The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back....

Kennkaru

What made you decide to make this lifestyle change?
I'm sure some of you have a specific moment in mind when you knew you had to do this.

For me, it was stepping on the scale for the first time in half a year and realizing that I had somehow managed to gain 20 pounds since the last time I checked. I knew that if I could gain that much that fast by keeping the habits I had developed...it was only going to get worse unless I made a change. I also realized that part of the reason I hadn't stepped on the scale in half a year was because I was scared of what I might see. It seems ridiculous in retrospect, but I don't ever want to be scared of the unknown like that.

How about you guys?

MrEmoticon

Going to the beach. And everyone took off their shirt but me. Yea, not having that nonsense.

TheAncientMariner

Getting winded playing flag football with the kids. I wasn't required to run because I was the quarterback. I was getting winded just standing there... It's been almost a year since then and I've been active ever since.

ryno0618

Got tired of looking at myself the way I looked in pictures was not how I visualized myself. I knew that the steady weight gain was because of lack of exercise and poor eating habits....i knew it would only get worse. So I stepped up to the plate and committed to the change...now its a slow and steady progression of bettering myself compared to the opposite.

theartichoke

A full week of no longer being able to control my blood sugar levels with diet. The last day my level spiked at 240, I was barely able to form a complete thought, my speech was slurred and I couldn't stay awake. That was the end.

melbot24

I went on a really bad date with someone I met online. It wasn't the date that made me want to change, it was what my friend said afterward that did it.

Me: "Oh it was so bad, I just wanted to run away"
Him: "That's funny...because we both know you can't run"
Me: "%H:FHGERV935u7!@!(*%@&$@#!!~"

Yeah, a little more than a year ago I set out on a mission to prove him wrong...
Although I started for all the wrong reasons it became so much more than that.

jlawson113

well I'm taller, 6 ft 2 so I have always been able to "hide" my extra weight well. I weighed about 160 when I graduated high school. then over the course of the next several years my weight ballooned up to 200, 240, 260 and ultimately 285. at this point my Dr put me on blood pressure meds and said I had hypertension and was at risk for all kinds of heart disease.

my Grandad died in his early 60's from a heart attack. my dad had quadruple bypass heart surgery 12 years ago and is thankfully still alive. I got mad at myself like wtf am I doing. I was eating out all the time. smoking, drinking, never exercising.

I began making changes about 2 years ago. This morning I weighed in at 224. I'm by no means the picture of health lol. but I remind myself to just slowly substitute out the bad habits for healthy ones. I've had great success but at times it's so easy to feel discouraged. I promised myself I will never revert back to my old ways. I guess to answer your question, I had enough of being destructive

cardiokitten

Stepped on the scale for the first time in a year or so... yuck yuck yuck.

Mell00546

I told myself for awhile before joining MFP that I was going to eat better, get healthy, and lose weight. So of course my boyfriend knew "I was trying" but nothing was happening. Not going to the gym or eating right.

While driving to my parents house for Sunday dinner (do this every Sunday) he asked me if I would start wearing sexy clothes again once I lost weight. I was pissed and sad. Mostly at myself. I was literally 20lbs lighter when we started dating.

I found MFP and have lost 10lbs so far. 10 more till Im back at the weight I was when we started dating. And 40 more till Im at goal.

Stompp

When I realized that my fat had fat... Okay, I saw a picture of me from a work party, and i FILLED the shirt I was wearing, and it was from a lower angle, and I looked HUGE... that was it, 80 pounds ago

Goofy076

for me it took me losing my dad to the 9/11 cancer and then a few years later having a breast cancer scare my self on top of that testing positive for the breast cancer gene because of my family history... that was it for me.. I have this beyond amazing hubby of 13 years, we have two beautiful angels that are 7 and 2 and I knew I had to stop screwing around and put the cheeseburgers down and start on the salads so to speak

CallMeCupcakeDammit

I had a lot of straws. Finding out I had exceeded 300 lbs, having to squeeze myself into a booth on a date, not being able to run 2 houses past my house without getting out of breath, or walk up a small hill. Looking at my before pics, I can't understand how I didn't see that I had gotten that big, regardless of what the scale said. Never again.

hauer01

So, I am sitting in my office one day. Dilligently working at my desk job (as usual). Our office is one of those very quiet, professional offices. No music in the background or anything like that. An older client comes in and couldn't remember my name. He was hard of hearing so he talked MUCH louder than he needed to, you all know what I am talking about.

So to ask for me, since he didn't remember my name, he starts yelling that he "wants to talk to the really fat girl in the office. You know the one! She is really, really fat!"

I knew that I could have been doing more to improve my health and my looks, but that was a real eye opener for me. My clients describe me as the "really, really fat one!"

TIme for a change...

_Bob_

I was hiking with my family and got winded and sore really fast and had to turn back earlier than I ever had. I made some changes then, and I had a doctor that gave me some pills that helped but I didn't make the changes I needed to until I hit my rock bottom.

I had no energy and was extremely depressed and had just lost my job. my wife informed me that she wanted a divorce and I got the phone call that my mom was dieing and only had a few weeks. After My mom died I realized that the only time in my life that I was really happy was when I was a gym rat and ran a lot so I started walking a lot and hitting the gym again. the rest is history and I'm on my way to becoming the animal that I used to be. hitting the gym then hitting the road and then hitting the hot tub :drinker:

FrostyFour

Seeing myself on video after my second child was born. The baby is irrelevant but seeing myself on video, yeah, that got me.

goldengirl28

Actually it was a very small thing, i'd booked my holidays and was kinda consoling myself about my weight, my internal braining rationalising everything
" i'm not that big, i've been bigger........... i'll buy new clothes and i'll look great,............ i'm not a sun worshipper so i don't need to sit out in my cossie" etc etc etc.


And then i clocked that i had to sit down for 11 hours on the plane and realised that if my spare tire hurt against my bar underwire sitting down for an hour, what would i fell like sitting down for 11 hours!!!!!!!!!!! light bulb moment.

I started on MFP later that afternoon

Aquafly

Besides missing some events due to embarrassment at my size, I'd say when I went to my sister's 50th birthday party. It was at a restaurant. Everyone else in my family is in the "normal" weight range.

The restaurant had a huge buffet table for seating, and they had folding chairs for us. I sat in my chair and felt it bend. It felt like my chair was going to break I was mortified. No one noticed. The chair was fine, but it made me feel so sad.

I just started back yesterday. Today I walked 25 minutes at a brisk pace. I used a road that was like a roller coaster with many steep hills. I came back winded, sweating (even though it was only 55 degrees outside), but I did it. I did it......

PHS7

We have a little ongoing thing at work for the last several years. We all weigh-in every quarter and list mini-goals to hit by the next weigh-in. It's always a cause for good-natured ribbing and just getting on each other.

So, I get on the scale on January 2 and it read 271. That just pissed me off because that's almost 20 pounds heavier than I've ever been. So, I started eating right the next day, joined a gym on February 1 and started back on MFP a little after that. I'm down 36 pounds so far and am looking for 25-35 more.

meggawatt

Went in for a check up at the doc and when I got on the scale I couldn't believe how high I'd let my weight get.

In my case some of the weight gain was adjustment due to all the medication I'd been on, surgery recoveries, lack of ability to be physical and overall mental health (wasn't good) but I'd gained 25 lbs without even realizing it. Don't get me wrong, I knew my pants were getting tight, but getting on that scale was a huge eyeopener for me and I knew I needed to do something as soon as I got a clean bill of health.

I found MFP 2 days later and have been changing my lifestyle since. The weight is slowly coming off and I'm feeling better in all aspects of my life, eventually I hope to be back to my pre-surgical nightmare weight.

hookandy

Always been "large" and agreed to take part in the annual weight loss challenge at work. Jumped on the scales with no real intention of doing much more than not eating the cakes and chocolate in the office for a few weeks. The scales weighed in lbs, but being in the UK the number menat nothing. Converted to stones and pounds and nearly fell off my chair, could I really be 21st?

So then thought I had bettter do something about it.

Flyer615

I always tried to lose weight due, primarily to vanity. I just really wanted to see a better-looking person in the mirror. That, however, was not what "flipped" that switch in my head to actively apply myself. I also told myself that I needed to be healthier. No success. It wasn't until I got some blood work results and the doctor had the diabetes talk with me that I finally buckled down and made "real" changes. As my user name implies, I fly. Being diabetic is a disqualifier for a pilot's license. Now, my bad habits were about to take away something that I love to do.

Of course, getting the sugar inline appealed to my vain side, as well.

roachhaley

Seeing pictures of myself from summer and realising I looked middle aged because I was overweight.

That summer I was in Taiwan and was about 60 pounds heavier than the average girl there. That hadn't bothered me the past couple times I had been there, but I was smaller then.

Pipsg1rl

I've always been and off and on "workout" type. I love to lift weights and it makes me feel sexy. Hell, I always feel sexy. My husband loves me and makes me feel beautiful.
I'd seen the TF video commercials and decided to order. I also got ChaLean Extreme.
Who needs pics? Who needs measurements? I'd lost 10lbs and knew that being 5'2 and UNDER 150 was "ok." Size 9/10 pants AREN'T really that big...right?
If I wear this shirt under this shirt my tummy doesn't look as poochy...
I did a few days of TF and hated it. Then I decided I would do ChaLean. AND i thought, "may as well do pictures."

HOLY COW! that was a slap in the face. In my head I was as sexy as I had ever been. But in the pictures? That couldn't be me.

So that day, Feb 16 (2012) was the day I decided never again.

My cousin is on MFP and I decided maybe it could help me too.

I know I'm not finished, but I definately feel even sexier now than ever. Look at these biceps!!

belindaroger

Wow, I guess it was going to the doc not feeling good, getting the test back that said i was prediabetic.

ColleenAtherton

Back in March of this year my 33 y.o. husband had his annual physical. His blood pressure at that appointment was 139/80 (which is high-normal and considered prehypertensive). His doctor told him he needed to lose 10 lbs, quit smoking and drinking so much Dr. Pepper and get his blood pressure under control or else they'd have to put him on meds in a year or less. My own personal family has a strong history of diabetes and high blood pressure as well, so I did what I do best and looked for ways to lower his BP w/o meds. I found the DASH (Dietary Approaches for Stopping Hypertension) diet and we hopped on the wagon as a family.

Initially we made the lifestyle change for my husband's health (who coincidentally isn't participating in the change!). But after the first few weeks (and a hard fall off the wagon) I realized how much better I felt with the changes. I wasn't as cranky or grouchy with the kids, I had more energy...I felt alive again. I started exercising 2 weeks ago on a whim and haven't stopped since.

kzivic

For me, it was a few things that happened all about the same time:

1. We got our engagement photos back that were taken a few months ago. I looked at the photos and all I could focus on was how fat I looked in the pictures and not how happy my fiance and I were. I do not want that same feeling when I look at our wedding pictures.

2. I read an article about a study that was done that links a mother's obesity to higher rates of autism in children. Scared the crap out of me, as we're planning to have kids not long after the wedding.

3. Got the call that my wedding dress will be in in 2 weeks- that was the final kick in the butt to get moving and make a change!

MassiveDelta

I realized after I finally figured out that I had stopped feeling any emotion and I was no longer living for myself. I was living for someone else. I knew then that on the inside I was broken and I had to fix that. The only way to fix what was broken on the inside was to find who I was...or maybe who I never was able to become. When I was happy with the outside I knew that eventually I could find myself on the inside.

MassiveDelta

Did I kill this thread?

MrsAlcalde

Not being able to slip on my size 8 jeans, never being able to slip into a bikini, looking at old pics and regretting how much I actually let myself go

Vince_1964

I actually had a couple of straws.
1) Last time I went to the doctor, she said my weight was continuing to creep up and I needed to do something about it.
2) Taking a cruise mext month for our 25th wedding anniversary - I want to at least be able to wear my swim suit without being completely embarassed to take off my shirt
3) I looked at recent pictures of myself and I completely filling out the shirts I was wearing, and I looked HUGE... that was it, now down 20 lbs - 1/3 of my goal!!

SpazzyMal

I was unhappy. Unhappy for a lot of reasons - people in life letting me down and so forth. But then I realized I can't rely on other things or people for my core happiness. I have to be happy with myself, first. Everything else should be icing on the cake, so to speak. But happiness with myself is the true secret to being really happy, deep down. And I knew that the root of most of the negative feelings I have about myself start with my weight.

I decided that I want to be happy.