What Made You Really Start?

lindaamarie

I went to visit my family in El Paso and my nana called me lazy. She's a very blunt woman and it pissed me off so I hit the gym and the next time I visited her I was 30 pounds lighter and didn't go a day without going to the gym while there even though I got lost everytime. I still go to the gym to prove her wrong but also because I love the gym now.

Oishii

I bought a new pair of jeans and, although they fit round my waist, they bagged round the hips. My waist was two sizes bigger than my hips, and it finally occurred to me that, if I didn't lose weight, I could never fit well in jeans again. I had also been asked if I was pregnant when I wasn't, but the jeans were the final straw.

If weight around the waist is the biggest danger, I just have to accept that being 'average', ie overweight, is not a healthy option for me.

lunaliberi

Oh God...so many things.
I've been heavy almost my entire life. Due to some childhood events, I went from a skinny six year old, to a very heavy seven year old, and it just kept getting worse from there.
By the time I was twelve, we had to go three towns over just to find pants that fit. I was ridiculed and made fun of constantly. It brought on a lot of self loathing that carried into my teens.
I started dating someone when I was fifteen, we were together for just shy of five years, engaged and living together for one of of those. At the time, I was a little over 250lbs, and very self conscious.
My fiance at the time really wanted me to lose weight, but every time I lost three, four pounds, he would say "Come back when you lose ten. That's nothing." No matter how hard I worked, it wasn't hard enough, and eventually, I gave up.
He moved to Florida, I was suppose to follow him down a few months later after he got settled. While he was down there, I worked on losing weight to surprise him. I lost fifteen pounds in a little under four months.
He broke up with me after I picked him up from the airport, telling me I would never change, and even made a comment that I looked like I had lost no weight at all.




For months afterwards, I gave up again. I was filled with so much self loathing, it was a chore just dragging myself out of bed in the morning...then it hit me one morning when I was looking in the mirror.
I was stubborn, I could do anything I set my mind on,and in that moment, it was to prove him wrong. A couple months later, after I had lost another five pounds, I met someone.
They refused to give up on me, and instead of negative motivation, he became my biggest cheerleader and supporter. We started dating a couple months ago, and since than I've lost another 12 pounds...


I have a lot of reasons to be doing this. To prove to myself that I can, to stand strong in front of the people who said I couldn't do it, for my boyfriend to show him how much his support has meant for me, so I can be healthy for my future children, among many others...

To make a long story short. Never tell me I can't do something, because I will do my damnedest to prove you wrong, and enjoy every second of it.

Jerrypeoples

good for you luna...

i understand people trying different tactics to try to get you motivated. i never really was pressured all that much but from time to time my mom would ask if i was doing anything to lose weight and i would just wave her off. my friends never gave me crap about my weight in highschool. i too was a skinny twerp when i was a kid then around 9th grade i got a little heavier and more so and more so.

my early 20s i was where i am now, just about 220-230. i can say i gained weight cause my father moved away, that a friend played a prank to get me to ask the captain of the cheerleaders to the prom and a host of others things i could put the blame on and no one would question it. except for me. there is one common element through all those things, me.

erickita89

I never had the time before to care for myself in the proper manner. For as long as i can remember my diet consisted of all takeout (McDonalds being my favorite) because both my parents worked full time and never had the time to cook. I also just never had the time to cook (or learn how to cook for that matter) because I was working and was a full-time student.

My breaking point was about a week after i graduated college: i stepped on the scale randomly and realized i weighed 205 lbs. I was so shocked that i ripped off my jeans my boots and my sweater... 202lbs when I though i was 185.

rosichick

What made me start? Coming dangerously close to being 200 pounds. Ehhh!! I am done weighing that much so i started and so far i went from weighing 196 to weighing 180 NOW. My goal for this month is to weigh 170

MyChocolateDiet

As stupid as it may sound, Facebook made me start. I cringed at the thought of logging into my Facebook and seeing my friends had tagged me in pictures from the night before. I hated the way I looked, and taking pictures. ugh. Eventually it got to the point where I just avoided going out with my friends all together. I knew someone was going to haul a camera along with them and start snapping pictures. I started to isolate myself and began avoiding all types of social situations because I hated everything about me. I became tired of feeling depressed and unhappy with my body and decided I had the power to turn my life around. Since then I have been super dedicated to eating healthy and working out. I'm down about 35 pounds and I have a long ways to go but I couldn't be happier.

this does not sound stupid at all. I had long ago decided to do this but just a matter of when and this January 1st was the plan. Something else really important came up that I'd forgotten was on the horizon and I almost postponed this but two things happened. While creeping the facebooks of everyone I know (i don't have an account so official creeper, refuse to get facebook, it's the devil)....so anyway while checking out my sisters cute albums of her kids stumbled upon an album that had my kid on the title as their visit to our house. Was mortified to find not just our cute kids, but also a picture of me looking terrible after swimming hair a mess, changed into cut offs and a sweatshirt helping the kids make s'mores, rushed hair into a bun, to get the s'mores on the go already for the impatient kids, it was their day. It was the most unflattering picture of myself Ive ever seen and my own sister chose to put it up for the world to see it marred the memory of that awesome day with our kids for me. You must understand that she chose this pic when having previously been in pageants and theater and currently a make up seller there are PLENTY of nice pic's of me to be shared, why this one? I realized my own image can be used against me and by anyone even someone I'd never expect to do that. It's a weapon. Then i realized what anyone would say if i complained. They would say that that was the real me and why is it her fault for showing it (ppl tend to side with her). Unnacceptable, as she was in none of the photo's and is even bigger than me, so rather than complain to anyone I sent her a nasty email defending myself short but sweet no bad words and demanding she remove it. 2nd thing that happened is when I decided to be the bigger man (pun not intended) and go to her kid's birthday party one of her friends was UNRECOGNIZABLE she had lost so much weight. That was it! I decided come hell or highwater I was sticking to my January 1 2013 through January 1 2014 plan. So far so good.

sprintto50

I will be 50 in the fall and I have come far enough with improving the inner me. Time to get the outer me in line.

KristineW78

I saw a pic of myself and was VERY unhappy with it. I didn't realize what I looked like! I also had little energy and was depressed.
I was just under 150 but for my frame (small) and my "normal" weight expectation, that was a lot, to me - esp since most of it was tummy... Of course! Since then I am now at 142.8 and although that doesn't seem like a lot, with the eating right (including supplements) and exercise and all that water I feel AMAZING! I have an abundance of energy and NO depression.

SafioraLinnea

Seeing myself in my nursing uniform in the recording of a practice lab for nursing school. I looked like a baby beluga whale. Everyone was critiquing what happened in the lab, but all I could see was my fat self nearly breaking out of the seams of my extra large sized uniform. I felt disgusting, and sobbed during the review process. Everyone thought i was embarrassed by a tiny mistake I made. I wasn't, I was shocked that I'd let myself get that fat. That was my first realization that it was MY actions (and lack of actions) that caused me to look the way I do.

tayadea

This may be a little TMI, but my husband and I were video recording us "having fun"... I watched it and wanted to puke. I have NEVER felt that way about myself my whole life. =/
So, here we go. I'm 20 and almost 8 months postpartum, and I've almost gained more than my entire pregnancy weight back! ='(

Jerrypeoples

This may be a little TMI, but my husband and I were video recording us "having fun"... I watched it and wanted to puke. I have NEVER felt that way about myself my whole life. =/
So, here we go. I'm 20 and almost 8 months postpartum, and I've almost gained more than my entire pregnancy weight back! ='(

its not TMI, but before i say it is puke worthy ill need to see it

Lavon_G

My story isn't as interesting as any of yours, but it started when I was shopping for a formal dress to wear on a cruise. I found one that was on clearance for $10.00. I bought it and told myself I WILL wear that dress. And so I did. It was a 6 or 8 and I was a size 10. I think I even had to have it taken up a bit. Great feeling!

Now, I maintain to stay healthy for myself and my family.

drummer_lady

I had known for quite awhile that my weight had gotten out of hand and made a few half-hearted attempts to get it under control. However, it wasn't until my friend posted a bunch of pictures of me on Facebook from an outing a few weeks before that I truly saw just how much I had let myself go. I couldn't believe the huge person in those pictures was really me. I got on MFP that same day and started logging and taking things much more seriously.

emilyc85

I had hit 210 pounds, that is 80 pounds over what I should weigh at 5'6", and my cholesterol was 230-something. I was 26 years old (27 now), and I couldn't see my toes or walk a flight of stairs without getting winded. Then the stretch marks on my hips started getting worse, so on top of all this other stuff, I have bright red, vicious lines running up my hips And on top of it all, my sister is getting married in may, I am her maid of honor. I went to get sized..... and.... I was told my total. $50 MORE than the other girls had to pay, and I was PISSED! I inquired as to why. To get a size 22 dress...with all that extra fabric.... was going to cost extra.

I cried for two f*cking days :(:(

Then I realized, it was time for a change

cfoxdbq

I guess it would be that summer is almost here and I have been working on this goal for a year and only completed half of it so now I'm going to push myself and finish it. I'm ready for the first summer I can look toned and skinny and walk around in a bikini all day and not feel ugly and fat.

nuemmedigg

Read through all of you MFP-ers, and can relate to the emotions of many of you.

A year ago I couldn't stand how I looked in photos, and started MFP, but then lost interest and gained 7 lbs more, ending up with 225 lbs on a 4'10 person.

In December I spoke at a conference wich was taped. When i watched this tape afterwards, with all the other speakers looking great and me a huge short blob, something gave, and voila. Logging my food, no snacking after dinner and exercise... it's a slow journey.

AllyCatXandi

Someone told me I couldn't do it. That lit a fire in me that still burns to this day.

This.