What clicked with you?

SuggaD

My competitive nature took over and I hated that a friend was losing weight and approaching my weight. So basically I just decided to lose weight for real and did it. But I'm a very strong-willed person and I recognize that not everyone is the same.

metcastillon

June 2014, my husband and I went to Hawaii for a family reunion. We stayed there for ten days and one of the activities we wanted to do was ziplining across the beautiful Maui mountains. Well, when we went to the little ziplining place, we were each told to get on a scale because they had a strict weight restriction. Anyone over 250 lbs couldn't go. So, there I was, being weighed in front of a room of strangers and I came in at 245. Only five pounds away from the maximum! Luckily, I was still able to go and have the ziplining experience. But seeing that number on the scale, especially in front of all these fit people, made me ask myself, "What are you doing to your body?" I realized I was heading towards a lifestyle of regret and unhealthiness. That moment is what made me realize I needed to change.

arditarose

I think it was the knee cellulite. And being a pear, I started to get a big heavy belly for the first time, even though I had always been overweight. Once I understood CICO, saw how it worked, I was sold. I also found weight lifting which helped transform my body. I don't understand how anyone could quit once they start seeing results. Our bodies are amazing.

leeyuhsee

I came back from a year living abroad, weighed myself for the first time in nine months, and weighed 20 pounds more than I thought I was. I was shocked, and started on mfp the same day. That was almost two months ago, and I'm down around ten pounds! I no longer see my weight loss goals as impossible: they're inevitable. I know I'm going get down to where I need to be. That's not to say that I assume it'll be easy. It is, and has been, hard. And it'll take a while. But I know I can do it.
40 more pounds to go

rushfive

I just kept going up in clothes sizes... 6,8,10.12... 12 was the last straw, I was telling myself I deserved to gain a few pounds, I raised 3 boys, worked hard... I could handle a few extra pounds. It was just getting out of control, then I took a good look in the mirror and didn't recognize myself... I was always normal weight, never had to think about diet.... till late 40's. It was getting hard to bend over to reach my shoes, none of my coats fit, my arm fat was in the way, the belly fat was in the way... what was I doing to myself!!!!
Never having to follow a diet before I had a lot to learn, so it was very slow going for me, but my motivation was my sons wedding. I did not hit the weight loss I wanted to for it and had to buy a bigger dress size than I wanted to but now I am 5 pds from goal weight.

Some days are easier than others. Motivation was looking in the mirror, joining weight loss challenges. I got a fitbit and love the challenges on there. goal size clothes to wear helped me also. You will find your motivation !!! Good Luck to you!

vixtris

Something clicked in my head one night. Ironically it was around new years. Every year I said I wanted to lose weight, because thats what everyone says at new years lol. This time I was like, you know what, I'm going to actually do it, I'm tired of being fat!! I knew what I had to do somewhat. I had a MFP account already and planned to track my food and exercise. I've learned a lot from this site, just from browsing around on the forums. I also have learned a lot about myself and what I am capable of. In the beginning I took it kind of easy. I didn't workout as hard as I do now, or watch what I eat as closely, which has made a world of difference in the rate of my loss. If you want some motivation, just keep in mind everyday what you are working towards. Imagine yourself being there. Ask yourself if the choices you make will get you there. I'm not an after yet but I have come a long way, and even though I still have a road ahead of me, I feel a billion times better than I did when I started.

pootle1972

I went for a passport photo. .and cried when I saw it.....two months later on Dec 30th 2014 I woke up and said *kitten* it ..and went and joined a diet group.....three months later I left to do it on my own.....52lb and 4 dress sizes later I'm still plodding on.....and I need to update my photo as I don't look anything like the old sad moon faced me.

tkphotogirl

I'd been maintaining a healthy weight for a while after a previous 60+lbs loss, then had a medical setback, and over 30lbs crept on over two years while I was eating the way I'd been eating when I was very active, whilst being unable to exercise the way I had before. The problems were fixed surgically, but I held on to the weight for 20 months, then I had two realisations the same weekend - first, that I was scared to lose the weight again because getting to a healthy weight had coincided with the beginning of the health problems that took me downhill, so in my head healthy weight = something else going wrong with my body (that looks even more ridiculous written down!). Second, I caught myself doing some very negative self-talk when looking at a friend's Tough Mudder pics (along the lines of 'your fat lazy @ss would never be able to do that'). Once I got out of my own head for a second and realised that the issue was simply the stories I'd been telling myself, it clicked.

AshleyMFitness16

Any of your friends looking to lose weight? I would have never started if it weren't for my sister getting married. One day she said she wanted to lose weight for the wedding, and I said yeah I could lose some weight too, let's start going to the gym together. If I didn't have a partner, I don't think I ever would have started.
And the sad part is I don't think I realized how big I actually was. Until I looked at old pictures once I'd lost some weight...I was shocked that I looked like that.
However, I gained weight after smoking this year and was being careless and my sister stopped going to the gym at the same time as me so I had nobody to keep me accountable. Once I realized none of my new clothes were fitting, I realized I had to get my *kitten* back in gear...

TamLam99

All the excuses I was making started to get ridiculous. I was fat, unhealthy, and cranky all the time.

I just woke up one morning and decided to take my life back, out of pure aggravation. I went into it with a different mindset, not the all or nothing rational that made me give up a hundred other times. I'm happy with a downward trend. I don't have a set amount of weight that I must lose every week and it's ok to have a bad day. It hasn't been easy and I struggle most days to not overeat but I will not give up. 20 pounds gone so far.

natajane

sandralovelady wrote: »

I told myself "I ain't wearing no damn granny underware" Thats what did it for me.

Ha ha this made me laugh loudly. That'll be one of my first missions now, ditch my parachute pants.

ARC1603

I'll try to keep this short. I'd previously yo yo dieted for as long as I could remember and never managed to maintain for a significant period of time. I was only ever interested in the superficial side of losing weight, looking good, wearing nice clothes etc.

Last year, it all got a hell of a lot more serious. I was having serious episodes of binge eating beyond anything I'd ever been like before. Proper episodes of waiting until I was alone and eating, eating, eating and feeling so out of control as I did it. My weight soared as a result. My mother in law had a stroke, a direct result of being obese and there was a point where the doctors didn't think she would survive past as few days. She's still with us, but she is a shadow of the woman she once was. All I could think was I was on a very slippery slope to ending up the same.

Then I fell pregnant with my second baby and it was a really tough pregnancy. He was a large boy (8 and a half pounds born two weeks early!) and all the extra weight on my small frame made any sort of physical activity hard. I had really bad oedema and high blood pressure which eventually turned into full blown pre eclampsia and put me in the hospital for a week before I had him. I also ended up with bells palsy (temporary facial paralysis) and split stomach muscles. Looking after my eldest son while pregnant was physically exhausting and I found it almost impossible towards the end. A month before I had him we walked to the park that is ten minutes from our house and it nearly killed me! I had to sit on a bench and watch him play.

It was at that point I promised myself and my boys that I didn't give a s**t about how I looked anymore. I just wanted to learn to maintain a sensible weight and be fit and well enough to look after my family. I didn't want to be a mum who was too fat to play with her kids and be on deaths door before I had grandchildren. My whole mentality towards losing weight, my body and exercise has changed massively since. My son is now three months old. I'm back to my pre pregnancy weight with the extra I put on beforehand to lose now. Physically, I'm not where I once was. My face and blood pressure are back to normal, but after two csections and my split muscles, my stomach is still pretty weak and I'm only just starting to build up now from walking.

No matter how hard it gets, I will keep going forwards cos I never want to go back to how I felt a fee months ago!!

LilannB

I had been steadily gaining weight over the years. Even though I didn't like the way I looked, other then the weight I was in good health. Then I developed health issues related to my weight. That was all the motivation I needed to lose weight and so far I've lost 60 pounds.

Asher_Ethan

Do you remember that ice bucket challenge from last year? I got nominated and so I did it, after I did it I watched the video and thought, "Omg.... I look like that?!" and that's when it clicked that I was fat.

wildrosewood

I hope to go back and read more of these when I have the time! For me, CICO was really helpful. Realizing that it was all just an equation. I don't know why that didn't really click before now, but when it did...

mommyvudu

Seeing a photo of me now (or super recently). I've never looked unhealthy in my life and now at me heaviest weight, I don't even recognize myself! I've committed to big consistent changes. No more excuses no more waiting. I'm just going hard at it every day.

Domicinator

I tried a zillion times to lose weight by exercising and using MyFitnessPal to meticulously log my food. Once I would get the slightest little twinge of pain in my back, knees, feet, etc. I would use it as an excuse to quit working out. Then I would quit logging my food. Then I would quit completely.

I ordered an Apple Watch the day they were released. I'm kind of an Apple fanatic. My wife asked me one day, "Did you really need to spend that money? What are you going to do with this thing?" I told her, "I'm going to get healthy." She didn't believe me. I'd tried and quit so many times due to lack of motivation and willpower, and she didn't see how this would be any different.

The first day I had the Apple Watch it started letting me know once an hour, if I hadn't gotten up from my desk and done something, that I needed to get up and move around. If you do that 12 times, you fill up a ring on the health screen. Then I started walking 30 minutes a day to fill up the green workout ring. Then I started doing the elliptical 30 minutes a day to fill up the Move ring. Every time I did a little better, a little trophy would pop up on my watch giving me a little nudge. Every time I got my butt out of bed before work to walk around the neighborhood, I would get a pat on the back from the watch. Every time I broke a calorie burn record or filled all my rings every day in a week, it would congratulate me. I was determined not to disappoint my Apple Watch.

All this time, I was using MFP to log my food intake, and the pounds started coming off. I couldn't believe that what I was doing was actually working. I've now lost 40 lbs and have 40 left to go to hit my goal. It has not been easy, but it's worth it.

brandiewhy

The thing that clicked for me, was going to my doctors office...looking at her face and seeing the concern in her eyes, and hearing the words "Brandie, you HAVE to lose some weight..." Test results dont lie...I was incredibly unhealthy.

I asked a friend of mine who has lost 160 pounds what I could do as a woman who weighs 338 pounds and tying my shoes was a chore. She told me to walk. Simply walk. I didnt have to be fast, just do it. So I walked. One mile. It KILLED me..my hips screamed, my feet were hurting so bad I cried at night. But I did it the next day...and the next...and the next....soon i was walking 4-6 miles 3/4 times a week. About 2 weeks I started tracking my food in MFP as just a 'for fun' thing to see what my calorie intake was. OMG I was eating horribly..no wonder I was fat! Consuming 3000+ calories a day! I began tracking seriously and was staying at my allotted amount of food and still walking.

Fast forward 3 months and I am down to 294 pounds (46 pounds lost!) And i am walking 2-3 times a week, and running steps at a local school 2-3 times a week. My hips and feet dont hurt nearly as bad, and I notice I can jog an entire lap of a track without stopping, where before I would about die to jog 100 feet! I also took my calories down on my own (This is NOT suggested by MFP, its my own person thing, FYI) to about 1200-1500 calories a day, depending on my activity level that day).

My ultimate goal is to weigh 170 pounds, so obviously I have a long way to go. But I am so motivated by seeing progress. So I guess what REALLY 'clicked' for me, was seeing results of my hard work. Oh, and having others see it and comment is amazing too! lol

crazygooselady

I officially became overweight, at age 45. I tried a primal diet....but didn't log accurately. Two years later..nothing changed except I weighed more. I this year, for Valentines day, my daughter gave me Noro virus. I puked a lot and had no appetite for a week. I decided to take advantage of that and really log accurately. I weighed and measured and only had 1sts. Today, I am at the weight my doctor wanted me at after the birth of my daughter 15 years ago. As the fat sits differently now, I want to go another 5or10. I have had ups and downs since then and my loss has been slow, but I am avoiding flappy skin and being sore from working out too hard. 30 pounds down from January.

bbontheb

I felt like the only thing that was going to happen was that I die from health issues. Definite wake-up call.