I Feel Healthier Now That I’ve Gained Weight

• As a teenager, everyone assumed I was healthy because I was skinny.
• When I was diagnosed with endometriosis, I started medication and gained weight.
• Despite being at my highest weight ever, I feel much healthier thanks to lifestyle changes.

Because I was skinny in my teens, people always assumed I was fit and healthy.

But I was frequently experiencing low blood pressure. I often felt dizzy and sometimes even fainted. Those symptoms did not lead to a diagnosis at the time.

In my 20s, I was finally diagnosed with endometriosis and gained weight after starting medication.

I’m now the heaviest I’ve ever been, but I feel healthier and happier than when I was skinny — thanks to some lifestyle changes I’ve made.

I was skinny but experienced many unexplained and chronic symptoms

As a teenager, I was always skinny. I had the kind of metabolism with which I could recover from anything — including many teenage-angst-fueled food binges. As such, I ate what I wanted, whenever I wanted it, and I never considered what was healthy or good for me.

Multiple people told me how athletic I looked. Others assumed I was fit and healthy because of the way I looked, but the truth is, I wasn’t. At that point in my life, I was experiencing several unexplained and chronic symptoms. Low blood pressure, dizziness, and fainting were the norm for me. Doctors kept giving me a clean bill of health, but I felt fragile and waiflike.

What people also didn’t know from looking at me was that I hated physical activity and had a terrible, obsessive relationship with food. On top of all that, I was experiencing the worst mental health of my life; chronic depression does not play well with teen hormones and the pressure of high school.

Chronic illness and medication caused my weight to balloon in my early 20s

I started to gain weight when I turned 20. I’m sure many of us have experienced the slowing metabolism that comes with age, but there were other factors in my case.

I was finally diagnosed with endometriosis, which explained some — but not all — of the mystery symptoms. One of the medications I was prescribed to manage the symptoms caused my weight to increase, and by the time I noticed the side effects, I had already gone up two sizes.

At first, I didn’t know how to deal with these changes to my body. Having been skinny all my life, I never learned to watch what I ate or keep a regular exercise schedule. People had always praised me as if I were healthy, so I had no external encouragement to improve these behaviors. As such, I felt out of control.

But I did notice one major positive side effect of my weight gain: I no longer felt so delicate. Since I was finally getting my endometriosis treated, doctor visits showed that my blood pressure had risen and stabilized. I stopped fainting, and I no longer felt dizzy when I got up too fast.

I may have had complicated feelings about the way I looked, but there was no doubt that I felt healthier.

Despite being at my highest weight ever, I’m feeling my best

I started going to the gym in an effort to lose weight, but it didn’t take long for my fitness goals to change. Once I realized how good it felt to be strong and flexible, I no longer cared about being thin. My weight went up when I started seeing results and developing muscles. I’ve never felt better.

I will probably never be skinny again, but I have accepted my body as it is. Sure, I’ve gained weight, but because of lifestyle changes and medication, I feel so much better than I did when I was skinny. People should know that just because someone is skinny doesn’t mean they’re healthy.

Now that I have gained weight and have treated my endometriosis, I finally feel at peace with my body.