What was your "I need to change" moment

It's all in my blog. I just hit the one year mark in making lifestyle changes

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/rascallycat

The 30 - 50 year olds, I take care of that have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks, then open heart surgery. That was enough for me and I seeing them way too often.

After getting separated the end of 2011 I tried getting back in to dating a few months later. It became pretty clear women aren't really interested in guys that are 290lbs. The last straw was when I approached a girl one night while I was out and she turned around and walked away without saying anything. I'm 225ish now and things are finally starting to improve. So much for personality counting I guess.

Personality counts, but so do looks. Would you have approached that girl if you had not found her attractive? It goes both ways.

My Mother died at the age of 56 this summer. She died due to heart complications, she was morbidly obese. Initially, she was having an asthma attack and as the paramedics got her breathing under control, her heart stopped. My world crumbled...

Then I took a good long look at myself and my family history and I knew that if I didn't get serious and change the way I view my health, I could easily be her...twice, my Mother has given me the gift of life...my birth, and sadly, my lesson in her death that life is a gift and never guaranteed and if we don't treat our physical bodies as the sacred thing they are, we are throwing te gift away.

My I need to change moment was in mid Oct 2012 when I got some blood work done and it was REALLY bad...high Triglycerides, high cholesterol...low HDL...pre-diabetic blood sugar levels...borderline obese...hypertensive...basically all the earmarks of full blown metabolic syndrom.

I'm doing this primarily for my overall health and well being...but looking better and upping my fitness level is a nice bi-product.

Couldn't fit into my Size 4 shorts anymore, then nearly simultaneously I noticed I was feeling weak/sick too often and my fridge had too many pizza boxes in it = crap diet. Turned all that around so far

Hitting the scale at nearly 280lbs. Went to the doc, my BP was getting high, I couldn't carry a load of laundry from the basement to the 2nd floor bedroom without my heart rate going up and puffing for air. With a family history of heart disease, diabetes in my Dad, I decided it was time to change. Bought an elliptical since my knees couldn't take the pounding of trying to run (I had no problem walking for miles with my dogs but running was out of the question). Changed my diet to eliminate all the crap- pizza, pasta, bread, etc. Cut down my portions of everything else. 6 months later, 225lbs, feeling a lot better. 6 months later, I'm around 230 and have renewed my quest to get healthy and my new goal is to hit 200lbs, which I havent' seen since my 20's.

Mine was because all of my jeans were getting too tight, and I refused to buy a bigger size when I have a millions smaller sizes. & I noticed my arm jiggled too much. I rarely wanted to go out of the house, I didn't want people to look at me.

When I climbed a flight of stairs to go to a meeting. I was sweating and had to stop at the top of the stairs to catch my breath before I could keep walking to the meeting. My co-workers politely waited for me but I felt so embarrassed......

May I just say that I pride myself on being real with myself about body image. I know what I look like, I know my strengths and faults, and I may need a few pounds gone, but carry myself like a Victoria Secret supermodel. That being said, here's my wake up call.
Sophomore year I threw both my knees, my hip, and my shoulder in volleyball, so I could no longer exercise like I wanted. Senior year of high school I went on a two day hike with my church group; I walked about 13 miles each way. I had to wrap both my knees and ankles, and still limped to the finish. I felt horrible about myself, and about my body's inability to let me live my life. I'm eighteen and I can't even WALK a marathon. And then I saw the pictures. I looked even worse than I felt. I couldn't stop crying as I looked through all the pictures of me with my arm over my eyes and ice on my knees, holding my group back. I was a mess, a burden to those I love. And then the candid of me arriving at the finish. My body looking bloated and sagging, and the cellulite was clearly visible through my pants. I looked miserable. That was my moment of clarity. My life needed drastic altering, and I was the only one who could change it. That was six months ago, and I've lost 20 pounds. I don't plan on stopping any time soon. I want to see what this body can do, and how I'm SUPPOSED to look!

When I couldn't get up off the floor without grabbing onto something to pull myself up. :embarassed:

I turned 40 and finally HEARD the voice that had been in my head for over a decade. Since then, 74 pounds down, a new runner and now heavy lifting! I will never go back

Which time?

Lots of things:
Holding my breath while tying my shoes - not being able to do more than 5 push ups anymore - seeing photos of my stomach - when I would take my pants off and actually see how big they were when I held them up it was so upsetting - and squeezing myself into a size 24 because there were no other options.

Thanks for posting this...it really helps to remember why I do this.

My daughter asking me if I was going to die because of how fat I was, and telling me it made her sad that I couldn't go outside and play with her longer than a few minutes.

Realizing I am going to miss all the big events in my kids lives that my dad missed in mine unless I made some serious changes.

Looking in the mirror after the doctor told me I weighed 602 pounds and realized I was, in fact, eating myself to death out of the depression of losing a child.

so very sorry for your loss