Prior to Atkins I would have to chose. Numbers 1 - boredom, 2 - love food, 3 - little exercise & 4 - Not portion control. But now all that has changed and I couldn't be happier. I love this woe.

all of the above except for 5!

i'd also add laziness - "it's easier/quicker/etc. to run through the drive through"

I ate the wrong foods :^)

A bit of everything. I was a very active child, my mother moved us out to a rural area when she divorced my father and my activity level really went down while I ate the same. We were very poor and ate lots of beans and rice, alternating with rice and beans. I chunked up to about 175 pounds by the time I graduated high school. I gained my weight in chunks, and put on 25 pounds in nursing school (too much opportunity to eat socially) and another 40 working a year of night shifts and trying to stay awake. Sorry thing is I can't even blame my kids-I lost my pregnancy weight each time. I have had no real trouble maintaining my weight for the last 10 years, it's been losing it that was the problem until I found Atkins.

I use to eat out of sheer bordom.

All of the above. I love food; have no portion control; eat when sad, bored, nervous, happy, calm, excited, and so on (can you tell I love to eat?); am dealing with genetics (both sisters are adult-onset diabetics; I'm both the baby and the smallest in the family); HATED exercise until Curves (except swimming, which I stopped doing when I looked and acted more like a beached whale than a dolphin); love cooking, experimenting with food, and eating; come from a family and married into another family where food=love; and, oh, yes, did I mention that I love food? Add to that half-hearted dieting now and again, and there's no question how I got as large as I got.

Now I can still love food, still experiment with new recipes, still cook, still eat, AND lose weight. Gotta love this WOE!

Jude

I have a huge appetite, I can outeat any truck driver or weightlifter around so portion control is definitely one reason. I eat for emotional comfort, boredom and I love sweets. Hardly ever exercise, its no wonder that I weigh so much. Atkins allows me to eat more than other diets which I guess has been the saving grace and allowed me some measure of success.

1) Emotional eating (eat out of boredom, depression, anger, etc) Yup - depression (abused child), abandonment issues, etc.

2) Pleasure eating (you simply LOVE food) Yup, love, love, love food! One of the few things I had to look forward to.

3) Lack of exercise - Yup - Not to place blame or not accept responsibility, but as a child, no one in my household exercised or knew anything about nutrition, and by the time I realized I needed to do something about my weight, it's hard to take decent walks. But now, very recently, I do extra walking when I can, and will increase.

4) No portion control - Yup. Especially when I was younger. I could eat 3 plates at an all you can eat buffet. Too much food!

5) Too much failed dieting (yo-yo dieting syndrom) That too.

6) Genetics - Don't know about this one. Never knew my parents.

7) A little bit of everything - Obviously

8) Other - Probably

I love to bake bread. (Guess that goes under the heading, "eating the wrong food", lol).

Also I have a problem with portion control. Especially lately, when I've been exercising so hard, I've lost the damper pedal for my appetite.

With Out A Doubt Alittle Of Everything. I Could Answer Yes To All The Above.
I Think I Have Found The Answer Though. Atkins!

I don't emotional eat, but I eat out of boredom and my appetite can mimic that of a truck driver as well...So I am pretty much all of the above except emotional.

emotional and bordem and no exersice

all of the above!!!

I guess you could say #1 for me, emotional eating. But the thing is, I normally eat when things are going good. When trouble hits or I'm sad or upset I can't eat.

I think this boils down to the issues I have from my childhood. I'm like the squirrels, when times are good I store up the food because when bad time hit I don't feel I'm worthy of eating good food.

Is there a shrink in the house?