It was 1998. I was young(er), sexy, and weighed in at 134 pounds. I didn’t know the meaning of “muffin top” and I ate whatever I wanted while sporting the flat stomach look.
But then something happened.
My job put a corner store in the lobby of the building. That bastard store was filled with snack items and baked goods and sodas for slurping. So every day after eating lunch from the grill (like a burger or something), I indulged in a bag of crunchy Cheetos.
And every day… for a whole year… I indulged. (oh wait, I already said that part)
At the end of that year I had gained 10 pounds. And this senseless eating-style was the catalyst for other “beyond-greedy” events and lethargic, non-exercise behavior. I was on my way to a 51-pound weight gain over the next few years. That is, until I took control and began exercising and counting calories (although I don’t count anymore) starting in 2006.
Of all the sh!tty foods that I still adore in moderation, I refuse to let the crunchy Cheeto enter my Food Trap. I don’t like what it represents: my first 10-pound gain that eventually spiraled upward until I reached 185 pounds.
Never again.
So how about YOU. What’s the story of your first 10-pound weight gain? And how did you take back control?
[photo]
Naomi says
December 7, 2010 at 9:38 pmMy first ten pounds came on the easy way. It came on when I got pregnant with my first child. Except it wasn’t just ten pounds. I’m 5’6″. In 9 months, I went from weighing 132 pounds to 204 pounds. (Yes – a 72 pound gain in 9 months.) My first son weighed just shy of that first ten pounds. I didn’t exactly lose all the weight the moment he was born! I lost some weight…then became pregnant with my second son…about ten months later. I topped out the scales at 214 pounds this time. It took YEARS to get back to anything close to my pre-pregnancy body. (We won’t discuss the stretch marks.) I never got all the way back down to the 130s, but I hovered around 150ish for years. I was healthy and looked good. Years went by, then I started gaining weight again. Inexplicably. I went to the doctor. We got a couple of ducks in a row and I found out I had thyroid cancer. By the time I had my total thyroidectomy and radiation in 2005, I was up to 238 pounds. I spent a long time feeling sorry for myself. I also spent a long time waiting for the pounds to fall off as “magically” as they’d come on. I finally asked my endocrynologist why I wasn’t losing the weight as quickly as I wanted. (I was hoping for magic pill.) He told me, in no uncertain terms, “you’re not losing the weight because you eat too much and don’t get enough exercise.” It was the kick in the a$$ I needed. I’ve lost about 50 pounds since then and have a goal to be back down to 135ish again by my birthday this March. If I can keep myself on track by eating right and exercising and being honest with myself and my support system about when I fall so I can get help when I need it, I’ll make it. (Sorry for the long-winded response….but I had a long story.) 🙂
Debra says
December 7, 2010 at 9:50 pmOh yeah, mine was a hot fudge sundae from McDonald’s every Friday on the way home from college. With nuts. Every Friday… for weeks. And it’s been a yo-yo battle ever since.
Vee says
December 7, 2010 at 10:00 pmI graduated high school at age 16, then spent that summer working at a summer camp. Out from under my mother’s thumb and with an all-you-can-eat buffet for all staffers, I packed on much more than 10 pounds that summer. The beginning of the end …. of good health! Nah… I’ll get back to it.
BTW: goodies received. Wonderful! Vee at http://veegettinghealthy.blogspot.com
Kirsten (resultsnottypicalgirl) says
December 7, 2010 at 10:05 pmI quit smoking. And grossly overcompensated. Sigh.
444 says
December 7, 2010 at 10:54 pmCan you please divulge the secret of how tall you are now that you’re throwing around all these weight figures?
Now, in return, I’ll answer the question:
1. Homemade chocolate chip cookies
2. Homemade cake
3. Lots of both, all the time
Josie says
December 7, 2010 at 10:58 pmwell, uh, I usually keep my weight a secret, so don’t tell nobodies that I’m 5 foot 5. ;p
Miz says
December 8, 2010 at 5:35 ambeer pizza beer pizza beer.
came on fast and easy in those college days 🙂
JourneyBeyondSurvival says
December 8, 2010 at 6:39 amI neglected to keep growing after 12 years of age.
My mother finally told me that I might want to cut back on sweets.
And that’s how I knew I had a problem.
Only it was kinda more than ten…
dragonmamma/naomi says
December 8, 2010 at 8:09 amWhen I was a teen, I got a job working at Shakey’s Pizza. All the pizza I wanted. For free.
angela says
December 8, 2010 at 9:20 amNo first 10 pound gain for me really, I went all the way. Got pregnant, got pre-eclampsia, ate anything I wanted, swelled up and almost died, then had my baby early at over 200 lbs. I was about 140-150 when I got pregnant.Â
For whatever reason I was able to mostly eat whatever I wanted before pregnancy, and afterwards everything was different and taking weight off was HARD and I didn’t even attempt it seriously for many years.
Ryan @NoMoreBacon says
December 8, 2010 at 9:37 amThe day I discovered you can put bacon on ANYTHING! I think I was 9.
Erin says
December 8, 2010 at 9:44 amLet’s see… I was never a really skinny kid just average. I really gained some weight when I started going to my high school. It was a boarding school so they served breakfast for the boarders. I was a day student and had breakfast at home, but I couldn’t turn down those tater tots or the egg and cheese bagel sands they served in the mornings. So for a while I was eating two breakfasts. I think I gained like ten or more pounds in a month or so. I went up to 136 lbs and was a size 12 at the age of 14 I am only 5’3″ tall.
Lisa Marie Mary says
December 8, 2010 at 10:11 amI’m actually not really sure ‘which’ food item it was, but, I do know what stressful events they were. It was summer 2001. In the coming school year, I was going to be the PTA President of a low-income school with a pretty much non-existent PTA – and the outgoing people had no guidance for me at all. Also that summer, my hubby’s very crass friend was living in our living room (pretty small house) and he was extremely NOT child-friendly. Knives, curse words, messes, rudeness…
I actually didn’t even realize I’d gained the weight until school started back up and one of the special ed teachers I was friends with mentioned it to me. And it’s been downhill (uphill?) since then….
I do have two particular foods that are dangerous for me, though. Cinnamon layered biscuits that you buy in the can in the store. And those Pretzel Flips – the white ones. I’ve watched weight pile on from both of those. But – oooh they’re so good!
Ashlee says
December 8, 2010 at 10:36 amMy first summer internship was the first time I cooked for myself. I discovered that potatoes are cheap and easy to cook in lots of different forms. I also discovered that I could gain weight at light speed by eating them ALL THE TIME.
Moni says
December 8, 2010 at 10:47 amMine was from years of bad eating habits, which just exploded when I had a rather bad flop with depression last year. Basically, as a child, my mom would buy me Taco Bell, Burger King and McDonalds pretty much whenever I asked her to and seeing as I was rather inactive aside from some half-hearted attempts at softball (which I was actually good at, so the fact that I slacked so much at the time makes me get all frowny face about it, haha), I was always pretty chubby. Then when I was 15, I landed my first ever job at a local Dairy Queen… yeah. That ended well. Pretty much free ice cream and burgers all day long. I topped the weight scale somewhere along the lines of +150lbs with pant sizes in the double digits, especially when I started dating a guy who was incredibly overweight, so I pretty much fell into the trap of what he was doing, which was really no more than lying around and eating on most occasions. It was pretty bad.
I lost some weight when I went to college, mostly because I got sick of the food they were serving and started living off of oatmeal, sandwiches, and lattes. That, coupled with having to walk to my classes kept me fairly active (kinda), so I whittled down to a weight I sort of stuck with, then gained some weight, then went back down to it again, then gained it back… I was pretty much all over the place.
My bought of depression last year nearly shot me back up to the weight I was at during my top weight in high school, but luckily I managed to pull myself together before I did too much damage and, well, that’s where I’m at now.
Caitlin says
December 8, 2010 at 11:23 amI worked in a building that not only had its own AMAZING made-to-order (anything) cafeteria but also a little convenience store. Homegirl was getting a giant Otis Spunkmeyer blueberry muffin for breakfast and a king-sized Kit Kat after lunch. Every. Day. For an entire summer!
Literal muffin top. Ugh.
Deanna - The Unnatural Mother says
December 8, 2010 at 1:49 pmI didn’t notice the first 10 pounds until I had 50 pounds on my ass….
Jody - Fit at 53 says
December 8, 2010 at 2:08 pmI got fat as a kid & it was all about eating too much food & way too much of the sweets & very fattening foods. I was active as a kid but I just ate too much.. but more on the sweets – brownies, donuts, ding dongs, cookies & such. Loved that stuff! I also ate chips & crackers way back when. Chips do nothing for me anymore but I do like crackers but they just are something that takes away from other stuff I rather eat even though I like them. I don’t bring them in the house for sure! I used to go thru a box of wheat thins or triscuits pretty fase… same with those cheeze-its!
Quix says
December 8, 2010 at 6:50 pmI quit gymnastics at 16 and I think I gained 10 lbs overnight (I went from 25-30 hours of working out per week to NONE). It was a vicious cycle from there – 100+ lbs at my worst. Also, I was just so pummeled with healthy food as a kid I did everything I could to rebel against it as a young adult.
Pocket says
December 9, 2010 at 9:58 amMy first 10 pounds was gained when I moved to NY. The days of eating everything cooked from fresh veggies and meat was gone. Didnt realize that I was gaining untill it was to late when friends came to visit and mentioned something to me. Now I’m back on using fresh (or fresh as can be) veggies and meat
Karen says
December 9, 2010 at 5:34 pmMy senior year of high school my metabolism changed and I gained 10 pounds. I had been skinny was just a bit overweight with that addition. But then I went to college and gained 10 more my first semester. I remember being at dinner with friends on New Year’s eve, and overeating Chinese food to the point of having to unbutton my jeans. That was the defining moment before I started my first of many, many yo-yo diets.
Marisa says
December 10, 2010 at 6:20 amNow this is a very interesting post – very valid question and yet something I have never given any thought to! Thinking back now, the weight gain happened around the time I moved to a higher paying job (more disposable moneh = MOAR fatty snacks) and also my office was no longer within walking distance from work (I used to walk to & from work every day). So yeah, that’s a killer combo, isn’t it?