What finally got you going?

martiniconqueso

I am interested in the sorts of things that motivate people here to get fit, particularly those of us who are primarily trying to get pounds off after being heavy for some time.

I am down to 213 pounds after being 250+ for over a decade (I am 6' tall and 48 years old.) I want to get down to 180 pounds and move to a maintenance diet, and I have no worries that I will be able to do so. For a few years I'd been sort of half-way trying to lose - mostly just by trying to raise my activity level rather than by calorie restriction - but I never lost a pound before this summer.

It's fair to say that it was ultimately vanity (or shame) that got me to commit to getting the weight off. I had a moment of clarity while on vacation. Our luggage was somewhere over the Atlantic and we were in Frankfurt, and it was wet and cold. We went shopping for a few essentials until our bags found us.

Try as I might, I could not find a jacket, a windbreaker, not so much as a damn sweater that would fit me. It dawned on me right there that I *really* had to change my ways. I never made any promises to myself or anything of that nature. I just sort of made a decision to live a healthier lifestyle and I stuck with it.

I am a bit chagrined that it was essentially pride that got me headed in the right direction after many years of half-assed effort, but at least it worked.

What about other folks? Horrorshow in the full-length mirror? Health scare? Intervention?

traceytwink

What got me going was the thought of being fat and forty so I went for fit and forty instead, have had a little relapse but back on track again, I love exercise but I also love food so I have to keep my eye on the ball with that which makes mfp a fab place to be ????

ProMooch

Hello, that's an interesting story and I can fully understand how that experience would have changed your mindset in an instant.

I had been 'big' for most of my twenties (I'm currently 28) and unhappy with it but like many I made small, ignorant changes in the hope that I would lose some weight, without the education that MFP has given me, I never stood a chance!

One evening my girlfirend was talking to me about her day at work (she had been doing a soup diet) she was fed up and had thrown her soup down the sink because she'd had enough after about two months of it with little result. A friend of hers at work had told her about MFP and that she should give it a go, so she was telling me about it and showed me the app and I thought to myself right there and then that it looked easy.
I thought that I could log my food and drink intake and stay under those numbers, it's just a like a game, it's just numbers and I can count so I can do this.

That was that, the start of my journey 233 days ago and 55.3lbs down.... all I needed was the right tools and knowledge, I have learnt so much from using MFP and I continue to learn and adapt as I go. I'm not at my goal weight yet but I'm happily working towards it. I'm 5'8 and started at 251.3lbs... currently 196lbs.

JojoInTheForks

It was absolute shame for me, too. I always had an excuse for my weight gain - personal life issues, work stress, quitting smoking, etc. I swore that i would lose weight for my wedding. And I thought about it, a lot. But did nothing about it. Got married in October and was horrified by the pictures. My very fit husband looked particularly amazing...making me look even larger by comparison. Flipping through the pictures the night the photographer sent them to me, I kept thinking about that kid's book where the man could eat no fat and the woman could eat no lean. I recommitted to myfitnesspal, and so the journey begins.

soozy_q

I'm going on a round the world trip in a year and want to be able to do all the physical activities and look good in my photos, am going to Coachella as well and wanna look nice for that too. Dunno if it's the best reason but it's definitely working

shawn1112

I always told myself I'm going to start eating better and quit smoking. I would set a date and when that date would come I would set another date. Well last March a good friend of mine passed away of a massive heart attack at 43 yrs old. He didnt smoke or drink but did like to eat, and he was a bigger guy but not super huge. That was a wake up call for me, seeing what his family went thru was all it took. About a month later I found MFP and the rest is history. It did take me about 5 more months to quit smoking after starting MFP, but I did it cold turkey and have been smoke free almost 3 months now!!!

drcrisos

For me, it ended up being about my health and my ability to move without pain.
I have been "chunky" for all of my adult life. Obesity runs in my family and while I never got as big as some in my family, it was a scary thought. Apparently not scary enough for me to take this whole "lose weight, get in shape" thing to take hold. I hated shopping for clothes, I hated the way they fit. I hated the way I could feel the fat rolls when I sat down. I hated the way my body felt. So, I did what anyone else would do.... I ignored it, and ate. Some healthy food in there, some attempts at exercising.
No change.

Approx. a year ago I started getting achy. My hands ached, my knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, ankles....I felt like I was always coming down with something, but it never really took hold. Always tired, always complaining how I hurt. No visible injuries, swelling, or redness, but I hurt all the same. Someone I work with has RA and was telling me that her symptoms started out like mine did and I needed to be checked out. As my symptoms continued, I started reading everything I could on RA and other auto immune diseases. Not sure I "fit" in any category, but frustrated due to it affecting my quality of life, I started going to see my doctor. Ended up going to different doctors to eventually came to one that actually didn't just throw up their hands and say, "You got me on this one!"

I am now being treated for an auto immune disease - pain so much better! Not gone, but improved and I am not in near as much pain day to day.
I started this MFP journey several times during this year. First 3 times, I did great for about 3 days. Just didn't want to count calories. Ugh! During my attempt at finding out what was wrong with me, when my pain was the worst, I was desperate for any type of relief. I started MFP again at the end of August of this year. Haven't missed a day logging - past the 100th day mark!
The weight has been pretty easily coming off. I started off at 162lbs at 61.5 inches (I'm 48 years old), and I have lost somewhere around 23 lbs. I feel better, have to shop for more clothes (and this time I'm actually excited about shopping!), my pain as I said earlier is better. Best thing I ever did for my health was join MFP.

Sorry, I get al little chatty!

Capt_Apollo

this did. watch the video at the bottom.

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/08/31/is-it-really-worth-it/

i think i had one of the best work outs ever after watching that video. completely changed how i feel about fitness and life.

Solomino

I had several gallbladder attacks and found that FAT was a criteria for this (I had surgery last year). I saw the doctor's note and found out I also had a fatty liver which is a precursor to Diabetes which runs in my family. This was a wake up call for me and I realized all these conditions are preventable with losing weight.

I also have a husband who is dependant on me because of Muscular Dystrophy and my youngest son has Down syndrome. I am needed and I am needing to be in good health.

Since I started losing consistently, thanks to this web site, I am now doing it because I FEEL AND LOOK FABULOUS. I am so excited to watch this weight melt off of me and fitting into clothes I never thought I would. I am so pumped. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to enjoy exercising. That's my story. :happy:

jennnnn2u

On September 7th of this year I took my son and two of his friends to Six Flags to celebrate his birthday and it was the biggest wake up call. It was humiliating to try to ride those rides with him and have to get off because I was too big to fit in the seats. I'm sure it was equally humiliating to him for his friends to witness this. It was so hard to keep a smile on my face and hold back tears as I was turned away. This didn't happen every time; I was still able to fit into some of them. But those two or three that didn't work out were two or three too many.

I've made a promise to myself that next year I will take my son back again and this time we'll ride every single ride together. I will not walk onto one single ride and fear that the bar won't go down far enough or the belt won't reach. And on the ones that did reach this time, it will be comfortable and I won't leave with bruises on my hips from the sides of the seats crushing me.

Although my son and his friends didn't say anything and maybe they didn't even think much of it, I felt like I let him down and next year WILL be different.

...Also, I can't wait to wear super cute clothes again.
Oh...and also, I used to have pain but since I've shed the first 50 pounds, it's gone!
So many reasons!

amastre

The feeling of looking in the mirror and hating what I saw is what really got me serious about starting to lift weights, and now the progress I have seen there has led to me becoming more disciplined in what I am eating. I never was super overweight, but one of my goals is to look more masculine, and with my body type, that just doesn't work to my satisfaction if I've got too much extra padding in the hips and other places.

LosingItForGood13

When went to doctors office beginning of this year and scale said 330 I had never weighed this much n my life so doc suggested the South Beach Diet that diet wasn't for me so chose the Dash Diet as this would help to lower my BP.

snootmaster

There are so many things should have motivated me prior to now but really got me going was that after the recent death of my older brother my mother made me promise her that I would not die before she did. She could not bear to witness the death of another one of her children. It took me about a month to really think about that promise and admit to myself that I was not doing anything for myself that would allow me to live up to that promise. I was not eating well, no exercise, not enough sleep, way too much stress. Something just clicked and I found the motivation and momentum to get started.

ChasingKatie

I just blogged about it a bit ago here

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ChasingKatie/view/where-i-have-been-and-where-i-am-about-to-be-597324

OddballExtreme

My wake-up call came on January 26, 2012. I became ill for about a month or so and couldn't understand why. Then, my doctor diagnosed me with Type 2 Diabetes. That was the kick in the rear end I needed to start taking care of myself. I was 192 lbs. back in 2010. Today I'm 135 lbs after making a lot of changes in my life. Yes, I've had to give up some of the things I love, but it's worth it to keep myself healthy as I'm now 39 and will become the big 4-0 next November.

martiniconqueso

That's a great site. (nerdfitness.com)

I was not familiar with it at all. I just spent 30 minutes browsing it and I still need to watch the video you linked . . .

paradox68

My favorite jeans got so tight that it was uncomfortable to wear. I realized that now in my mid forties finally the weight gain has caught up to years of chocolate eating. sigh. I so love chocolate.

mariab76

When I looked down at the scale and it read 199. I refused to enter the 200's.

karlsantiago

ex girlfriends are one of my major motivations to bust my *kitten* in the gym LOL

+ and diet too! diet is definitely key

KatrinaGrey

Although I've had several reasons to lose, It was only when my health was seriously affected that I realized this was no joke. Also, I really got tired of buying bigger clothes, seeing myself in pictures from a few years ago when i was thin and then now and cringing from them, and just having my six year old say that I have a big belly!!! It's horrible to go to a school event and be one of the few "heavier" moms

ShortStrut

I was at a doctor's office, just a routine check-up, and she talked to me about my weight. She was the first person in my entire life to actually bring it up. And she showed me the BMI chart, showing I'm morbidly obese. And she said that if I were to gain a few more pounds, she would probably recommend getting a gastric bypass.

I was shocked. I knew I was big, but I didn't think I was THAT big. And she told me how having PCOS and being short and really playing a a big game against me, and that I don't need to be 400 pounds to be in danger... 205 was enough.