What was your "last straw"???

I joined MFP in 2012, mainly for the food database. I was only fifteen lbs overweight and wasn't too concerned. I slowly added another 35 to that over the next nine months.

So, flash forward to May of 2013, and bending over pinched my stomach, bending down to tie my shoes was unpleasant, my "big baggy" jeans weren't fitting anymore. I had lost the ability to run more than 100 yards, and I was hiding from cameras. Finally, while giving a presentation at my office, I bent over to pick up a pen I had dropped, and I ripped the *kitten* out of a pair of suit pants. That was three months and 40 lbs ago.

I am NEVER going back to being like that again.

I had been ignoring the signs such as always feeling tired , being out of breath and constantly bathing due to being sweaty. Shops not carrying my size which was basically elephant sized. My thighs would rub together in certain clothes and my arms look like huge ham hocks and my ankles like tree trunks, my bras were straining and my feet were widening. Then I realised 2 things , the first was I started to find it difficult to wipe myself after using the bathroom, this was mortifying and I almost didnt write it in this post, it is such a shameful feeling , the only way I could achieve it was to contort myself with effort. My blood pressure went up and I was told if it went any higher or stayed that high I would be put on medication. Then something happened which came straight out of a comedy movie but it happened to me and it was my last straw. There was a chinese medicine store opened in my nearest town and it had a whole list of problems which they treated with herbal teas including weight loss. Being a new shop it was quite busy , they had a waiting area with wooden seats, I sat down and the chair smashed and I fell to the floor. In front of the shop owners and the customers. That really was it. They were very kind and told me not to worry about the chair, but that was my last straw

I think there wasn't so much ONE last straw, as a combination of things. The inability to go to amusement parks didn't do it. The needing a seatbelt extension didn't do it. Being forced to buy an additional seat on Southwest didn't do it, I just stopped flying. Being at the very deepest end of the fat lady stores didn't do it.

I used to hurt, all the time. If I couldn't find a way out of it, a half-block walk would have me out of breath and I moved SO SLOWLY. It took so much energy to just get out of bed in the morning. My knees hurt so bad and I couldn't even bend my right leg. I couldn't go up and down stairs, but if I was forced to go down stairs, it was one at a time, and slow as can be. My quality of life sucked.

Last year fifteen colleagues passed away and I truly felt like people were saying "you're next." It was beyond depressing. I applied for a local grocery chain's Biggest Loser style contest and wasn't chosen, despite putting myself out there for the first time, likely because people wouldn't be able to SEE results at my size. I decided to do it on my own instead and to do it FOR me, so I quietly declared 2013 the year of positive changes and I haven't looked back.

I renewed my drivers license and when I looked at the new picture I was shocked. I knew I had gained over the years, but THAT much?? I cried. I felt horrible.

when i was diagnosed with sleep apnea and had to start sleeping with a cpap machine. then watching my parents health decline due to being overweight. i have become their inspiration to become healthier and they are mine along with all the new friends i have made on MFP.

Hated not being able to where the "cute" outfits. So i started by getting full length mirrors in my bedroom and bathroom. ;-)

Seeing myself in my wedding pictures.....hideous!!! Any pictures really. Also taking 4 kinds of blood pressure pills twice a day. Fat clothes too tight, can't participate in any summer activities because I felt ugly in my clothes, imbarassed to be seen in public, did I mention pictures were disturbing. :noway:

As sad as it sounds, my weight loss started in a not so healthy way. Not even on purpose, really.
My boyfriend of 4 years that I had moved away and lived with broke up with me. And having a great life previously, this was the most devastating thing that has ever happened to me.

I saw it as a good time to start over, and so far I've lost over 60 pounds since then!
And I found MFP recently, and I love it. ^-^

Although my weight has been fluctuating around 141-145 lately, ugh.

I just want to feel good about my "whole self" again. For 20 years I have been overweight and I am sick of it. Shopping for clothes for a friends wedding was my last straw, nothing but tents and tarps to choose from. I want choices and I have to start by making the most difficult one of all- to just do this!

A lady on the tube offered me her seat; she had assumed I was pregnant! The embarrassment of having to reply that that wasn't the case . . .

Seeing a picture of myself with my daughter on her graduation day - made me realize how bad I looked on the outside and felt on the inside. Not anymore....I'm heading in the right direction!

When I left my doctor's office with a prescription for an antidepressant. I knew I needed to take back control of my life.

I had been through a lot of ugly unfair life that year and gained 10# on top of the extra 10# that had crept on over the 9 years before that. I was letting other people's actions control my wellbeing.

The day after the fateful doctor appointment I started spending money we don't have on a gym membership and going to the gym religiously even when there are other demands on my time. Shortly after I started buying fresh foods that I want even though no one else in the house will eat them. It sounds very selfish but it is the only way I could get myself back.

The appointment was December 22, 2012. August 29, 2013 I am down the 20# plus almost 5# to my final weight goal. My doctor is talking about weaning me off the antidepressants. My husband is finally starting to get on board and go to the gym with me once in a while. He has eating healthier and cooking healthier for our family. Most importantly I am starting to feel more like the capable, confident person I used to be.

I need to add that I also joined a book club, started taking community ed classes, started playing bagepipes, and learned how to fence (think swords not cattle). I am working at making new, better, friends and making spending time with them a priority.

It really wasn't a last straw - it was more of the opportunity so I might as well take it.....

I lost my job due to voice issues and working in a call center (they don't go well together). After they let me go, I moped around for about a month. Then one day I was wondering if I could still touch my toes (I might have always been big, but fairly flexible). HOLY CROW, I COULD!!...BUT....I didn't want to lose that so I decided since I had the time I might as well do SOMETHING productive. Been unemployed since April, still looking for a job, but losing weight has been what has kept my head high.