Your 'Ah-Ha' Moment
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My ah-ha! moment was when I realized that my heavy weight (262 lbs at 5'3") was actively keeping me from going out and enjoying life. There is still so much that I want to do and see, and I did not have the energy or health to do it while so overweight. The weight was making my physical and mental health worse and I spent most of my time daydreaming about things being different instead of actually making things different.
Also I figured that I am not getting any younger. If I don't fulfill some of my dreams soon, I may never.
I wish I could figure out what made this time different. Something just clicked in my head and I was like "no more and never again". Part of what helps is that I really enjoy my way of eating and find it easy to do.
I've been at it almost a year and haven't messed up, so I hope this change in mindset is permanent! I never want to go back to that old place.11 -
My medical tests that found that I had a little bit of everything.5
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I was just fed up feeling trapped by myself in a body that didn't feel mine.4
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I knew my weight had been creeping up the last couple of years, but just 2 or so kg a year so wasn't too alarmed...until this year, right after Christmas when I realised I was at the heaviest I have ever been while not pregnant, or had recently been pregnant. I had great success losing the weight with the help of MFP after my last baby was born (6 years ago
) so figure it's now or never. Last year I went great guns trying to get as fit as possibly for my 40th birthday - but went heaps overboard and tore a tendon in my hip that took 6 months to heal. So. Trying again with a bit more restraint!!! 6 -
My AH-HA moment was that day when I found out that I have coronary artery disease, was risk for diabetes, and needed heart surgery for clogged arteries last summer. It was a jolt to my previous mindset that I was a little overweight (actually obese), but otherwise ok.
So I decided to get healthy, with the full cooperation of my wonderful wife, and haven't looked back. Now I'm firmly in the healthy weight range, made my weight goal this past weekend (79 lbs down) to 205 lbs.
Maintaining at this weight and continued exercise are my best chance to avoid another heart surgery, heart attack or diabetes.12 -
I have posted in here before I think but now 2 years into this I can add a refocus of my AH-HA. In February 2016 my daughter was several years into drug addiction....my husband and I are raising her 3 children. She came to the door one night in February to ask for food and to shower. It was so cold out and rainy so I let her in. While she was upstairs showering I stood in front of the refrigerator desperately seeking something to make the pain of seeing her like that go away. Before I knew it, I was closing the refrig door and a voice inside me was saying "the answer is not in the refrigerator". I put on my shoes and coat and headed out in the dark that night for a walk. I walked 3 miles that first night...thoughts swirling in my heart and head...." I want my life back" "I want my body back" "I cant change the path my daughter is on but I can be healthy for my babies. Flash forward to 2018. I have lost just over 80 pounds now but I have been at a standstill for a very, very long time. My Ah-HA is different now but re-emerging. I have 30 pounds to go. My daughter has been sober for 5 months now and life is on an even keel...its time to hit this thing hard. I know what quitting feels like ....I want to know what finishing feels like. Here's to everyone seeing this through! Good luck to each and every one! Happy Living!
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Thehardmakesitworthit wrote: »I have posted in here before I think but now 2 years into this I can add a refocus of my AH-HA. In February 2016 my daughter was several years into drug addiction....my husband and I are raising her 3 children. She came to the door one night in February to ask for food and to shower. It was so cold out and rainy so I let her in. While she was upstairs showering I stood in front of the refrigerator desperately seeking something to make the pain of seeing her like that go away. Before I knew it, I was closing the refrig door and a voice inside me was saying "the answer is not in the refrigerator". I put on my shoes and coat and headed out in the dark that night for a walk. I walked 3 miles that first night...thoughts swirling in my heart and head...." I want my life back" "I want my body back" "I cant change the path my daughter is on but I can be healthy for my babies. Flash forward to 2018. I have lost just over 80 pounds now but I have been at a standstill for a very, very long time. My Ah-HA is different now but re-emerging. I have 30 pounds to go. My daughter has been sober for 5 months now and life is on an even keel...its time to hit this thing hard. I know what quitting feels like ....I want to know what finishing feels like. Here's to everyone seeing this through! Good luck to each and every one! Happy Living!
Absolutely amazing. Thank you for sharing.
:flowerforyou: 3 -
Thehardmakesitworthit wrote: »I have posted in here before I think but now 2 years into this I can add a refocus of my AH-HA. In February 2016 my daughter was several years into drug addiction....my husband and I are raising her 3 children. She came to the door one night in February to ask for food and to shower. It was so cold out and rainy so I let her in. While she was upstairs showering I stood in front of the refrigerator desperately seeking something to make the pain of seeing her like that go away. Before I knew it, I was closing the refrig door and a voice inside me was saying "the answer is not in the refrigerator". I put on my shoes and coat and headed out in the dark that night for a walk. I walked 3 miles that first night...thoughts swirling in my heart and head...." I want my life back" "I want my body back" "I cant change the path my daughter is on but I can be healthy for my babies. Flash forward to 2018. I have lost just over 80 pounds now but I have been at a standstill for a very, very long time. My Ah-HA is different now but re-emerging. I have 30 pounds to go. My daughter has been sober for 5 months now and life is on an even keel...its time to hit this thing hard. I know what quitting feels like ....I want to know what finishing feels like. Here's to everyone seeing this through! Good luck to each and every one! Happy Living!
Beautiful story....you are a strong convicted woman 2 -
Thehardmakesitworthit wrote: »I have posted in here before I think but now 2 years into this I can add a refocus of my AH-HA. In February 2016 my daughter was several years into drug addiction....my husband and I are raising her 3 children. She came to the door one night in February to ask for food and to shower. It was so cold out and rainy so I let her in. While she was upstairs showering I stood in front of the refrigerator desperately seeking something to make the pain of seeing her like that go away. Before I knew it, I was closing the refrig door and a voice inside me was saying "the answer is not in the refrigerator". I put on my shoes and coat and headed out in the dark that night for a walk. I walked 3 miles that first night...thoughts swirling in my heart and head...." I want my life back" "I want my body back" "I cant change the path my daughter is on but I can be healthy for my babies. Flash forward to 2018. I have lost just over 80 pounds now but I have been at a standstill for a very, very long time. My Ah-HA is different now but re-emerging. I have 30 pounds to go. My daughter has been sober for 5 months now and life is on an even keel...its time to hit this thing hard. I know what quitting feels like ....I want to know what finishing feels like. Here's to everyone seeing this through! Good luck to each and every one! Happy Living!
Wow. Just wow. I'm actually crying right now. This is the best thing I've ever read on MFP.0 -
When was your 'AH-HA' moment that made you decide, 'ahhhm okay it's time to do something about this weight?'
Stepping on the scales and seeing that 75kg. I've never seen that 5 before. I plugged it into a BMI calculator and I was almost obese. I didn't think of myself as being almost obese, but the scales had been creeping up. And those clothes I used to wear, don't fit quite so well any more.
What made a difference this time which differed from previous attempts to lose weight &/or get healthy? (motivation)
No big, grueling changes.
I am not trying to lose weight. I am trying to change my eating habits for life, in a way that'll allow me to lose weight.
How much impact do you feel that a correct mindset has on the level of achievement?
I've not resented it. There's not been a time when I've felt like I've missed out. I've eaten those takeaways. I've kept that sugar in my coffee. I have never felt like I've made any big changes, or really even any little ones. It doesn't feel like I've made much difference. But it has been a big difference. By considering the lifelong changes of my actions I've been able to lose the calories from my diet, without really noticing.
In some ways it feels like I'm somehow cheating. I read about so many people who are struggling to lose weight, desperately logging every little bite and training so hard at the gym, and still unable to shift even but a few pounds. I'm not a perfect logger. I don't log any of my liquid calories (alcohol, tea/coffee), I don't eat back a lot (if any) of my exercise calories, so I vaguely figure that these probably balance themselves out. And I know that if I did stall, I could easily tighten up my logging and fix that problem entirely.
But I think this mindset has almost removed that ability to feel a sense of achievement. Because this is how I should've been eating before. I only think "look what you can do if you just eat like a normal person". Because I don't feel much like I've worked for this, I don't really feel much of an achievement.
So yeah, I'm not saying that I've found it 'easy'. It's not been easy. There have been some very tough days out there. But for me, I find it difficult to find a sense of achievement with mediocrity, when I've not done someone extraordinary. And for me, so far, I don't feel like I've done anything extraordinary.
I've lost over 5kg in 80 days, and I should feel a sense of achievement at that. It's pretty good going, especially considering that I has a week holiday in there as well when I put one of the kg back on. But when I finally broke that 70kg point, I didn't feel as happy as I thought I would. "Damn straight" followed by a resolve to never get that high again was my reaction.It wasn't a sense of achievement as much of a sense of inevitability. I suppose my biggest problem might be that quite simply, I expect to reach my goal weight eventually. For me it doesn't feel like a target, just something that will happen.
A bit of a downer my one. And I honestly wasn't expecting it to go this way when I started writing it. I dunno, I feel that sometimes I'm a bit of a weirdo when I see everyone else being so happy with their weightloss progress, and I'm sitting there, with a relatively small target, just quietly losing.6 -
Not sure if I have already added some thoughts here...so here goes (again?):
My ah-ha moment was playing with my two boys outside several years ago. I had been - up to the time that I got married - in really good shape. Well, that changed. Playing outside, running around the house with my two boys was becoming a thing. Like, after five minutes I needed to stop and catch my breath. No Bueno.
That changed. Started walking. Then jogging. Then running. One year later (this is a few years ago) I was running 13 miles several times a week. Lifting weights, too. Now, I like my chances.
Mindset? It is everything. Pretty simple: If you think that you can not do something, then you are correct. If you, however, think that you can, then you are correct, too! Gotta be right in the mind.....the body will follow!
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My ah-ha moment on mardi gras day. Me now almost 6 months later 80lbs lighter.
Yhat and a good friend weighing the same as me was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.11 -
I'm not sure I really had an A HA! moment. I was really embarrassed, though, when they made me step on the scales in the hospital last November and it showed us 95 kg (at 1,79 cm). Officially obese. I didn't own a scale, so I always though I'd be somewhere in the mid 80s. Yeah ... NO! Didn't do anything about it, for a while, except complain that I've gotten so fat.
Somebody brought up MFP on another board about 4 weeks ago and we discussed it. I told her what a hassle that would be, counting all your calories ... how is that even possible ... logging everything - who's got time for that ... I know what I eat, and I eat very healthy, just a little too much, but it's not really bad etc. etc. For some reason, it did make me curious, though, and I created an account just to have a look-see. To say logging and weighing my food has been eye-opening would be the understatement of the millennium! I really had not the slightest idea what I was putting in my mouth. Then I bought scales, and was pleasantly surprised when they "only" showed 89,7 kg. Somehow I'd already lost about 5 kg (or, which I suspect, the scales in the hospital weren't entirely accurate).
Anyways, 4 weeks later and another 4,3 kg lighter, I'm now a very happy MFP advocate. It's not like a flip switched, it's just that I feel I never had the right information, and I never knew how easy losing weight could actually be. I mean, not easy as in there's no effort involved, but easy as in you only need one little crucial piece of information - burn more calories than you consume - and the weight comes off, no matter what else you do. That really is all there is to it. It's not rocket science, as all the companies who want to peddle their products always try to tell you. You need to follow no diet fad, you can eat whatever the hell you want - as long as you're in deficit, the weight WILL come off eventually.13 -
When I first started, my a-ha moment was when my toddler called me ugly.
My restart is the realization my 20 year high school reunion is this November and I'll be damned if I show up fat as hell!6 -
RaspberryTickleChicken wrote: »I obviously have far too much time on my hands as another question out of sheer curiosity has been nagging away at me ... so here goes.
- When was your 'AH-HA' moment that made you decide, 'ahhhm okay it's time to do something about this weight?'
- What made a difference this time which differed from previous attempts to lose weight &/or get healthy? (motivation)
- How much impact do you feel that a correct mindset has on the level of achievement?
1) When I hit 30 years old and all I saw in myself is some really skinny guy wearing 2 t shirts to make myself look bigger....I knew that it was ridiculous and needed to do something about it.
2) I had the opposite problem, I was never overweight, I was always skinny although doctors would tell me that I was average weight based on their BMI chart. Nowadays, I know I was just skinny fat. I did some weight training when I was in my 20's, but I didn't take it seriously. At 30, it was different, I was single, skinny and I felt that I was going nowhere with my life which is why I made the decision to go to a gym, hire a PT and never skip a workout which I thankfully did. I just didn't want to look like that anymore.
3) I simply looked it as a challenge. I always thought for whatever reason that I was screwed genetically and that not even the gym could add some muscles to my frame. I wanted to test that theory and prove myself wrong and I am glad I did it.
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Mine was quite anti-climatic. Always struggled to lose weight, would go on diets that never worked and felt miserable and had a horrible self-esteem. Woke up one day and just decided to gradually eat less and made healthier choices. 8 months later I weighed myself and noticed that I had lost 10kg (22lbs) without much effort. For the first time I felt like it might just be possible to reach goal weight after all, so I went on MFP, spent days reading the forums and understanding how CICO works, and just incorporated it into my life. Can't be happier.6
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I've gone through this twice. Once I hit 160 lbs (I was 21 I think) and that was the heaviest I'd ever been and couldn't stand it. Both my mom and sister are quite a bit smaller than me even now. I'm a lot "curvier." I started out just trying to eat better and quit drinking soda and lost about 5 lbs, after that I heard of MFP from another forum and decided to give it a try, from there I lost another 20 lbs.
Several years later after getting my first "real" job (sitting behind a desk) and then getting pregnant a few years after that, my weight was up to 180ish (not including when i was pregnant, I actually got up to 212 then.) I didn't do anything for a while after giving birth but after several months of hating the way I looked and avoiding looking at my naked self in the mirror, I decided to give it a try again and lost about 25 lbs which is where I'm at now. Interestingly I weigh just a few lbs lower than my starting "way too heavy" weight back when I was 21-22, but I feel like this is a good weight for me now.
Currently trying to find balance. I hate tracking my calories but I eat too much and gain weight when I don't.3 -
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Aha Moment. Wife bought me 42 waist pants and cut off the tag so i wouldn't know they were 42's.7
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My Aha moment was when I first heard of MFP and decided just to check it out. I wasn't even planning on starting a weight loss journey that day but set up an account just to see. I was playing around with it, entering the foods I had eaten that day when I realized that if I didn't eat anything else that day I'd be within my calorie goal.
The best way I can describe it is a switch went on in my head. All of a sudden it seemed so simple, I just don't go over that calorie goal and I would be in a deficit and lose weight. 148 lbs and over 2yrs later I am still going and have reached my goal for the first time in my life.
The main difference from the other times I've tried (and failed) to lose weight was that "switch" hadn't been turned on before. I don't really understand what exactly made my brain switch on but now that I've finally gotten here, there's definitely fear that the "switch" will just turn off one day and I'll spiral out of control again...
Congrats on your success! It's funny but my whole life I've heard about "the switch" going off for people who succesfully lost and kept off weight. It wasn't until I experienced it for myself that I believed this really happens :-)
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The moment for me has been a long time comming. Here in Hawaii where there are beaches everywhere there are also plenty of good looking men and women from all over the world. There is a big body image factor that goes around here in Hawaii (at least i think so). Of course as a healthy minded human being i would like to find a woman of my likings. The problem here in the state with many beaches and beach bodied people is that if you're out of shape or aren't within the standard you were no longer an eligible mate. So i decided to make change and started road biking because it was low impact and who doesn't enjoy speed and the wind hitting your body. Eventually i grew fond of this sport and started looking into what kind of a body I'd need to conquer hills (i love the climbs). I quickly found out that I'd need to be ultra light with muscle. Then i started looking into what these athletes eat on a regular basis and started to mimic it. Im almost there and im looking better than ever. Almost 9 months in since i started and i can slightly see my abs. I dropped down from a mens 36 pants to a men 29. My shirts used to be large but now they are small or medium depending on brand. I started off at 210lbs and now 143lbs. Im almost done losing weight and hopefully next year i can show off my body at the beach next year when the abs are full blown.17
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My aha moment was being in my 50's, knowing I only have one child, and fearing they'd be burdened with me and horrible health problems like my mother has from being severely overweight. Couldn't stand the thought that my daughter would have to be saddened by my poor health were I to stay that way.14
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I was on here in 2012 and lost 60 pounds, hit my goal weight and then stopped. 6 years later I am 70 pounds heavier, bad knees and pre diabetic. My doctor show me a chart on how for the last several years I have steadily gained weight. He told me I could get rid of 90% of my problems if I got my weight under control. He also told me that I was at a tipping point where I am headed for serious health problems that could be irreversible if I didn't do anything. So here I am. I did it before and I hope to do it again and stay on it this time.6
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My ah-ha moment was when I was at a family get together and when I looked at the pictures to post and I looked huge!!! Then looking in the mirror one day and my face didn't look the same. My ultimate moment was when I went to put on a few outfits for my birthday celebration and nothing fit or I had rolls here or it was just to tight to get on. I had a choice to either go up a size or loose weight; I choose to lose weight because i'm not comfortable in my own skin and no one can change it but me!! I just have to stay in the race,stay motivated and not give up when it gets hard or when I get tired!!!9
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It took a lot for me. 3 things mainly. I saw (like others) a picture of with my daughter walking on a pier in Florida after vacation. My belly was huge. Like gigantic! Shortly after, I also blew a knee out and couldn't walk for nearly a year -- I blew nearly every ligament and shredded the meniscus off the bone. My dog (who was a 90 lb Chow/Golden mix) got a very long walk in the woods every weekend. He was a skiddish dog, scared of people and although we have a big yard, he LOVED our walks in the local parks and I couldn't walk for a year, much less handle him. Seeing his sad face on the weekend and knowing his walks were my responsibility drove me to rehab like a beast. The other thing was a scare with my health -- I smoked for years and had a huge pain in the side. Got it scanned and found it was a popped rib, not cancer. These three things motivated me.
Ended up losing 70 lbs, worked on (after two knee surgeries) learning to walk again without a meniscus and ended up taking my dog (Joey) on many, many years of long, happy walks together. He just passed last year at 13 years old. He got his walks up till the week he passed. He loved them so much. That reward alone was worth the hard work I put in. I not only walked with Joey, I started (albeit slowly) jogging with him as well while he was still young enough. Actually, I had a hard time keeping up with him.14 -
Multiple different "ugh I want to lose weight" epiphanies, but I think the final one was the realization that there are several female Biggest Loser contestants who are lighter than me less than halfway through their seasons.5
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I would say the same for me as many others!
When I saw a picture of myself holding my 4 month old son! I knew something had to change!
My motivation every other time has been looks, this time it's too feel good and to have a long healthy happy life with my son. I know everyone says you need to do things for yourself and they're right. My son is such a huge part of me so for me it does still fall under the category of for myself and for the ones I love!
My opinion is a correct mindset is everything when starting to focus on health and weight loss. especially when making those new changes into habits! If I want to continue to be successful then I need to refocus and get back my mindset back to its correct state so i can stick with the goals I have laid out for myself. Its too easy to say yes too cheesecake or chips in the moment, but keeping your mindset focused is important. I always remember saying yes to those yummy foods everytime will not get me where I want to be standing in the future! Sometimes Food can be pleasure and enjoyment and sometimes it can be to help fuel your body to survive, the best is finding a healthy happy mix between the two and that will be my life long goal!
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My Ah-ha moment was when I was sitting in the Drs. Office with my husband and he was diagnosed with diabetes. At that moment, I realized we needed a lifestyle change. A month before, I had a heart cath and the cardiologist told me that I had a vein that was clogged and could not be stented, so he put me on more medicine. I was disgusted with more medicine.
The motivation is trying to get healthy. My husband and I are seniors, so time is running out to get it right.
I definitely think that mindset makes a difference. I'm not even tempted to cheat.
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My Ah-Ha moment was when I was told i need a op to remove fibroid tumours and being told that if i was a 'normal' weight for my height and age it would have been less likely that I would of had them, so then i was like well damn I need to fix this, I have two kids that need me.
Im currently the heaviest I have ever been and i'm planning to lose as much as I can in the healthiest way, no cutting corners and no stressing myself out about it. Healthy eating and the gym
I know I need to change my mindset and get better , but progress is progress and i will take every day as it comes
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I've always struggled with the knowledge that I needed to lose weight to feel healthier and look better, but I really and truly felt addicted to terrible processed food. I was eating at McDonald's 5 out of 7 days a week, and ordering out every night, and as soon as I finished each meal, I felt wracked with guilt and totally miserable. I felt unable to get out of the cycle until I started going to a behavioral therapist who specialized in disordered eating.
After the first session, she said "Do you think it's do-able to drink 1 extra cup of water every day this week?" I said "of course, that's easy."
The next week, she asked "How about download MFP onto your phone and explore it? Don't even log anything, just look around and see how it works." I said "Of course I can do that, that's easy."
The third week she said "Can you eat a small breakfast every day this week?"
We were working together to find small achievable goals that made it so much easier to kick the processed food habit and eat reasonable portions, even start cooking and meal prepping. I am hopeful that I can keep this up! It's been 3.5 months already and I've lost 32 pounds.32
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