Final Straw

I think that the final straw has happened many times for me, my two pregnancies I went from under 180s to almost 300 pounds, and back to a low of 164and then I had my Twins and worked out crazy strong for 4 yrs and couldn't get below 200. Got my IUD removed and had my 5th child, I topped the scales at 218 when I got pregnant and 278 walking into the hospital, I now weigh 222 pounds and my baby just turned 1. After my 5th child I decided that's it, no more, I don't care how long it takes me, I don't care how I do it, as long as I eat healthy and exercise I am going to reach my goal. I found out I am gluten intolerant and lactose intolerant so I am now focusing on making better choices, I also found that although I love high impact exercises, walking is better for my joints and body right now. Ah ha moments come often. I also have a amazing support system here on mfp and at home.

My turning point was the onset of clinical depression coupled with persistent, chronic pain in my knees, ankles, hips, and shoulders. I left my job to take on a new one overseas and as I was about to ship out the contract was cancelled. Everything seemed hopeless and all I wanted to do was cry all the time. I would get winded simply walking to to the mailbox and up and down a short flight of stairs. The only pleasure I got was the weekly trip to Hooters for their all you can eat wings on Monday. If you could believe I could eat 50 of the boneless wings, a plate of fries, and two of the tall beers. I actually broke one of their stools sitting on it. Thankfully, I grabbed the counter to prevent a full on fall. A fall would've been a serious injury.

Now, I've nearly completed the second week on my weight management program. I never would've thought after the second week that the pain would begin to subside. At the beginning of the second week, I had the motivation to start exercising. Even my mood has improved, I feel more optimistic, and the additional assistance of MFP has been invaluable.

My initial turning point was in 2007. I had a new baby. I was a proud new mother. I never thought of myself as fat, until one day I stepped on the scale and saw 301 pounds. That very day I decided there was NO WAY I was going to live my life at over 300 pounds. Over the course of the next four years I lost 100 pounds.

My husband and I decided to have another baby. Starting at 200 pounds, I gained 40, taking me to 240. After the baby was born, I got back down to 216 in just 3 months. Then I went back to work and started gaining. On January 20, 2013, I weighed 239.6- just 0.4 pounds shy of my weight the day I delivered my second baby. I decided there was NO WAY I was going to weigh more than the day I delivered, so I joined Weight Watchers and starting back at Bikram. I have lost 10 pounds in 9 weeks.

I want to lose an additional 65. I know it's going to take some hard work and dedication, but I will get there!

Wow.. This is an awesome thread.. Each and every one of you should be proud at what you have accomplished and know that you are an inspiration to someone else out there!! All of you keep your eye on the prize and keep pushing foward. Congrats on what have accomplished so far and best wishes on your future accomplishments that will surely happen.
**Dale**

I don't have ONE momentous turning point, but I did wake up on New Years Day with norovirus. Vomiting for three days really helped jump start me

My last straw was when I reached 254 and was dating.... I was telling my mom about this guy and friend was going to set me up with and she said, "does he know your are a bigger girl so he wont be shocked my your weight?" I never thought I was this big...... Until I seen the Christmas pictures. I look like that? I don't feel like that!!!! At 12 pounds down I felt AMAZING! My eating habits are healthy, I no longer eat fast food because I don't like the taste, I exercise.... my back pain is almost gone.... Then came a family function, a baby shower, at 12 pounds down I could tell but could my family.... Nope .... then the pictures ... I still look like a whale, I thought to myself. My face is still fat, I have more rolls than a bakery and while I do look in the mirror and see the changes in my belly and other parts of my body and in how my clothes feel... I hit my last straw everyday because I am not even close to my goal. I feel great and I am sooooo happy for making this change but even now at 17 pounds down, in pictures, I'm still that fat short girl of the family. I feel good about myself until I go out and realize how far I still have to go, its heartbreaking to feel this way.

Hello everyone. (this is my first post and I am exited!)
My final straw was when my little sister, who is only 13, wrote an essay for school saying how much she admired me and wanted to be like me. All I could think was oh no please don't end up like me. I am 24 and too fat to do anything. I have no confidence and no drive to do anything. I need to lose over half my starting body weight to be have a healthy BMI for my height and age. I happened to read her essay on her 13 birthday (27th Feb 2013) and that day I decided that if she was going to look up to me then I was going to be someone worth looking up to. I had used my fitness pal before but this time I was going to do it properly. I decided to try going vegetarian because I feel it's a healthy lifestyle and have done this and counted calories for a month today and I have lost 12 pounds! I haven't even started exercising but I will when I have lost a bit and feel a bit better about going out in public. I am so happy that my fitness pal exists and that its so easy to use. Reading all the inspirational success stories is a great motivation tool-when I think I could just kill for a chicken burger I have a cup of tea and read through the forums-it really helps!

(Another couple of reasons I want to lose weight is so that when my husband and I decide to have a baby is that when I start to show people won't have to wonder "is she pregnant or just fat?" Isn't that ridiculous? I also discovered Joe Browns clothing website and I fell in love with the clothes-now I am not a shopper or in anyway into fashion-I wear £10 jeans from asda-but I want to buy those clothes and I want to look good in them! Very selfish reason but there you are-that's what drives me!)

@OP. I'm going to stop you right there. Don't call it a diet. A diet implies that you are doing something out of the ordinary for a time to lose weight. I think you need to go with lifestyle change, because its more stylish, and its for the rest of your life.

I had a few turning points. The final one that kicked me into high gear was when my grandfather had double knee replacement surgery then stroked as a result of all that. He was laid up in the hospital for months till he passed. It was horrible to watch. I couldn't be the fat dad that had a stroke/heart attack/die of <insert fat disease here>. Aint nobody got time for tat.

Now my work is blocking memegenerator site. so you don't get a picture of sweet brown.
So you get a super pony instead.

You have all given such great reasons to finally draw a line in the sand and say "enough is enought" that you have inspired me to actually post my story. My main reason for wanting to lose weight has to be my two boys. I have always been active in sports and have been a volunteer coach for everything they do, be it soccer, baseball, basketball, etc... Well now that they are getting older (teenagers) and the sports are more competitive instead of just fun, I am not able to "keep up" with them and always have to quit way too early. I have never considered myself to really be "fat so to speak" but have been overweight ever since I left college. I am 6"2 and now down to 225 lbs and look forward to getting under 200 during the summer for the first time since college. My wife is making this weight loss journey with me which is great for the support, we have been together for 24 years and have actually registered to do a "Warrior Run" at the end of the summer on our 17th wedding anniversary. I hope that I survive as I have never even ran a 5k in my life but we are embracing the challenge together and trying our best to change our lifestyle for our kids and ourselves. Good Luck everybody on your journey and thank you all for your motivation.

This past Christmas I visited my family in another state. I love my family, don't get me wrong, but they are all a little ..."chunky". When I looked at all of the pictures I took over the two weeks I was up there, I couldn't find a single picture where I didn't look HUGE. Not a sible one! Out of about 450 pictures. That, and that I looked back into my photos of me and my girlfriend and I look like I could eat her as a small meal. I was so ashamed. I felt like she couldn't be proud to be seen with me in public (even though I KNOW she would never feel like that). That was my turning point.

Mine was February 2012, just before my birthday. My husband usually takes me out to this fancy restaurant downtown and it is the one time of year that I get to dress up in my prettiest dresses. Well that year nothing in my closet that I tried on looked good on me. How depressing! So to make it worse (I guess you could say), I stepped on my digital bathroom scale. With a shock I saw that it said 193! I never, ever wanted any scale to ever read 200+ with me standing on it. That day I headed to my gym, signed up for their weight loss program, then headed to Best Buy and bought a FitBit. Lost 34 pounds.

Still have a ways to go. Unfortunately I was in a car accident 4 months after the above and I've gained a few pounds back (fluctuates between 5 & 10). I have not been able to workout like I used to because of the pain I'm in but I do what I can. It may be slow but I'll get there.

My turning point was about a month ago and sort of morphed into the 'final straw' moment over a period of about a week and a half.

First, I got on the scale at work and weighed 190. UGH! I just about died! At my height, I have absolutely no business being that heavy. But as disappointed in myself as I was, I still didn't really kick it into gear until about a week or so later when I got out of the shower and saw myself naked in the mirror. OMG. I burst into tears...wondering how I could allow this to happen to myself.

So, I started rearranging EVERYTHING. No more fast food. No more huge fatty lunches and dinners. No more skipping breakfast. And no more slugging around and doing nothing - it was time to get some physical activity in my life.

The hardest part at first was the physical activity because I've never really been a big fan of exercise. But I've been at this now for about 5 weeks, and I just tell myself that basically ALL fit and healthy people incorporate physical activity into their lives, and why should I think that I'm above having to do the same? It's an hour out of the day, for heaven's sake! Just do it! And it hasn't been easy, but I'm now starting to see some progress and it's absolutely the motivation I need to continue moving in the right direction, and most importantly, NOT GIVING UP!

DO. NOT. QUIT. QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION - UNLESS YOU DON'T WANT TO LIVE. That sounds harsh - but it's the harsh reality.

The final straw for me was going to the doctors when I was sick and the nurse weighed me and she said "Weight 170 pounds...height 5'3..." I work in the healthcare field and I know my weight was to much for my height. I went home and cried because I couldn't believe I had let myself get to be 170 pounds! For a week I didn't do anything but place blame on everything but ME. It was "Oh I am a single mom who just last year was going to school full time and working full time so I didn't have time to eat right." or "Maybe after the new year starts..." then it dawned on me that this way of thinking is what made it happen. So I changed my eating habits, found MFP and am on my way to getting back to a more healthy weight of 135 or 140.

My final straw was a picture of me with my family last christmas. My sister posted it on facebook and I was so ashamed at how fat I looked. I looked like I had exploded. I am only 5' 2" and I weighed about 205-210 alot of weight on a small frame.

I am now happy to say I am down 34 pounds and still have a way to go.

My final straw was a little different from the rest of yours. It seems like seeing pictures of yourself, or your weight, or someone saying something to you is typical. I knew I was overweight. I knew I was some over 200 pounds (turns out my starting weight was 219.8, which was right about where I was thinking). I wore a size 20-22 jeans and an XXL or even XXXL shirt, there was no denying it. I had wanted to lose weight for a long time, but just didn't have the drive to do it.

So, one night my hubby and I are talking about the things we'd like to do in our lives if we had the ambition, time and money. I mentioned losing weight and listed all my reasons (a lot, in my profile if you are interested), but admitted that I just didn't have the drive to work at it. Shortly after, I said I really wanted to take scuba lessons. It's been a lifelong dream. But money is tight and the classes/materials would cost around $300, and then I would have to either buy or pay to rent gear. I just couldn't see spending that much on something that would just be for me. Not to mention, my body in a wetsuit would be horrific!!! Hubby asked how much weight I wanted to lose and I said I wasn't sure, I'd have to see what would get me to healthy. So, I weighed myself then looked up the healthy BMI for my height. Turns out, I had 70 pounds to lose. *Hubby then said "why don't you make that your reward. If you lose 70 pounds, you can take scuba lessons."

I started the next day! lol

I had many reasons, but I still needed that one extra thing. It's been a long road. I lost 67 pounds, plateaued, gave up, gained 45 back, lost 20, maintained, lost 15 more. But I am now only about 12.5 pounds from my goal and I am bound and determined to take my scuba lessons this summer!

One thing that really sticks out in my mind from those first few days is the realization that I was not "only fat." I knew I was fat, but I always thought "yeah, but I'm not obese or anything." I had some idea that you weren't obese until you were, I don't know, 350 or something. As it turns out, my BMI was 36.6, which was not only obese, but "severely obese." It was a real eye opener.


*I just want to add a disclaimer that my husband never, not once, said anything nasty to me about my weight. I was about 135 when we met, but he married me at my heaviest. I know he loves me at any weight, but he also wants me to be healthy and happy. And I wasn't. He's been wonderfully supportive.