What got you started? When was it finally enough!

When I realized I had gained back over half of the weight I worked my butt off to lose 12 years prior. And I had literally busted out of the zipper of the one skirt that fit me. I had purposely gotten rid of all my old large clothes the first time around to discourage me from relaxing back into old habits - and I was reluctant to shop for new larger clothes. I had that skirt, 2 tops and a dress that barely fit me - disgraceful.....
My closet was stuffed full of size 4's I didn't have the heart to get rid of...just kept staring wistfully at them thinking "Someday...".

It was May 22nd this year - I have the date circled on my calender. I got sick of saying "Someday" and said "Now".

I had just turned 40 and after a health check my doctor told me my blood pressure was a little high. He said I should cut down on salt & sugar and be more active and try lose some weight. That was just the push I needed and I haven't looked back since.

I looked down in the shower and couldn't see my noodle anymore. That was enough for me to lay off the pizza and beer and go straight to water and bacon cheeseburgers.

I was heavy since I was 6-7 years old. Kids picked on me even though I played team sports (basketball & softball). Then when I hit highschool (my mom sent me to an all girls catholic highschool), a girl looked at me and told me, "you'd be prettier if you let your bangs grow out." Which I did. Then I noticed I always had male friends, but never a boyfriend. Finally when I hit 21, I met my husband and peaked at my heaviest. I knew if I wanted kids the weight had to go, so I lost some, then I had a baby and I told myself, "if I'm going to be married to a tall twig and set a good example for my kids, I need to change my habits and lose the weight." And that's exactly what I did.

I had enough when I started to have pain in my joints for no reason, tingling numbness in my fingers every morning when I woke, huffing & puffing just to go upstairs to my room, and of course the pictures.

I finally didn't allow myself any excuses, it was time to commit to change.

The first time I lost weight, it was seeing my honeymoon pictures. Plus, hiking on our honeymoon proved to be much more difficult than it was just the year before. In six months, I lost 25 pounds and got in the best shape of my life.

Now I just have to do it over again since I had our baby, hehe. But my journey this time has already proven to be easier.

I saw a picture of myself from behind, and wondered "Who is that robust guy?". I use my morbidly obese parents as anti-motivation, so to speak. If I'm not vigilant, I could turn into my father's horrible physical shape and bad eating habits.

I finally had enough and realized something needed to be done when a good friend I hadn't seen in years walked up to me and rubbed my stomach and asked when I was due...to add insult to injury, my husband had ordered me a dress for our anniversary and it was stuck on backorder for a couple of months...and from the time he ordered it to the time I actually received it the same day I saw my friend, I had gained so much that I couldn't even get it on. I was so embarrassing and I didn't even want to go out to dinner to celebrate our one year anniversary. It was a real eye opener.

I have BDD and I have always seen myself as fat, even when I wasn't. (Though seriously these last 20yrs.. I definately have been fat) Regardless of what the scales say. and I have an almost phobic issue with having my photo taken. I am that ashamed of my body. So when this past christmas my mum asked for a couple of pics of us as a family and pointed out it was almost 9 years ago that she last got one. I had a light bulb moment. My youngest is nearly 10 and the last full body public photo of me was when she was 7mths old. I thought, if I died tomorrow.. my kids would have no photos of me. So there it was. Took another month or two to really sink in and get there.. but I am down 40lb and steadily losing. My goal.. is to be comfortable enough with my body to have my photo taken with my husband at our neices wedding in January.

When I started missing social events because I was embarrased of the way I looked. I would miss bday parties, gatherings, even date nights w/ my hubby.-I would of missed work if I could of gotten away with it. I also found that I didnt have recent pictures of myself. I started avoiding them or hiding behind my kids. Not to mention the horrible intimacy issues that came along with the weight:sad: . I think -I KNOW that was just the last straw!

LEt's just say, Stella got her groove back! :blushing: :blushing: :blushing:

I was not happy with the body that I saw in the mirror #1, my husband put his arm around me while laying down and he grabbed my fat belly and said what's that?#2 and because I am tired of the scale disrespecting me.:bigsmile:

I've always been fat, but seriously always felt pretty and liked the way I looked. I didn't have kids teasing me in school and I always had friends and dates in high school. In gym class I was in the top 2-3 heaviest in my class every time, but easily outperformed a lot of much thinner girls, even in high school & college. It was very rare for me to get down about myself...maybe 2-3 times a year I felt bad about my body.

But in 2008 when I hit my highest weight (307) and started to have swelling in my ankles and feet, and found myself breathless after going up and down a bunch of stairs on a business trip with my then-boss...I knew I was looking at some potentially serious health problems. So I got serious - but only about exercise. Within 18 months I'd dropped over 30 lb and was in MUCH better condition, with improved flexibility, stamina, cardiovascular functioning, etc. But that's it. I stalled in the neighborhood of 270 lb for YEARS!

Apparently my body "loves" being between 267-272, because I have been in that range of numbers on the scale for the great majority of my post-adolescent life. Argh!

In 2012, I divorced my chain-smoking, obese, restaurant-loving ex husband and met the love of my life, a guy who had lost over 100 lb in the past and ate pescetarian and was super health-conscious. I started eating like him, exercising more, and I lost a whopping 9 lb..

March of this year we went to an event with lots of photos taken. I didn't hate the photos of myself, and they weren't a "wake up call" or anything...but I felt like I looked cuter in the outfit I was wearing than I appeared in the photos. The same weekend we were also talking to my fiancé's friend who dropped beef and lost 60 lb. I was jealous and felt challenged by that somehow. I'd made much more drastic dietary changes and lost so little! I joined MFP the next week, bought my first home scale, and the rest is history. I'm down a little over 38 lb and have beat my lowest adult weight of 227 by four pounds. I can't wait to see what happens over the next year. I'm open to getting down to 180-ish which would be my weight in middle school! But I'll honestly be happy at 200 or 220 or whatever. I am just NEVER going back where I was before, there's no point in it.

When I had to lay flat on the bed to button my jeans. Now those jeans are too big. I went from a size 14 to a size 8. A I bought a pair of jeans from the gap only because they are a size 6 and they FIT ME!! I wish I could somehow let the tag hang out, by mistake of course.