What was your breaking point?

Thenewme31 · March 2013

Hello! I was just reading all these inspiring posts tonight and I am about 2 weeks into my journey and know that I finally had a breaking point where I looked at my life and realized that enough was enough and it was time to get serious. I have been on here for awhile and kept trying to start but after a day I'd cheat and stop and go back to the easier old ways. For me my breaking point came when I went to take a shower the other day and although I've had a child and gained about 43lbs with him, I only had stretch marks on my thighs and those have become less and less noticeable in the past 5 years. However, I never got them on my belly and was so happy I could have the bikini body but the other day I found a very tiny stretch mark to the left of my belly button and I freaked out. It was the first time I looked at my real life and realized I had become so heavy and lazy in not only working out but eating, life etc...I realized I lay in the house because I am too embarrassed in my own clothes and so it's easier to wear my "fat" pants at home and hoodies and hide away from the world. I am done doing that and making no more excuses. It has been the best 2 weeks of my life honestly I feel so much more alive.

So what was YOUR breaking point that made your realize it was time for a change?

theshow4jsu · March 2013

Mine was back in January of 2010. I remember looking at pictures of myself from the holidays and how big I had actually gotten. It was so bad it took me 20 minutes to put on and tie tennis shoes. I was tired. Tired of hurting. Tired of being tired. Tired of living life on the sidelines. So I decided to get in the game. Every year at the start my church does 21 days of fasting and prayer and I turned it all over to God. I realized that this was more than a physical addiction and I to truly change, I had to put God back as ruler of my life, not cheeseburgers. So I went thru the fast (doing juices and vegetables) and found MFP on android and started tracking calories and working out. The progress was slow and still is. I realized that once I started, that I could never go back, I didn't want to go back. So I just kept plugging away and here I am 3 years and 150 pounds later. I still have moments where I cave and eat like I used to, but its an occasional thing, not a lifestyle.

Sorry if I got to weird and preachy, but this was just an overview of my change. Hope you succeed!

cook6609 · March 2013

For me, I always wanted to lose weight, but never found that "perfect diet". My uncle introduced me to MyFitnessPal. I liked how I could still "eat what I want" instead of that feeling of restriction. However, the biggest reason for me to lose the weight is the fact that my mom is very obese. She has so many health problems, and she just turned 50. She says that her health problems started when she hit her 40's. I love my mom... please don't take that the wrong way, but she's going have to rely on my husband and myself to care for her. I honestly don't even see her making it to her 60's, which saddens me. She won't listen to me either about losing weight (even though everyone in the house is eating healthier, and watching what and how much we eat). I decided that I didn't want my children to deal with that. I know that people who are fit and of a healthy BMI can have health problems, but I know that weight can be a contributing factor for most people that are "illnesses" (diabetes, etc). Both my parents have diabetes, my mom has major issues with her back due to her weight, and my dad has cardio issues. I don't want to deal with that. I want to enjoy my life and now worry about medical issues. So basically what did it for me was taking a step back and seeing my future of diabetes, back issues, and heart issues. I say, "no thank you" to all of those. I will welcome a healthy and hopefully long life with my children (and future grandchildren).

linsey0689 · March 2013

When my weight got up to 295 even though I didn't really look at people guessed me in the high 100's or low 200's I don't know if people were trying to be nice or what. I know I held my weight pretty well, but I by no means thought I was hiding 100 pounds of my frame. So I knew I didn't not want to touch 300 pounds so I "dieted," nothing serious by any means over about 6 months and lost 10 lbs. I didn't really weight myself everyday or every month even just made little changes and told myself at the very least I will not get any bigger. Once I got on the scale and I was 285 I thought to myself this is do-able what is the point of being unhappy with my body and being fat? I also deal with depression so I told myself every pound I can lose, is just wonderful would love to get off my meds for depression but I don't know if that is realistic.

But I signed up for MFP on 1/20/13, today is my 2 month mark and I have lost 24 pounds and I am so proud of myself. Still nowhere near "healthy" weight at 261 but I am still happy. I think if I look at BMI 163 is "healthy" weight for me at 5 foot 8 inch.

Great post by the way

chavaaguirre · March 2013

For me it has been the pain. lower back pain, shoulder pain, ankles pain, it seems like I cant be a day without experimenting some serious pain in a part of my body! I have punished my body really bad the past 5 years, but im commited to going back to a healthy weight and a healthy life! Its not right for a 34 year old to live with so much pain!!! I dont want to imagine myself when im 50 (If I make it). I have two beautiful boys that I want to enjoy for a long time and I want them to have awesome memories of his dad playing ball, running, riding a bycicle, camping with them!

IM DOING IT FOR MY BOYS!

pretty4Jesus · March 2013

Mine was back in January of 2010. I remember looking at pictures of myself from the holidays and how big I had actually gotten. It was so bad it took me 20 minutes to put on and tie tennis shoes. I was tired. Tired of hurting. Tired of being tired. Tired of living life on the sidelines. So I decided to get in the game. Every year at the start my church does 21 days of fasting and prayer and I turned it all over to God. I realized that this was more than a physical addiction and I to truly change, I had to put God back as ruler of my life, not cheeseburgers. So I went thru the fast (doing juices and vegetables) and found MFP on android and started tracking calories and working out. The progress was slow and still is. I realized that once I started, that I could never go back, I didn't want to go back. So I just kept plugging away and here I am 3 years and 150 pounds later. I still have moments where I cave and eat like I used to, but its an occasional thing, not a lifestyle.

Sorry if I got to weird and preachy, but this was just an overview of my change. Hope you succeed!

Wow!! Thank you for sharing! Encouraging! God bless

jsiricos · March 2013

Dec 22, 2012 when my Doctor told me I was Diabetic (I was also 271) I tried to rationalize it, with "I had a kidney stone or two and I drank gallons of juice" but in my heart, I knew this was it, Do or Die.
So here I am, as of January 2013 - feeling much better, but with a long ways to go yet.

ruwise · March 2013

I think for me the breaking point was when I got on a plane in January and could only barely tie the seat belt. I just thought I don't ever want to have to ask for the seat belt extender it is time to do something about it.

Today I am 27 lb's down and going on another flight in April and am hoping I'll see a big difference. I have lost a good few inches so I'm hoping that it will be a much more comfortable flight.

I'm very grateful for that flight as it has allowed me to take back control of something that was getting out of control.

Shawneb66 · March 2013

We decided to go on a cruise and I was in panic mode, I didn't want to be the "Fat" girl in the group. I joined MFP, bought a food scale and started using my Wii to exercise. It will be a year April 16th and I have lost 56lbs, our cruise was in January and I never felt better about myself!! It's easy now...I don't EVER want to go there again!!

TheGirlWithTheOrangeDreads · March 2013

I saw a photo of myself i my university's new prospectus, and I looked liked a fat man, I have nothing against them personally but I personally want to look more feminine and not so overweight.
So I got extensions and started yoga, jogging and eating healthy, the next time the photographer comes around I'll be ready.

fattyfoodie · March 2013

My first breaking point back in 2007 was when I stepped on the scale and saw 301. 301! I felt like a huge (literally) failure. I weight very nearly twice as much as my husband. How does a person let themselves go that far? So I started counting my calories on MFP and over the next four years lost just over 100 pounds.

Then my husband and I decided to have another baby. I gained back about 40, putting me at 240. I got down to 216 while on mat leave. But then I found out that the gestational diabetes I had been diagnosed with during pregnancy hadn't resolved and I was now a Type II diabetic. I went back to work, got depressed, stepped on the scale and realized I was at 239.6. I thought to myself "there is NO WAY you are going to weigh the same as you did the day you gave birth. Get your fat rear in gear!" And that has pretty well been my mantra since January 21, 2013- the day I decided for the second time to take my life back.

Since then I have lost 9.4 pounds, started going to Bikram yoga regularly, seen my blood pressure drop a full 20 points(!!!!) and I am hoping that I will see an improvement in my cholesterol and A1C when I get my latest results back in a week's time.

mommykitty81 · March 2013

my breaking point was getting my license updated. I couldn't believe the (to me) hugely fat face in the picture was mine! I realized I was having to buy new pants every other week at goodwill because I was gaining weight more than ever. My scale topped in at 265 in July but I rationalized it away by saying I was still suffering from a bad year in 2011. So Sept 16 2012 I got serious about weight loss. I started my MFP journey at 253. I was going to an outdoor concert that day and knew the temptations of the food vendors would be huge but if I was able to resist those on day 1 of my diet then I knew I could do it. I did cave for a sno cone but really i avoided the pizza and other yummy foods. Since Sept 16 to current I have lost 36lbs. Not much but to me it is a huge difference. I walk without getting out of breath, i have gotten rid of my "fat" clothes and im in my "normal" clothes from 2yrs ago. I am working to hit 165. It will take time but will be worth it in the end. Also feel better showing my children they aren't destined to be fat if they eat healthy and live an active life they can be a portioned size like anyone else.

Wilma123456 · March 2013

Mine one was last friday when I had a trip to the emergency department - thought I was having a heart attack. Being 80 pounds overweight - it was a possibility. Hope to remember all the despair that I felt on Friday the next time I feel like cheating. Pretty grateful for this site and plan to use it for motivation. Thanks!

chymerra · March 2013

saw a picture of myself in dec 2011 and could not believe how huge my face looked. jan 1 2012 i started and haven't looked back since

hit all of my fitness goals and i'm SO GLAD i started when i did!

laughingdani · March 2013

I just had that moment of clarity where I knew it was different this time.

Also, there were a few people who had made comments that I never finish what I start (mainly losing weight), and they were right, but it pissed me off and put a fire under my *kitten*. That was 3 years ago and I haven't looked back since. It's not about the naysayers anymore. Now, it's about me and what I want.

spectralmoon · March 2013

saw a picture of myself in dec 2011 and could not believe how huge my face looked. jan 1 2012 i started and haven't looked back since hit all of my fitness goals and i'm SO GLAD i started when i did!

Almost a precise ditto.

I took a picture with family from out-of-town January 2, 2012 , and could not BELIEVE that I had gotten round, both in face and body. MFP surfaced to me on Jan 8, and I started the next day. Said progress is from Jan 9-May 16 (when finals started in college); after almost a year of maintaining, I'm ready to lose the rest.

Shaylyn1986 · March 2013

I was in a bad relationships (first guy I ever dated) and he said if I didn't lose the weight that was it. The deal was that he would quit smoking if I lost weight.

I lost weight.

He's still smoking.

And I've got a much better boyfriend now. ^.^

Mimisam45 · March 2013

I live on a lake and we have a lot of summer guests, I hated that I, the hostess, was the one who had to keep covered up. My daughters have teased me for years about my swim dresses!! And it has been years since I would let anyone photograph me, even though we are huge picture takers/scrapbookers!

I had lost quite a bit of weight back in 2001 with the Body for Life program. Then I lost my father the same week as the attack on the twin towers in NY. I quickly reverted back to the junk foods, I know not that I was probably suffering from depression but didn't realize it.

I always excercised quite a bit but didn't add the clean food plan into it. I figured that if I worked out I could eat anything I wanted. Then, with the adoption of a teenager, after having an "empty nest" for 12 years, I even quit working out. I like to say that I spent the time with my new daughter, but the truth is I just got lazy.

So, after seeing a article about the book "Wheat Belly", from the Dr. Oz show (I know, he's a quack), I bought the book and have implemented the theory, renewed my love of excercise and I am not, NOT looking back!! :happy:

turkeyhunter60 · March 2013

about 12-15 months ago, I was as heavy as I have ever been, hated pictures of myself, and was buying all of the "relaxed fit" clothes to avoid the correct size. Then, our company offered a "boot camp" onsite. I enrolled, started working out regularly, and counting calories. A year later, things are better, and have even bought some of those "regular fit" clothes that I want.

rachaee · March 2013

Mine was getting such a bad case of tonsillitis I thought i would end up in hospital. In the same week I found out my first love who completely broke my heart was with someone else. I realised then I could get sicker, or I could get happy. It's early days for me but I cannot express how different I feel already! Plus, I get a bit excited everytime I get to use the barcode scanner!

x

khall86790 · March 2013

I moved to a new country and was embarrassed whenever I met new people. I just hated to idea of being labelled as "fat" or instantly "friend zoned". So I decided it was time to change.
I also had a **** load of time as I had no friends to begin with, haha.

Alyssa__Lauren · March 2013

I've been overweight since I was a freshman in college...then I gained a lot of weight after Hurricane Sandy. Even my "too big" clothes were tight on me and I looked awful in everything. I woke up one morning in December and was like "no". Then my friend posted pictures from her Christmas party and I was disgusted with myself so here I am!

kinu21_82 · March 2013

Mine was when i couldn't fit into any of my clothes anymore....and i started to wear stretch pants almost everyday to work...But i refused to buy next size clothes....Also, i could not carry my 2 yr old and climb stairs anymore...and i am 30 yrs old....couldn't imagine how i would be at 40 or 50 if this continued....So i decided i had to do something...started with 7 day GM diet on Feb 26, 2013....could only do 5 days of the diet....then 2nd week of march i started Nutrisystem....By Mar 21st (my 31st b'day) i was down 10lbs...all the while it was MFP that helped me stick to the diet plans ....i have another 15lbs to lose to reach my goal weight...

AboutT1ME · March 2013

in 2010 i had size 64 pants and they were starting to get tight. i took a good long drive (my thinking time) and realized my silverados seat belt barely fit around me. so i had a nice long mental breakdown for about an hour...and it all started to change. I realized this is not how i wanted to live and i needed to get in control of myself. in 2010 i was 22 and weighed 489 pounds. 489... that number still haunts me. I'm now 25 and down to 380. everyone has their breaking point, i just hope everyone has theirs before mine. one odd thing i realized when i was 23, until that point i had never actually felt full. my idea of being full was making myself sick from eating too much. i really still don't know what feeling full feels like but i know i need to control myself and its working.

emmymcq · March 2013

Most recently (since I've gained, lost,gained many times) my breaking point was when my size 18 jeans were getting really tight. I'm in a 12/14 now.

kvandeman · March 2013

I have had a couple of "breaking points", the first was last summer when I went to Six Flags America and found out in the most embarassing way that I was too fat to ride most of the roller coasters. That just put me into a funk for a while which did me absolutely no good. Then in December I went to the doctor because of some migraines and weighed in at exactly 300 pounds. I could not believe this. There is no way I could weigh that much. Since then I have started the process to have gastric bypass and I have lost 17 pounds. I am back to where I was last summer and unfortunately I still cant' ride some of the coasters at Six Flags. This time it did not send me into a funk but has inspired me to lose the weight by the end of the summer so that I can make the most of my season passes. I am tired of being the fat lady. I just want to be me.

Wanderson1311 · March 2013

I was 350 pounds. That was my heaviest. My daughter was riding her bike and she flipped over the handle bars and fell face first into the sidewalk. I was siting on the porch and took off walking really fast (cause lets face it I couldn't run and even walking fast was difficult) I got to her and she was ok but she had broken her wrist. Well, long story short that was my breaking point. I was soooo thankful that my daughter was ok and yes she did break her wrist but at least she didn't get seriously injuried. After we got back from the ER and getting her all bandaged up. I sat down on the couch and cried. I cried because what if she had been seriously injuried and I could not get to her in time. Then that opened the door to look back and really take a good hard look at my life. How much I have really just sat on the side lines watching my kids play or run or anything. How much my kids probably missed out on because I was to overweight to do anything. So that is when I made the change I joined myfitnesspal and started working out 5 days a week. I had lost 120 pounds but then here recently I started gaining back the weight. So here I am now!!!

Heaven71 · March 2013

In all honestly, I bought one size bigger pant. Which was actually a size 2 Express dress pant. They fall off of me now. I was never big and always wore childrens sizes but just that small amount of weight changed me forever. I was so sendentary, work a desk job and was going home and laying around watching TV and eating whatever I wanted.

Never again!

mycrobemini · March 2013

Mine was when my mother said, "The doctor says I've crossed the line from pre-diabetic to diabetic." That leaves me as the only person in my family that is NOT diabetic, and I have no intention of letting it happen without a fight!

bregalad5 · March 2013

It's horrible, but constantly being rejected because of my weight.

essaryswife73 · March 2013

Mine was when my husband and I were talking about his father passing last summer. Sometime around the first of January this year, we were talking about how awful it was that his dad died at 64 of a heart attack, because of a crappy lifestyle...eating out almost all the time, or eating 3 homemade cheeseburgers, or 2-3 pot pies at a time. Plus smoking all the time. (I quit smoking 10 days after his dad passed) We were both very close to his dad, and it made us realize how short and fragile life is. Now our kids are growing up missing a wonderful grandpa. We want to be around for a LONG time. See our kids grown, married, happy, successful and have many years with our future grandkids. My husband is down almost 40 lbs since last fall, and I'm down 27 lbs since Jan. 4.

What was your breaking point?

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