What inspired/motivated you to lose weight?

sandy2006

Diabetes! My dad and my nephew have type 2 and I watch them in this horrible battle and I dont want it. Watching them do shots and have lows and highs motivates me to no end.

Mom2rh

I am tall (5'10") and have mostly been slim. I gained the freshman 15 lbs in college and finally lost it in Graduate school. I kept it off for years...lost all my weight after my oldest son was born (plus the 15 creeper pounds). Then my weight started creeping up due to secondary infertility and family issues. I finally got pregnant with my second son (through IVF) and assumed I would lose the extra weight after he was born with breastfeeding like I did with my older son. Didn't take into account I was 40 and the weight didn't go away! Boo.

What finally got me motivated was our trip to Paris this spring. The women I saw there were chic, slim and totally put together. I felt frumpy and large...and decided enough was enough.

CrazyDaisysMommy

My husband and I eloped two weeks ago, and leading up to the elopement, I really started to panic about my weight. I was at my heaviest weight ever, and I felt so unattractive. The dress I bought was long and flowing, and he thought I looked like an angel. I felt like it made me look like a big moose. I ended up buying 4 more dresses at the last minute because I thought maybe something more tailored might make me look slimmer. I could barely zip any of them up and those I could zip up looked like I was wrapped in ivory sausage casing. The anxiety was becoming so destructive, and I was dumping my insecurities on my husband-to-be several times a day. He just kept reassuring me that I was beautiful and he didn't care about the weight. All of sudden I realized that I don't want to be that kind of wife. I don't want to go into the most joyful period of our lives with self-loathing and being weight obsessed. I don't want to use my husband as a crutch in coping with my low self-esteem. I want to move forward loving myself and enjoying the body I'm in. So, about a week before the wedding, I stopped obsessing. I went with the original dress, and I let myself enjoy our long weekend of hiking after our ceremony. I decided that I needed to stop seeing my body as a foreign entity that needed to be punished and decided to nurture myself by eating right and moving more. So far, we both like this approach.

Coco_Puff

When I have grandchildren, should be in a few yrs., I want to do the same things with them I did with my kids. That and the fact that if our Gov. ever does have the power to decide if I should or should not have surgery cause of my age, I would rather not be sick in the first place!

tishaloses

My wake up call came when I was looking at picture from my sons 1st birthday (Dec 2010)!!! I was sitting on the floor with him opening presents and it looked like all my rolls started at my boobs and went down. I was disgusted and upset that I ruined my son's pictures. I decided that my 2 boys deserved a mom they could be proud of!! I started dieting and exercising not really losing alot if weight. Then in May 2011 I found MFP and have since lost 30 pounds.

KBrenOH

My last doctor appointment back in early Spring.. I got on the scale and I weighed 228lbs. I have never before weighed that much in my life and I literally had a breakdown right there (thank god my husband was there).
I've known I was over weight and seriously so for awhile but that point I knew something had to change.

I had just lost my father within the last year, my job less than 6 months after that and I decided that instead of wallowing in my grief and stress over my lack of job, that I would put that energy into getting myself healthy.

40lbs [less] later, I'm feeling better, I'm LOOKING better and while I miss my father dearly; I know he'd be very proud of me. I still have another 40 or so to lose but I'm getting there, one day at a time.

I really couldn't have done it without the support of my family and friends, and everyone on MFP so thank you!

hannydee

Seeing my body fat percentage... :O

gods_gal

I'll come back later to read. I'm very interested in everyone's responses. Gotta take the boy to the dentist.

ercarnes

Went to Padre for our family vacation and I looked at the pictures when we got back home. I was in shock of how I looked. So from that day forward I have been taking better care of myself. When I get discouraged just look at those pictures and realize I want change.

juleseybaby

Copied directly from my profile...

"The couple of straws that broke the camels back... First - in August 2010 - around 280 pounds, I could not fit in a regular airplane seatbelt. I had to have an extender. SO EMBARASSING. I started losing a bit because of that. Then - earlier this year - I wanted SO BADLY to donate a kidney to a local lady that needed a transplant but I could not. WHY?? Because I was MORBIDLY OBESE according to the charts. That was it. I love to help people and I couldn't even do that because of my size."

So - I am fixing that problem - so that next time someone is in need, I can help them.

And as a bonus - I get to look better in clothing!

nsblue

For as long as I can remember I have been overweight; morbidly obese to be exact. I can remember seeing those words on a doctors report in '88, when sent to Halifax when I was pregnant for my daughter; seeing that word was a shock to me, obese was bad enough, but seeing "morbidly" attatched was an OMG. You would think that would have been a wake up call I needed, but no.

In '88 my daughter passed away from SIDS. With numerous failed attempts with diets over the years, my bad habits and emotional eating continued. The secret of how much I weighed to family and friends was kept, and at times even a secret from myself. When one doesn't fit into store bought clothes or can get on a normal scale, you build a life of hiding, avoid it, therefore the problem doesn't exist.

I ended in the hospital with a ruptured appendix that nearly killed me, (I was 445 lbs then) and subsequesnt appendectomy later in the fall of '86. It was late that fall that my brother told my mother how much I weighed, he had heard it (as well as other stories the surgeon boasted of) around the supper table at his friends house. The friend's mom was a surgical nurse in the OR where I had had my surgery. I wrote the hospital, and never heard anything back. My faith in doctors needless to say diminished.

In "92 I was rushed into emergency surgery for what they thought an incarcerated hernia, but when opened up, found a very large abcess, which remained open to heal. I was in the hospital 10 weeks... then my father passed away and I then was let out and went back to emerge daily for dressing changes. Still had a hernia. I had lost some weight in the following year...but as always gained what I had lost and then some.

In September of 2009 I reached my biggest. The exact weight I am not sure, but looking back I would have to say I was at least 550 pounds, if not more. Being laid off in January and having been in emergency the day before with pain due to the hernia; it was revealed that my gut was fully outside my abdominal wall. The doctor had told me that if I was to be rushed into emerge with a perforation, they would be able to open me up but not close me. So elective surgery was a must and he would put a referral into Dr Klassin in Halifax to see me. My health was in bad need of a turn around. I went home, got on my diabetic diet, watched my bloodsugars, took my insulin, and then after a month of not hearing anything I called the doctors office. I inquired of the referral, of which I got the run around, and in throwing a fit finally got a response that they would call Dr Klassins office for I wasn't allowed. I never heard back. and being fed up, gave up and began to eat whatever i wanted once again.

On Sept 25th 2009 my life changed. A wake up call on health issues that will forever be burned in my memory. My husband of 25 years was diagnosed with High Blood pressure, High Cholesterol, Diabetes and Penile cancer. He had an immediate amputation. Lymphadenectomy followed, he then had a heart attack, went into cardiac arrest, paddled back, heart cath/stent put in, genital edema, subsequent surgury for what they thought a perineal abcess but found to be a reoccurring tumor of the kind before and had mestates in the lungs. Curtis passed away July 14th, 2010.

I made a website http://penile-cancer.ca/ in hopes to help others from what we learned and experienced.

In helping Curtis get his diet on track, diabetes & cholesterol controlled, I too hopped on the band wagon and have been on ever since. Eventhough I have had my moments, they are short lived for I am determined to keep this path I am on to a heathier me. In September '09 I was on 90 units of insulin in the am and 80 units at night. Today I am on 7 units in the am and 2 units at night, and am fitting into clothes I can buy in a store! I started seeing the doctor regularly the end of July, in which she got me into see Doctor Dzierzanowski who referred me to Dr Ellsmere. Finally on Tuesday Feb 22nd I received a call to see Dr.Ellsmere on Feb 24th.
Dr. Ellsmere said he would put me on the Weight Loss Program, and once 30 pounds down (was weighed in at 430lbs) I would have the first surgery so to lose weight. Then once down to 250 I would have a hernia repair. He said in two years I will have this fixed. I was to get the website url and read all I could, and they would call me with the date.

Well, I went home and researched and fine-tuned what I was doing. Went on a 1200 cal diet and started walking.

Not until June did I get a date for the Weight Loss Program Info session. I weighed in with them at 369.2lbs They had a list of "do's" to be done before having my one on one with them, which I have completed, but with they way their program works... I wait on them.

So in November I will see them.. 2 months away. I could very well be down to the 250 lbd Dr Ellsmere wanted to repair my hernia. Guess I am a little ahead of them LOL.

I started this Journey to get healthy and that is the course I will remain on. Waiting on others will not slow me down or change my focus, I will keep doing what I am doing and whatever happens happens.... Living life... healthy.

Oplesandbanonos

Well, my inspiration to lose weight and start eating a little healthier and being more active happened in two parts. One of them is because someone asked me when I was due... as in they thought i was pregnant, which i am most definitely not. I was so upset that someone would look at me and think that, i decided i didn't want that to ever happen again.

The other one is when my friend posted a picture of me on facebook that I thought made me look HUGE. (it's on my profile now, in the white shirt with the stupid mask on) When I said to my boyfriend "oh my god, look at this horrible picture she posted. I look so pudgy!" he replied with "no babe, thats basically what you really look like"... to him it wasn't pudgy, but to me it was way bigger than i see myself in the mirror.

I realized that i needed to make a change. I've been on MFP for about 3 or 4 weeks now, have done good tracking my calories and excersize. I haven't lost much weight, and haven't seen the scale move in about 10 days, but i'm feeling more fit and fitting into my clothes better. Thats all i really care about.

MinnieInMaine

I really need to get one of my "before" pictures up here because seeing the pictures from two trips I went on with college friends in 2009 is what finally made me say it's time to do this once and for all!!

I'd been obese for about half of my life when I started my journey in Jan 2010 (started gaining at age 18, was about to turn 36) but it never really bothered me too much. I had a lot of self confidence, met a great guy who loves me regardless of how I look, and friends and family who think the same way. It took that "aha" moment with the picture for me to fess up to myself that I wasn't so ok with my weight anymore. It was bringing me down and aging me and my bad eating habits were a crutch that I needed to do away with.

I also knew that I'd relied too much on the support of others in the past (or used lack of support as an excuse) and I had to be prepared to do this for myself, for life this time around. I have plenty of support from hubby, friends and family and while I appreciate their praises and gain a lot from it, it's not my motivation - I keep doing it for myself.

escadachic

What motivated me, was having all these lovely clothes I didn't fit, that cost me a lot of money and being poor and not being able to affordable more. Plus, I was really depressed, and it was a huge amount related to my body image and how much weight I'd gained.

dovesgate

1. Not being able to find clothes that fit in even the plus size section of mall stores. Last time I went to go find a couple pairs of jeans since mine were so old they were ripping I was a huge sobbing mess in the mall parking lot because I was so depressed. Yet, I'm down to a 14-16 at Lane Bryant so if I don't lose more I won't be able to find any clothes at all to wear.

2. My husband started making an effort to lose weight to get his blood pressure back in check. He isn't even 30 yet. I figure if he's having problems yet he's younger than me, I have a good chance of developing problems too. Plus, it doesn't hurt to start looking better if he's going to get all "Sexy Man" on me.

3. It hurts to carry around alot of weight. My knees and back are fatigued by merely standing. I'm tired of being fatigued and aching just from standing around.

4. My parents are taking my siblings and I and our spouses to the Caribbean in a little over a year. I want to wear cute clothes(maybe even a bikini!), be able to take cute pictures, and be physically fit enough to do all the really fun looking things like parasailing or hiking through historical areas.

5. My oldest daughter is starting to gain weight. I'm hoping it is just that she is getting ready to sprout up another few inches but I fear it is the start of a weight problem for her. I do not want her to struggle with her weight and fitness like I have. Hopefully if I can do this I will be a good inspiration for her.

ColoradoRobin

Wow nsblue, that's a helluva story. Thanks for sharing that. It's really inspiring. You've accomplished so much. My sympathies for the loss of your husband. I hope your consultation with the doctors goes well and you can get that hernia repaired. Good luck.

xginanax

I LOVE THIS TOPIC! for me its just suddenly not being happy with how i look, im sick of making excuses then wishing i did something about it earlier thats why now im taking the risk to try again and stick to it this time!

razzyjazz

I didn't want my kids getting teased that there mom was fat. Kids can be so cruel and I remeber being teased when I was younger about my dad being overweight.
Also, I am turning 30 this month and I just decided two weeks ago enough is enough I do not want to be fat in my 30's.