What motivated you?

Jessimaaka

Before getting pregnant, I quit smoking (as I didn't want to smoke while pregnant) and gained 20lbs. While pregnant I gained 50lbs. I've lost 47 so far, so just starting to work on the quitting smoking weight soon But my goal weight is 10-15lbs below that based on pictures I've seen from that time - I don't feel that big but apparently I looked it.

Hanfordrose

My surgeon said, "Lose 70 pounds, and I can do the surgery to replace both of your knees. You won't feel that pain again."

Like MSP sister in an earlier post said, my surgeon knows any knee replacement will probably fail within 5 years, if I don't first lose a considerable amount of weight. He won't even consider me for surgery at my current weight.

My life is spent in a wheelchair or desk chair, because degerative arithritis has destroyed my knees. If I stand to use my walker, it is for just a few painful steps.

I want my freedom back. I want to stand without support again, to walk with my hubbie on the beach, to ride a bike, to drive my car or even to run, if I feel like it.

keem88

i was at my highest weight (127), for me it was too much to handle and i felt so gross. it had to go, and i feel like crap when i eat crap food. i still do but not as often so i feel somewhat better (i still feel like crap but for other reasons, less crappy is always an improvement)

KathyPBiles

Mine was getting winded at the simplest of things - such as showering.

TrailRunner61

I'm short, only 5ft 3, so when I hit 179, I knew I had to do SOMETHING because I was NEVER going to go into the 180's. I also had realized I wore a maternity suit the entire summer. :mad:
ETA more. lol
I'm only 51 but had a small stroke in Nov 2011 that luckily, I recovered from, my blood pressure had skyrocketed to 190/109, was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea, and my older sister had recently had 3 strokes at the age of 53 and is now permanently disabled. I was sick of bending over and having food come up in my throat every time I tied my shoes, sick of buying size 16 jeans that were too tight, sick of being out of breath if I walked 10 feet, worried about not being able to put my seatbelt under my gut, my knee was killing me, I was sweating constantly, didn't want to keep taking pills and with fibromyalgia on top of it all, I was literally miserable and did not want to become dependant on drugs.
-40lbs and I feel like a totally different person.

PonyTailedLoser

Fat comments. *sigh*

ladyinredflush

my bf told me I needed to. He was right, so I did! I am thankful that he gives me tough love. I am much happier and healthier now.

Crankstr

being tired when I reached the top of the stairs.

and seeing these:

zagrath769

(1) Being able to wear my wedding ring again. I haven't been able to for years because my fingers have gotten too chubby.
(2) Being more comfortable sitting in a booth at a restaurant.
(3) Being able to put on my seatbelt in my car. Being able to move closer to the steering wheel so my feet reach better.
(4) Wearing what I want, not just what fits.
(5) Being able to breathe better.

Well, that's my short list. haha! Best of luck to you!

jball63

Hi I hope this type of question is ok here.

Im interested in knowing from both newbies and longterms users... What exactly motivated you to start losing weight/living healthier? What was that 'click' moment? And was/is your goal a permanent change or did you decide on a diet instead?

***

Personally something like clicked in me... For days I kept giving in to my sugar cravings thinking "Ill start eating healthier tomorrow"... Then one day I was sick of it. So I decided on a permanent change. Give up sugar and eat healthy stuff, avoid processed food.

My true motivation however, comes from me wanting to stay young for as much as possible. You'd think weight loss would be my main concern, but it isn't. Otherwise I'd probably have done something about it long time ago.

1. Getting to fat for my age
2. Seeing fat pictures of myself
3. Started working out and tracking my macros

RitaSantoss

My "click" moment was when I said to myself enough is enough! I was tired of feeling embarassed and ashamed of my body. And now 6 months after I started that journey, and being 7 kgs lighter, I acknowledged that besides wanting a fit body I also want to be healthier. So having the chance to eat healthier and lighter meals actually makes me proud in those two senses: taking care of my health and toning my body

Railr0aderTony

For me it was a year ago last fall, after my father passed away. I was at the funeral and everything seemed fine. I got home and one of my nieces posted some pictures from the reception on facebook. I was looking through them and it hit me, "OH HELL NO" that is not me, I am not that big. Well i was that big. I knew i was big, had not been able to use a normal scale in a long time. Well I was over 370 without a doubt, I started losing some before joining MFP, It was not until I ordered the cattle sized scale at home that i was able to find out where my starting point was

TrailRunner61

For me it was a year ago last fall, after my father passed away. I was at the funeral and everything seemed fine. I got home and one of my nieces posted some pictures from the reception on facebook. I was looking through them and it hit me, "OH HELL NO" that is not me, I am not that big. Well i was that big. I knew i was big, had not been able to use a normal scale in a long time. Well I was over 370 without a doubt, I started losing some before joining MFP, It was not until I ordered the cattle sized scale at home that i was able to find out where my starting point was

Wow, you've done amazing. I'm proud of you!

chelbel89

I tried this a while back, mostly for vain reasons. A couple weeks ago I went to my gyno for a yearly check up. One week later I was diagnosed with PCOS via an ultrasound. She said conceiving and carrying babies to term would be extremely difficult if I do not get my weight under control. The first day I went to the doc I was 176, the second time 173, and now I am 164. I am 5'2 so this is still not good! All of this from counting carbs like crazy. I have to go low carb because of insulin resistance that causes my PCOS. I have finally found the thing that will help me stay on track- my desire to have a family.

dvisser1

I had to find rock bottom first, then everything has seemed easier since then. Still, it took two moments in my life to make this really happen. I had always been very active and athletic and stayed relatively fit despite eating poorly. A few years of increased inactivity, injuries, way to much time at work and a really awful diet led me to a point where I was no longer physically capable of doing the athletic things I used to do. Accepting that I had self destructed and was no longer physically capable, that was my rock bottom. March-April 2011, at 35, I was at least 300 lbs (probably 10+ lbs over but never got near a scale) and in the worst condition of my life. Single, fat, felt isolated from friends who are all very athletic and off doing their athletic pursuits.....change had to happen.

So I adopted a very active dog, got out of the office and started walking a lot. I still didn't do anything with my diet, but lost some weight and was a lot happier having furry face and wagging tail to come home to. I got down to about 275 by early Fall 2011 and held there through the end of the year. Being increasingly active but not losing weight was frustrating. Mid January 2012 a friend told me about MFP and how it had been helping him lose some weight, so I signed up and weighed myself at 278 lbs.

Monday January 23, 2012. After a weekend of mistreating my body with wings and beer while watching football and sitting on my butt, I decided to weigh myself that morning. Except for that Sunday I thought I had been good all that week. Apparently not.

281 lbs. Standing in the bathroom blurry eyed and bare @ss naked, I just stared at that number on the scale. I can't describe the range of emotions that hit me in the blink of an eye.....anger, depression, anxiety.... Thankfully anger at myself was the main thing I felt. There were no excuses, not even clothes to hide behind. Before I was dressed I had made the decision that I was all in and going to do whatever it took to earn my health back. MFP has been a key tool in doing so.

Why did 281 give me that *click* moment when 295 a year earlier didn't? I don't know. Thankfully it did and I embraced that moment and have never forgotten it.

A year later I'm 70 lbs lighter and pretty much in the best shape of my life at 37. I set challenging but attainable goals for myself and raise the bar every time I reach my goal. I'm still single and sometimes still think of myself as the fat guy with no confidence that I was, but in some ways the mind is a lot slower to change than the body.

SoozeE512

I had the option to go to a health screening at my office a year ago. We were going to be paid to go so it was easy money. We had the option to do a free coaching program in the months to follow but I didn't care about that, I just wanted the money for the screening. Then I got my results and realized I was borderline pre-diabetic. I knew I had a sweet tooth and that I'd gained a lot of weight since working, but I couldn't imagine getting to the point of diabetes.

That was the moment I decided I needed to change a lot of bad habits and not just temporarily, because I NEVER want to get diabetes. I was always a healthy weight up until my 20s when my weight started going up and down, and I want to be able to keep it down and maintain a healthy weight.

I used the coaching program at work to find ways to fight stress, to work on increasing the amount of vegetables I was eating, to drink less sugary beverages, and to start eating fruits again on a more regular basis. The program also included a step-challenge so we were given pedometers and told to aim for 10,000 steps a day.

About two weeks after the health screening is when I joined this site, and with help from both MFP and the fitness program at work, I've made some major changes in my eating habits. I just need to work on keeping up with the exercise too!

PaulFromEssex

Being rejected by a lady friend .... :brokenheart:

That's worked for me in the past too! Heartbreak is a great appetite supressent.But you'll show her!

She rejected me for being too skinny @ 160lbs! Just want to get into the best shape of my life. That will show her!! :laugh:

kcrxgirl

I had 2 motivaters:
1) Seeing the pictures of myself at my daughter's 1st birthday party. My arms were so jiggly and I had a full on spare tire. Gross!
2) My dad having a heart cath and 3 stents. I knew he needed to take care of himself because I still need him around for a long time and I knew I needed to get healthy before I had any major health concerns.

badmojo108

Leaving my Fiance, is what really started the ball rolling for me.

I have always been slightly overweight, but I was pretty active so I was a still a highly functional fat guy. Over the years with my ex I ballooned up to 245. The majority of it had to do with my diet, while I did all the cooking but my ex HATED veggies and I do mean hated. If it was green she wouldn't eat it, She didn't want to see them on her plate, and if I ever got her try even a bite or even just cooked with it, it would always inevitably cause her IBS to act up.

I never could bring myself to make two dinners every night so I ate what she ate. So for a long time my diet consisted of refined carbs (white rice/pasta she also refused to eat brown rice or whole grain pasta), meats primarily (beef and pork no fish or chicken) and cheese and butter. The only time I ate anything green was when we went out, and it showed in my waistline.

In addition, my activity went down, which was the only thing that really kept me from being morbidly obese in the first place. She never really enjoyed the sports I liked and I did enjoy spending time with her, so spending a sat. playing tennis instead of hanging out with her was a choice I rarely made. I slowly changed my lifestyle from one of a average eater who stayed active to a very unhealthy eater who didn't do anything.

Just to be clear, I in no way blame my ex for all the weight I put on. It was the choices I made on daily basis that made me fat, but in certain situations it's a lot easier to make better choices.

When I left her and moved to Texas, it was fresh start. From planning a wedding to single is a pretty large lifestyle change already so why not change everything I didn't like about my former life? I got back to cooking a much more balanced diet (I love veggies) and got myself down to 208 before I found this site and started counting calories. I got back into my old activities and started to look for new ones to keep myself busy. Down to 186 now, still a bit more to go, but it's a long term process and I feel good about the lifestyle changes I have made.

ohtobe140

On November 22nd of last year, I got my blood test results back with cholesterol at 215; fatty liver; fasting blood sugar at 95 and anemic. My doctor, who I trust and have known almost my entire adult life, looked at me and said he was going to put me on cholesterol pills and that I was pre-diabetic and it was time to really start managing my health. Both of my maternal grandparents were diabetic, my grandfather being a double leg amputee and a kidney transplant recipient as a diabetic (he died) and my grandmother a diabetic and heart disease (she died) they both died of complications from their diseases, not old age. I was so angry at them when I was younger for not taking care of themselves for not choosing to live on earth with me but choosing to get to an early grave with their lifestyle choices. It was "Where the Rubber Meets the Road" time. I was faced with having to live the life I wanted them to live. I changed that day. I have lost 20 lbs since Thanksgiving and I getting my labs done on Friday of this week. I hope there is an improvement. My resting blood pressure has gone from 135/90 to 121/80 and my resting pulse has gone for 90 to about 80 so there is improvement. I started doing Turbo Fire on January 1st and it has changed my life. I love it more than any other workout program I have ever done and it ties for long distance running, my goal is to become a runner again, but I still have weight to lose before my knees can take the pounding. I gave up wheat and most of the sugar I was eating. I feel better than I have in more than a decade and this time it's how I live it's not my diet, it's my life.