so, what was the REAL motivation?

when I stepped on the scale at the Dr. and weighed more than I did at 9 mths pregnant. That was it!!

Is your neighbor worried now?

My ex got a boyfriend. A serious boyfriend. It was at that moment in time when I decided even if the ex was gay (long story) I was going to make him regret ever letting me go and look AMAZING going forward! He says it all the time when I see him that he can't get over how much weight I've lost/how good I look. As Charlie Sheen would say: "Winning!"

The fact that I am very insecure and feel disgusted of myself, that is it!

When my ex's new wife called me "the whale" in front of my son and he KNEW who she was talking about.
Also that same month I bent over at work and ripped the butt out of a size 2xl scrubs. Humiliating.

Bit of a silly one... but I saw some photos of myself on Facebook, and thought 'eurgh'. I had a moan to everyone, and said I was going to start losing weight.

And no-one told me not to, or I didn't need to. No-one. I want to be at the weight where if I said that again, everyone would be like 'no, you don't need to, you're already slim..don't be silly, you're gorgeous as you are'.

That's the goal

My true motivation was soooo many trips to sooooo many specialists trying to find a reason for the fact that I couldnt take a deep breath. It started after my apartment flooded and we all figured I reacted to the aftermath of mold and the stress. I had just moved (5 months prior to flood), I had separated from my fiance' in the move, moved to a whole new town and spent 20 grand on new furniture (which I subsequently lost in the flood) I just knew I couldnt take a deep breath when walking to my car from the office or office to car, heat and humidity made in worse. I was diagnosed at the same time with UARS and SDB....along with being told I dont breathe fast enough or deep enough and I dont exhale completely. My Oxygen levels were dropping into the 50s. (at 90 they put you on O2)

I had a years worth of tests, cardio, pulmo, allergist, ent, et al. All they could come up with was SEVERE CHRONIC Asthma and put me on $200 worth of inhalers that from day one never seemed to work. I told the doc the inhalers didnt do anything, he says keep using them, dont stop, it's a steroid.

BLECH. so for almost a year I did that. Still nothing got better.

Then in July of this year I got sick. Knock down dead *kitten* cant get outta bed sick--over night. My fiance' took me to the hospital and they admitted me. I had O2 and IVs in both arms, more tests than Id have thought possible only to find out I had a raging systemic bacterial infection followed by infectious cellulitis and a raging UTI. There was talk of ICU and cardiac monitors, Co2 Monitors, et al. They wouldnt let me outta bed for 2 days and kept me inpatient for 5.

I started losing weight in that hospital stay. AND NOW.........I breathe 80% better than I did the day they admitted me. That first 25 pounds sealed my fate. Ive now lost 45 pounds and workout every day and feel better than ever. Frustrated sometimes but way better. It took me a while to get my blood sugars in check but I so get the correlation now.

I tell everyone DONT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU. I particularly remind my three kids........who have NO weight issues...to be aware, be cautious and DONT LET IT HAPPEN TO THEM. I never thought it'd happen to me. I kept active (or so I thought), I ate healthy (always have and so have my kids, They never had fast foods or processed foods growing up) My issue.......over time was inactivity. Not too much the foods I ate but inactivity. I also think we're predisposed to overweight as we are to diabetes. My entire family on both sides alllllllllllll the way back that can be tracked consisted of large people, not just overweight but large. I have a history of the men and women in my family being well over 6'. (ex my baby brother is 6'10 and was in junior high)

Anyway.....I digress. ALL of this is why my mission to lose weight and get/remain active will never end

Reading what everyone had to say almost made me cry. I have been the fat girl my whole life. The funny thing is it never bothered me or anyone else. I was one of the most popular girls in school. I always had the cute boyfriends. I was a cheerleader. Life seemed perfect. Even as an adult my weight never bothered me much. I had my daughters and my weight went up a little. But when my husband started saying things like do you need two cheese burgers. I started hiding food which I had never done before. One day I even ate a whole box of girl scout cookie in the bathroom. At that point I knew my weight had become an issue.

One word: cancer. Finding out you have a potentially terminal disease is a great motivator to wanting to get your body in shape and be healthy.