What was your turning point?

looking ridiculous in every piece of clothing I tried on in a shop. got sick of not being able to wear what I wanted. high heels were way out of my reach since my knees couldn't handle them AND the weight, but now I can walk miles in them. and buy all the beautiful dresses I try!

I hated my bingo Wings!! I said to myself, "THAT HAS TO GO" I didn't want to wear any sleeveless tops, just in case they wobble!!

I don't like the "muffin top"

I wasn't happy with my body

So, that was my turning point!

When I was unable to fit in a roller coaster and my young son wasn't able to ride it alone because he was to short to do so.. so we had to leave after waiting in line forever and him crying.

My turning point was a fair ride too. I was waiting in line with my husband to get on a Ferris Wheel at our local fair here in July of last year ('12) and the carnie said we had to wait until more people "our size" got in line so it would balance out. Humiliating! We walked away and went on the bumper cars instead. (And they were a tight squeeze too, believe me. :sick: I made my mind up right there. No more going on Ferris Wheels if they are that flimsy. :laugh: And not one more summer spent missing out on fun stuff because of my weight.

I went to the doctor and the scale read 198. No way in hell was I going to weigh 200 lbs, and at the rate I was going I was headed straight for it.

My newish suit pants didn't really fit anymore. That was shock number one because I brought them less than a year ago when my super old previous suit didn't fit (it was so old that it was brought before I had fully finished growing).

A couple months later I brought a scale because I was curious if I was 5 or 10 kg overweight.

I was 20 kg. At my height that is the difference between being normal weight and being obese. Yes the thin but sedentary guy who never watched his eating (because I didn't have to) had become obese.

That is a pound too far, so I figured I should do something and ended up here.

It feels good to get this out, even if no one ever reads it. I was in a really bad relationship last year, I was unhappy but put my whole life into someone and he could not do that for me. I don't blame him, we both made a lot of mistakes and acted in a way I think we are both ashamed of now. I isolated myself from my friends and started feeling really alone. My sister, whom I am very close to moved across the country and that further isolated me. I was unhappy with my friends (the ones I still talked to on occasion, my job and my life in general). I think I ate to fill some void, or for protection I am not really sure. As time went on I kept gaining and gaining and in six short months I put on over 40lbs.

I felt lost, but I knew that if I wanted my life to be different, I would have to change how I was doing things. I started back to school to finish my BS (I have my AS already), I quit my horrible job and I started trying to better select my company. The thing that still felt wrong was this weight, its like a giant sign I carry with me, telling everyone to leave me alone.

I honestly am unsure if I have had a turning point, more like a slow realization I don't want to be single forever, I want to date and feel as though I am worthy of the people I meet and get to know. I want to do better for myself. I guess that is my turning point, though it is a blunt, wide point and gradual rather than sudden. I want to be a better person, ultimately for me.

When I gained a lot of weight and couldn't fit into a skirt I bought for my birthday.

It has been over a year, but when I think back to why I changed my lifestyle, I am thinking it had a lot to do with my social anxiety.
I hid often and did not want to go anywhere ever. When I reflected on my discomfort, it came down to low-self esteem of my appearance. My mom had mentioned MFP a long time prior, so I thought I would log on and see what came of it. Never looked back...until now haha!

Moving to graduate school in a brand new place definitely did it for me. During my second month here, I decided to look back at an assignment I did for a Positive Psychology course during my undergrad. I had written a little story about where I'd ideally want to be in five years. I felt pretty good about most of it being fairly well predicted at the two years in point, but one part stood out to me. I had referred to having lost the weight that I always wanted to lose. It sort of hit me that I had been wanting to lose weight for years now and continuously had been putting it off. If I could progress forward with so many of my other dreams, why was I putting this one on hold? It was the trigger I needed to actively begin using MFP for more than a week or so this time around!

Being able to feel my belly and love handles jiggling when walking or on the bus gave me the kick up the bum I needed, it wasn't a pleasant sensation for me

I expressed interest in a guy and was turned down flat...even though this guy was very vocal about finding a wife, had never been married even in his late 30s. I am not positive he did not like my body, but I did not want to take the change.

I know it is not PC to say, but I would like to marry again. Men are visual creatures. What else can I say?

When the scale, which has always gone up and down, hit 200 this summer. I couldn't deny the weight gain any longer, and I needed to take control.

I hit my turning point and decided it was time to change my life when I logged on to my fb account after a few years of being away and saw a picture my mother had posted of me at my heaviest weight. Seeing that picture made me realize that I needed to take control back of my life and caring about myself. I had let my self esteem get so low. Since the time that picture was taken I've actually lost about 56 lbs. I have a long way to go, but I am feeling so much better about myself. I have a lot more energy and I like what I am starting to see when I look in the mirror. This is the beginning of my new life, a healthy happy person that I love being.

My turning point was more of a waiting game than anything.

I've had an autoimmune disease for over a decade now, and during that time I've been through some rough patches. However in the fall of 2011 I hit an all time low, as it were. I went from having flares lasting 3-5 days about twice a month to having maybe -- maybe -- 3-5 days pain free. It would hurt to sit, to stand, to walk. At times it hurt to feel the pressure of clothing on my skin. I've broken bones and given birth, and neither remotely touched this.

I became mostly bedridden by the beginning of 2012. My doctors and I went around and around on the carousel of medications trying to see what would work. Eventually we learned that I required a cocktail of them; but once we finally got the dosages right in the spring of 2013 my body slowly calmed down. By that time I had put on approximately 50 lbs between the medications and the inability to move. It wasn't until around June that was able to be semi-active again. I wanted to lose weight but I was scared. What if I worked out and the pain came back? What if I made myself worse? I finally came to that place where being afraid of the "what ifs" was no longer worth it though.

In August I started going to the gym 3 times a week. At first I could barely manage a 20 minute workout and I would come home in so much pain that I'd collapse in bed abs nearly cry. It was in part due to my illness and in part due to the fact that over 2 years my body had become weak. Before I could hike for an entire day and feel great, I did circuit training and free weights. But now I had to start all over.

The first 3-4 weeks were brutal at the gym. But as I've continued I've become stronger. That woman I was is coming back. I've reduced my caloric intake some and I watch what I eat to an extent. And I know that alone would cause me to become thinner. But I don't want I be thinner. I want to be *stronger*. And that means sweating and feeling my muscles burn sometimes. It's worth it though, the body that I'm slowly getting back makes it worth it.

having to cover myself and wear leggings all the time...my pre-pregnancy clothes being too tight and hurting me. Guilt for overeating...being tired all the time...looking in the mirror with shock.