Curious -- When Did You Get Fat?

hey kix

i don't remember anyone ever giving me grief over being tall -- i've always kind of liked being tall! my whole family is tall - my younger brother is 6'5", and one of my mom's brothers is 6"7" -- we are a tall people! i took lots of crap about being fat, but if anyone was making fun about my height, i don't remember it.

i did have one person i hadn't seen for quite some time tell me that prior to the weight loss, they had never noticed that i was so tall...but now that i was thinner, i looked much taller....maybe when i was as wide as high...hmmm, i don't know! lol.

and yes, i surely do remember those "no girls in pants at school" days!

deb

I'd have to say preschool age did it for me.  I have a similiar story to Deb.  In Kindergarten there was a growth chart on the door leading into our classroom and there was my weight posted for the world to see - 91 lbs.  I weighed in Kindergarten what I my grown nieces weigh now! 

Additionally my family thought that my overeating was entertaining.  I remember a story of my family purchasing me a roast beef poboy and then watching me devour the whole thing at 3 years old.  Really now, was that necessary.  Did a 3 year old need an entire poboy? - NOPE!  There behavior along with my next to nothing metabolism didn't help my situation in the least.  I don't necessarily blame my family, but they could have done better in guiding me into healthy eating patterns.  They just didn't understand that I couldn't eat like them and stay thin like they did.  They saw it in my ever expanding waistline but they did nothing to help. 

Oh well - so is life!

Whoa, I'm impressed you could eat an entire poboy!  Those things are rich.

My family also treated me like some sideshow freak because I could read at age 2.  They used to trot me out in front of people and tell me to read the newspaper.  WTF?  I wasn't a trained seal!

My metabolism is on permanent vacation, too.  Exercise and strength training helps crank it up a bit, but it's still not like normal people.

My folks didn't have healthy eating patterns, either.  It just wasn't emphasized in those days. 

As you say, so is life!  Every person is dealt a hand of cards in life, and it's up to us to decide how to play them!

Kix

I decided, before I was in kindergarten that I *wanted* to be fat.    All of the moms in the neighborhood I lived in were overweight except for one and she had a lot of problems.  In my little kid mind I figured that you had a better, more stable life if you were heavy.  Duh!  I didn't start gaining weight though until I was in about 2nd grade.  Once I started, the weight quickly piled on.  I, thank goodness, don't remember too many of my childhood weights, but I remember in 5th grade I was in a size 11 junior and weighed about 120 lbs. I think.  I remember telling myself that if I stopped gaining weight then I would eventually be a "normal" sized person.  Didn't work.  In 6th grade I had an overweight teacher who compared herself to me and I remember that making me really angry.  I think that it took a long time before I accepted how heavy I really was.

A friend of mine who was fat as a child had a similar experience.  She said that the fat women in her life were empowering and she wanted to be like them.  She was sad that she became a normal weight when she hit puberty and grew to her adult height.

I think a common theme for many of us is that we don't see how fat we really were.  I certainly had no idea I weighed 600 lbs when I was at my fattest!

Kix

For me I think it was.. conception....

Then being a latch key child at 5th grade with the tv as a babysitter didn't help.

Conception?  

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that more latchkey kids have weight issues.  I'm a generation ahead of you, it seems like my mother was ALWAYS home.  I might have liked being a latchkey child occasionally!

Kix

I've been varying degrees of fat since I was 3-4 years old.  I thought of myself as being really fat in grade school, middle school, and high school, although looking back now I was really *only* about 40-50 pounds overweight.  I gained a lot of weight in college, then even more weight when I moved to Colorado and was living on my own.  For many years, I knew I was fat, but I didn't really own or accept just how fat I was - almost like I did not see the real me when I looked in the mirror.  Now when I look at pictures of myself at my highest weight, I can't fathom how I didn't see it, but I didn't. 

Thanks for an interesting post, Kix -

Kellie

I didn't own up to my fat, either.  I was occasionally shocked when I saw photos of myself, but the shock didn't last very long.  I wonder now how I didn't see it, either?  Denial is a powerful ***** is it not? 

Your weekend sounded like great fun, and congratulations on surviving the onslaught of tasty good foods!

Kix

I started to get Fat in 3rd grade....Before this I was a tall child with average build. I was never skinny...In third grade, just 7 months before puberty I started gaining and getting chubby....by the time I was in 8th grade I was 270 lbs...I started high school at 180Lbs by attending Diet center and kept that weight mostly off until 10th grade. The n boy did I gain weight, and gain and gain...by the time I was 21 I was 400lbs...I always knew I was fat and I was OK with it. I didn't get tortured and found many friends that liked me as I was...I was popular enough to make me happy and well adjusted...

Not until I had surgery a few short weeks ago did I realize what a screwed up relationship with food I have....I am trying to work through some of these ideas and it is slow going...I know I will be needing to deal with things because in 5 years when I can eat normally I think I could be one of those that goes slowly back to the way I was...I think now would be the time to get the counselling needed to make a permanent change in my life..