What was your "ah-ha!" moment?

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Replies

  • BrianJLamb
    BrianJLamb Posts: 239 Member
    Which time?! Last time it was getting ready for my wedding....I dropped 30 lbs. The time before that was getting winded when I danced...I dropped 24 lbs. This time it was hitting 199.6 lbs. My low weight two Mays ago was 156 lbs. Since then I have gained more than 40. Each time I drop, I lose my way, forget my manners, start eating pizza and buffalo wings again and get fatter than the last time.

    So yeah...this time it was getting on the scale and almost being 200 pounds.
  • alphabetsoup2013
    alphabetsoup2013 Posts: 208 Member
    A few months ago, I heard through the family grapevine that one of my cousins had been losing a ton of weight via a very low calorie diet programme. Then I received a Facebook message from her, offering to pass her fat clothes along to me. That was the final nudge I needed to do something about my weight. I didn't want to be the last fat person left in the family.

    I was also inspired by the spectacular weight loss last year of a couple of other people I know.

    So everything kind of came together to tell me that it was time for me to do something about my weight.

    And that's exactly what I'm doing.
  • jaymesjourney
    jaymesjourney Posts: 85
    I think my moment was when I stepped on the scale and saw I was 2lbs away from being at 200 pounds!! I had never been that much before and my husband and I had started trying for children. The docs told me it would be extremely difficult for me to get pregnant being the weight I was at and that was sort of the motivation I needed. I had lost 20 pounds but during christmas I went home and ate a lot of things I shouldn't have and gained 10 pounds back. I'm now down another 8 and still have about 50 left to go!
  • tigermom12
    tigermom12 Posts: 39
    I knew I had gained a lot of weight and I was so unhappy with myself but still.....I kept thinking..."Oh I don't look that bad." It wasn't until I kind of half heartedly went to a nutritionist and she told me that I needed to lose 101.8 lbs. GULP! I just cried. I cried all the way home and then some. Also, a friend of a friend died at 45 from cancer. Although, I did not know her....I was kept updated by my friend.

    My appointment with the nutritionist was on a Tuesday. I kinda, sorta started logging my food the rest of the week but then I woke up on Saturday morning and said ...this is it! Something has clicked. I just know I don't ever want to go back to the way I was before.
  • Lunarbeanie
    Lunarbeanie Posts: 107 Member
    When my really, really, really fat clothes were getting tight.
    And the scale said "307" *ugh*
  • RonnieMurray
    RonnieMurray Posts: 28
    When I was looking through pictures we had developed about a year after my daughter was born. I asked my wife, "Who's the fat guy holding Kaylee?" It took me a full 30 seconds to realize who it was. I hadn't been on a scale in over a year. So I stepped on one and found the I had gained over 100 pounds in a little over a year. I knew it was "GO" time.
  • CatMcCheesey
    CatMcCheesey Posts: 143
    I was at the airport watching several elderly travelers walking along with their suitcases. There was a small bump in the sidewalk, and every time the wheels on someone's suitcase would hit that bump, they would struggle with their suitcase, to get it over that tiny bump, and almost fall over. ( A few did fall) I was amazed at how weak they all were, and how little it took for them to be thrown completely off balance. Something just clicked in my head and I said "That is NOT EVER going to be me!" I joined a gym and signed up with a trainer the very next day.
  • katedevall
    katedevall Posts: 240 Member
    I had some picture taken on a vacation in front of the mountains and I saw all those damn rolls hahah.
    Then I looked in the mirror and thought holy **** I'm a cow
  • stephanj
    stephanj Posts: 898 Member
    Christmas 2011 I went to Hawaii and felt gross and uncomfortable with myself - it really impacted my enjoyment of the vacation. Didn't want to be in pictures or be seen in a bathing suit. I vowed to lose weight and started working out regularly in the new year. So I lost 10 lbs that year, but then gained them back in the fall. Christmas 2012 I was exactly the same weight I was a year before. I came on MFP and saw all these people posting their "1 year later" success stories, and realized I could have been one of those, but instead I went and wasted an entire year. It was a painful moment and I was so angry with myself. I vowed that I am going to be a New Years 2013 success story. Since January I've lost 10 lbs and have 8 more to go.
  • elyelyse
    elyelyse Posts: 1,454 Member
    i had been quietly thinking about it for a while... then my mother asked me if I would consider gastric bypass or lap band or something like that and it only took me a second to decide "oh hell no, i'll do this myself"
  • MaineMama24
    MaineMama24 Posts: 15
    I saw a picture of myself taken poolside on a recent trip to Florida. I wasn't even in a bathing suit. I was in a cute calf-length cotton skirt and a cotton top. I saw the picture and realized that I needed to get healthy! I also dreaded the trip because I was going to be exposed in skirts and shorts and I just got the point where I was sick of not enjoying wearing clothes!
  • loey728
    loey728 Posts: 24
    My ah-ha moment........ I realized I needed to start take care of myself for once. I have been married for almost 21 yrs and realized I am not happy. When I first married I weighed about 50lbs less and as I gained weight my husband let me know it...... I realized about 1.5 yrs ago how miserable I was with myself, my body, my marriage...... I have 2 children with my husband and didn't want to give up on our marriage, but it all came to a head when I returned from a Conference for my job. The yelling, the intimidation, the accusations became too much. I left the house, 33 degrees outside in my PJ's and a light sweater and went for a walk..... I started to find myself AGAIN. And said to myself I need to take care of me.... make myself strong, mentally as well as physically. I was tired of always feeling fat and disgusted at my imagine in the mirror.... my big ole fat gut..... I so wish I took care of myself after I had kids. I wish I took care of myself, period. I am now and I haven't felt better. Bottom line, my ah-ha moment was when my husband pissed me off enough and I said f@!# this....... it's time for ME! My kids see a stronger, healthier Mom and my husband sees a stronger women that's not going to be mentally abused anymore. Time will tell what happens with my marriage, but I will never forget about me again. My advice to everyone..... don't ever put yourself on the back burner.... for no one will ever take better care of you than yourself. :flowerforyou:
  • doubleduofa
    doubleduofa Posts: 284 Member
    I've been aware of my weight since as long as I can remember. It never was a real issue until puberty started. Since then I've been on an up and down 30-40 lb rollercoaster of weight loss and gain. So, no real "ah-ha!" moment, just a lifetime of not being happy with my weight and being hyperaware of what I looked like. Typing that out makes me sounds quite dysfunctional...huh.
  • Madaly320
    Madaly320 Posts: 112 Member
    I have been saying it for years, but this past December, we went to Disney World and I had a hard time fitting in the seat on the plane. I mean, I fit and could buckle up but if the flight was longer than the 2.5 hours it was, I would have been extremely uncomfortable. I am 5'4" and was 214lbs. I saw BIGGER people than me on the plane and I thought to myself, how uncomfortable must they be? or are they just used to it? I don't even want to be used to it.

    Then, once we got to DW, I had to sit on the rides alone for a lot of things like Thunder Mountain because the lap bar wouldn't go down close enough to my kids' laps. They would have let me ride with them anyway, but I didn't feel safe, so I always sat alone. On some rides, they said 3 could fit per row but when I tried, my poor kids were squished, so again, I sat alone while I watched other mothers sitting happily with their 2 children on the same seat.

    Then I came home and looked at our pictures and could see how I would conceal my body for pictures. That was when I said ENOUGH!!

    Jan 7, I started at the gym. I have only lost 11 lbs so far but I am happy. I would rather go slowly and change things little by little than to do it all at once and fail.
  • theycallyoumister
    theycallyoumister Posts: 222 Member
    Watching a video of myself running on an indoor track after my wife recorded me. That sobered me up!
  • nibiruuuuu
    nibiruuuuu Posts: 8
    Turning 25 and realizing that for years I've been like "This year, I'm totally going to get in shape." and then not doing it and telling myself the next year was the year I'd crack down. And I've been putting it off for at least 8 years.

    And I want a complete lifestyle change by the time I'm 30. So no time like the present.

    I'll add that I've had back problems since I was 17, so I've been trying to...or wanting to get in shape rather since I was diagnosed with those. But I get stressed about things and put it off.
  • jdhoward_101
    jdhoward_101 Posts: 234 Member
    My 'AH-HA!' moment was stepping on the scales and realizing i had put on nearly a stone since Christmas. I was aware i was putting on weight, but was like, 'meh, i'll lose it soon, i'm sure' but never really made much of an effort. But when i saw that, i thought 'nope, this has got to change!' Plus i have a pair of jeans that i was so determined to fit in to, and pretty much did before i put this stone on, (and so i have no hope now), and i determined that i WILL fit into them! I once held on to a pair of jeans for five years before they finally fit me, i refuse to let it take this long this time!
  • MrsBrosco
    MrsBrosco Posts: 295
    I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of these, every single one! You all are so inspiring, thank you so much for responding!!!
  • Revonue
    Revonue Posts: 135 Member
    For most of my life, I knew I was overweight, but I kept thinking "Well, I'm not 200 pounds". Then I stepped on a scale and I was 206 pounds. It was one of the worst moments in my life, my heart completely sank. That was the moment I knew I needed to lose weight. The last time I weighed myself I was 167 pounds, and my lowest weight was right after summer at 160 pounds.
  • KodAkuraMacKyen
    KodAkuraMacKyen Posts: 737 Member
    Seeing a picture plastered up this side and down the other on Facebook during a business trip in India last year. It had me crying for days. I use that pic as my before in most of my comparisons and it's in my profile pics. I hate that pic but at the same time, grateful it was taken because it got my *kitten* in gear.

    Edited for typos

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