What was your "ah ha" weightloss moment for motivation??

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  • msommy
    msommy Posts: 17 Member
    I realized by looking at pictures of myself and realizing how I gained weight. And how gaining weight gave me health problems like Acid Reflux and the fact that I cannot feel my left outer thigh. It is numb as gaining weight must have pinched a nerve. I want to feel my leg again!!
  • clairyfairy247
    clairyfairy247 Posts: 425 Member
    The day my size 16 (UK) dress wouldn't do up.....
  • princessnik7
    princessnik7 Posts: 144 Member
    I have a few

    * every thanksgiving when the family is together all of us first cousins take a group picture, well my sister and I are tired of being the "fat cousins"

    * finding out my cholesterol is sky high and I could possibly be on medication long term if not for life if I don't start doing some exercise and eating better

    * i'm just not comfortable in my own skin, I weigh more now that I did when I was 9 months pregnant

    All of this is no bueno for me !
  • tndejong
    tndejong Posts: 463
    i have a friend with huge kankles!! that is my motivation. im also getting married on october.
  • Faye_Anderson
    Faye_Anderson Posts: 1,495 Member
    Searching for how many calories were lost by being sick (I was keeping my options open :noway: ) and came across a similar question that had been posted on MFP and all the responses telling the OP how ridiculous she sounded kick started my brain and I joined MFP. Never looked back :drinker:
  • roslynds9
    roslynds9 Posts: 139 Member
    Mine was being told by my doctor I couldn't use the contraceptive pill I'd been on for the past 11 years because my BMI had tipped over into the Obese category and thus they weren't legally allowed to prescribe it to me any more.

    They may as well have just said "Well you've become a bit of a chunk haven't you?", it hit me like a punch in the gut!
  • ChristineS_51
    ChristineS_51 Posts: 872 Member
    Christmas 2011 - I climbed on the scales and saw 98 kilos - my highest ever. I thought "I am NOT going into triple figures" and started using MPF. I actually joined 6 months earlier but managed to not do anything about it. Looking back at my fat photos, I had body image problems - I didn't think I was as fat as I was.

    MFP :heart: has been the best tool and learning curve for me, I love it.

    (PS If you want to see how I looked, search in for forums for - 60 Aussie - and you will see where I was, and what MFP did for me)
  • Dark_Roast
    Dark_Roast Posts: 17,689 Member
    I saw pictures of me on vacation, and then I Really saw them. And said No way that is me! Wait, um, that is me. OMG THAT'S ME! Yea, that was the day I started looking for a way to lose weight. Some of my co-workers recommended this site, and that was the beginning of my new life. Eating less wasn't doing it fast enough for me, so I started running. I hated running before, but now, it gets my Zen on. I've lost 44 lbs and I will NEVER gain it back. I like this me.
  • AliceRabbit13
    AliceRabbit13 Posts: 138 Member
    I kept bumping into things...spaces I had always been able to pass through without any problems were now problems...knocking things off desks and the like. What the heck...? Then I saw pictures.... Oy.
  • I had 2 firstly i got on the scales and was a stone heavier than i ever have been. That same night i was going to watch my husbands band performing for New Years Eve and being married to one of the members you always like to look your best especially as other girls tend to try it on with your other half. I went out that night and looked like utter poo. Hence this journey has begun, I also started a vlog on you tube to help me along the way http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2ZSIKgIoBI&feature=share&list=LLPVfEAzsYq-ugHY1XYK-x7A feel free to watch and join us x
  • I was about to turn 28, the age my (now ex) was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Just scared me to think that it was probably in the near future for me, too.
  • I've always been a "stress eater"... It's how I dealt with anxiety.
    In the last 4 years my Dad died suddenly from a heart attack and my Mom died of cancer. My weight went up and down through all of it. When my marriage failed a year later, I kept on "dealing with it" best I could. And all the while I felt worse and saw my clothes growing in sizes as I approach my late 40's.
    I woke up one morning and just realized eating bags of chips wasn't making me any happier or helping me deal with anything.
    Given my family health history, it was putting myself in jeopardy of not being here for my son. I need to be here for him and I want to be happy which wasn't happening at the bottom of a bag either.
    I also found a book called The Hunger Fix - it's helped a lot with personal insight.
  • corgi
    corgi Posts: 8 Member
    I have lost the same 30 pounds, three times. The last time was in the Fall of 2009. I reached my goal weight of 149. Lately, the weight started creeping back up, yet again. I reached 161 and was disgusted with myself but not really devastated because I was still fitting in my clothes.

    My parents came to visit for Christmas. They are in their 70's and my mother has never taken good care of herself. She has been overweight her whole life, she is diabetic, and has heart disease. She can not walk from the car into a store because she gets out of breath and her knees and back hurt so bad. Seeing how unhealthy she is now was a wake up call for me.

    My goal is not neccesarily weightloss for vanity reasons...but for long term health benefits. I don't want my life to consist of not being able to leave the house when I am elderly. I want to still be riding horses in my 70's!!! ( on a very slow, steady horse, but still riding!). I don't want to develop diabetes or have to have a quadruple bypass in my 60's. As I approach my mid 40's, I want to do everything I can to stay active and healthy as I get even older. I do not want to follow in my mother's footsteps. I love her dearly, but I want to live life to its fullest. Not just sit around and wait for it all to end.

    On Dec. 28th, I made a goal to start tracking what I eat again and to do some sort of exercise every single day. I have not been on the scale yet but my clothes are looser and the 30 Day Shred is no longer kicking my butt.

    So, in short, seeing a glimpse of what my life could be like in 30 years was my aha moment!
  • MizTerry
    MizTerry Posts: 3,763 Member
    Christmas pictures.
    A fella telling me I looked healthy. <<<< I wasn't quite sure how to take this until...I saw the Christmas pictures posted ALL over Facebook.
    OMG.
    Oh, and suddenly one day I could not cross my legs comfortably anymore.
  • dmkirk28
    dmkirk28 Posts: 75 Member
    My ah-ha moment was in December when my kids took pictures of me in my birthday and I looked back through them and was shocked to see how fat my face looked. Had a bad year but this one is brand new :) 10 pounds down baby!
  • My doctor told me I was the healthiest fat guy he knew, but assured me that it wouldn't take long before the fat part caught up with the healthy part. That statement did it for me.
  • xcesive
    xcesive Posts: 10 Member
    I couldn't breathe while I was tying my shoes. It was a now or never moment, do I want to live or just exist?
    I could give lots of reasons for what got me to this point, but in the end there all just excuses. "I" got me to where I was!

    This journey will be long
    The rest of my life
    This Journey will be as Easy or as Hard as I choose
    Ultimately I am the one that makes the good or bad choices

    The good part is that we got started, now we have to keep it up :)
  • sallydurkin
    sallydurkin Posts: 211 Member
    Mine final moment was the scale..... 250 and I cried, I sobbed to my husband, He consoled me as he does then gave me a butt kicking and told me I am the only one to change it!!! He's like that very strait to the point, and black and white. Just get it done..... So I started working hard on it and getting somewhere, then he joined me and he has an iron will. He sets his mind to it and just gets it done.
    I to felt horrible, my self worth was so low, I cried over everything and took everything personal. I HATED me, to say the least. I avoided all pictures, now I am trying to find any pictures that existed of me from last christmas. So far I have not found any a few from the summer before they are big but not my biggest. And they look aweful.
    But I've changed all of that, my journey is still in progress but I've got a goal that I have never thought possible until the last few months. I want to be 125lbs (I need to update my ticker) I was probley this in Jr. HIgh, I am very excited for the possibilites.
  • Aitm20
    Aitm20 Posts: 92 Member
    Having an extra chin and seeing I weighed exactly what I weighed before with a baby inside right before she was born.
  • dizy17
    dizy17 Posts: 236 Member
    when i got on the scale and saw i was over 300lbs. that was a slap in the face! im glad to be under 300 now but still have a long way to go.
  • 203.8, the heaviest I have ever been and at 5'9 it puts me in the obese category. Last weekend I saw some pictures that were taken over the holidays and was in awe at how heavy I looked. I don't know why I was so shocked but it was a definite wake up call.

    I lost 40 lbs 2 years ago and felt fantastic but gained it all back plus some. I just want to feel better and make it a lifelong change this time around.
  • newhabit
    newhabit Posts: 426 Member
    Looking at pictures of myself and coudlnt' believe it was me. Wearing a bathing suit outside.
    Couldn't look at myself in a full length mirror at a hotel when I was on vacation.
    Was in my biggest pant size ever and they were getting tight.
    All of these things crept up on me and I decided to make a change.

    oh let me say this was when i lost a lot of weight about a year and a half ago. now i have just a few more to lose. i am trying to get back to maintenance but i know i never want to be like that again.
  • verptwerp
    verptwerp Posts: 3,628 Member
    All these stories are motivating :drinker:

    My aha moments are too many to mention, but they all came at once ..... photos & doctors ...... I ate crappy, not gonna lie ..... but am gonna blame it on living with a REALLY grumpy husband :laugh:

    Four years ago I decided to change things, one way or the other ......... I refused to buy junkfood ...... refused to eat fastfood ...... started cooking healthier ...... dusted off the TM & actually used it ....... eventually joined the gym ....... lost 45# and several clothing sizes ......... and even the grumpy hub lost weight, kicking & screaming all the way about how I was "starving" him LOL

    Most mornings I do a bit of yoga, and will use the TM in bad weather, so no excuses .......... but I really like the "me time" at the gym ....... and if hubby is being a pain in the butt, I don't reach for a bag of chips, instead I work out until I'm too tired to be mad !

    I'm looking pretty damn good these days ...... and we're still married :laugh:
  • danibu98
    danibu98 Posts: 281 Member
    I kept bumping into things...spaces I had always been able to pass through without any problems were now problems...knocking things off desks and the like. What the heck...? Then I saw pictures.... Oy.

    I, too kept bumping into things with my stomach.

    The worst though, was my twins asking if I was pregnant, AND people on the street asking me if I was pregnant.

    I have gained the weight all around my abdomen this time and it feels awful. It is finally starting to go away- slowly, but it's going!
  • crabbok
    crabbok Posts: 66 Member
    I've had several. Some guy I barely knew at work was joking around and told me that I was getting fat, I noticed a stretch mark on the side of my stomach, and I wanted more energy to play with my sons.

    But the big one was my aunt getting diabetes. Diabetes is common in my family, but this particular aunt was always in shape (Or so I thought), so I thought if it can happen to someone who is in moderately good shape, it is only a matter of time before it happens to me so I'd better start getting as healthy as I can.... now!
  • serenapitala
    serenapitala Posts: 441 Member
    When I got my pics from a trip to San Francisco. When you look big next to a redwood, you've got to change. It was the first time I realized I wasn't "curvy" anymore. I looked like an apple in my red coat. That's my "before" picture that I look at to remind myself how far I've come and on unmotivated days it reminds me why I need to go to the gym. 54 pounds down and DEFINITELY curvy again :happy:
  • I had been on here on and off and never stuck to it. I am getting married in September and was looking at pictures of my dress with other people in it and thought "wow, they look awesome". I looked at a picture of me in my dress and started crying! I was also looking at pictures of me before I had my son. All I wanted was to be back down to that weight! And I've had customers ask me if I had my baby yet or if I'm pregnant again. And I had one tell me that I've gained a bunch of weight!! It was all kind of a reality check for me. My son is now 8 months old and always wants to play with me and run around with me holding him up and I'm always out of breath after a minute or two. That was a big reality check too.
  • Tank_Girl
    Tank_Girl Posts: 372 Member
    Ive been in denial for a long while and avoided the scales... Avoided having my photo taken... Then a photo of me appeared on an internet forum i was horrified.... A fella described me as a fat *kitten* and i could have killed myself... Stayed in denial for a while longer until i decided to do something about it... Got the free mfp app, jumped on the weighing scales and was shocked to discover i was 14stone... Ive lost 2stone so far and want to lose another 2stone
  • DLH070911
    DLH070911 Posts: 38 Member
    Pictures are a big one.....those pre-baby pics when I remember thinking I looked too big....now I'm like WOW I want to look like THAT again!!


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