, I go to the gym 5 times a week and consistently eat around 1000 or fewer calories)
 
#563 ·
Originally it was the depo birth control shot that fucked my metabolism combined with alcoholism, both of which happened within like a month of each other at age 17. Things started really going downhill in my life around that point, I became semi-homeless (couch surfing pretty much) not long after and pretty much stopped caring about myself or what I looked like at all.
 
#571 ·
Just being tired honestly. I’ve never had a good relationship with food and have always been a binger, so when I started throwing up it felt like a gift from god to say the least. I thought I was finally free from the control food had over me. But it didn’t last very long and once I got to my lowest weight I stopped throwing up. Part of it was being tired, and not wanting my gw enough, part of it was the fear my parents would find out, and part of it was the shame I felt throwing up all the time In disgusting places. Now I’m rlly trying to lose weight because this is the first time I’ve felt the affects of being overweight and it’s terrible and embarrassing. This shame is so much worse than when I was throwing up.
 
#572 ·
I’ve always just eaten too much. Even as a kid. It takes twice what a normal portion would be to comfortably satisfy me. Unrestricted, I eat double of most meals. Shocker that my hw was literally double of a low healthy weight range for my height. Idk why it takes so much to fill. I wish my stomach was smaller.
 
#577 ·
Hi. I think for me it was when I got the beginnings of Hypothyroidism and also at the same time my Adenomyosis got really severe in 2012ish. One of my ovaries was the size of a grapefruit and got removed. Id always been in between the weight of 8 and a half stone and 10 stone 4 (for many years from the age of 15 to 40 years old.)even 10 stone 10 but now Im 50 years old and Im 12 stone 10 and looking to lose another stone and a half at least.
To be honest at my worst I was 14 stone and 9 pounds after my dad died in 2016 but lost a few stone since. Put on a stone losing it again right now.
But yes health conditions and stress. :)
 
#580 ·
It's always been by binging non-stop and eating nothing but junk, after a prolonged period of restriction (restriction that was maybe a little too heavy for me)

Hoping to keep the weight off this time and aiming to high or at least medium restrict to not deprive myself too much, and to stop binging forever
 
#582 ·
I was fat from a young age I don't remember when exactly but in my teen years I had a lot of yoyo dieting forced on me by my mother then I actually lost the weight for good and was eating very little that suddenly caused me to binge without realizing it, when I became aware of it I was too deep in to be able to stop easily and I was diagnosed with BED and bulimia that got me to my highest weight ever :( . now i am trying to lose it and go back to my LW which is now more than double my HW * to embarrassed to even share the number*
 
#586 ·
boredom during COVID, I would just eat all the fucking time and not pay attention to the nutritional value, I was sat doing nothing all day. I would have a full pizza to myself for lunch, tons of cheese and other liquid calories
 
#587 ·
Never being taught basic nutrition, not knowing about calories, and just enjoying food too much. Also after high school I wasn't climbing stairs and eating a limited lunch each day so I gained quite a bit of weight.
 
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#590 ·
I was a normal sized kid growing up, a bit heavier than some of my friends as a child but never “fat”. But when I hit puberty, I hit it hard and fast. My breasts grew so fast that my mom had to buy me new bras every couple of weeks and I had vicious stretch marks on my chest and stomach from gaining weight so fast. By middle school, I definitely started to balloon, and by the end of high school I was wearing a size 13/14 and around 170-180. I was never taught about calories or exercise or how overeating was bad for me, but my family members always berated me for being a pig. I continued to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and just enjoyed food. I am an emotional eater, and all of my day is spent thinking about the next time I’m going to eat. I struggled with my body image since I was around 12 but never attempted to lose weight until I was 19 and weighed in at 199lbs. Then I spiraled, and although I never went into a full blown eating disorder, I dabbled in calorie restriction, bulimia, anorexia, and most of all binge eating. I’m 33 now and hit my heaviest at 229lbs. I’ve been losing weight since February and am trying to do it the healthy way, but most days I feel like I will never achieve a healthy weight, let alone be skinny. I’ll never be thin, but I hope one day I can at least be a healthy weight.
 
#591 ·
I’m so sorry, that is a long story and bad relationships with food are the worst because you have to eat and also everyone notices your weight, and a lot of people love to make comments. I hope you achieve and maintain a healthy weight range and can be easier on yourself. One step at a time 🙂
 
#592 ·
i was binge eating through most of my childhood. whole packs of marshmallows, pizza for breakfast, and i would eat a whole 2 foot baguette in a day then order takeaway after. my mum brought me and my siblings any food we wanted

binge eating was the only way i knew how to cope with the hole i felt inside me and when you’ve been depressed all your life you will do anything to fill that hole. i had no words for mental illness and didn’t know that i was being abused so i felt completely alone
 
#593 · (Edited)
Choosing recovery, then developing bingeing, which I recovered from but then just overeating and not exercising...
 
#594 ·
recovery from bulimia through "intuitive eating" (got the books and everything)

lost the purging but never figured out how to stop eating

gained so fast it got out of control before i realized

now have a weird bulimic ortho combo - calorie burn addiction, purging all my un "ortho" food, binging my safe foods
 
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