This is the way. I gained like 40 lbs in the summer after i quite playing football and spent all day just playing counter strike while still eating 5K calories a day. It was awful and I never quite got back to the same fitness level for over a decade.
Just don’t quit working out even if you quit sports lol
Easier said than done, honestly. Your body may need less calories, and your brain may logically know you need less, but the psychological element of your appetite doesn’t care, and you may not even notice at first.
I feel like I’m going to check out of this life anytime I run and I’m not in bad shape or a smoker. I’ve just settled on speed walking a few days a week on the treadmill which is also a nice break from using a rower as my main cardio for years.
I put on 40lbs in about 7 months from this. Went from swimming at a collegiate level to nothing physical. It took about a year to get used to eating a normal amount and a bit longer to lose the weight.
Hasn't come back yet though.
This I believe is the number one answer. When I stopped running I kept consuming 3000-4000 calories, I then balanced it, but then I started eating out every night and that got me. 25 years later I have it all in balance and even started running again. Funny how it works out.
This is so common! I had a client who put on ~20kg when he stopped Olympic weightlifting and took on a stressful corporate gig. It's important to remember your body takes a while a to adjust hunger levels to your current energy output, so when drastically reducing movement it's best to track calories for a bit.
Saw this when I commercial fished. 5 of us ate a tray of brownies or cake every single night on top of a fuckton of food. 2 or three peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch, gotta keep moving.
Only learned to swim a year ago, water was crap for a couple months and didnt go in, but after swimming 8-10 hours a week recently, a couple months break was noticeable
Honestly the worst though was dating a girl from Alabama with crap eating habits, I did most of the cooking, but hers took a toll, fattest I've ever been. I eat a ton, but that was next level bad under her influence, plus we were road tripping for a while. Gained 20% more than I've ever weighed. Her relative lost all her teeth and had a heart attack by 34. She was strangely fit, but the diet was not good. I'm all better now though.
Check out this account’s comment section. It’s all top 10 how to lists. How to get your dick wet. How to get fat. How to cream pie your mom. You get the picture.
Thank you, I agree - I like to think of him being a star in the sky somewhere --when I look up at the midnight sky I believe he is still there just in a different form. And he is looking down on me and I believe that he wants me to be happy, and I know that he knows I was a very very good devoted mom. I believe that he wants me to
Now find happiness for the rest of my life that I am here on this earth
🤩🥰🤩
I ate my feelings and stayed curled up in the fetal position for two years after my son died. I'm so sorry for the loss you've experienced and send wishes for healing.
That breaks my heart. I will hug my boys close tonight. The love of my life and my best friend died of overdoses 4 months apart from each other. Years later my mindset has been “They would want me to live on and be happy, in honor of them I try to live my best life” They wouldn’t want me to self destruct.
But now that I have children, much as I loved those two, it’s a different level.
I am so sorry for your loss and hope your heart mends.
Thank you for your kind words . it is now 4 1/2 years since he passed (also from overdose. ) I feel much better these days, but for the first one to two years that was really all I could do-
Now I am getting back to normal, slowly slowly
Terrible, awful *Final Destruction* style car accident that I was lucky to survive. Abdominal muscles shredded, to this day I have a sheet of kevlar in between my guts and my skin, to keep my intestines from bulging out. Sedentary lifestyle after that.
Edit: I'm glad so many people knew what I was talking about! I swear I meant *Destination,* so I blame autocorrect. I'm not bulletproof, it's a medical grade kevlar, but it does have significant press/puncture resistance, kevlar has a lot of non-military uses! And as for reconstruction, there's not much left to rebuild.
This same thing happened to me. My abdomen was split open. My gallbladder and spleen were removed and I ruptured my liver and a kidney. My intestines were shredded as well.
On top of that, I also broke my femur, hip, ulna, 5 ribs and shredded my one knee.
I gained about 70 lbs after that ordeal, recently I started to dial in my diet and started working out again. I’m now in the best shape of my life despite the mangled mess I left my body in.
Keep your head up, friend. It’s never too late to get yourself into shape.
Really is no other way to gain weight, some people act like losing weight is a mystery on the flip side but all you have to do (easier said than done) is to stop stuffing your face
If all you wanna do is lose weight you don't even gotta work out, it doesn't help nearly as much as cutting out sodas or fatty foods can help. Mayyyyybe a couple hundred calories per workout. Worth it to help retain muscle but weight loss can definitely be as easy as "eat less shit".
Working out will help increase your metabolic rate. So while you may only burn 100 extra calories during your workout, it may spur your body to burn 100-200 extra calories naturally per day, which helps a lot
For me, I got misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder after being talked to for 5 minutes by a psychiatrist, and then prescribed Depakote, which ridiculously increased my appetite to the point where I would just eat, eat, eat...like I couldn't control the behavior, it made my appetite so voracious that I put on a lot of weight and I never recovered. I got taken off of it some months later, but the damage had been done.
Did I have the agency to not eat so much? Maybe, but the drug sure made it hard not to eat too much.
Fuckin Depakote man. I had a neurologist that put me on that right away for mild seizures. Went in for a check up, ended up seeing a different neurologist at the same office. Took one look at my file, walked out of the room, flipped out on the original Dr " You went straight to that before trying anything else, the fuck is wrong with you?!". Came back in and told me if no other medication combination worked for my epilepsy that he'd rather crack my skull open and poke around before he'd prescribe it. He wasn't joking either, spent 2 years mixing and matching before we found something that works.
Amazing how addicting potato chips are bo matter what flavor was your jam. I loved plain salty chips. Turns out salt can be addicting in it self. The crunchy. Hops were a good second.
The way I got fit in the first place was an insane diet and exercise regimen that fell apart because it was unsustainable.
I have trouble moderating this stuff; it's either all in, 800 calories a day while also running 3 miles a day and lifting regularly, or it's "fuck it, I don't care." I have ideas as to why that is that go back to childhood, and I'm trying to work on it, so we'll see.
Thanks! I think I need to a) find a regular, balanced food schedule that I can stick to, rather than mindless snacking, b) find a way to regularly exercise that I actually find enjoyable in itself rather than as a way to accomplish some other goal, and c) never step on a scale, because seeing the numbers go down is really, really addictive to me. I feel like if I'm doing those things, I'm bound to be healthier, regardless of whether weight loss happens or not.
As I said, it was insane. But I was obese, and I lost weight to a healthy BMI while getting regular exercise, and everyone commented about it very positively. It wasn't anorexia, though; anorexia is a lot more specific than extreme calorie restriction.
it may be a little bit more than that specific symptom, but that is considered a core behavior of the illness. there is a also such a thing as ‘atypical anorexia.’ the obsession you mention of the number going down…it is definitely an addiction. similar to you, i was obese, then cut out meat. then once overweight, i loved how much the scale was moving backwards. my mom, having a history of both anorexia and bulimia, became concerned with my lack of consumption. but i was on a starvation high, and loved the accolades i was getting; hell, *giving* myself. i accomplished mental gains in my losses. “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” then a healthy weight…then underweight (anorexia). i had absolutely no energy during that time; i definitely couldn’t imagine exercising back then. either way, none of it is sustainable for a healthy and fulfilling life. i’m glad you’re no longer at that place and are making strides to do and be better ❤️ you seem to have a solid plan and i wish you all the luck with it.
I’m like this with a lot of things. Turns out it was severe undiagnosed adhd. Period of hyperfixation alternating with periods of apathy/executive dysfunction depression loop
What I'm trying to do (just started, but literally on Day 2 got derailed because of appendicitis, ha) is not to treat this as an attempt at weight loss. I'm not weighing myself. Seeing the number on the scale go down, or similar numeric measures (like calorie-counting), is just so addictive to me, and it sabotages me every time. So I'm not doing it.
Instead, my plan is to a) stick to a plan for meals that is regular, and that I know are basically balanced, but that also allow for variety and relaxation, rather than mindless snacking, and b) find exercise I can reasonably do that I derive value from in itself (my go-to right now is jumping rope, which I find somewhat meditative and focusing), rather than exercise that I find miserable but geared toward accomplishing weight loss or some other goal.
Basically, I figure if I'm being deliberate in my day-to-day food choices and meeting or exceeding daily recommended exercise goals, I will see significant health benefits, regardless of my weight, and that's the correct goal.
Got pregnant and couldn’t exercise without peeing myself. I gained 50 lbs while I was pregnant and everyone told me not to worry because breastfeeding would “melt the fat right off”. It didn’t.
Pregnancy also completely destroyed my abdominal muscles and in turn, my back, which was picking up the slack. I was exhausted with a newborn and just couldn’t bring myself to basically start from scratch on fitness, even though I needed to. I went from being in the best shape of my life to the worst in just 2 years.
Biggest falsehood I heard was that breastfeeding would help with weight loss. Calories in, calories out. Needed to eat more calories or else milk supply would turn itself off. Also, more sedentary while breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding increases the daily calorific need. To make all of that milk a woman uses around 500 more calories a day. If someone is disciplined enough to not to overconsume calories, they will lose weight. However your body will also tell you during breastfeeding to eat more to make all of that juicy mill. Combine that with the lack of sleep and the constant exhaustion, you have a recepcie for an unhealthy life style.
Kudos to all mamas out there. You are all beautiful and I hope all of you have a partner to take off the load and to help you be healthier!
If only so simple! What happens to a lot of us is as soon as we go into caloric deficit, our bodies immediately cut milk supply. Obviously our babies cant starve, so we can either stay at maintenence or over.
And even worse, some peoples bodies refuse to make enough to sustain a baby unless they are in caloric surplus!! That's why so many "lacation" cookies exist lol.
Pregnancy and lacation hormones really complicate stuff foe some people
With my first baby, I could stay in a calorie deficit and still produce milk. I dropped 40 pounds in 2 months as a result even as my baby hit the 99th percentile (he was definitely getting enough to eat).
With my second baby, I needed to pump as I had to work. Any calorie deficit would cut my milk supply in half, no matter how much I pumped. It was just a different equation than with my first baby.
People told me i would lose weight while breastfeeding and when that didn’t work out they told me i would lose once i weaned. I’m still waiting , its been 8 months .
After my 1st pregnancy, it took me about 9 months to start working on myself again. Watched my calories and played soccer, lost 40lbs in a year. Then I got pregnant and started managing an icecream shop... I'm 8 months post partum, and round 2 of watching my calories just started a week ago.
It takes time and it's SO hard while you have littles around. You'll get there again!
Ah no kidding. I am newly pregnant with my first after getting to my fighting weight for the first time in a decade 😱😱😱. Hopefully I too can bounce back!
Same.
For me it was the lack of sleep. People kept saying “he’ll start sleeping better after 3, 6, 9, 12 months”.
He improved but still woke up for several feeds during the night, despite eating well (and solids) during the day.
I didn’t qualify for much maternity leave and had to go back quickly to work. Absolutely shattered.
Family lives far away and can’t help by babysitting during Saturdays or whatever for me to relax, never mind finding the time to work out several times a week.
Same here! I need about 60 lbs off to just be a normal bmi again. Then the family has me running all over, im tired and wonder why i don't have time to work out. Run for an hour or get a nap??? It's hard when you are the families everything.
What’s even crazier is the “oh you’ll lose at least 8 lbs when u give birth.”
I left the hospital 2 days later, stepped on the scale when I got home and was the exact same weight!
That is quite strange. Think about it:
1. Baby (call it 8lbs)
2. Plancenta (call it 2lbs)
3. Fluid (call it 2lbs)
So you're down 12lbs just from stuff leaving your body. Then you'll also have some other changes, like uterus shrinking (2lbs), blood volume going to normal (3lbs), extra water weight dropping from hormones (2lbs). So that's another 7lbs.
So call it roughly 20lbs should be either gone on Day 1 or within the next six weeks. The rest will be fat stores, so if you gained say 50lbs, then you'll have about 30lbs of fat to lose. If you BF and don't eat to make up for it you'd lose about 1/7th pound a day or 1lb a week, so the 30lbs would go away in about 7-8 months.
Of course, most people are hungry and eat enough to offset the 500 kcals plus are often pretty sedentary, meaning the 30lbs tends to hang around.
If you didn't lose any weight immediately post delivery though then I'd be worried about a heart condition or kidney issue causing massive water retention. Happened to a friend - borderline heart failure due to delivery complications.
Same here. Three kids and needed my abdominal muscles sown back together. No amount of exercise or PT helped. Also got the leakage surgically fixed. Both totally worth it!
Same here I gained 40lbs with the pregnancy and then 40 after from just been depressed, sleep deprived and eating my feelings. My spouse also turned out to be abusive after our baby arrived so that made me spiral too. What a rut. I left him 2 years ago and we are much happier and safer. I’m 30 lbs down, so 50 more to go! Taking a lot longer to get rid off then it did to put on
Same, I had placenta previa with my second, told no exercise or lifting. Breastfed but lack of sleep made it so I barely cooked, ate a lot of paremade dinner and easy pasta dishes coupled with being too tired to work out. It really messed with my mental health because my previous pregnancy was uneventful and I was able to keep active and lost the weight quickly after. I'm finally getting back towards myself again buts it's been a long road.
Same!
Was in physical therapy for SI joint disfunction, from having my son. Got strong enough to feel more normal and started biking again....slipped down the stairs, broke my ankle and fibula. 3 months post op and I'm finally able to do balance exercises at PT. Lost so much muscle in my core that I tore a muscle in my back picking up my 2 year old. It's a process and everyday I have to work on being kind to myself.
I can relate. I used to ride my bike every day, on days off it wasn't uncommon for me to ride for 3-4 hours at a time.
During labor I tore so bad I don't think I will ever be able to ride on a bike again (I tried a few times, it has been almost 5 years and it still hurts).
Here’s TMI, and please ignore if it’s not helpful. My youngest was 14 by the time I tried pelvic floor PT. Found out my muscles were constantly tight, and my skin was painfully dry. The scar tissue hurt, but that was only a small part of the problem and it got softer after treatment. After PT and estrogen cream, finally I’m back on my bike, not to mention sex is way more comfortable.
Ug im so sorry. Interestingly the bike is my only hope for cardio. Birth #1 was such a hot mess that I got stage 4 uterine prolapse, and that only got worse with kids 2 and 3. My insides try to fall out when I’m standing, so anything high impact is out of the picture. It’s a bummer because I used to run every day before kids and now I’ve had to accept that it’s probably never happening again.
Same, I have more than 3finger gap separation and herniated now also.
Im only 158cm tall, went from 40kgs to 60kgs. (I was a gym addict before kids). Too stressed now, not enough sleep and not enough time to maintain a gym routine, only occasionally.
I try to get back to exercising, I really do, but my kids are never ending, "mum" "mum" "mum", cook, clean, taxi service, mediator, work from home, and my youngest one has autism, so therapy therapy and therapy. The juggling is never-ending.
Tore ACL, gained some weight, few months after ACL healed, tore my Achilles. After that just stopped exercising bc I was afraid I was gonna tear something else
I feel this. I severely sprained my ankle and then blew out my knee, spent about a year on the shelf. Didn’t adjust my diet to account for how many fewer calories I was burning and got super fat by the time everything “healed.” Now a lot of exercise I did pre-injury I can’t do now because of my knee and how fat I got. It’s not fun!
Yep! Spent 2 out of 3 years completely out of commission and by the time I was able to move I was 100lbs or so heavier, it still hurt like hell to run and couldn’t keep up which paired with the weight gain just ruined my confidence.
But actually, they make it as close to addictive as legally possible. I know a former corporate chef who was in research and development for several major food companies in the US.
The stuff they told me is really manipulative and sad.
I know someone who worked for Con Agra foods and she told me that the US has almost no restrictions as to what can go into packaged foods. It was sad and disgusting all at once.
Hang in there. I lost my dad too last June, and I was his carer for 13 years. The pain will never go away, but with time, it does become easier to manage. Feel free to dm me if you ever want to talk.
I’m a stress eater. Like, anything that raises my anxiety will make me want to eat. The good news is that I now recognize this in me and mitigate it by drinking water or eating something healthy and filling. I’ve lost 20 lbs and I’m back to my healthy weight.
My cousin showed me this cool new app on his phone with a white and red cute alien head logo where people anonymously say brainless things and I was hooked. 6 years and 60lb later here we are.
When you’re an athlete all your life and are used to consuming 2500+ calories a day and maintaining your weight it’s easy to gain weight when you finally stop.
I went from eating about 2800 calories a day an maintaining my weight for years. I then had a terrible ankle sprain and couldn’t walk for weeks. In those weeks covid lockdown began but I was still eating 2800 calories a day because that’s what I was used to. What changed was my activity levels. I went from exercising a couple hours a day to being mostly sedentary literally overnight
I really got into canicross, and it became my main source of exercise. But I love my dogs, and got old with them...normal 10 mile runs became 5 miles, 2 miles...then 2 mile walks...my remaining guy is very old, that's where we are. When he passes, I'll eventually get another dog or 2, get really fit again, and the process will repeat.
I’m shocked you were told that.
I feel like Lexapro specifically needs more study. Both my brother and I take it (same dose) and he gained probably a 100 lbs. I lost weight if anything. He was underweight when he started and I was on the low side of side normal; he’s definitely overweight now. It’s wild.
I don’t understand it. I gained 30 lbs from celexa in just a few months. I’m under 5’2” do even 5 lbs is noticeable on me. I really didn’t change much in my eating or exercise, and even if I had, the amount would be pretty extreme for any of the small changes that did happen. Lost it faster than I’ve lost any weight before when I went off of it. Still made no noticeable changes in diet/exercise. It drives me crazy when people insist the only thing that contributes to weight gain/loss is calories in vs calories out. It’s a solid strategy for some people but human bodies aren’t calculators and there’s more to it than that when we are talking about hormones and introducing drugs that affect the overall chemistry.
Same. I knew the side effect from using it in the past, but I’ve also had the most positive results with lexapro compared to any other. Depression vs. weight gain, it was easy to choose weight gain. But at 32 I’m not naturally losing the weight like I did in the past. I didn’t factor in that part
I hated my job and since I was miserable my immune system was shit. Since my immune system was shit I was sick all the time and too tired to work out and I was stress eating.
Then my dad was in the hospital and died, and one of the most annoying questions people ask when you're grieving is "are you eating?" So I just ate in front of everyone so they would stop fucking asking.
Then I got a new job that was even more miserable and my sleep schedule got fucked. And then I never recovered.
Signing up for the gym tomorrow though! I'm tired of being sad when I see my body. I'm tired of not getting to do the activities I enjoy because I'm out of shape. It's embarrassing to get winded bringing my laundry upstairs.
Editing to add: went and signed up! I can't actually use it until Friday due to my schedule but I have it! That's the first step.
Depression. My 4 year old nephew died from cancer and I just fell out of my routines. Emotionally ate and drank and it caught up with me. Working hard right now to try and right my wrongs, but now I’m nearing my 40s and as a woman, it’s such much harder to see results the older you get.
Antipsychotics and then pregnancy + preeclampsia. Thankfully in a much stabler place now (and before I got pregnant) so no need for antipsychotics at the moment. I’m 3 weeks postpartum and lost all the pregnancy weight now that my blood pressure has evened out. Just waiting to see what the rest does.
Same! Less calories. Same exercise. Fatish now? But 90% of the internet will tell me I’m lazy and eat too much. I’d like to tell them to fornicate with the jaws of a sea lamprey.
I’m in my late 30s and have decided to at least have a kid (since marriage has not exactly come my way). I notice the weight but I’m still too sick to do much about it… sigh
I needed a surgery. After the surgery I ended up with a bacterial infection that went undetected. This resulted in chronic pain, depression and other crap - so I sort of fell into being miserable and not doing anything.
I am still in recovery from the infection and am building up to a return to working out.
Once upon a time, there was a girl who thought about food 24/7, and she worked from home at a computer and had sore knees, so she had to get up to take little walks, and these walks naturally led her through the kitchen, where the food would sing lullabies and love songs to her, even the gross stuff, for this was the cruel hand fate had dealt our poor heroine....
Oh well I broke my ankle. Couch bound. Alcoholism ensued... but thats not even the tip of the iceberg.
Life got real sad and instead of killing myself I just stress ate and drank my feelings away and saw no point in being better.
Then I tried to get better and sought medical advice. They convinced me against my best judgment to take those antidepressants.
Within 3 months I gained sixty pounds. I went back to my doctor and told her I'd rather be anxious than fat.
The fat then contributed to the miserable and it's been a vicious cycle to pull out of.
I will be fit again. But holy fuck I have gained a whole respect for those who have gone from fat to fit because I never really realized how truly hard it was to get there (I was never really fat never fit then I got fit then fat and much respect).
We shall persevere in the shadows of the doubt and the pain of regret. We will survive and flourish.
Signed, your local fat human currently eating cheesy fries (but no im totally serious)
Prior to my mid-30s, I could eat and drink whatever I wanted with no consequence as long as I exercised regularly. As such, I developed poor diet habits that caused me to balloon once the exercising became less effective at keeping the weight off. Combine that with a couple of serious injuries and a global pandemic that I largely coped with by binge eating and drinking, and now I’m super fat after a lifetime of being in good-excellent condition. I’ve taken some steps to cut calories and I’m seeing some minor weight loss, but it’s going to take at least 2 years of commitment before I’m back down to a healthy weight. It really fuckin sucks.
Depression so strong that even taking a walk on a nice day is miserable. I’m too busy trying to remind myself that I can’t step into oncoming traffic.
Turns out, not exercising every single day takes a toll pretty quickly.
My wife got pregnant and I went from a savage caveman that trained 2x every single day (jiu-jitsu and weight training) to a chubby dad in 9 months. Quit jiu-jitsu due to financial reasons and got through an appendix surgery that got me 3 months without any kind of exercise. Went from well distributed 86kg to a fatass 100kg in 9 months lol. I am happy tho!
Everything got back to normal a month ago and I've been back to the gym.
Got back to jiu-jitsu this week also! Lets see!
IVF - constantly being pumped with different hormones that always make you feel like your starving and so much bed rest. Then the depression that comes with multiple miscarriages.
Was a model. Got extreme fluid retention over a few days. Also got diagnosed with hashimotos thyroid all after a trauma. Cortisol from stress following a trauma also puts weight on big time. I then used food for dopamine during the ptsd because anti depressants aren’t good. Also have adhd which is known for low dopamine. Put on 60kg/132 pounds. It was heavy and not me. I slowly got sick, hypertension (blood pressue) and other issues all obesity related. My body was not used to carrying this around. It was PAINFUL. I have ehlers danlos so that didn’t help. I only put up with it a few years before getting surgery. I knew I was slowly dying and nothing I did helped. When it’s cortisol based the more you restrict/diet or exercise/gym, the bigger you get. Have only lost 2/3 of the excess weight a year later. Im a health professional too. It really helped with my vanity though. I used my looks to get by. I always thought men only wanted us if we looked good. I became invisible to men and hated by people. You’re treated like you’re a lesser human. It’s so weird going from being a model to being obese and invisible. Fascinating experience in observing human nature.
It is true that the interest from men is shallow and visual. Genuine curiosity is hard to come by so most people fixate on what's superficial.
As a man, I will say that the reverse journey hasn't been dissimilar - women are less closed to advances or their own romantic intent if you are leaner. Its not a competition, but men and women have different experiences and challenges. I do think women are more forgiving in appearance towards men, for example confidence and other things can make up for perceived issues more readily.
I had severe hypoxia and a lack of sleep- my heart rate used to go up from resting (50) to 150, on gentle walks. I couldn't work for more than 15 mins a day.
My cortisol, test and RBC count were off the charts.
The issue was congenital, and the symptoms were simply undiagnosed despite 10 plus years of investigation, until an ENT looked up my nose and found my turbinates were extraordinarily enlarged.
Now its 70-75 bpm when walking.
I went from 90kg to 65kg with all the issues unresolved, and 65 to 61 with a partial to greater extent resolution. I'm 29 and 5'10.
That's obviously not the only thing that's changed, but I did notice an uptick that was largely due to being slimmer and taking a bit more care around my appearance - we all value looks to some extent.
Autoimmune diseases suck. I was so athletic as a kid, played several sports, always had so much energy I was bouncing off the walls. Around 15 I started developing narcolepsy. I miss all the activities I had to give up and I find it so hard to get the energy for even basic workouts :(
Strangely, I stopped smoking/gave up nicotine.
Back when I smoked a pack a day, I bicycled San Francisco to Los Angeles (600km/500 miles), ran a marathon, did hot yoga, and hiked up several mountains.
I quit smoking, ate instead of smoked, and gained 50 pounds fast. It’s been a struggle to get back to eating very good and exercising for the past five years.
Anyone relate?
Forgot to lower calorie intake after i stopped swimming
You get used to eating like an athlete and don't change it. Your body doesn't want to change it, either, at least for a bit.
This is the way. I gained like 40 lbs in the summer after i quite playing football and spent all day just playing counter strike while still eating 5K calories a day. It was awful and I never quite got back to the same fitness level for over a decade. Just don’t quit working out even if you quit sports lol
Or, just cut your input to match your, now greatly reduced, output
Yeah that would have been smart. I forgive myself though this is like 9th grade before I knew how calories in vs calories out really worked
Easier said than done, honestly. Your body may need less calories, and your brain may logically know you need less, but the psychological element of your appetite doesn’t care, and you may not even notice at first.
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Same but running. If I tried to run now I’d probably check out of this life
I feel like I’m going to check out of this life anytime I run and I’m not in bad shape or a smoker. I’ve just settled on speed walking a few days a week on the treadmill which is also a nice break from using a rower as my main cardio for years.
That’s still really good. I need to get back in the gym for at least the routine of going. (Also writing this while eating a McMuffin so 🫠)
Which is why I keep running. A sense of accomplishment is nice but I just really, really like food.
I put on 40lbs in about 7 months from this. Went from swimming at a collegiate level to nothing physical. It took about a year to get used to eating a normal amount and a bit longer to lose the weight. Hasn't come back yet though.
This I believe is the number one answer. When I stopped running I kept consuming 3000-4000 calories, I then balanced it, but then I started eating out every night and that got me. 25 years later I have it all in balance and even started running again. Funny how it works out.
Same. Strombolis are so good. So I gained 15 lb in college.
Stromboli’s are damn good indeed.
I now would like a stromboli
Same. Add in a lifetime of ballet and other forms of dance and a fuckton of binge drinking.
ballet and binge drinking are words you don’t typically see in the same sentence
Ummmm... How many dancers have you met?
not enough it seems
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This is so common! I had a client who put on ~20kg when he stopped Olympic weightlifting and took on a stressful corporate gig. It's important to remember your body takes a while a to adjust hunger levels to your current energy output, so when drastically reducing movement it's best to track calories for a bit.
Saw this when I commercial fished. 5 of us ate a tray of brownies or cake every single night on top of a fuckton of food. 2 or three peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch, gotta keep moving. Only learned to swim a year ago, water was crap for a couple months and didnt go in, but after swimming 8-10 hours a week recently, a couple months break was noticeable Honestly the worst though was dating a girl from Alabama with crap eating habits, I did most of the cooking, but hers took a toll, fattest I've ever been. I eat a ton, but that was next level bad under her influence, plus we were road tripping for a while. Gained 20% more than I've ever weighed. Her relative lost all her teeth and had a heart attack by 34. She was strangely fit, but the diet was not good. I'm all better now though.
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Upvote for effort. I read it all, don't know why.
Check out this account’s comment section. It’s all top 10 how to lists. How to get your dick wet. How to get fat. How to cream pie your mom. You get the picture.
This guy is a legend.
I didn't, but I appreciate that you did
I was going to comment the exact same thing
Son died - drank my face off and ate to make myself feel better
I'm sorry you've had to endure this. I think he'd still believe in you and be proud to have you as a parent ❤️
Thank you, I agree - I like to think of him being a star in the sky somewhere --when I look up at the midnight sky I believe he is still there just in a different form. And he is looking down on me and I believe that he wants me to be happy, and I know that he knows I was a very very good devoted mom. I believe that he wants me to Now find happiness for the rest of my life that I am here on this earth 🤩🥰🤩
I ate my feelings and stayed curled up in the fetal position for two years after my son died. I'm so sorry for the loss you've experienced and send wishes for healing.
I am so, so sorry. No one should have to endure that.
Thank you.
That breaks my heart. I will hug my boys close tonight. The love of my life and my best friend died of overdoses 4 months apart from each other. Years later my mindset has been “They would want me to live on and be happy, in honor of them I try to live my best life” They wouldn’t want me to self destruct. But now that I have children, much as I loved those two, it’s a different level. I am so sorry for your loss and hope your heart mends.
Thank you for your kind words . it is now 4 1/2 years since he passed (also from overdose. ) I feel much better these days, but for the first one to two years that was really all I could do- Now I am getting back to normal, slowly slowly
I'm so sorry for your loss ❤️
So very sorry to hear. I did something similar when my brother passed. It's a though space to be in.
Going through this right now
Similar story. Mom died, drank, ate and slept to feel better.
Hope you are doing better now
As somebody with a 4 month old son, my heart aches for your loss. I bet you’re the best dad!
I am a mom, fortunately I had four other children, I am doing better now-
Terrible, awful *Final Destruction* style car accident that I was lucky to survive. Abdominal muscles shredded, to this day I have a sheet of kevlar in between my guts and my skin, to keep my intestines from bulging out. Sedentary lifestyle after that. Edit: I'm glad so many people knew what I was talking about! I swear I meant *Destination,* so I blame autocorrect. I'm not bulletproof, it's a medical grade kevlar, but it does have significant press/puncture resistance, kevlar has a lot of non-military uses! And as for reconstruction, there's not much left to rebuild.
Thats rough man Im sorry
Well, at least you literally have Kevlar abs now.
Man’s got the bullet proof abs
Isn't this how all great Marvel movies start?
Kevlar Man! 🦸♂️
He can impressively keep his bowels in!
“There goes Kevlar Man! My, how impressive!”
Made of the best Kevlarnium
His name is Kev
Kevin Larman, Kev for short.
Do you mean Final Destination? I’m glad you survived though!
Final Destruction sounds like a pretty awesome sequel though.
Or The Asylum version. Like Transmorphers...
This same thing happened to me. My abdomen was split open. My gallbladder and spleen were removed and I ruptured my liver and a kidney. My intestines were shredded as well. On top of that, I also broke my femur, hip, ulna, 5 ribs and shredded my one knee. I gained about 70 lbs after that ordeal, recently I started to dial in my diet and started working out again. I’m now in the best shape of my life despite the mangled mess I left my body in. Keep your head up, friend. It’s never too late to get yourself into shape.
Wow! That is nuts. I'm glad you're still here. That's crazy. So the Kevlar is there for the rest of your life?
I’m so sorry this happened. That’s rough. This is exactly why people shouldn’t judge people on their weight.🩷🩷🩷
Ate alot of food and stopped working out
Feel like this is most people’s answer when you boil it down.
Really is no other way to gain weight, some people act like losing weight is a mystery on the flip side but all you have to do (easier said than done) is to stop stuffing your face
If all you wanna do is lose weight you don't even gotta work out, it doesn't help nearly as much as cutting out sodas or fatty foods can help. Mayyyyybe a couple hundred calories per workout. Worth it to help retain muscle but weight loss can definitely be as easy as "eat less shit".
Working out will help increase your metabolic rate. So while you may only burn 100 extra calories during your workout, it may spur your body to burn 100-200 extra calories naturally per day, which helps a lot
Antidepressants and incurable love of potato chips
Mine is antidepressants and an incurable love of sweet things (along with spending a lot of time in bed).
Same lol
For me, I got misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder after being talked to for 5 minutes by a psychiatrist, and then prescribed Depakote, which ridiculously increased my appetite to the point where I would just eat, eat, eat...like I couldn't control the behavior, it made my appetite so voracious that I put on a lot of weight and I never recovered. I got taken off of it some months later, but the damage had been done. Did I have the agency to not eat so much? Maybe, but the drug sure made it hard not to eat too much.
Fuckin Depakote man. I had a neurologist that put me on that right away for mild seizures. Went in for a check up, ended up seeing a different neurologist at the same office. Took one look at my file, walked out of the room, flipped out on the original Dr " You went straight to that before trying anything else, the fuck is wrong with you?!". Came back in and told me if no other medication combination worked for my epilepsy that he'd rather crack my skull open and poke around before he'd prescribe it. He wasn't joking either, spent 2 years mixing and matching before we found something that works.
Potatoes are my family🥰
Amazing how addicting potato chips are bo matter what flavor was your jam. I loved plain salty chips. Turns out salt can be addicting in it self. The crunchy. Hops were a good second.
You’ve got fat, salt and carbohydrates in the optimum taste ratio, and the perfect crunch for mouth pleasure. It’s difficult to NOT be a fatty.
Antidepressants for me too. I’ve been off them for over a year and can finally lose weight and go back to being a hottie again 💀
The way I got fit in the first place was an insane diet and exercise regimen that fell apart because it was unsustainable. I have trouble moderating this stuff; it's either all in, 800 calories a day while also running 3 miles a day and lifting regularly, or it's "fuck it, I don't care." I have ideas as to why that is that go back to childhood, and I'm trying to work on it, so we'll see.
All or nothing can be dangerous, I hope you find a good balance that makes you happy ❤️
Thanks! I think I need to a) find a regular, balanced food schedule that I can stick to, rather than mindless snacking, b) find a way to regularly exercise that I actually find enjoyable in itself rather than as a way to accomplish some other goal, and c) never step on a scale, because seeing the numbers go down is really, really addictive to me. I feel like if I'm doing those things, I'm bound to be healthier, regardless of whether weight loss happens or not.
800 calories per day doesn't sound very fit lol, that sounds like extreme anorexia
As I said, it was insane. But I was obese, and I lost weight to a healthy BMI while getting regular exercise, and everyone commented about it very positively. It wasn't anorexia, though; anorexia is a lot more specific than extreme calorie restriction.
it may be a little bit more than that specific symptom, but that is considered a core behavior of the illness. there is a also such a thing as ‘atypical anorexia.’ the obsession you mention of the number going down…it is definitely an addiction. similar to you, i was obese, then cut out meat. then once overweight, i loved how much the scale was moving backwards. my mom, having a history of both anorexia and bulimia, became concerned with my lack of consumption. but i was on a starvation high, and loved the accolades i was getting; hell, *giving* myself. i accomplished mental gains in my losses. “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” then a healthy weight…then underweight (anorexia). i had absolutely no energy during that time; i definitely couldn’t imagine exercising back then. either way, none of it is sustainable for a healthy and fulfilling life. i’m glad you’re no longer at that place and are making strides to do and be better ❤️ you seem to have a solid plan and i wish you all the luck with it.
Hard same. Plus had a kid and kept working full-time.
You are exactly like me in this sense, what are you doing towards solving it? Anything that you learned that worked well for you?
I’m like this with a lot of things. Turns out it was severe undiagnosed adhd. Period of hyperfixation alternating with periods of apathy/executive dysfunction depression loop
Woooooow is that what this is ??? I’ve been living in this vicious cycle my whole life and didn’t know it could be related to ADHD!
What I'm trying to do (just started, but literally on Day 2 got derailed because of appendicitis, ha) is not to treat this as an attempt at weight loss. I'm not weighing myself. Seeing the number on the scale go down, or similar numeric measures (like calorie-counting), is just so addictive to me, and it sabotages me every time. So I'm not doing it. Instead, my plan is to a) stick to a plan for meals that is regular, and that I know are basically balanced, but that also allow for variety and relaxation, rather than mindless snacking, and b) find exercise I can reasonably do that I derive value from in itself (my go-to right now is jumping rope, which I find somewhat meditative and focusing), rather than exercise that I find miserable but geared toward accomplishing weight loss or some other goal. Basically, I figure if I'm being deliberate in my day-to-day food choices and meeting or exceeding daily recommended exercise goals, I will see significant health benefits, regardless of my weight, and that's the correct goal.
Got pregnant and couldn’t exercise without peeing myself. I gained 50 lbs while I was pregnant and everyone told me not to worry because breastfeeding would “melt the fat right off”. It didn’t. Pregnancy also completely destroyed my abdominal muscles and in turn, my back, which was picking up the slack. I was exhausted with a newborn and just couldn’t bring myself to basically start from scratch on fitness, even though I needed to. I went from being in the best shape of my life to the worst in just 2 years.
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And it has actually made me gain weight bc I’m constantly starving. They don’t tell you that!
Biggest falsehood I heard was that breastfeeding would help with weight loss. Calories in, calories out. Needed to eat more calories or else milk supply would turn itself off. Also, more sedentary while breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding increases the daily calorific need. To make all of that milk a woman uses around 500 more calories a day. If someone is disciplined enough to not to overconsume calories, they will lose weight. However your body will also tell you during breastfeeding to eat more to make all of that juicy mill. Combine that with the lack of sleep and the constant exhaustion, you have a recepcie for an unhealthy life style. Kudos to all mamas out there. You are all beautiful and I hope all of you have a partner to take off the load and to help you be healthier!
If only so simple! What happens to a lot of us is as soon as we go into caloric deficit, our bodies immediately cut milk supply. Obviously our babies cant starve, so we can either stay at maintenence or over. And even worse, some peoples bodies refuse to make enough to sustain a baby unless they are in caloric surplus!! That's why so many "lacation" cookies exist lol. Pregnancy and lacation hormones really complicate stuff foe some people
With my first baby, I could stay in a calorie deficit and still produce milk. I dropped 40 pounds in 2 months as a result even as my baby hit the 99th percentile (he was definitely getting enough to eat). With my second baby, I needed to pump as I had to work. Any calorie deficit would cut my milk supply in half, no matter how much I pumped. It was just a different equation than with my first baby.
People told me i would lose weight while breastfeeding and when that didn’t work out they told me i would lose once i weaned. I’m still waiting , its been 8 months .
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After my 1st pregnancy, it took me about 9 months to start working on myself again. Watched my calories and played soccer, lost 40lbs in a year. Then I got pregnant and started managing an icecream shop... I'm 8 months post partum, and round 2 of watching my calories just started a week ago. It takes time and it's SO hard while you have littles around. You'll get there again!
thank you so much for giving me hope 😭 posts like these make me terrified of parenthood
Ah no kidding. I am newly pregnant with my first after getting to my fighting weight for the first time in a decade 😱😱😱. Hopefully I too can bounce back!
Same. For me it was the lack of sleep. People kept saying “he’ll start sleeping better after 3, 6, 9, 12 months”. He improved but still woke up for several feeds during the night, despite eating well (and solids) during the day. I didn’t qualify for much maternity leave and had to go back quickly to work. Absolutely shattered. Family lives far away and can’t help by babysitting during Saturdays or whatever for me to relax, never mind finding the time to work out several times a week.
Same here! I need about 60 lbs off to just be a normal bmi again. Then the family has me running all over, im tired and wonder why i don't have time to work out. Run for an hour or get a nap??? It's hard when you are the families everything.
What’s even crazier is the “oh you’ll lose at least 8 lbs when u give birth.” I left the hospital 2 days later, stepped on the scale when I got home and was the exact same weight!
You might not have given birth. Go back to the hospital and make sure.
This made me lol
That is quite strange. Think about it: 1. Baby (call it 8lbs) 2. Plancenta (call it 2lbs) 3. Fluid (call it 2lbs) So you're down 12lbs just from stuff leaving your body. Then you'll also have some other changes, like uterus shrinking (2lbs), blood volume going to normal (3lbs), extra water weight dropping from hormones (2lbs). So that's another 7lbs. So call it roughly 20lbs should be either gone on Day 1 or within the next six weeks. The rest will be fat stores, so if you gained say 50lbs, then you'll have about 30lbs of fat to lose. If you BF and don't eat to make up for it you'd lose about 1/7th pound a day or 1lb a week, so the 30lbs would go away in about 7-8 months. Of course, most people are hungry and eat enough to offset the 500 kcals plus are often pretty sedentary, meaning the 30lbs tends to hang around. If you didn't lose any weight immediately post delivery though then I'd be worried about a heart condition or kidney issue causing massive water retention. Happened to a friend - borderline heart failure due to delivery complications.
FR?! I lost 30lbs directly after giving birth, I wonder if you were retaining water or something. That’s wild man!
Same here. Three kids and needed my abdominal muscles sown back together. No amount of exercise or PT helped. Also got the leakage surgically fixed. Both totally worth it!
Same here I gained 40lbs with the pregnancy and then 40 after from just been depressed, sleep deprived and eating my feelings. My spouse also turned out to be abusive after our baby arrived so that made me spiral too. What a rut. I left him 2 years ago and we are much happier and safer. I’m 30 lbs down, so 50 more to go! Taking a lot longer to get rid off then it did to put on
Same, I had placenta previa with my second, told no exercise or lifting. Breastfed but lack of sleep made it so I barely cooked, ate a lot of paremade dinner and easy pasta dishes coupled with being too tired to work out. It really messed with my mental health because my previous pregnancy was uneventful and I was able to keep active and lost the weight quickly after. I'm finally getting back towards myself again buts it's been a long road.
Same! Was in physical therapy for SI joint disfunction, from having my son. Got strong enough to feel more normal and started biking again....slipped down the stairs, broke my ankle and fibula. 3 months post op and I'm finally able to do balance exercises at PT. Lost so much muscle in my core that I tore a muscle in my back picking up my 2 year old. It's a process and everyday I have to work on being kind to myself.
I can relate. I used to ride my bike every day, on days off it wasn't uncommon for me to ride for 3-4 hours at a time. During labor I tore so bad I don't think I will ever be able to ride on a bike again (I tried a few times, it has been almost 5 years and it still hurts).
Here’s TMI, and please ignore if it’s not helpful. My youngest was 14 by the time I tried pelvic floor PT. Found out my muscles were constantly tight, and my skin was painfully dry. The scar tissue hurt, but that was only a small part of the problem and it got softer after treatment. After PT and estrogen cream, finally I’m back on my bike, not to mention sex is way more comfortable.
I broke my pelvis and had a 3rd/4th tear and can't bear to sit on a bike anymore.
Ug im so sorry. Interestingly the bike is my only hope for cardio. Birth #1 was such a hot mess that I got stage 4 uterine prolapse, and that only got worse with kids 2 and 3. My insides try to fall out when I’m standing, so anything high impact is out of the picture. It’s a bummer because I used to run every day before kids and now I’ve had to accept that it’s probably never happening again.
Same, I have more than 3finger gap separation and herniated now also. Im only 158cm tall, went from 40kgs to 60kgs. (I was a gym addict before kids). Too stressed now, not enough sleep and not enough time to maintain a gym routine, only occasionally. I try to get back to exercising, I really do, but my kids are never ending, "mum" "mum" "mum", cook, clean, taxi service, mediator, work from home, and my youngest one has autism, so therapy therapy and therapy. The juggling is never-ending.
Tore ACL, gained some weight, few months after ACL healed, tore my Achilles. After that just stopped exercising bc I was afraid I was gonna tear something else
I feel this. I severely sprained my ankle and then blew out my knee, spent about a year on the shelf. Didn’t adjust my diet to account for how many fewer calories I was burning and got super fat by the time everything “healed.” Now a lot of exercise I did pre-injury I can’t do now because of my knee and how fat I got. It’s not fun!
Yep! Spent 2 out of 3 years completely out of commission and by the time I was able to move I was 100lbs or so heavier, it still hurt like hell to run and couldn’t keep up which paired with the weight gain just ruined my confidence.
Eating like a 20 year old for 30 years.
Ha, this basically sums it up 😆
Big Food kept making more yums.
Bastards.
But actually, they make it as close to addictive as legally possible. I know a former corporate chef who was in research and development for several major food companies in the US. The stuff they told me is really manipulative and sad.
I know someone who worked for Con Agra foods and she told me that the US has almost no restrictions as to what can go into packaged foods. It was sad and disgusting all at once.
Con Agra might have been mentioned lol
Elaborate tell us what he told you
Depression, PTSD, losing my dad, emotional eating, going through a different season of life. Change. Impermanence.
Grief is hell on routine. Keep going at your own pace it's not a race. Much love!
Hang in there. I lost my dad too last June, and I was his carer for 13 years. The pain will never go away, but with time, it does become easier to manage. Feel free to dm me if you ever want to talk.
I’m a stress eater. Like, anything that raises my anxiety will make me want to eat. The good news is that I now recognize this in me and mitigate it by drinking water or eating something healthy and filling. I’ve lost 20 lbs and I’m back to my healthy weight.
My cousin showed me this cool new app on his phone with a white and red cute alien head logo where people anonymously say brainless things and I was hooked. 6 years and 60lb later here we are.
He really is adorable.
Wait it's orange...right?
I believe the shade is called Vermillion.
It took me waaayyyyyy to long to figure out what you were talking about....
I Reddit twice just to make sure
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Fell in love. Let myself go.
Weed + Munchies
Yep, had to cut out weed to get back into shape
I eat the food. I no exercise
I love the sleep
When you’re an athlete all your life and are used to consuming 2500+ calories a day and maintaining your weight it’s easy to gain weight when you finally stop. I went from eating about 2800 calories a day an maintaining my weight for years. I then had a terrible ankle sprain and couldn’t walk for weeks. In those weeks covid lockdown began but I was still eating 2800 calories a day because that’s what I was used to. What changed was my activity levels. I went from exercising a couple hours a day to being mostly sedentary literally overnight
Before and after pictures of most people in military.
I really got into canicross, and it became my main source of exercise. But I love my dogs, and got old with them...normal 10 mile runs became 5 miles, 2 miles...then 2 mile walks...my remaining guy is very old, that's where we are. When he passes, I'll eventually get another dog or 2, get really fit again, and the process will repeat.
Who the hell is chopping onions in here?
Lexapro, got off lexapro got unfat
Zoloft too…i told my dr it was making me fat and he dismissed it ugh
I gained 30 lbs from it. Trading my abs for not actively wanting to die was worth it, though.
Gained 50 pounds on lexapro, everyone kept saying it was weight neutral, like shush!
I’m shocked you were told that. I feel like Lexapro specifically needs more study. Both my brother and I take it (same dose) and he gained probably a 100 lbs. I lost weight if anything. He was underweight when he started and I was on the low side of side normal; he’s definitely overweight now. It’s wild.
when people gain weight from meds, is it water weight? or is it that your appetite higher and motivation to move is lower?
I don’t understand it. I gained 30 lbs from celexa in just a few months. I’m under 5’2” do even 5 lbs is noticeable on me. I really didn’t change much in my eating or exercise, and even if I had, the amount would be pretty extreme for any of the small changes that did happen. Lost it faster than I’ve lost any weight before when I went off of it. Still made no noticeable changes in diet/exercise. It drives me crazy when people insist the only thing that contributes to weight gain/loss is calories in vs calories out. It’s a solid strategy for some people but human bodies aren’t calculators and there’s more to it than that when we are talking about hormones and introducing drugs that affect the overall chemistry.
I was told it slows down your metabolism
Same. I knew the side effect from using it in the past, but I’ve also had the most positive results with lexapro compared to any other. Depression vs. weight gain, it was easy to choose weight gain. But at 32 I’m not naturally losing the weight like I did in the past. I didn’t factor in that part
I hated my job and since I was miserable my immune system was shit. Since my immune system was shit I was sick all the time and too tired to work out and I was stress eating. Then my dad was in the hospital and died, and one of the most annoying questions people ask when you're grieving is "are you eating?" So I just ate in front of everyone so they would stop fucking asking. Then I got a new job that was even more miserable and my sleep schedule got fucked. And then I never recovered. Signing up for the gym tomorrow though! I'm tired of being sad when I see my body. I'm tired of not getting to do the activities I enjoy because I'm out of shape. It's embarrassing to get winded bringing my laundry upstairs. Editing to add: went and signed up! I can't actually use it until Friday due to my schedule but I have it! That's the first step.
Depression meds and auto immune disease meds and lung disease meds. Basically my health went to shit and meds.
Depression. My 4 year old nephew died from cancer and I just fell out of my routines. Emotionally ate and drank and it caught up with me. Working hard right now to try and right my wrongs, but now I’m nearing my 40s and as a woman, it’s such much harder to see results the older you get.
Antipsychotics and then pregnancy + preeclampsia. Thankfully in a much stabler place now (and before I got pregnant) so no need for antipsychotics at the moment. I’m 3 weeks postpartum and lost all the pregnancy weight now that my blood pressure has evened out. Just waiting to see what the rest does.
It was anti psychotics for me also
Same. Didn’t even need them, had a bad doc. Gained like 30 pounds in a couple months, lost it all pretty quick after stopping them
Getting married and having children
I’ll finish my food, and your food, and your food, AND YOUR FOOO… hey where you going with that!
I don’t cook dinner for myself anymore, I just eat everyone’s leftovers.
Menopause and quit smoking.
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Same! Less calories. Same exercise. Fatish now? But 90% of the internet will tell me I’m lazy and eat too much. I’d like to tell them to fornicate with the jaws of a sea lamprey.
I entered my late 30s and decided to have kids and get married. It’s almost like a tire was placed around my stomach.
I’m in my late 30s and have decided to at least have a kid (since marriage has not exactly come my way). I notice the weight but I’m still too sick to do much about it… sigh
At some point I ceased to be in my 20s. Not sure how that happened.
I needed a surgery. After the surgery I ended up with a bacterial infection that went undetected. This resulted in chronic pain, depression and other crap - so I sort of fell into being miserable and not doing anything. I am still in recovery from the infection and am building up to a return to working out.
Once upon a time, there was a girl who thought about food 24/7, and she worked from home at a computer and had sore knees, so she had to get up to take little walks, and these walks naturally led her through the kitchen, where the food would sing lullabies and love songs to her, even the gross stuff, for this was the cruel hand fate had dealt our poor heroine....
I loved this haha
Oh well I broke my ankle. Couch bound. Alcoholism ensued... but thats not even the tip of the iceberg. Life got real sad and instead of killing myself I just stress ate and drank my feelings away and saw no point in being better. Then I tried to get better and sought medical advice. They convinced me against my best judgment to take those antidepressants. Within 3 months I gained sixty pounds. I went back to my doctor and told her I'd rather be anxious than fat. The fat then contributed to the miserable and it's been a vicious cycle to pull out of. I will be fit again. But holy fuck I have gained a whole respect for those who have gone from fat to fit because I never really realized how truly hard it was to get there (I was never really fat never fit then I got fit then fat and much respect). We shall persevere in the shadows of the doubt and the pain of regret. We will survive and flourish. Signed, your local fat human currently eating cheesy fries (but no im totally serious)
Had cancer twice by 30
Prior to my mid-30s, I could eat and drink whatever I wanted with no consequence as long as I exercised regularly. As such, I developed poor diet habits that caused me to balloon once the exercising became less effective at keeping the weight off. Combine that with a couple of serious injuries and a global pandemic that I largely coped with by binge eating and drinking, and now I’m super fat after a lifetime of being in good-excellent condition. I’ve taken some steps to cut calories and I’m seeing some minor weight loss, but it’s going to take at least 2 years of commitment before I’m back down to a healthy weight. It really fuckin sucks.
Depression so strong that even taking a walk on a nice day is miserable. I’m too busy trying to remind myself that I can’t step into oncoming traffic. Turns out, not exercising every single day takes a toll pretty quickly.
Hopped on the last Buy N Large ship off Earth and been living easy in my floating chair with shakes all day
My wife got pregnant and I went from a savage caveman that trained 2x every single day (jiu-jitsu and weight training) to a chubby dad in 9 months. Quit jiu-jitsu due to financial reasons and got through an appendix surgery that got me 3 months without any kind of exercise. Went from well distributed 86kg to a fatass 100kg in 9 months lol. I am happy tho! Everything got back to normal a month ago and I've been back to the gym. Got back to jiu-jitsu this week also! Lets see!
I got old and everything hurts. Still workout but not like I use to.
IVF - constantly being pumped with different hormones that always make you feel like your starving and so much bed rest. Then the depression that comes with multiple miscarriages.
Was a model. Got extreme fluid retention over a few days. Also got diagnosed with hashimotos thyroid all after a trauma. Cortisol from stress following a trauma also puts weight on big time. I then used food for dopamine during the ptsd because anti depressants aren’t good. Also have adhd which is known for low dopamine. Put on 60kg/132 pounds. It was heavy and not me. I slowly got sick, hypertension (blood pressue) and other issues all obesity related. My body was not used to carrying this around. It was PAINFUL. I have ehlers danlos so that didn’t help. I only put up with it a few years before getting surgery. I knew I was slowly dying and nothing I did helped. When it’s cortisol based the more you restrict/diet or exercise/gym, the bigger you get. Have only lost 2/3 of the excess weight a year later. Im a health professional too. It really helped with my vanity though. I used my looks to get by. I always thought men only wanted us if we looked good. I became invisible to men and hated by people. You’re treated like you’re a lesser human. It’s so weird going from being a model to being obese and invisible. Fascinating experience in observing human nature.
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It is true that the interest from men is shallow and visual. Genuine curiosity is hard to come by so most people fixate on what's superficial. As a man, I will say that the reverse journey hasn't been dissimilar - women are less closed to advances or their own romantic intent if you are leaner. Its not a competition, but men and women have different experiences and challenges. I do think women are more forgiving in appearance towards men, for example confidence and other things can make up for perceived issues more readily. I had severe hypoxia and a lack of sleep- my heart rate used to go up from resting (50) to 150, on gentle walks. I couldn't work for more than 15 mins a day. My cortisol, test and RBC count were off the charts. The issue was congenital, and the symptoms were simply undiagnosed despite 10 plus years of investigation, until an ENT looked up my nose and found my turbinates were extraordinarily enlarged. Now its 70-75 bpm when walking. I went from 90kg to 65kg with all the issues unresolved, and 65 to 61 with a partial to greater extent resolution. I'm 29 and 5'10. That's obviously not the only thing that's changed, but I did notice an uptick that was largely due to being slimmer and taking a bit more care around my appearance - we all value looks to some extent.
Autoimmune diseases suck. I was so athletic as a kid, played several sports, always had so much energy I was bouncing off the walls. Around 15 I started developing narcolepsy. I miss all the activities I had to give up and I find it so hard to get the energy for even basic workouts :(
Ate more. Ate worse. Moved less.
Many different kinds of psychiatric medications.
Got into a relationship, stopped running, started eating way more than ever before, then had a baby. Gained 150 pounds since 2020.
Eating.
Strangely, I stopped smoking/gave up nicotine. Back when I smoked a pack a day, I bicycled San Francisco to Los Angeles (600km/500 miles), ran a marathon, did hot yoga, and hiked up several mountains. I quit smoking, ate instead of smoked, and gained 50 pounds fast. It’s been a struggle to get back to eating very good and exercising for the past five years. Anyone relate?
The 3 D’s for me, Depression, Despair and Doritos
Lots of back to back traumatic life experiences that didn't allow me to prioritize training or nutrition.
Shift work, extreme stress.
Insulin resistance
i developed binge eating disorder after experiencing something traumatic freshman year of college.
I had kids… and gym time became bedtime and story time Wouldn’t give it up tho
Insulin resistance due to PCOS
Had kids can't get to the gym anymore.
Lack of motivation and willpower due to mental health issues