What was your wake up call?

What made me reply to this is that i had the same high results back on some blood tests which scared me to death so i can relate to your story completely! i had been feeling unwell for a long time was feeling really sorry for myself and i was secretly comfort eating. I dont drink huge amounts so i knew it wasnt that, it turns out i dont have a fatty liver and my tests are levelling out now, although still higher than normal and im still getting tested every 6 weeks but its been put down to a very nasty virus (meaning no one really has a clue). I remember how embarrassed i felt that they could be due to a fatty liver because i knew how badly i had been eating and i constanly go on about eating organic food, fruit and veg, fish etc etc and boast that i havent drunk tea and coffee for 30 years but then eat copious amounts of chocolate and rubbish which negates all the good stuff.

I suddenly realised i was 12st 5lbs and remembered saying id never let myself get over 12 stone, then in a flash remembered, a couple of years before, saying id never let myself get over 11 stone, and back to when i said it about 10 stone and suddenly thinking its time i realise that im lying to myself and noone else, that the weight could snowball if i let it get any further out of control and that this time next year i could be saying i'll never allow myself to get over 15stone.

I feel self conscious when i go out, i have to worry about what im going to wear for days before a special event, i hide in long dresses all day. My b/f is GREAT, he tells me im beautiful and sexy but his words dont get through any more and i always ask myself if hes lying to make me feel better ........... so i decided that enough is enough and im going to do something about it - starting yesterday!! That i started yesterday and can say those words is a miracle in itself as ive always said starting tomorrow before!

I want to get into the jeans im wearing in my profile pic which was taken 3 1/2 years ago - i think i was about 10 1/2 stone then and i think that would be amazing!!

Honestly for me it was watching the weight just keep coming on, I'd diet or fad diet some of it off but yet it seemed no matter what I did, I couldn't keep it off. So I would go through yearly bloodwork/physicals with the doc and my cholesterol started one year at 205 and the next at 216. The doc told me if I didn't do anything that I'd be on the same meds within the next couple of years. Noted that my dad's level was in the upper 230's and they placed him on lipitor. I decided to start exercising more, but my weight had gotten right around the 200 mark and I couldn't get myself lower than 192....and I was spending hours at the gym. I looked built in certain areas but puffy in others lol. It took me a while to figure out that what I was eating was the real problem, I mean eating 1/2 to 3/4 of a chicken in one sitting is a bit much, right?????? Anyway, I went on what was called the fat smash diet (portion control with an emphasis on fruits/veggies/whole grains) and watched the weight drop off, so nowadays I work to maintain it.

Seeing photos of myself was my wakeup call. Funny how we always seem to look 30lb lighter in the mirror... my friend took some pictures of myself playing with some dogs on the lawn and I was aghast. That, combined with seeing my highest weight on the scale yet and buying size 14 pants, was the catalyst for change. I'm sick of always being self-conscious, especially in University- a time in my life when I shouldn't have to worry about how I look (not that anyone should).

One day, I just woke up and decided today was the day. No fanfare, no planning. I find it works better that way. It's been a little over two weeks and I've lost seven pounds... to me, it doesn't seem like much yet because I have so far to go, but the only option is to keep going. I'm really glad that I've found this community- I think it'll help.

I am really inspired by everyone's story. And it really hit home to me just how much different our bodies are and how much they may or may not endure.

I have never been classified a BMI of "obese". No one ever even called me "fat". The worse my weight got was 5 pounds into the BMI "overwieght" for my height. I ate well, a little endulgences now and then, but lots of salad and fruit and veggies too. I limited red meat to about once every other week -- and one 9 ounce filet mignon feeds my family of 3. (If I am am going to limit a steak to once per month -- I am going to enjoy it!). Most of my protein was chicken and fish. I worked out at least 3 times a week and was often active beyond that. I had sworn I would never weigh more than I did the day before my son was born.

At my worse I was 5'5" and 152 lbs -- not really "that bad" I was told; especially "for my age" (45). But my body couldn't handle it -- my Blood Pressure went thru the roof to 180/110. When my doctor looked at that and then said, "You can't feel that?!!" :noway: :noway: :noway: That was my wakeup call. What I thought were hot flashes were BP issues. I was retaining water, acid reflux had been diagnosed, I snored, my asthma needed more controlling, and my migraines were off the charts. In short for not being "that bad" I was a mess.

I have lost 22 of my 25 pounds and I am still working on it. My BP meds have been reduced, and my migrains and asthma are doing much better. My DH says the soring has stopped. I am speaking to the Doc about the acid reflux next time I see him.

My wake-up call wasnt nearly as serious as others here. I had been "trying" to lose weight for a few months with no results (and all I got were more aches and pains). My friend linked me the site and I said I will just try writing everything down, and I was HORRIFIED by just how bad all the stuff I was feeding myself was. I decided I could lose the weight if I was willing to change. I am still trying to stay strong and continue with my journey today (just over 3 months later).

I have had a few reasons to re-evaluate my life this year but the last one that really lit a fire under my butt was when I was braiding my daughters hair and she asked me why I breahted so heavy.
All I had been doing was getting her ready after her bath and doing her hair, it's not like I had just climbed a flight of stairs.
So I asked my son if it was true and he said yeah it had been that way for a while, he thought I knew. Honestly I had no idea.

I went to the Dr. for a physical, High blood pressure, and pre-diabetic. I said No No No, and agreed to loose some weight and get in better shape. Have alot of diabeties and heart conditions in my famliy and vowed i would not leave my children early in life and am determined to make a change NOW. Already feel better about my choices and small successes that I have made here and with my family. We all are eating better and getting off the couch more. My children find it fun to ride bikes together rather than watch a show together, so hopefully we can make it a total lifestyle change.

My wake up call is when I first started this site. I always wanted to work out but was to lazy to do it. I'm 5'3 and 182Lbs so when I checked the obesity chart it said I was obese and I started crying like a big baby. I than looked in the mirror and noticed love handles under my bra strap that I never seen before. this just made my cry more. I immediately put my work out clothes on and went straight to the gym.

Ironically, there was another post on here tonight about "the last straw." After reading all the stories here, I decided to copy the same post I did on that thread:

My birthday came a week before Easter in 2009. I had to renew my driver's license, which meant a new picture. There I sat, weighing more than I ever had, wondering what the h3LL happened to the 13 lbs. I lost in the prior January when I had a planned surgery. What happened to my plan to "watch it" and keep losing, FINALLY? :mad: Well, I DID watch it....just that "it" went back up, to where I had been, + a couple of pounds of "interest" :noway: because I was fooling myself about how much I was eating, and how much "exercise" there really was in walking two (at that time, now it is three) pesky little doggies, who like to stop and smell the roses, a LOT!:laugh: :laugh:

I decided the best birthday gift I could give myself for the following year (2010) was to lose 100 lbs. During the week before Easter, I began searching out weight loss info online, and read some important basic truths. People who record their food intake and exercise calories burned are more likely to be successful at LOSING, and if those same people adopt a "lifestyle change" rather than going on a "diet" that they eventually plan to go "off" of, they are more likely to KEEP the weight off. I also found that people who had a support system, whether it was in person or online, were also more likely to continue for the long haul.

I searched for free calorie-counting websites, found another one I can't recall, and MFP. MFP seemed much more user-friendly, than the other site, so I registered and started using it every day on April 13, 2009. I started walking (without doggies), and for a while during the summer, I was doing about 25 miles per week. The weather and shorter days made that pace impossible to maintain, but I still tried to walk outdoors when I could, and at the Mall, when the weather was uncooperative. The secret was to KEEP WALKING PAST the Food Court!!!:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

It took me 7 months and 3 weeks to lose 50 lbs. In December, my doctor removed one of my BP meds and cut the dosage of the remaining one to half of what I had been taking. I sustained a head injury in January, 2010, and the aftermath of it, put me off of trying as intensely to lose for a while. I didn't gain, but was not losing anymore--just going up and down the same 2 or 3 lbs.

Along about July, I was getting fed up, since what I had done the previous year to lose wasn't working. As a result of posts on MFP, I researched the HCG diet, and found it was supposed to be helpful for someone experiencing a plateau due to being at a setpoint (a weight that you held for a long time in the past, and when you get back to it, you can't get below it). I knew that I was right in that neighborhood and I was sick of it. My original expectation had been to lose 100 lbs. in a year, but when April 2010 arrived, I had only lost half of that.

When I got a 'save the date' notice for a family wedding in September, I decided I HAD to get it in gear if I was going to be anywhere close to where I had planned to be by the end of the summer. On July 19th, I started the HCG diet. About 20 days into the process, after losing about 12 lbs. I experienced a week of severe carb cravings that seemed to come out of nowhere.

After a few days, I figured out it had been triggered by artificial sweeteners--something I had not been using, but they were in something I had eaten away from home. Not realizing that was the issue, I tried to "solve" my cravings by having a squirt or two of sugar free syrup in the decaf I was getting in the evening at Starbuck's. Then I was coming home and gobbling multiple servings of crackers, and even some of the candy stash that I had no trouble ignoring for the previous three weeks.

A look at my food diary for that week helped me figure out what had happened, and within two days of stopping that sugar free syrup "fix," my cravings disappeared, and I began losing again. I "lost" a week, and probably cost myself being at least 6 lbs. lighter than I am now, but I am not dwelling on what can't be changed. In another 4.5 lbs., I will be "overweight" ONLY (per BMI) for the first time since 1989!!:drinker: :drinker:

Almost as good as that day will be, last week I visited my doctor and when my blood pressure was checked, it was 100/74!! Mind you, before this time, the best I could do off meds was about 114/80. My doctor was very pleased.

So now I am trying to get to a loss of 100 lbs. by the beginning of November, 2010, which would put me at the high end of a 'healthy weight' for my height. Talk about something to be thankful for!!:drinker: :drinker:

Anyway, that is the story of my "final straw"--a driver's license picture from hell. Within the last two weeks, two people have looked at it, at my bank, and looked at me and said "You need a new photo!" So probably this Fall, I will pay extra to have it redone.

High blood pressure that runs in the family. I want to get that down permanently.