I gained weight after marriage, I was a healthy 125lb (5'2'') but during the first three years of marriage I gained about 37lb, and later some more. I'd love to blame it on my three kids, but shedding the pregnancy weight was always easy, even if I ended in the obese BMI, i returned to my pre-pregnancy weight within 6 months after giving birth.
I had a 2-year period when I was a single mum, and during this time weight just kept falling off, but then I remarried and sure enought :D 20lb crept up on me within a year. So it's true, men make women fat. If a girl lives alone, she can cook salads and soups and all these things, but cooking for a family, it has to be rice or potatoes and meat, desserts, homemade pies etc. :)

I have often tried to work this out and like some of the other posters I have had very difficult periods in my life but I finally see that it comes down to these factors : feeling low, feeling good, mourning, celebrating, yo yo dieting, not dieting, being married, being a single mum, too busy, too lazy, contentment, disappointment, in fact pretty much anything is my reason for not taking care of my body. Hopefully I am learning not to listen to my moods but keep the fact that I need to get healthier and leaner for my own sake.

When people use the colloquial expression, 'Dropped the ball,' I think it describes my weight gain. Perfectly. I had the ball, I was slim, I was active --- things happened, I lost focus. I dropped the ball.

Back in grade 6 the doctors put me on antidepressants that, turns out, I never needed...I was just under a lot of stress from the fact I had been homeschooled up until grade 5. The antidepressants increased my appetite and I gained 20 pounds in a couple months...pattern continued on and I'm finally only 15 pounds away from my goal weight.

The Newlee "Why I gained weight" story
 

Growing up I was one of those people who could and did eat everything in front of them and still look like skin and bones. I was very active and when I was a teenager lots of people thought I had an eating disorder because I shot up to 5’7” tall but could barely keep on 100 pounds. Kids called me “Beanpole”.

When I started college at LSU, I was really poor - sometimes homeless and sometimes I couldn’t eat or I ate whatever I could get my hands on regardless of nutritional value. I was malnourished and hungry for about 3 years. I think this might have been when I messed up my metabolism but it could just be the way the normal aging process wreaks havoc on metabolism. Because of those years at LSU I have become like one of those people who survived the depression and even though they have plenty, still re-use aluminum foil. I can’t throw food away. Once I had a child and a husband I ate whatever was left on their plates when they were finished.

I was between 175 and 185 for a few years and then I started having problems with my marriage. I went on my first ever diet to see if I could win my husband’s approval and get him interested in me again. When I got down to about 150 I started feeling better about myself and bought some new cute clothes and started taking better care of myself. I tried to get him to notice and finally I took the direct approach and asked if he had noticed and if he was interested. At that point he accused me of having an affair with my new look as proof of the affair. His resentment grew and I felt trapped with someone who hated me and I soon weighed more than 200 pounds.

Three years ago my job was reorganized away but my company had an opening for me in NC. I asked my husband what he wanted to do and he took that opportunity to leave. I lost 50 pounds in 7 months and it was pretty easy. But I was upside-down on my house (only in my name) which took a year to sell and 5 or 10 of those pounds crept back on. Then my son became a teenager and rebelled in every way known to man and within weeks I gained 15 more pounds. I was furious with myself because I never wanted to be big again. I decided that I’m not a human trash can and that I wasn’t going to punish myself or medicate myself with food when things go badly in my life. I still haven’t figured out how to throw food away, but I’m not giving into the stress urges and I’m trying to take care of myself. And here I am.

I can't really remember ever being thin. I was always chubby even as a little kid. In my house, my parents always have taken the easy way out of making lunch and dinner. My mom does most of the "cooking", but really 99% of what we eat is either frozen, prepackaged junk, or fast food. Anything that can be put together fast, with the least amount of effort.

Combine that with the fact that there is ALWAYS a lot of junk food around here, and that pretty much explains it. Growing up, seeing your parents eat all that junk, you don't realize that it is junk until you get older, and then it's become habit.

When I was a kid, I did play sports - softball, basketball, soccer. But I was still chubby. My parents were the kind that would always take us out to McDonald's or Wendy's right after practice or a game.

And we always ate out a LOT. We live right next to the road we call "Hamburger Alley" because down both sides of the road is covered in I-don't-know-how-many restaurants.

Now that I'm 20, I know that this is not a healthy way to live, and I have been struggling to eat healthier and lose weight to finally be thin for once in my life.

I'm still in school though, so I do live with my parents over summer and holidays.... which makes it difficult to stick to any kind of diet and exercise plan, since they still bring in all kinds of junk food, meals are still junk, and no one else is willing to commit to changing their diet with me. I try to get them to eat healthier, eat more veggies and fruit, and at least stop buying junk food that I will be tempted to eat. However, no one seems to understand the concept that I'm trying to eat healthier. My family are all huge soda drinkers, and for years I have had a Mountain Dew addiction. I have asked several times for them to stop buying it, but they still do, even though no one but me will drink it.

So, basically I have to battle myself and them in order to eat healthy, but I think I'm doing ok considering.

I just try to keep in mind why I'm doing this, and what the results will be.

For me it was when I moved to Uni living in the halls I started putting on the weight. Moved to halls at 60kg, then had a terrible boyfriend + the depo which ended with me now at 75 kg and not able to lose no matter how much exercise I do and healthy eating :( Studied a bach sport and rec and am active in sport. Im from the country so growing up we didn't have takeaways and when moved to city for uni I wasn't keen on takeaways.

I concur. Food is love. I love to cook, bake, eat and share food with others.

I ran track in high school and lived in a town where I walked absolutely everywhere. Being athletic, I actually ran everywhere to get there faster!

After high school, my family moved to the suburbs. So I was no longer active, but failed to adjust my diet accordingly. Then I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome. Then I was working full time while going to nursing school, so dinner was whatever I could get while driving. Then I worked full time with a swing shift, so I allowed myself the excuse to eat crap at 2 AM, and I was so busy at work that I routinely went 11-12 hours between meals.

I've had lots of excuses over the years, but it all boils down to eating too much crap and not being active enough. I'm not going to allow myself these copouts anymore, or ever again!

I had an eating disorder right after high school and once I recovered, the pounds kept on coming. Plus I was in a committed relationship, I was comfortable... all of those stereotypical reasons.