what was that moment that made you change?

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.

I retired from the Marine Corps and immediately gained 30 pounds. Now, 2 years later, I have added 10 more. I began to Zumba, got motivated, and am heading down. My 20 year old son is battling his weight, as well. I want to be his motivation, not his example. My daughter is 4 and I do not want her to think being overweight is the norm. It is not healthy.

There were several things that helped me to push myself to lose the weight, but the thing that sticks out the most is when my 11 year old daughter came home from school in tears because her school friend whom had come over to play the day before was on the bus making jokes about her "fat mom" It broke my heart to see her hurting like that. I had already been on my diet for about a month and had lost about 20 lbs. I actually was having a bad day that day and started eating junk while she was at school. I think that if she had not come home crying that day I may have gave up on my diet. I have lost 111lbs as of last Thursday. What is great is that just a few days ago we ran into that little girl and her mother at the grocery. My daughter was so proud to show me off. She said to me " Mom I don't think she will be making fat jokes about you anymore, because you are smaller than her mom".

You are an amazing mother and a true inspiration. It's so nice to know that there are moms out there who put there kids happiness first. Thank you for sharing your story!

I had been doing Weight Watchers for a few months (again) and was really doing well, but wasn't really motivated. I knew I wanted to be healthy for my daughter and to be a good example for her and to see all the great things she will do in her life. One night I was watching a TV show about some woman who was diagnosed with cancer and she had a daughter who was my daughters age. I was thinking to myself, "oh, if that ever happened to me I would fight with everything I had to live, people wouldn't know the strength I was hiding inside. There is no way I would give up the opportunity to watch my daughter grow up and there was no way I would leave her without a mommy." Then I started to realize that eating what I ate, how much I ate and how often i ate wasn't much better. I was cutting my life short by my eating habits and my frame of mind around eating. The next day I went to my Weight Watcher weigh in and one of the other members was talking about how she was pregnant with her daughter (now 6 or 7 years old) and how the dr asked her, "so, you don't plan to see your daughter graduate collage?" She was like, "what???? I haven't even had this kid yet?" and it became a realty for her. At that moment I've changed my ways and haven't looked back. I occasionally eat like poop, but it's a much healthier version of it. Even my "splurge" day is a healthy choice.

You too are an amazing mother! I had always looked at my weight as my problem. I never realized that it was also effecting my family. I have always tried to put my kids first. I thought as long as I was taking good care of them I was being the best mother I could be. But by me not taking care of myself I was in a way being irresponsible. I have 4 amazing children. I want to be around as long as I can possibly be for them. So I couldn't agree with you more on the importance of taking care of ourselves to be here to love and care for them. My weight was not only emotionaly hard for me, it was physically hard for me. I was very ill. I was tired all the time, simple tasks took everything I had to complete. I couldn't play with my kids the way that they wanted, had high blood pressure, acid reflex, migraines, and just felt blaaah all the time. After losing the weight I am full of energy. I honestly feel like I have been cured of a serious illness. Blood pressure is back to normal, and all those other things are a thing of the past. I have my life back, and most importantly my kids have they're mom back.

There are so many reasons why I made this choice...

1.) I want to be healthy, strong, and the best that I can be.

2.) I quit smoking (woo hoo!). But I gained back weight I had already lost. If I can quit smoking, I can do this!

3.) I've been heavy since 12, so in other words, I was fat all my teens. I just turned 20 and I REFUSE to be fat into my 20's

4.) My boyfriend. Someone I love finds me BEAUTIFUL...that encourages me that I don't have to lose weight to be attractive to him...but I want to