What finally did it for you?

TonyaJ83

I hear it's harder to lose weight after 30. I want to live longer, feel better, be confident, swim in public, have more energy, wear cuter clothes, etc. I'm sick of being jealous of other people's nice figures without cottage cheese and lumps. I want to be happy when I look in the mirror!

It is SO much harder after 30. I'm 37, and I can't believe how much more difficult it is than it was in my 20s. I too am sick of being jealous of the nice figures w/o the cellulite and nice muscles. I WANT THAT!!!

Here we go!! We're gonna HAVE that!! YAY!! Go US!!

Amandac6772

My doctor told me I was getting ready to turn 40, "didn't I want to look 30???" Well heck yeah I do. I also felt terrible and was suffering from some serious depression. I feel so much better and the depressed attitude is no where near as bad as it was.

Amandac6772

Double post...oppps!

fernelia91

This picture



Need to point out here that I'm NOT a Nazi sympathiser! I was at a 1940's weekend!

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This is by far my FAVOURITE response! A picture is worth a thousand words, is it not? Thanks for sharing!

lisafrancis629

Vacation at the beach 9 weeks ago. Couldn't get my fat behind out of those beach chairs without help!!!! Had been feeling so unhealthy for awhile but that chair pushed me over the edge. Joined MFP the day after I got home from the beach.

edorice

I got tired of being sick and tired.

SP0472

I got tired of being sick and tired.

I'll second that! That's one of my reasons - sick and tired of being sick and tired ALL THE TIME! I'm tired of having to go on disability for my Fibro and Colitis that I KNOW are flared up by my diet and lack of exercise. My last round of disability was in April-June of this year and I want to make that my last!

Another is just how I feel about myself. I want to and need to prove to myself that I CAN DO THIS! Everyone else can lose weight...why can't I??? The illnesses make me feel like crap already - I don't need my weight doing that too.

I have an image in my head of how I want to look and I'm nowhere near that and I don't want to spend the rest of my life looking at that image only in my head...I want to see it in the mirror.

Bermudabarbie

For me it was just great timing. I haven't always been a size 8 - 10. In fact I've been "all over the board" from 8 - 22W!

Lost most of my weight way before I discovered MFP and have kept it off for over 6 years.

I was attracted to the MFP app for my iPod. Over the last month I've become a real fan. Set a new goal and am just 3 pounds away from 135. That seems like an ideal weight for me. But it's the extra energy and toning up that I am really enjoying. May even try a new goal weight of 129 -- size 6 - 8. Not sure. I take it one goal at a time and see how I feel and look.

lilbear911

After I had my daughter, it took me forever to loose the almost 50 lbs I had gained. (I actually haven't lost it all before I got pregnant again). When I got pregnant the second time, I was bound and deteremined not to gain as much weight and I started doing maternity yoga and prenatal workouts... and I LOVED it! I thought, "Why is it that I can't have this motivation when I'm NOT pregnant?" I've started eating healthier and continuing to work out (obviously it hasn't been strenous workouts!)

Recently, however, I was going through old pictures and found some from when I was a rower...and wow! I didn't realize I was that skinny and in shape. I had gotten used to me being the size I was after my daughter was born, not realizing that I was no where NEAR where I wanted to be. That realization, along with knowing I'm going to continue to put on more weight for the next month, has me striving to eat healthier and continue this new found love of working out. I WILL get to my old body, not just for me, but for my babies!

flwyland

For me it was a diagnosis of breast cancer last October, with no family history. Cancer likes fat. So, to keep the cancer from coming back, I've got to get rid of the fat. I've never been one to play at sports, or to do workouts. So far I've been walking and doing some weight training. Both can be done at home, or in the neighborhood. And both are very inexpensive. I'm losing the weight slowly. (I've done it quickly before & couldn't keep it off.) This is a LIFESTYLE CHANGE. All of the diet & exercise changes I have made are ones that I can live with, FOREVER.

kpressley392

My story is like most - tired of carrying around an extra 70 lbs all the time, tired of looking bad, but what pushed me "over the edge" was outgrowing my "fat" clothes! I have been determined to save my "skinny clothes," which still reside in my closet, while my "fat clothes" hang on my Fitness Flier

It had gotten to the point that I had to be selective of which clothes I chose, only the ones with elastic waist - so that was it :explode:

I am not too lazy to exercise, but I am too lazy to count calories, so I thought Weight Watchers - could not afford it. So then I went to Google and found MFP - YEAH!!!

Too many smileys, sorry, can't help myself :laugh:

bearski79

I've been overweight since i was 13, and have gone on many diets in the past. At the start of August i was going in for day surgery to have my wisdom teeth out when the doctor came in and told me she wasn't comfortable knocking me out in a day surgery and wanted me at a hospital. When i asked why she explained a person of my size was more likely to run into problems while under. Not the thing you want to hear while getting ready for surgery.

So it was cancelled, and as i walked out of the place embarrassed, having to call my wife and explain to pick me up early, i decided to try and make a real effort to change.

kizzy_muss

the first time for me was back in 2002/2003 when i reached 189 ibs....i told myself i would never reach the 200 ib mark and i HAVE NEVER SEEN THAT IN MY LIFE....since that time i lost all the way down to 150s...then when i stopped going to weight loss support group meetings i gradually gained ALL BUT 9 ibs back throughout the years.

the biggest loser show has always been an inspiration for me....in the season's past i would start really good and then stop....this time my weight loss journey is going to stick...THIS TIME i'm sticking all the way til at least the finale of this season...the reason being is if i stick to it by january 1, 2011, i'm going to reward myself with the POWER 90 program. I REALLY want the p90x program but i heard that if you try the POWER 90 program first it will be a lot easier...so i'm finishing this year off with jillian michaels and the biggest loser exercise vids...next year i'm starting year off with TONY HORTON...the first 6 months

curvykent

I've been very overweight for 8 or 9 years but my big wake up moment was my miscarriage. I found out on new year's '10 that they couldn't find a heartbeat. I was 20 weeks pregnant. I had names picked out, I was feeling "connected" to my baby and then I went in for my first ultra sound and was told I had a blighted ovum. I should have had an ultra sound at 7 weeks but the sonographer explained to me that the more a woman weighs the longer they make them wait for an ultrasound (crappy medical care, another wonderful side effect about being too overweight- I was uninsurable and was going to the county hospital). Right in front of my husband who at most weighs 165, the doctor says for women over 200 pounds it's harder to find the baby so we typically wait until 19-22 weeks. Not only was I crushed by the devastating news of there being no baby inside me but to top it off they explain to me that I am getting treated different because I am fat.
I waited for my body to miscarry and then immediately started to exercise and diet. I cut out processed food and watched my portions, walked three times a week and started to see results. I joined WW for a bit but left, then found MFP. I am now doing yoga 2x a week, walking 3x a week, and active on the weekends. I eat whole foods, high protein, low carb and I am seeing the weight fall off. I love this site. It's a saving grace for me.

ceredonia

Last New Years was my tipping point of getting frustrated with myself. I'm not greatly overweight, but the pounds I have greatly love to hang out in a muffin top and around my thighs and hips. After New Years, I was looking at pictures and I was just horrified at how they came out.

This is how I normally look (taken June 2010, tanktop luckily hiding my muffintop, I know its there, haha. I'm in the pink on the right)



So seeing my pictures turn out like this made me really upset. And I really liked the dress when I bought it! Having my hair up was a horrible choice anyway, as I found out.



So I joined a gym with my roommate in February, found kickboxing classes that I LOVE, and eventually found Jillian Michaels last month, after slacking off and not going to the gym for 3 months. I found MFP and finally, I can put my obsessive tendencies to good use and count my calories

KarenJean81

I think it is something that has been pushing at me for 10 years as I tried and failed and tried and failed and failed and failed over and over again,

What really disturbed me into try harder and into focusing harder on longevity without ceasing---is a picture I saw of myself at the beach this summer. For the first time in my life I actually looked at myself and said "that's disgusting".

And it hurt. And I know I can't indulge in self pity any longer. I have to seek real solutions this time. That's what did it for me.

Mine was a picture also. It's funny, I have plenty pictures from the same time frame, but in this one, I could see the weight in my face and no longer pretend it was a bad angle. I hardly recognized me.

losergirl78

Over this last summer I went to the doctor and my blood pressure was 197/112. They started monitoring me and found that was average. I was told I was in stroke range. I'm 32 years old and a single parent and thatcomment scared me so I started eating better and going to the gym. Along the way I found MFP to help out.

I have been eating healthy and working out for 3 months now and I have only lost 5 pounds, so I made another appt to see what my doctor thought. I felt the same old feeling of hoplessness and this isn't working so why should I try . She found out that I am a diabetic. Now I realize I'm in this for life, there is no more yo-yo dieting, no more magic weightloss pill, no more fad dieting. I'm not dieting, I'm just changing my life.

Doordie

Wow I am amazed at all the stories. They are so inspiration. It's amazing what takes us to the verge. I think it helps to remember when the doubt, frustration or distractions start to creep in.

Keep up the good work everyone!

catcrazy

What finally did it for me....

1st reason.....waking up and wishing I hadn't. I had another hospital appointment and I knew I would have to get on the scales. I had no idea what i was going to wear because basically everything just looks like I've thrown it on. I very nearly didn't do my face because as I saw it when my body looks the way it does why bother prettying up the face. Gulp, yes I was, am this low about my weight.

2nd reason...same day as above, my youngest took a photo of the cat but I was caught unaware in the background. I freaked out demanding that he delete it...how dare he, don't ever take a photo of me again blah blah. I then took myself to bed to bawl my eyes out and made the decision there and then that I couldn't go on like this, its not fair on my kids, my health is the reason for the gain but the gain is the reason for my health worsening even further. It was lay down and die or fight. I chose fight

And yes, I apologised to my son