what was that moment that made you change?

Actually three moments. The three times in a month I was asked if I was pregnant!

mine was similar. I refused to buy bigger clothes so I had to do something. My initial goal was to just fit into my clothes again but I decided I wanted to do more and ended up buying a whole new wardrobe anyway. But it was soooo much more fun buying smaller clothes.

I was refusing to do things with my family because of the way I (think) I look. specifically going to the beach last summer. that was it - i needed to make a change.

I'm 38 and have alot of family medical issues. I got the high cholesterol from Mom and Dad. Mom had a heartattack at 55. Dad has high blood pressure.

Well, I've been keeping everything under control for the most part - but just got my last labs back and even on Lipitor, I went from sub-200 to 300+ on my cholesterol in one year! I'm getting older (I've had friends who have had heartattacks in their 30's so it is not unheard of) and I want to be around for my family, especially my daughter.

That lab report finally scared me straight. Before now (I'm on day #9 now), I could last maybe 1-2 days. I'm going to do it this time!

Looking at a picture of myself where I looked like Humpty Dumpty and when I showed people the pic, they just couldn't believe it was me. I couldn't believe it was me. I don't ever want to look like that again.

When my pant size went into the double digits. I'm 5'3". I was always a 6 or 7 pant size and right now I'm wearing 12's.

Hi! My journey began my senior year in high school. I was going through severe depression, I was hypoglycemic, had nerve damage in my left knee and my doctor was threatening to put me on high blood pressure medicine. I knew that if I kept going in that direction my adult life was going to be spent in the doctors office. Mentally and physically my health was getting worse and obesity was the main problem. Since I have lost weight all my health problems have gone away and I no longer need any medication. Now I just want to get the last few pounds off and be the healthiest I can be.

You are an inspiration!! Good job girl!:happy:

Mine started January last year. I made a new year's resolution with some girls in my class to lose weight and get fit. We told each other our starting weights (mine was the highest by 20 lbs.) and then I lost 15 lbs using MFP and exercising. Then I fell off the wagon and gained it all back plus some.

I saw a pic of myself at the end of May where I looked so huge and I decided to come back to MFP (sheepishly). I decided to really do it this time because I was one of the biggest members of my med class, out of 120 or so people, and I wanted to be thin and healthy. I can't really advise people about their health if I myself am obese, right?

The day I started, I found a group called June Starters--shout out to Kandy for starting that!--and they were really my inspiration and kept me going when I felt like quitting. Having someone to be accountable to has helped tremendously.

Haha my moment was when I realized I preferred to have people think I was pregnant. I would dress so that they wouldn't know that I was not making a baby (or be too scared to ask me), but that only works with strangers and for a short, unhealthy time.

Mine came last February when a coworker was telling me all about the trip that her kids would be going on in May to an amusement park with a school program they were doing. I realized that my oldest would be starting school in September and that he would be going on trips like that and I wouldn't be able to ride any of the rides because of my size. I also realized that I wouldn't be able to walk around an amusement park all day without being miserable. It was then and there that I told her that I WOULD NOT be that big come May 2010. I WILL go to the park with my boy and I WILL ride the rides with him. I have managed to lose 89 pounds so far and barring any major malfunctions we'll be going on a trip in May and we'll have tons of fun together.

I was diagnosed with a serious but reversible medical condition. And I know darn well that I have done this to myself. I want to live to be a really old lady, I don't want people to read my obituary and say "wow, that's so young to die."

ETA: I saw the doctor and he mailed me a copy of the report. On the physical is said "abdomen: obese." That was so embarrassing to me, I knew I had to do something about it.

I've always been overweight since I was about 7 so I was always on some kind of diet. It was never healthy though and I would always gain whatever I had lost and then some.

Even when I thought it was healthy I look back and think "What the heck was I thinking?!" - there was a summer where I decided to start running which is great, but I would only eat one meal a day and that was usually fast food. I am about 10 maybe 15 pounds heavier than I was then but I'm about a size smaller than I was then. I had kept a pair of jeans that were tight on me then and they are baggy now!

I got married in September of 07 and gained about 30 pounds after that. I decided to join here in January of last year but I was really in denial of how big I had gotten. My moment that made me change was I was having a "fat day" and called up my father and asked him to be honest and asked him if I had gained a lot of weight. He told me "I don't want to tell you this and I don't want to hurt your feelings, but yes". I know that it was very hard for him to tell me that and I knew that for him to say that to me meant that my weight had gotten out of control. That was sometime in March.

I haven't lost a ton of weight since then but I lose weight really slowly. I feel 200% better now and am more confident about myself than I have been maybe ever in my life!

I guess I have a lot of moments. I have never been "skinny" or so I thought, even when I weight 140 (I'm 5'5''). Even at that weight I was in an unhealthy relationship where I was told that I was always fat. I really gained weight after my child was born. Now that I'm in a healthy relationship with someone who actually loves me for me and not what I look like. That didn't really help either, becuase I know he's gonna love me no matter what. We have been trying to have a baby for well over a year now with no luck. I long to hold a baby in my arms again. It is an absolute miracle, the creation of life. But what really set it off is my clothes started feeling snug and uncomfortable, whenever I would look in the mirror I never saw me... all I saw was fat... and a lot of it. I finally told myself that this was the last straw! I couldn't continue to live my life haphazardly! I needed to take control. So... here I am and so far am seeing success... slowly (which is good) but surely I'll get there!

I've re-written this post like 4 times. With 4 different epiphanies.

For my adult life I've been the jolly fat guy, I used to make fun of the guy that I am now.

The biggest epiphany is when I joked to myself that I was going to get on a scale to see just how bad off I was...when it said 336, Buzz-Kill! 336 is over a third of the way to 400. 336 that's, that's frickin huge. 336, how the hell do I even get through the physical actiVities I do, do. 336! I can't joke about that anymore. Something has to be done.

So, January through March of last year I started cutting things out and back, and started walking. I couldn't run because my knees hurt from the pounding. I quit drinking a 44 oz of Mt Dew every morning. I cut my FF intake in half. I lost about 20 lbs. Then in April I kind of fell off the wagon. But because it was spring and summer I was pretty active so I maintained the loss through August. In August we went to RMNP for vacation. Long's Peak lives there. (the Mt in my ticker) Reading some of the trail guides I discovered that climbing Long's Peak requires a 17 hour hike. I didn't think I could handle something like that in my condition at that time. So we came home. Still no wagon for me. But then my Wife's Aunt told her about this site. My wife started using this site, and used this site for a week and a half before a swtich just flipped in my brain. I found my Radio Flyer and installed a Pratt & Whitney TurboFan Engine.....I'm gone. Not looking back.

It feels so good to have addresses this area of my life. It's become an obession. What's the next challenge? How can we eat better? Is a 1/2 Marathon out of the question this year? I'm climbing Long's Peak...I just don't know when.