What was your turning point?

Like many others who posted, mine was when I saw pictures of myself recently. I have been in denial about the weight I gained. Pictures and numbers on the scale don't lie! It's encouraging to see the weight loss numbers from different people's posts. Good job everyone!

I can't quite put my finger on it...but in 2012, I lost 15 friends and colleagues. When people I knew would say they were concerned about me, I almost felt like they were saying "you're next," and I may as well have been, because I wasn't living much of a life. Everything hurt, all the time. My severe OA, sedentary lifestyle, and crappy choices were pushing me towards an early grave. I was shopping at the deepest end of the fat-lady stores (If they had clothing big enough) or buying my clothes online. I wheezed all the time and got winded when I was forced to walk a half a block. I couldn't bend my left knee. There was so much I couldn't do, and so much I missed out on. I was miserable and I was in a prison of fat that I had inflicted on myself and the only one who could free me WAS me.

At the tail end of 2012 I had a pre-employment physical for a new job that I would start in January 2013. I weighed over 350 lbs at that physical but still got the job, complete with a steadier paycheck, set hours, health insurance, and some handy discounts and health incentives. I'd had it with being super morbidly obese. I felt anything but Super.

These days I feel super. I move faster. I can bend BOTH legs and I use them to swim, bike, hike, dance, and whatever else comes to mind. I look and feel better than I've ever felt. I'm having adventures because I'm FINALLY under the weight limits for the things on my "bucket" list. My first triathlon is in 30 days and best of all, I am showing my friends and family that it CAN be done.

TLDR: It was time to get busy living or get busy dying. These days I'm busy living.

I got on a scale, and it said: 292 lbs.

and I went "oh god" and cried. a lot.
because I don't actually think anyone strives to be 300+ pounds. and I had been losing some weight from before that... but nothing really fit. I was shoving myself into size 20 pants, when my size 22 still didn't fit quite right.

so, enough was enough. that was in october. I lost about 10 lbs on my own and then the new year hit, which is when I started going to the gym and using MFP, which had long since been recommended to me by a friend that used it.

I have been overweight since middle school. I gained the "freshman 15" and then some. When I was pregnant with my daughter, who turns 9 today, my weight reached a then-peak of 267lbs. I love my daughter more than anything, but I was unhappy during pregnancy & after I had her (single, low-paying job, became unemployed.) Even though I ended up with a great job, a wonderful boyfriend, & a sense of stability, I still had a sense of unhappiness & I still gained weight.

I had been avoiding the doctor for several years...I didn't want to face what was happening to me. However, last October, I finally decided to get checked out. When I got on the scale, it read 297lbs. I hadn't realized how far I had let myself go. My doctor had labs run on my bloodwork. My cholesterol was a little high, but the shocker was that I was flagged for prediabetes. I signed up for MFP in November, but I didn't track meals in my food diary. I just tried to think more about what I was eating (kinda eat this, not that.)

About 1.5 months later, my long-time boyfriend's father passed away (the week before Christmas.) He was only 59...but he had diabetes, a pacemaker, and was overweight. That was a wake-up call for me. I wanted to enjoy this life I have been blessed with, for as long as I can.

After getting past the funeral & what we could salvage of the holidays, a co-worker commented on my weight loss in mid-January. I hadn't been tracking or weighing in, so I was pleasantly surprised. I stepped on the scale when I got home and discovered I had lost 13lbs since my initial doctor's appointment! I began logging my progress in MFP. I logged everything in my food diary (good & bad days.) I began exercising, walking more. If I hit a plateau, I recalculated my calories to adjust. Clothes began getting looser & I felt less winded when walking. Stairs started getting easier. I began feeling better & more confident.

I've got a long way to go...but I've got plenty of motivation to get (and stay) there! :happy:

Being unable to be weighed at the doctor's office, worrying about every chair I sat on being broken, but the biggest one was my son worrying something bad was going to happen to me because of my weight. I couldn't live with myself if I fell ill because I couldn't put a cheeseburger down.

Looking at old pictures and then at the mirror. Needing clothes two sizes up. Enough was enough! I'm doing it slowly and I'll see where it takes me.

Photo's from a wedding. WOW, I thought I looked so cute, then I saw the photos on facebook. I was so embarrassed I could have cried. It's amazing how in denial we can all be.

It's been a long journey with ups and downs along the way. I have a lifetime of bad food habits I have to break but I feel so much better now. I feel like a normal person. Regular clothes, not hot all the time, way more energy! It's worth the struggle.

I hit 320 on my doctor's scale and it just hit me like a ton of bricks. I don't know why I cared that day when I spent years not caring. It was like a switch flipped in my head, and i knew i needed to live differently.

At 240 pounds, while laying on the floor in my house, I couldn't see over my stomach to watch the tv........And thus the journey began

Bump