What turned it around for you?

swonn

Love your posts.

My turnaround was the effects of developing epilepsy after having a stroke at age 42. Trying all different anti-seizure medications was my main worry. Which one was going to work and when would it finally work? I knew the side effects but I wanted the seizures and headaches controlled! Well, I was weighed at one particular doctor's appointment and said enough is enough. I looked up food diary apps and found MFP. I started using it that day.

Reading posts like Sue's and setting small goals have kept me working now for over two years.

Meerataila

Nothing in particular. It was just taking too long to dig my own grave with a spoon (and a knife and a fork and a straw).

That said, I'm experiencing a new turnaround entirely now that I'm supposedly a healthy weight. I want to really be healthy, not just fit into smaller clothes. And if that means changing my mindset completely about food and exercise and body image, that's what I'm determined to do. I'm not settling for a skinny fat or even skinny unhealthy, stressed out, junky food drive-thru life. And neither should anyone else!

sunnyside1213

My doctor said well, by this time next year you will have diabetes.

d0v3r13

thank you so much for this thread. i haven't felt this encouraged and motivated in a long time.

in an indirect way, it started with my second pregnancy. it was an extremely difficult pregnancy emotionally, mentally and physically. i ended up on disability for most of the pregnancy getting tests done, and when everything came back normal they finally put me on zoloft for stress/anxiety disorder. however, the NP insisted, and did not relent, that i begin seeing a therapist. so i did. and my life changed. i'm a completely different person now than i had been for the first 26 years of my life. there was so much crap that i had never dealt with, and so much hurt, and damage, and negative thought patterns. i didn't know what hope was. i didn't know what trust was. i didn't know what love was. so learning about those things, and understanding that i could have them in my life was the first and only reason i'm where i'm at today. i did therapy for a year, and then we moved away and i have not been back. but when we moved it gave me the chance to be myself, the new self, with people who had no expectations of me. and i slowly put the things i'd learned from therapy into practice. positive self talk, believing in hope. trusting people. loving myself.

loving myself is the biggest thing i've ever learned. i always thought i had to hate myself. i always thought that was how you put others first, how you humble yourself, how you change yourself. what i learned though, is that i cannot be good at any of those things unless i first learn how to accept the fact that God loves me how i am, because he created me. and that i can't love others (even my children and my husband) without learning what love is. if i can't love myself i can't accept love from anyone. and i've learned that it is not selfish or bad to love yourself. it isn't prideful. its just love.

anyway, its taken me a long time to fully accept that. i started exercising just to stay active after i quit my job to be a SAHM. i didn't lose a single pound even after running two half marathons in the space of one month. i started running last october, and my last half marathon was april 28th. that was day i started a weight loss competition with my family. i felt like it was probably a bad idea, to do something so competitive, that had to do with my perception of my body compared to my family, but something kept me from saying no. we officially began the day before my race. i ate as usual because i didn't want to mess up my routine and when i got home i started calorie counting that monday. i had tried to use MFP in the past and it was the easiest way to track so that's what i started. and this time, it just clicked. it came so easily to me. the weight started coming off for the first time in my life. i've never lost weight on purpose. because i knew competing with my family could be dangerous for me emotionally, i fully invested in doing this in a healthy and balanced way. so i didn't do cheat days and i didn't do any restrictions. and i didn't do any crash diets or cleanses at the end. i didn't win either. i had lost the most weight, 14 lbs in a month, but we had agreed to do by percentage because there was a wide range of starting weights. so i lost the competition. but it didn't crush me. in every other way i had won. so i kept going. i've only been doing this for 3.5 months but i already know, this is my life. i'm going to be a healthy person in as many ways as i can control. i know there are things i can't help, but there are so many things i can, and i'm committed to doing the work.

sorry that was so long. i didn't mean for it to be when i sat down to write.

Kate7294

Great question? In 2009 I was diagnosed with PCOS and pre-diabetes. With a prescription for Metformin for both issues I lost 67 lbs in 9 months time ( 243-176). Then dun dun duh.....Surprise I got pregnant at 39. I did manage to keep the diabetes at bay but ended up back at 215. Though my 40's have been much better to me. I looked better than in my 30's .I was pretty content with myself. Though my Doctor's were now concerned with my high cholesterol
About 3 months ago my Grandmother mentioned she'd lost 20 lbs and was at 180. While glad for her I was shocked she weighed so much less than me. So I asked my sister about this app that day and now I'm down 19 lbs to 193. I hope to be able to lower my cholesterol and stay/become healthier.

daworley

Love all of your stories...every path is it's own! Mine is quite simple; I am in my early 50's, married, mother to four young, adult children who are all, thankfully, slim and trim. I have always been "chubby" (a word that sticks in my mind when I think of my body), I am 5'4" and usually wear a size 12 or 14. Well, after a knee injury in February 2013, subsequent surgery and the down time from all that, I found myself squeezing into a size 16. Spring 2014 was upon us and so was a decision I needed to make: buy size 18's for the summer or lose weight and wear the nice clothing I already have. About this same time an opportunity for a trip to Mexico in September came up, that helped cinch the answer to the decision: lose the weight. My goal was to wear a size a 12 ("L") on our trip, right now I am in a loose 14. I have bought some super cute summer dresses in a "L" (not XL or XXL or 1XL!) and have been wearing them and feeling good about. After my trip in 6 weeks, I will see about going on down! Thanks for listening!