"Let Go or Be Dragged" success stories--pls. share!

NewLIFEstyle4ME

I just read a mega deep blog post on here, and one of the comments to the writer stated (among other really deep things) that she has a magnet on her refrigerator, that says "Let Go or be Dragged"....Wow! I'm an older woman, and I've NEVER heard that expression, but hearing made something "click" in/for me and I'll ever keep that expression in my heart and mind and more importantly begin to "let go" of some issues and things that I've never really "dared" to think about and more importantly, DO anything about (ya know, hard or painful issues, situations and lifestyle choices I've just been ignoring/going along with and/or being in denial about) that maybe (and in fact has been and IS) holding me back from successful weight-loss and more. As I think about that expression "Let go or be dragged"--wow--it's really VERY powerful to me!

That expression/quote inspired me to post this thread. I'm wondering what was/is your "Let go or get dragged" light bulb moment--that "woke you up" so to speak and got you on the road to weight-loss, health and wholeness (mental, physical, spiritual, financial, etc.) and led (or is leading) you to a new and permanent lifestyle change and change in your way of thinking and living?

misscem94

The moment came when I came back from a leaving do, uploaded the pictures to Facebook, and saw how whale-like I looked in the dress. I'd let physical and mental illness just take over, and I'd put on 1 1/2 stone in less than a year. I was convincing myself I was still an athletic 11 stone 4 lbs, when really, I was tipping the scales at 14 st 7. I had been using another tracking website/app, but you had to pay for everything and I just wasn't serious about it. This time, however, I realised I was fat, that I looked awful in pictures and that i had just let myself go. If I continued, I would have been in the Obese Class II category.

Now, 9 months later, I have a BMI of 21.7, nearly 10 stone (5ft 8) and I feel great. Yeah, I have horrendous stretchmarks from rapid weight gain and my upper arms are still somewhat flabby, but I've worked damn hard to lose the weight and considering what I looked like before, I think I've done well! I can now see the fat when I look at old pictures, and I never, ever want to get back to that.

zyxst

I started weight loss because I only had 1 pair of pants to wear. The fat stores only carried 4x, maybe 5x, but never larger sizes. Now that I can buy clothes from any store, they don't carry my current size either, but the fat stores have a lot of 5x-6x clothes. :grumble:

My physical and mental health are still horrible and not things that can be fixed by becoming a smaller version of me. Financial, don't get me started.

NewLIFEstyle4ME

The moment came when I came back from a leaving do, uploaded the pictures to Facebook, and saw how whale-like I looked in the dress. I'd let physical and mental illness just take over, and I'd put on 1 1/2 stone in less than a year. I was convincing myself I was still an athletic 11 stone 4 lbs, when really, I was tipping the scales at 14 st 7. I had been using another tracking website/app, but you had to pay for everything and I just wasn't serious about it. This time, however, I realised I was fat, that I looked awful in pictures and that i had just let myself go. If I continued, I would have been in the Obese Class II category.

Now, 9 months later, I have a BMI of 21.7, nearly 10 stone (5ft 8) and I feel great. Yeah, I have horrendous stretchmarks from rapid weight gain and my upper arms are still somewhat flabby, but I've worked damn hard to lose the weight and considering what I looked like before, I think I've done well! I can now see the fat when I look at old pictures, and I never, ever want to get back to that.

Wow! :drinker: :smooched: :drinker: isn't it AMAZING how we can "convince" ourselves that all is well, or at least okay--when it's NOT--inside nor out. For you to WAKE-UP and see/accept the TRUTH about yourself and your lifestyle choices and throw down the gauntlet and then go on to put your nose to the grindstone, and get down to a BMI of 21.7, in 9 mos from where you were and then to accept (with JOY) the "good with the not so good of your results from changing/transforming is not only tremendous for/to you--but encouraging/inspirational to me too! You ROCK, period. Thank you ever so much for your reply!!! :flowerforyou:

cahf

I'm not very far in - 10 weeks and 15 pounds - but I feel like I have been gearing up to take this step for the past year. My goal for last year was to make sure I ate all my vegetables including dark leafy greens. I got a nutribullet and made kale spinach blueberry smoothies and succeeded there. But for the losing weight part I just didn't know how to do it - if I'm hungry I eat so it was really hard for me to believe in myself and not have it be crazy difficult. For me I think there were 6 parts that have me convinced that this is my new healthy lifestyle (exercising a ton has never been an issue for me, I love to workout): (1) recognizing that it took my mom a few different times to really quite smoking, and that meant that I could succeed one of these times too, (2) I gained 100 lbs as a professor and hitting the decade of being a prof mark felt like it was time to make a change, (3) Reading about how yoga/mindfulness can help weight loss and committing to doing yoga, (4) Salad in a jar - now I make salads for lunch on sundays for the week and that makes it easy for me to have a healthy lunch, which promotes health in the rest of my day, (5) Not eating any refined carbs until after dinner - I discovered that I appear to have a really extreme response to sugar and it makes me really hungry so if I don't eat it during the day I'm not hungry, and (6) someone introduced me to MFP - and I LOVE this community!

psthamsher

What a good question to ask and it will be good for me to remember my answer to help keep me motivated NOT to go back.....

For me it was the things I DIDN'T do because it was too hard to bother with: Polishing my toenails, wearing cute heels, not eating out with friends because I was afraid of criticism, not swimming with my kids.

blondemotivation

When I really buckled down is when my Mom had a heart to heart with me (on my birthday last year), on her concern for my health. She would mention little hints to me before this date, but I was in denial in regards to my health up to this point. I was shocked and hurt. Then about a week later, I had gone to the doctors for a migraine. Well, they weighed me and I couldn't believe the number I was reading on that piece of paper they gave me when I left the office. I was at my heaviest and I knew I wasn't happy or healthy. I immediately bought a scale of my own and stocked up on a bunch of fruits and veggies and the rest is history. I'm 10 pounds away from my ultimate goal and I actually don't mind looking in mirrors now.

atfirstblush

It was a lot of things that led me to get serious about losing weight but the biggee was because I cancelled my physical at the doctor's office simply because I didn't want to be weighed. My clothes were all getting tighter, I had no energy, my motivation to travel went away and by me eating terrible foods, I was watching my husband getting heavier too. I didn't even want to go to work because my clothes fit terribly.

I told my husband on April 1st that I would no longer be buying ice cream, cookies, or pretty much anything with sugar or wheat in them, and that we were no longer eating junk food at our house. I told him to pig out that day because we were through with unhealthy eating. I started buying healthier foods, exercising more and he has even lost 30 pounds too.

NewLIFEstyle4ME

I started weight loss because I only had 1 pair of pants to wear. The fat stores only carried 4x, maybe 5x, but never larger sizes. Now that I can buy clothes from any store, they don't carry my current size either, but the fat stores have a lot of 5x-6x clothes. :grumble:

My physical and mental health are still horrible and not things that can be fixed by becoming a smaller version of me. Financial, don't get me started.

Ya know what?!? You, sir, are a WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You reason for losing weight/letting go or being dragged being only having one pair of pants to wear is so DEEP to me. Deep, because it's amazing how long we can "go along" with stuff and then--BAM...NO MORE. To lose 137 pounds is so tremendous...you ROCK, period. :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

willrun4bagels

I re-logged in to my long-abandoned MFP account on September 1, 2013 after seeing a picture taken of me on that day. I looked through the pictures on my phone and cried, realizing that I'd gained back basically all of the weight I'd worked so hard to lose in 2009. Prior to seeing that picture, I hadn't come to terms with the fact that I was eating everything in sight, couldn't fit into most of my clothes anymore, and neglected the gym membership I paid for every month.

I started logging again in September, started back at the gym in October, got a food scale in November 2013, and losing weight this time around has been a much better experience. I'll never be that person again. After re-looking at that "lightbulb" picture again a few months ago, I uploaded it onto my MFP profile.

mrron2u

I love the "Let Go or Be Dragged" idea! I'm gonna add it to my motivation list.

My moment was about 4 months ago when I realized the medications were no longer controlling my Type 2 Diabetes and unless I wanted to inject insulin and/or get weight loss surgery I had to change my ways. Unknowingly I discovered my "why" (why eating better and exercising was more important to me than eating a box of donuts) and that has propelled me through 100+ days of MFP. It's amazing how easy it gets when you know your "why".

Thanks for sharing!

NewLIFEstyle4ME

I'm not very far in - 10 weeks and 15 pounds - but I feel like I have been gearing up to take this step for the past year. My goal for last year was to make sure I ate all my vegetables including dark leafy greens. I got a nutribullet and made kale spinach blueberry smoothies and succeeded there. But for the losing weight part I just didn't know how to do it - if I'm hungry I eat so it was really hard for me to believe in myself and not have it be crazy difficult. For me I think there were 6 parts that have me convinced that this is my new healthy lifestyle (exercising a ton has never been an issue for me, I love to workout): (1) recognizing that it took my mom a few different times to really quite smoking, and that meant that I could succeed one of these times too, (2) I gained 100 lbs as a professor and hitting the decade of being a prof mark felt like it was time to make a change, (3) Reading about how yoga/mindfulness can help weight loss and committing to doing yoga, (4) Salad in a jar - now I make salads for lunch on sundays for the week and that makes it easy for me to have a healthy lunch, which promotes health in the rest of my day, (5) Not eating any refined carbs until after dinner - I discovered that I appear to have a really extreme response to sugar and it makes me really hungry so if I don't eat it during the day I'm not hungry, and (6) someone introduced me to MFP - and I LOVE this community!

:drinker:

I LOVE this post so much {{{{ Hugs and High Fives }}}}}}} 15 pounds in 10 weeks, girl--that's fabulous, it really is...especially considering how LONG it's taking me to get to 15 pounds down, I'm thrilled for you. I recently got a nutribullet and haven't used it yet--your post is encouraging me to get that bad boy out and begin using it. Also, "salad in a jar" that sounds so funny...I'm going to have to google that, because I've never heard of it--but I love the idea of making salads for more than today's use!

Thanks so much for posting/replying! :flowerforyou:

NewLIFEstyle4ME

What a good question to ask and it will be good for me to remember my answer to help keep me motivated NOT to go back.....

For me it was the things I DIDN'T do because it was too hard to bother with: Polishing my toenails, wearing cute heels, not eating out with friends because I was afraid of criticism, not swimming with my kids.

Wonderful post--thanks ever so much for your reply! :flowerforyou:

NewLIFEstyle4ME

It was a lot of things that led me to get serious about losing weight but the biggee was because I cancelled my physical at the doctor's office simply because I didn't want to be weighed. My clothes were all getting tighter, I had no energy, my motivation to travel went away and by me eating terrible foods, I was watching my husband getting heavier too. I didn't even want to go to work because my clothes fit terribly.

I told my husband on April 1st that I would no longer be buying ice cream, cookies, or pretty much anything with sugar or wheat in them, and that we were no longer eating junk food at our house. I told him to pig out that day because we were through with unhealthy eating. I started buying healthier foods, exercising more and he has even lost 30 pounds too.

Thank you so much for posting. I totally can relate to the NO ENERGY and motivation to do good things, like travel and live an active life being zapped by excessive weight and overindulgence in things that hinder. You are fabulous to have dropped kicked into the place where the sun will NEVER shine 40+ pounds and your hubby getting rid of 30 excess pounds, that's tremendous. :drinker: :flowerforyou: :drinker:

NewLIFEstyle4ME

I re-logged in to my long-abandoned MFP account on September 1, 2013 after seeing a picture taken of me on that day. I looked through the pictures on my phone and cried, realizing that I'd gained back basically all of the weight I'd worked so hard to lose in 2009. Prior to seeing that picture, I hadn't come to terms with the fact that I was eating everything in sight, couldn't fit into most of my clothes anymore, and neglected the gym membership I paid for every month.

I started logging again in September, started back at the gym in October, got a food scale in November 2013, and losing weight this time around has been a much better experience. I'll never be that person again. After re-looking at that "lightbulb" picture again a few months ago, it onto my MFP profile.

I think you are so wonderful to not only throw the gauntlet down and restart this battle of the bulge to control and conquer this excess weight, but to use the tool of a scale is just plain kicking tail and taking names stuff. Way to go, and thanks so much for posting!! :drinker: :drinker:

NewLIFEstyle4ME

Bumping for more replies!