What was your wake-up call?

there have been several.

One was getting asked "when are you due". I blushed, and quietly said.... "im not pregnant, im just big".

Ugh I wanted the ground to eat me. I think the poor costco worker did too!

Realising I was in my physical prime in terms of age and in the worst shape and heaviest I've been. Knowing I'm not getting that time back really motivated me for sure.

Just out of curiosity, what served as the 18-wheeler hitting you head-on to let you know you needed to do something about your weight? I had a couple, but "the one" was when I saw a picture of myself and couldn't believe I had let myself go that far. That, and running out of clothes to wear and not being able to afford bigger ones.

My story is pretty much the same as yours :flowerforyou:

im a vintage clothing dealer and I was getting really sick of not being able to wear any cute clothes after having 2 kids back to back, so I started atkins. lost 20 or so pounds and just couldn't deal with life without carbs. so then I moved on to HCG. and I lost 60 lbs, but was really really really cranky and had such a hard time not being able to treat myself AT ALL during get togethers with friends, and sometimes I would give in and have just a few bites of something and gain a bunch of weight overnight. the longer I was on it the more I started getting really sensitive to just eating in general and gagging down an apple or my allowed 5 bites of chicken or anything on the very restrictive food list was like hell. not eating and having no energy was also like hell too. it was hellish in general.

so then I just said 'screw it' and quit trying. decided im just fat now, that's it, better get used to it. and i sort of did.

i decided i wanted my kids to start eating better, so i started cooking at home more. not all the time, but most nights a week. after a few months i weighed myself on a whim and i had lost weight. without even trying! awesome! then i tried on one of my 1950s "skinny" (skinny being skinny for me, so still BIG) dresses and it almost fit!

so i cut down on some stuff. no more ice cream EVERY night. waited an extra hour to eat at home instead of grabbing a burger and fries and THEN ALSO making dinner. WOO! it worked! more weight lost!

so here i am, almost a month later, but actually trying. still treating myself, even a little every day, but also moving a lot more and giving myself much more healthy options. it really still doesn't feel like work, and i am feeling way better

I spent most of my life as a really flexible person. I decided I had to do something about my steadily-increasing weight when I realized I could no longer bend my legs well enough to put my socks on without having to seriously try.

When I looked in the mirror and saw a matching (double) chin!!!

A co worker moved from one store to the store I was working in with two other girls, and he told our male co workers he didnt want to work there because he had to work with all fat girls.

He is certainly the one with the problem, but I decided then & there I did not want to be known as the fat girl. Ever.

Ugh, the patriarchy. I get it. I also get not wanting to be "that girl" anything. I'm so sorry.

When I went to SIX FLAGS in Denver and I couldn't fit on the ride that just had a lap bar that goes across the group of people I was sitting with in the pirate ship Recently, not fitting in the swings at Disney California.

My old jeans (add me people! helenoctober)

When I started putting on weight AFTER I had lost all my baby weight (when my son was 15-18 months it started creeping up. Everyone kept asking if I was pregnant again which I wasn't (although we were trying which made it a bit tricky) and I got sick of it. So no I'm not pregnant yet but I don't look it either. I am lighter and than I was before baby. In fact, Im almost back at wedding weight, 5 1/2 years ago and I was a pretty skinny 21 year old back then

My rock bottom point was when I broke the 200 LB mark on the scale which Is something I haven't seen in years. I was in such denial for so long. All the signs were there that I was blowing up but I continued ignore them all. My jeans kept getting tighter and tighter and I kept blaming the tightness on the dryer or said oh there tight due to water retention. All Lies!

My mother has had gastric bypass and continues to struggle with her weight. In my early 20's I got up to a size 16. That isn't really big, especially given my mom was a size 30 before surgery but I realized that if I didn't pick a weight and get my self down there and stay, I could very easily be in trouble. I am 5'10". 170 is my "either I cut an arm off or go on a diet" number. Normally I am happy at 158-162. (dream weight, 150-153) I am 2 years away from 40 and my cushion was starting to look a bit tight so here I am. Calorie logging is the only thing that ever works for me. I have always weighed myself daily and when I get close, I start the logging.

This content has been removed.

When I realized my "baby" was almost a year old and I was still calling it baby weight and wearing maternity clothes.

Some night after Christmas, I was up late browsing the internet & talking to a friend on Skype when I came across the What Will I Look Like? website. I guess I had never seen before & after pictures of someone at my size, & was completely blown away, as well as inspired! I told my friend we should do it, so we did! Now we've both been diligently logging into MFP & restricting calories for over a month & have no desire to turn back! In it for the long haul! Woo!