What was your "moment"?

When I looked down in the shower and couldn't see Mr. Peep, I knew I had to lose weight and ditch the cake-making devil-woman.

Hi,
My moment was..

I'm the typical fat guy who has always said. "You know what I've tried everything to loose weight, but nothing seems to work" I have tried a bunch of stuff, but never really anything that has worked for me. I used to work out for 3 hours a day going hard. But I would still keep eating garbage(burgers everyday pizza hotdogs etc mostly processed junk). So as expected I did not notice any positive change. I actually put on more weight. So yeah I tried everything but to eat right.
-- One day I went in for a work required physical/health examination, and the doctor told me that I would need to have a sleep apnea study, and that my urine protein levels where way too high; which indicated kidney damage. I also had a huge risk of diabetes. I weighed in at 345 lbs that day. Naturally I failed the physical, and could not work there in the shape I was. I felt devastated by this news.
-- A buddy of mine who works with me, and is a bodybuilder/Personal trainer was with me that day, as he took his physical too. After he passed his physical. He saw the look of disappointment on my face, and right then and there. He outlined to me what I need to do. He told me to stop eating breads pasta rice sodas sugar etc. I was too increase my protein/veggies levels and do exercise 2 to 3 times a week. My exercise was to be short, but intense in nature.
-- I was doing this for a week and a half, and bamm in that small amount of time I had lost like 4 lbs. Too be honest I didn't do as much exercise as I should have. I was online googling how eating more meat helped me loose weight, and came across a site on paleo. I read on why exactly I should avoid the breads and those carbs. It makes a lot of sense. I decided to give the highly restrictive(by todays dietary standards) Paleo lifestyle change a try.
-- 2 more weeks go by, and after eating Paleo style and small amounts of extreme exercise I feel great and I lost a shirt size! Then 2 months later I go re do my physical, and I come to find out that I'm healthy; well considering my size haha. There was nothing wrong with me. The doctor said my bp is super healthy, and that my sleep apnea b.s risk is gone. Doctor had me do a sprint on a treadmill a bit, and checked my heart rate. He said I'm as healthy as a horse, and too keep doing what ever I have been doing. I passed! I was hooked on Paleo!
-- The first couple of weeks where tough as I fought through my sugar addiction, but it was sure damn well worth it. Paleo was the best lifestyle change I could have made. At first I only wanted to get healthy, but now I can see myself actually getting in shape. It's awesome! Now I grunt like a caveman and say hell yeah....

what a great story!!!!!

When I got pregnant with my first child, I was the heaviest I had ever been. Then come the pregnancy pounds, which three months after I gave birth, put me 20 pounds heavier than I was when I got pregnant. The moment that did it for me was three months after having my daughter, I went to Cedar Point with my brother's work. When I went to get in line, I was told I had to sit in the tester chair to make sure I could fit. I did, but just barely. That was embarrassing enough, but once I got to the actual ride, and had to sit in the real seat, I found it was slightly smaller than the tester seat. So, I had to leave the ride. That made me feel like crap. But it also gave me the push that I needed to start seriously losing weight.

I lost 42 pounds over the course of 7 months or so. (Over the holidays, I didn't do so well. I didn't lose anything, but I also didn't gain back more than 5 pounds) Then, my mom went into the hospital because the chemo treatment she was on stopped working, and the cancer started spreading. I also at the same time quit my serving job, where I walked around 12 hours a day, and started a desk job, where I sat 8 hours a day. My mom needed 24 hour care for a while, which kept me from working out. I didn't have time to prepare healthy meals anymore. Etc Etc, I gained back 30 pounds in 4 months. I fully admit that things had calmed down by the time I realized I had gained so much back, but I wasn't in the habit of good eating and exercising anymore.

I got back in the habit, lost weight again. Mom went in and out of the hospital for 8 months after, but did not need constant care, so I was able to continue working out, but did not lose very much in that time, did not gain either. Then, in May of this year, she was in the hospital again. When she was able to leave, she moved back in with my dad (they had been divorced for 11 years) so he could take care of her. She was out of options for treatment. She passed away in June. Then I got pregnant again, which was not my plan. I was supposed to lose another 40 pounds before I got pregnant. I was doing very well with my weight gain though. Until October, when my father in law was diagnosed with cancer. Then the stress eating, and not having much time to cook healthy, and my pregnancy gain got out of control. He passed away a month later, which was a month ago now. So, now I am trying to eat healthy again, and actually made it to the gym the other day.

I still feel like that day at cedar point was the moment though. Even though it only resulted in a total of 25 pounds lost over 2 years (less now that I am gaining for pregnancy), I still know like I never knew before that I need to really manage my weight now, and once this baby comes, the weight needs to come off. Before that day, I would have just eaten what I wanted, and said "hey, I am pregnant, I can eat what I want." And I would have continued eating what I want after, with the thought of losing weight very far in the back of my mind.

Sorry so long.

My moment was when I went to the hospital for sever stress ans anxiety. Blood test results came in and the doctor said I was in the pre-diabetic range. Diabetes runs on both sides of my family and both my parents have it. I look at how sick and miserable they are at such a young age, and it freaks me out. I do not want to end up like them. I will do whatever it takes.

the year 2001. just had a baby in may.. BAD pregnancy... perfect baby but really took a toll on me. flash forward 6 months needed to find a dress for my sisters wedding. in a dressing room squeezing into a size 18 ... not a pretty picture!!! it was then that i went home... looked up the number to the nearest gym... and have not looked back since!! well that is a lie right there cuz im always looking back ...to see how far i have come!

When I moved to the US from the UK, I was hoping you use the change to switch things up and finally lose weight. At that point, I was hovering around 176 lbs. However, after a rough and stressful start here, I packed on a lot of weight and ended up at 200 lbs.

I stayed that way for three years, until I changed jobs at the beginning of 2013. The increased enjoyment of my job made such a huge difference to my motivation and there were some workplace incentives to exercise i.e. free healthy snacks for going out and walking. Then I joined the Kansas governor's weight loss challenge with a team from work. In the first five months of the year, I lost about 20 lbs.

After the challenge ended, I started losing motivation and I forced myself to get back on the horse and keep going. That's when I started taking things seriously and I haven't looked back since. Yes, I have my weeks when I don't do anything, but I'm growing to realize that that's ok. So since January 2013 I have lost 47 lbs and I feel amazing!

I wouldn't have believed that something so simple as switching jobs would have done it for me, but here I am

Let me summarize why I joined MFP in July of this year:
I'll be 60 in two years;
I weighed over 300 pounds:
my body's organs and extremities were showing damage from being diabetic for 20 years;
and it was difficult to move around in my daily life, due to arthritic knees.
My mom and her father only lived to 71 and 67, respectively.
I was retired, but ready to begin a new life with 'my someone'. (He makes life worthwhile again!)

Some time ago, I had read that food cravings and overeating are caused by food allergies.
I took inventory of the foods I binged upon: sugar, wheat, corn, rice, potatoes, legumes, and dairy.
As I did my research, I found that many of these foods can also cause 'inflammatory diseases'
such as arthritis. I found a life style which took all these difficulties into account: Paleo!
I renounced everything but dairy.

Nowadays, I rarely experience hunger, or crashes from eating sugary foods.
Both the numbness in my feet and the pain in my knees have improved.
I've lost 44+ pounds in 120 days with the help of MFP.
I can eat like this, forever, I'm thrilled to say.

Best wishes to all of you on your Weight Loss Journeys.

Ok, can I just say that you do NOT look 58? :noway: :flowerforyou:

I agree, you don't even really look 40. Amazing!

Mine sounds a little silly after reading some other posts. But my moment was when my husband and I went on a cruise to Alaska. I brought a pair of hiking pants that I had only bought the year before and they didn't fit. Not, they didn't fit comfortably, like I couldn't get them up my legs they didn't fit. I was devestated that I had only just gotten these pants and that I hauled them all the way from Pennsylvania to Alaska for no good reason. I was actually mad that I tooks pants on a vacation for no better reason than to go sightseeing.
I came back from vacation and tried to cut down on eating sugar, soda, etc. I wasn't super succesful for about 9 months. The beginning of the next year when we got our tax return back GYM MEMBERSHIP was the first thing on the list, for both of us. We got a two month weight loss class free when we signed up. The trainer that we met with once a week introduced me to MFP and I have logged in 600+ days and lost 20+ lbs. Going to the gym started me on eating better and watching what I eat. MFP did the most to show me how many calories I was actually eating in a day and I was shocked.
I can't say I still make all the right choices, and I know there is more I could be doing. But I also know that I'm much happier than I was. Not just because I lost weight but because of how I feel physically. I run up and down the stairs like it's nothing. I come home from working and do all kinds of things around the house when I used to come home and lay on the couch because I was "tired" from the day. I have so much more energy that sometimes I scare myself.
I love the new me!

Mine was the very form fitting dress my friend chose for her bridesmaid's dresses. I hated how big my hips looked in that dress and I was determined to do something about it.

My moment was when I could not run for two miles without STOPPING every 3mins or less! I'd also notice about 20 Ibs weight gain, but that didnt bother me so much. What really bothered me was the fact that I used to run for miles and i just thought "****. I am out of shape! I need to change this, period!" Every since the changes, the weight has been coming off quite nicely!

Mine was a really horrible photo. And this whole process is taking much longer than i want it to, but quitting out of frustration won't get me anywhere, I know.

I realized I didn't really have a reason to be self-sabotaging myself.

Had two. One about a month ago when my father had emergency quintuple bypass surgery, and the second just yesterday when my doctor put me on daily meds to lower my cholesterol.

I had a pre-moment and the real moment. My pre-moment was in the summer of 2012. I just had a very basic dislike for my body and the way clothes fit, how much weight I'd gained, etc. I was the heaviest I'd been (153lbs). I had a sit-down with my father (who is the tell-tale story of "I was fat, out of shape, on a bad health track, and got my crap together") and spent 8 months working my butt off. I got down to 137lbs! I felt great, but never appreciated my body. Once I finished Grad school, moved in with my boyfriend, and started a new job, my workouts just stopped. I gained all the weight PLUS MORE back! From May 2013 until November 2013 (just two weeks ago) I gained about 20 pounds.

My actual moment was a few weeks ago. I was putting on a pair of my size 10 pants, which I had just bought a couple of months ago because my 8's were too small and I had only one pair of 10s, and they were beginning to fit snug. I looked at myself, the way my new 10's fit, and said, "I cannot keep getting bigger. I can't." I had watched myself gain weight over six months, cried about it, lamented about it, and finally just stood there looking at myself thinking, "This is it. I can't do a single effing thing but work out and eat right. I've done it once before, I can do it now. I can't stop. I have to do this."

I've worked out more in the past two weeks than I ever did when I lost the first 15lbs. I work out 5-6 times a week instead of three, I monitor my eating, and I have a HUGE body of support, from my AWESOME friends on this website, to my family, boyfriend, and RL friends at home. It's still hard, and I get frustrated, but I'll be damned if I turn back. I feel an unusual sense of dedication that I didn't have before. I'm in it for the long haul now!

To be honest, I wanted to join the Army and I need to lose weight, that's when it started. When I actually started caring about nutrition and health and how it affects me was once I got to where I'm living now... I just didn't like how I couldn't keep up with everyone else in my unit. Now I'm one of the stronger people here