When was your last straw that made you want to change?

A friend of mine posted Halloween photo's and this is what she posted of me and I thought it was a cruel sick joke.



Could not believe I let myself go that much. I had enough!

Mine came from honestly, just wanting a better life. In order for my life to go in the direction I want it to go, all things need to be in order. I need to be healthy as a whole, in body mind and spirit. I realized though, the way to stick with it, is to find your reasons from a positive place. Every time I used negative feelings to justify my reasons for change, I'd fall off the wagon because the struggle of weightloss would be a constant reminder of how crappy my life had become and the torture I'm having to go through now was the consequences. If you don't enjoy the journey - you will never appreciate the point when you reach your goal..because the journey never ends. When you lose those 20, 50, 100lbs..you can't just go back to the old way of eating. So if you don't enjoy being healthy, then how will you ever stick with it? I have a totally different prospective on this weightloss thing - its not even that its a lifestyle change - its a change within yourself to be the best you can be in all aspects of your life

Very interesting stories.

I am a woman of a certain age and didn't realize that along with that comes widening of hips and such, but I didn't really care or notice. But, when I saw the double chin developing in the mirror was when I started to take charge. I fell off the wagon during the holidays, but am now trying to get back on track.

I had been unhappy with my weight etc for quite some time, but the two things that really got me were:

1-One day my fiancé and I were getting ready to go out with another couple and I literally was in tears because I wasn't happy in a single thing I owned, and ended up wearing one of his oversized sweaters out instead of anything of my own

2-My brother decided to take the same journey, and I now had not only a workout buddy, but more so, the overwhelming desire to help my little brother on his own journey...

It had already been something that was in my mind, as my parents BOTH are diabetic (So its on BOTH sides of my family) plus I have my dad's bad knees...I have watched him go through three surgeries and finally a knee replacement, and would like to avoid that if I can...or at least put off as long as I can!

After my boyfriend was in a horrible car accident that critically injured him and killed his best friend (both age 25), I became an alcoholic and used food and booze to cope with the horrible loss of my friend, and entire change of life of my boyfriend. That was in May 2012. By January 2013, after a very slow and painful process, my boyfriend was slowly on the road to physical recovery, and I ended up catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I had, in that 8 month time span, become the highest weight I had ever been in my life. It scared me, because I didn't want to be the cause of my own death after just witnessing how cruel the world can be in taking young lives as it is. I wanted to live as healthy as I could and prosper and live a GOOD life, however short or long that life may end up being. That was when I started (slowly) making life changes.

In 2013, after focusing on my emotional & physical health and, above all my WELL BEING (therapy sessions, etc.), I lost 21 pounds-- it was the first year that I can remember as an adult that I actually LOST weight instead of gaining it. Now, here we are in 2014 and I am focusing on myself and my health more than I ever have! I have tucked away the scale, am working out every morning, and striving to make healthy choices day in and day out. I have a feeling 2014 is going to bring GREAT things!!!

My mom passed away at 63 from a peri-rectal abcess (caused by an ingrown hair) because her body could not fight the infection due to her diabetes and heart problems which were caused by being Obese her whole adult life.

I will accomplish my weightloss goals once and for all. My life is not half over at 31 years old!

I have yet another reason... made the mistake of taking a somewhat naked pic to track progress. Uggghhh!! Going to the gym RIGHT NOW!! If you need motivation, I suggest giving this a try....

I was/am hiding behind being fat. I was at war with myself for all of my life and I finally said it has to end. I decided 2014 would be the year to get healthy. Also seeing 275 on the scale and in disbelief I was only 25 pounds from 300.

I just got so tired of being lazy and gaining weight. Im the biggest i ever been and i am not happy. Also, im more lonely now that im bigger, no guys want to really talk to me like they did before. Ultimately, i want to be happy in my own skin.

My last straw was my PVC's or Premature Ventricular Contractions, basically in plain English, an irregular heartbeat that started out of nowhere. I even had to go to the hospital! I literally woke up one morning and said, you know what, I am 22 years old, I am overweight, I am lazy, tired, and not treating my body the way it deserves to be treated. I also feel that I am going to have problems in the future with it, as well as problems I am having now, *hopefully* because of my weight that I am hoping to solve with weight loss. Gratefully, I have gotten my PVC's under control, I personally found out that I had an electrolyte imbalance, a few Gatorade's solved the problem completely, no thanks to the Doctor's! My advice for other's is to just get angry at yourself, especially those who find it hard to stick to it.