what was that moment that made you change?

It has been a year since I made the choice to change my life. One day I woke up and said I am tired of feeling sorry for myself that I am overweight. I began keeping track of my calories and realized that I used food to fill an emotional void inside of me. I realized that I needed to eat in moderation and not give things up. I still struggle with emotional eating, but I can recognize it and deal with it. This is the thinnest I have ever been in my adult life and I plan on keeping it that way.

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.

Before I got pregnant w/ baby 1, I was a delightful 180.. When I had him, I was 230! I wanted to loose the weight, BUt never did cause I didn't know how, and my BD was gassing up my head how "he likes his girls fat"..So I stopped thinking about loosing.. Then I got pregnant w/ number 2, and after having her I was 280.. So, basically, I didn't want to be fat anymore... I am dying to fit back into my 11's!!

My husband and I signed up for life insurance when my son was born. We had to undergo physicals. The gentleman told me that if I lost some weight, he could rate my health as excellent but since I was overweight, he could only give me a good. I have been thin my whole life and to hear a stranger essentially tell me I was too big, rocked me to my core. This is my first time dieting. I packed on the weight when I got married, 40lbs. I kept having to buy bigger clothes every 6 months or so. I had tried to exercise at Curves but then I got pregnant and stopped going because I was sick nonstop with my pregnancy. My only saving grace was that I had preeclampsia throughout my pregnancy and so I only gained water weight which I lost after the baby, but I was still stuck with the original 40lbs I had wante to lose! I said enough is enough. Other people lose weight all the time and more than I need to lose. So if they can do it, so can I. I quit smoking, I can lose weight too!

I went on a trip with my family. We did a rafting type excursion and I never wear a suit in public, let along anything else skimpy. We had to walk 40 minutes wet and in our bikini's, I felt like the most disgusting thing alive, and I felt tired of always being TIRED. I gained the weight because of the people around me, the stress, but they weren't the ones at fault, neither was I. So I decided there was no more reason to live with something I didn't like. It scared me.

My journey began May 2009 - when I was graduating from college. My life was chaotic - I had no control over anything. I was graduating from a place I had called home for four years, forced to move in with family because I couldn't land a job, ended up ending a wonderful relationship because the boyfriend didn't want a long distance relationship. My entire life was spinning and my world was upside down. Starting to exercise helped me control one aspect of my life - then I started watching what I ate as well. Eventually other things fell into place (applying to graduate schools, visiting friends, getting used to being out of college.. I am still semi-unemployed. I am a substitute teacher, so I get called in occasionally). So now I have empowered myself having lost 26 pounds and am continuing to do so to get down to a healthy weight for the first time in my post puberty body. :laugh:

My moment was when my size 18 years no longer fit and I was going to go size 20 but instead heard about this site and have since lost 53lbs.

One morning, a few months ago, I just woke up and thought, "okay, enough of this." Since then I'm down 21 pounds and just joined this site on Monday to help keep the weight loss consistent and to really keep track of calories. I like how easy it is to do on here. I'm 25, soon to be 26 and as a person, I'm more comfortable in my own skin, through maturity, than I've ever been. I know who I am & what matters. When it comes to me as a person, I honestly don't care what others think anymore, because I realized they probably aren't thinking about me anyways. I want to see the person on the outside match the person I am on the inside. I'm not severely overweight/fat... but have some extra pounds that I'm just tired of having. I should be in the best shape of my life right now, so that's what I'm aiming for in 2010. This past month has been one of the best I can remember in a long time & I want the summer to be the best summer I've ever had. I haven't been to the beach in probably 5 years and its because I just don't like taking my shirt off... well that will not be the case this summer! I'm going to be the one suggesting we go to the beach. Also, two of my very good friends are getting married & I'm in the wedding, so I wanna be looking my best for myself & for them. Okay, and maybe the bridesmaids too, haha. Hey, I'm single, so who knows right?

I can still remember the date of my "moment." It was Oct. 15th and a coworker was celebrating a birthday. She was turning 24 and complaining that she was old. (ummm...please. :noway: ) And I said, "24?!? That's nothing. I'm going to be 29 in March and it's the last year I'll be in my 20's!" Right then, it HIT me. Hit me HARD. I was going to be in my 20's for only one more year and I absolutely HATED the way I looked. So, from that day on, my mantra was "I will not be 29 and fat." Every time I was offered a cookie, that's the response they got. It got to the point that my coworkers would groan and roll their eyes when I said it. But, on my 29th birthday, I had lost 20 pounds! I was NOT 29 and fat! Now, I'm only 2 months away from my 30th and still have another 15 to go to reach my final goal, but I'm going to keep working on it. I don't want to crawl into my 30's depressed and dreading it...I wanna burst into them saying "I'm here! Let's have some fun!!"