What got you started? When was it finally enough!

Holly_Roman_Empire

The first time I lost weight, it was seeing my honeymoon pictures. Plus, hiking on our honeymoon proved to be much more difficult than it was just the year before. In six months, I lost 25 pounds and got in the best shape of my life.

Now I just have to do it over again since I had our baby, hehe. But my journey this time has already proven to be easier.

nainai0585

A few reasons:
- booked IVF (invitro fertilization) 5 months before weightloss began and still hadn't lost the pre pregnancy weight from 4 months prior.
- Husband made an innocent comment about "side boob" - it was actually back boobs.
- I couldn't race my 8 yr old 20 feet and actually win
- I felt disgusting during sex
- I no longer felt attractive to the oppposite sex

PeteWhoLikesToRunAlot

I saw a picture of myself from behind, and wondered "Who is that robust guy?". I use my morbidly obese parents as anti-motivation, so to speak. If I'm not vigilant, I could turn into my father's horrible physical shape and bad eating habits.

kathim429

My mother died at 32 from complications from being obese (high blood pressure led to cerebral hemorrhage). I don't remember her at all, I was 8 years old. Last summer my kids were 9 and 12, I made a comment to a friend, that if I died today, my kids wouldn't remember me. I was going down the same path as my mom. He asked, "How old do they have to be before it is ok for you to die?"

I had never thought about it before. I was killing myself, just like she did. That was it for me.

operaprincess1

I finally had enough and realized something needed to be done when a good friend I hadn't seen in years walked up to me and rubbed my stomach and asked when I was due...to add insult to injury, my husband had ordered me a dress for our anniversary and it was stuck on backorder for a couple of months...and from the time he ordered it to the time I actually received it the same day I saw my friend, I had gained so much that I couldn't even get it on. I was so embarrassing and I didn't even want to go out to dinner to celebrate our one year anniversary. It was a real eye opener.

melaniealbert1978

I went to Canada's wonderland with my girls and my friend and her son as we do every year. Only this year I waited in line for 45 minutes with my youngest daughter to get on a ride and when I finally got up to the ride and they tried to put the belt on me it did not fit and they asked me to leave the ride for safety reasons. I was humiliated and felt so embarrased for my daughter. That was my wake up call. I use to go on all the rides with my kids and promised them I would again.

Nico_the_enabler

I have BDD and I have always seen myself as fat, even when I wasn't. (Though seriously these last 20yrs.. I definately have been fat) Regardless of what the scales say. and I have an almost phobic issue with having my photo taken. I am that ashamed of my body. So when this past christmas my mum asked for a couple of pics of us as a family and pointed out it was almost 9 years ago that she last got one. I had a light bulb moment. My youngest is nearly 10 and the last full body public photo of me was when she was 7mths old. I thought, if I died tomorrow.. my kids would have no photos of me. So there it was. Took another month or two to really sink in and get there.. but I am down 40lb and steadily losing. My goal.. is to be comfortable enough with my body to have my photo taken with my husband at our neices wedding in January.

jennybennypenny

Roller derby! I finally wanted to be healthy and fit to be better at roller derby and was not dieting and forcing myself to exercise for the wrong reasons.

I started roller derby three years ago, and the difference between old me and current me is night and day. I used to wear clothes that made me blend in and hopefully not get looked at too much--lots of baggy sweatshirts. I NEVER wore shorts. I hated the way I looked, I hated looking at myself in the mirror, I talked to myself so negatively. Now I look at myself and I'm like **** yeah! I'm STRONG! I also eat with the thought of "how will this food make me feel?" I don't want to feel sluggish or bloated, I want to feel full and energized.

Colombianchick29

When I started missing social events because I was embarrased of the way I looked. I would miss bday parties, gatherings, even date nights w/ my hubby.-I would of missed work if I could of gotten away with it. I also found that I didnt have recent pictures of myself. I started avoiding them or hiding behind my kids. Not to mention the horrible intimacy issues that came along with the weight:sad: . I think -I KNOW that was just the last straw!

LEt's just say, Stella got her groove back! :blushing: :blushing: :blushing:

Colombianchick29

aww thats great to hear!! glad you are on your way to where you want to be!

katherine611

I was not happy with the body that I saw in the mirror #1, my husband put his arm around me while laying down and he grabbed my fat belly and said what's that?#2 and because I am tired of the scale disrespecting me.:bigsmile:

emjaycazz

We are pretty active in our family but didn't really pay attention to nutrition and fell into a habit of relying solely on running for fitness. One day, I just looked in the mirror and noticed that more fat was just happening to settle around my middle. My interest in better nutrition and in lifting heavy actually was started via these forums.

Edit: I'll respond on behalf of my husband (who uses the app but doesn't post on the forums). He decided to do one of my circuit training DVDs with me and my sister and was winded 1/2 way through. So far, he has lost 20 lbs and more importantly still does the program that he initially couldn't finish and watches what he eats.

seltzermint555

I've always been fat, but seriously always felt pretty and liked the way I looked. I didn't have kids teasing me in school and I always had friends and dates in high school. In gym class I was in the top 2-3 heaviest in my class every time, but easily outperformed a lot of much thinner girls, even in high school & college. It was very rare for me to get down about myself...maybe 2-3 times a year I felt bad about my body.

But in 2008 when I hit my highest weight (307) and started to have swelling in my ankles and feet, and found myself breathless after going up and down a bunch of stairs on a business trip with my then-boss...I knew I was looking at some potentially serious health problems. So I got serious - but only about exercise. Within 18 months I'd dropped over 30 lb and was in MUCH better condition, with improved flexibility, stamina, cardiovascular functioning, etc. But that's it. I stalled in the neighborhood of 270 lb for YEARS!

Apparently my body "loves" being between 267-272, because I have been in that range of numbers on the scale for the great majority of my post-adolescent life. Argh!

In 2012, I divorced my chain-smoking, obese, restaurant-loving ex husband and met the love of my life, a guy who had lost over 100 lb in the past and ate pescetarian and was super health-conscious. I started eating like him, exercising more, and I lost a whopping 9 lb..

March of this year we went to an event with lots of photos taken. I didn't hate the photos of myself, and they weren't a "wake up call" or anything...but I felt like I looked cuter in the outfit I was wearing than I appeared in the photos. The same weekend we were also talking to my fiancé's friend who dropped beef and lost 60 lb. I was jealous and felt challenged by that somehow. I'd made much more drastic dietary changes and lost so little! I joined MFP the next week, bought my first home scale, and the rest is history. I'm down a little over 38 lb and have beat my lowest adult weight of 227 by four pounds. I can't wait to see what happens over the next year. I'm open to getting down to 180-ish which would be my weight in middle school! But I'll honestly be happy at 200 or 220 or whatever. I am just NEVER going back where I was before, there's no point in it.

NRSPAM

Well, I've been fat since I was a kid. I used to get picked on all the time. I remember vowing to this one little punk that one day I would be skinny! Lol. He laughed at me. (Who's laughing now?) But really, besides all of the other reasons everyone else has, I'm mostly doing this to preserve my joints as well as I possibly can. I'm 33 yo, and I'm in some bad shape already. Pretty sure it's mostly genetic. Most of my relatives are starting to have joint issues in their 40's and 50's, and I'm already way ahead of them. My real aha moment was after I strained my back for the second time, trying to do a side plank. I didn't know what I was doing, and it was seriously rough on my back. I was down for like 3 days, unable to move, and in serious pain, with a baby to take care of. I finally got up off the couch, in tears from the pain, started moving around, took a hot shower to help relieve the pain, and that was it. I vowed I was not going to become crippled, and helpless, and unable to move around. So I joined a "Curves." I loved it, and that's where I found my true love, Zumba! MFP came much later. That's my story! ))

holliebevineau

When I had to lay flat on the bed to button my jeans. Now those jeans are too big. I went from a size 14 to a size 8. A I bought a pair of jeans from the gap only because they are a size 6 and they FIT ME!! I wish I could somehow let the tag hang out, by mistake of course.

chasecohen

For me, it was nearly not being able to get on theme park ride. Two members of staff had to come over and force the harness shut! Like some, I always knew I was overweight, but thought I was just a bit chubby. Seems I wasn't!

5 years later, I couldn't be happier. Knowing what I know now, I probably could've done it in 2 years, but hey, it's all a learning process!