What was your "Ah-ha" moment?

samira2603

I saw pictures of myself and they made me sad
I have tried losing weight so many times but my unhealthy relationship with food kept me falling back into my old habits. I have finally found a method that works for me (keto) and even though i never feel tempted to "cheat" on my diet if i would i'll just think about those pictures and use that as a motivation.
(Lost 20kg)

Ninkasi

I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. But as the diagnosis was made, my doctor said "If you lose weight I guarantee you your BP problems will go away. even five pounds will make a difference." And I thought, why stop at five? I was an athlete growing up and all of the way through undergrad, and I realize I miss working out. I guess I have come to a point in my life where I need to spend some time working on myself; my career can handle itself for a while.

modestguineapig

My "enough is enough" moment was when my pants were way too tight, and I wasn't going to buy more. My ah-ha moment came about 2 weeks in, when I realized that patience and focusing on the present day are key to success. I don't worry about how long I will have to log or eat at a deficit. I simply ask myself, "Can I do it today?" and it doesn't seem so insurmountable of a task.

One of the most painful experiences I've had is giving birth to my second kid without any pain meds. I got through it by focusing only on one contraction at a time! I didn't worry about how much longer labor would last or how much pain I was in. I just told myself- Get through this contraction! I look back at that experience for inspiration- if I did that, I can do this! I have lost 15lb and have 15lb more until my goal weight.

kbornman21

I'm not 100% what my "ah-ha" moment was because two years ago something clicked and I dropped 53lbs but then shortly after I got pregnant and post baby gained it all back. Recently my friend started eating all organic, non-gmo and for some reason it sparked my interest and I started doing it too. My boyfriend is on board this time with losing weight as he is overweight as well and I think that helps drive me a little more because it's not just me doing it. I started again 4 days ago and I'm not seeing any point in me stopping or slowing down. I'm down about 5lbs (I know most right now is water weight) but it's a start.

niniundlapin

It was when I was 14 & living in Asia. It was the most humiliating moment when I found that I can't fit into the largest size of khaki pants in the store because of my butt size. It was more than 10 years ago in Asia when sizing were based on the majority of population (in my opinion). I got constantly reminded that my frame is bigger than the average there, not just by the clothing store staffs but often by family members or friends (I just realized that it's quite common for family members to criticize each others' appearance in many Asian countries).

Feeling fat is actually a very common and daily thing among many girls & women over there, even if their weight is within normal range. My experience might be nothing compatible to what many others have experienced, but it's definitely traumatizing enough since I lived in an environment where finding good quality, affordable clothes was a hassle (at that time when I was a teen) and self-esteem was beaten up to the bottom by peers.

Now I'm in my best physique ever as an adult and I love myself more and more everyday (good exercise routine and eat healthy). Give myself a pat at the shoulder

erimethia_fekre

When I had my first I lost all the baby weight within 4 days (the joys of being 21).

After my second I had gained and kept an extra 30 that I couldn't shake. I decided in April to join a gym and run like I use to. My knees hurt and eventually I fracture my arm (not from running) and had to stop.

My doctor said that the stress on my knees was caused by the extra weight.

I couldn't fit in my clothes, I can't afford to buy new ones.. I needed to start doing something while I healed! The day after the Fourth of July I began watching my calories until I could workout.

I dropped weight like crazy! I set my goal for 30lb lost and I'm shy of it by a few pounds. I cried when my skinny jeans from high school fit me

victoria_1024

I've had many aha moments and many attempts at weight loss that quickly failed. After I discovered mfp something just finally clicked for me. Like others, seeing myself in pictures was such a wake up call. I looked so much bigger than I felt. Now 64 lbs lighter and seeing results keeps me motivated.

orchidbutterflies

I have almost always been overweight and suffered through most of school with the name calling and low self esteem.
It got really bad, and when I was 15 I weighed 250lbs and had no choice but to drop out of school due to severe social anxiety. I spent almost 7 years locked away in my house because I was afraid to go outside and be judged for my weight. I only left if I absolutely had to and even then I was at the mercy of panic attacks. All the stress and bad eating habits resulted in me being 20 years old and 380+lbs.
I literally hated myself and wished every night that I wouldn't wake up in the morning. I even tried to take my own life and started depending on pain killers to deal with the crippling depression.

I can't tell you what the "a-ha" moment was for me... I had plenty of them in that 6 1/2 year span and none of them stuck to make me change. All I know is that one day I vowed to cut out pop and certain fast foods. I stuck to my guns on that and haven't touched them in a year and a half. As time went on I buckled down on my food and started logging regularly and the weight just fell off at first. I have to be a bit more diligent now and make sure I exercise though.

As of today I weigh 277lbs and am over 100lbs down from my heaviest weight. I'm only 7 months into my logging (starting weight for logging was 351lb). I still have about another 100-120lbs to go but I've already come half way, so I sure as hell can make it through the rest.

Aside from all of the wonderful physical benefits of losing as much weight as I have... I have a life now. I haven't been seriously depressed or thought about suicide in over 6 months. My anxiety affects me less and less every single day.
I actually care about myself and my future. Living almost 7 years with debilitating depression and anxiety is the single biggest motivator for me. I will NEVER go back to that. THAT is what drives me forward and ensures my success.

markrgeary1

I've been putting on weight for 30 years at a desk job. Retired early at 56 and hated it. Bored, didn't feel good, life was dark and dreary, multiple health issues... This May my heart started beating over 100 BPM at rest, then chest pains. Wife took me to the ER after a few hours they sent me home, said it was Tachacardia. My doc gave me more meds to slow it down but it was still hitting 90 BPM at rest regularly.

Somehow I became convinced that the only thing I could do to control my heart rate was diet and exercise. My doc had suggested that for my high blood pressure and triglycerides, he'd pretty much given up on me by this time. So wife an I started first week of May on our own. Somewhere I got a link to this app and started logging 2 months ago. Since May I've lost 25 lbs. Wife has dropped 17, we both have 15-20 left to lose. Oh yea, my heart rate has continued to drop, my blood pressure was 100/60 an hour ago, my little pitty party about being bored and feeling bad, it's gone. This is probably the best summer of my life since I was 10 years old!

jamesha100

The thing that made me realise I had to change was I was finding my size was causing issues doing simple things in my life such as doing up shoes, doing manual work and so on. I also realised that I was right at the top end of the sizes that normal UK shops sold.

Roaringgael

When I realised it really was up to me to change. No one else was going to do it for me. My left knee was going to need replacing how much further was I going to go before changing.

FabianRodriguez94

When one hot summer day I was walking through my college campus and saw the guys volleyball team get out from practice. They all had abs and were relatively buff and were walking around shirtless. I was walking in the same direction and couldn't help but feel like crap. I remember that I was wearing a large hoodie just to cover up my bulging fat and was sweating up a storm- all so that I wouldn't feel like others were staring at my belly.

I know you shouldn't compare yourselves to others, but I'm glad I did on that day. It helped me realized how insecure and crappy I felt about myself and my body. It's been about 17 months and I've lost 72 lbs and feel amazing and I am more confident than I have ever been in my life!

ificandream

Jessyd76 wrote: »

Love the threads in here! I'm really excited to see everyone's transformations and I'm looking for a little extra motivation for mine!

For those of you who have achieved your goal or are well on your way to it... what was your "Ah-ha" moment? Was there a situation, an event, a realization, or something that made you prioritize health/fitness/weight loss over everything else?

Getting too close to 200. I felt like if I got past that there would be no stopping me so I got together with the dietitian and her first words to me were increase my activity and that was a big help. I am down to 171 now and I've got about 20 pounds to go. I've lost 25 so far since it's the beginning of the year.

Aug31st

Sorry....No a-ha, light bulb, i-woke-up-one morning story.

I can't relate to those stories to be honest. Have been weight conscious since I was a kid as I was always a little bit heavy.

For me its more about try-try again. weight goes up and down. I wish is was a case of weight lost and lost forever... for most people on here it wont be the case. its a life long challenge.

barefootbeauty

I've always been active. Four years ago, I got sick and went from 145 to 195. I avoided it because I was focused on school. Then I took a trip to Tennessee to go hiking. In my mind, I was still a very active 145lb person. In reality, I couldn't fit my hiking clothes and I couldn't hike the trails I wanted to do because I was so out of shape. I was so angry with myself that I started working on my health the day I got home from that trip. It's been up and down due to health issues, but I'm moving forward. I'm planning to go hiking in Peru next August to celebrate.

ktface17

A visit with my father. We went for a ride and he told me his dream car was a Charger but he'd never have one...because he can't fit into one. It made my heart hurt and made me realize that I never wanted to have a dream that would otherwise be achievable get away from me because of my weight. I was already noticing that more things were being limited in my life and had been planning to change but had not been so successful. I got on the ball in a serious way upon coming home from that visit and haven't looked back yet!

Since then, I have had my tubes tied and somehow knowing that there will be no more babies growing in my belly makes it easier for me to continue to push myself forward in this journey. Since April 20, 2015, I've lost 35 lbs.

cwolfman13

a few years ago I went in to see my Dr. as I always do right around my birthday...I was 38 and turning in some really bad blood work. I wasn't grossly overweight...as per BMI I was right on the bubble of overweight/obese...but I had a lot of other bad habits and didn't exactly rock my nutrition.

my Dr. basically told me to get it together or I was going to, at best, be pretty sick in my early 60s if not dead. i knew i was heading down the same path as my dad who died at the ripe old age of 62...no bueno. I have two little boys that I would like to see grow into men and I would like to spend my retirement years traveling around with my beautiful wife, not lounging about in a hospital or worse...

I never cared so much about the weight as I did reversing a lot of that bad blood work....which I've done over three years time. A nice bi-product of all this good livin' (nutritionally rich diet and regular exercise) is that I dropped about 40 Lbs with a great deal of ease and have now maintained that for over two years.

As far as motivation goes, be wary of counting on that. It's just like anything else...you're not going to be motivated all of the time. Ultimately you just have to be disciplined...discipline leads to consistency and consistency is what wins the day. Motivation is a very fleeting and fickle emotion.

cbnorris

My boyfriend of 2 years telling me he won't propose until I take better care of my health. When we first met I was regularly exercising and after a while I just stopped because I felt I was too busy. After work I would just lay in bed and watch tv or play on my tablet and he was concerned. I'm on thyroid medication due to a thyroidectomy, have PCOS and am considered "pre-diabetic." It hurt when he told me that at first, but I got passed it and a few weeks later made the change on my own.

amb3rj0y

Reaching 200 lbs and hating the way I look in pictures. I am 5'1" so being that heavy is a lot of weight to put on a short body. Not wanting to waste my 20's on not doing things I want to do because I feel "to fat". I also want to look amazing on my wedding day. Me and my boyfriend of 8 years are losing weight together. I want to start a family eventually, and I am going to school to be a teacher. So being in shape will basically give me the confidence and strength (literally and mentally) to do everything I have ever wanted to do.

Allison1385

Last fall... I took a photo with my 3 sister in laws (who are all 5"2 or so and around 150 lbs, I am 5'7 and was at 214 lbs) ... I looked huge compared to them. I am of course a lot taller, but I was so upset to see how big/fat I looked so this year I am at 182 lbs and with the height difference, I actually look like the same shape I still want to lose 17 lbs and am working to achieve that goal...but at least I don't feel so out of place next to them now A mutual friend of ours had pointed out that you could tell who the sisters were and so that upset me as well...