What made you decide to start losing weight?

I've just completed my first year at uni and although I never thought of myself as fat before, I've gained a stone which has really made a difference to the way I see myself. I believe I'm a healthy weight but cannot afford to gain any more.
I'm not dieting, I'm making a lifestyle change; mainly because I turn 20 next week and I'm aware that I won't be growing any more so it will be far easier to gain even more weight.
I'd really like to make some friends on here for support as I've always gone through fazes of trying to diet but it never works.
I'm always the "big" one amongst all my friends and I'd really like to start receiving compliments again.

Well... I've "decided" several times... but the most recent was when I went to my mother-in-law's funeral and I couldn't zip up my skirt so I had to use a safety pin. None of my "nice" clothes fit me anymore. That, coupled with the fact that I realized the reason I wasn't able to get pregnant was complications caused by my weight and diet. So, it's been VERY slow.... with lots of starts and stops... but now I'm here almost halfway to my goal, no more knee pain when I run, and everything is "working properly" again... so hoping to get pregnant very soon (just hopefully not before I atleast get halfway to my goal!)

There was in incident that caused me to re-evaluate my life. one of the things I took from it was that i was tired of being the "big" dude

I just had 2 babies in 3 years. My daughter will be 2 in July and my son is about to be 4 months. I'm not far from my goal, but I am determined now that I am done having kids. After I had my first I struggled with my weight and I never tried very hard to get back into a healthy lifestyle mainly because I wasn't sure if I wanted more kids or not. I was on birth control when I found out I was pregnant again and I was devistated. My daughter was very hard as a baby. My son, however, is a breeze. But of course I didn't know that then.

I decided to get my tubes tied even though I am only 26. I know I am done. My kids are 18 months apart and I have one of each. I have no desire to have anothe baby. Anyway, I never got out of my maternity clothes after having my daughter and I used to have a cute little figure and I was VERY confident in myself. Although , now that I have tons of stretch marks I am determined to feel good about myself again. I threw out all of my maternity clothes so I wouldn't get too comfortable in them. I have about 10-15 pounds left to lose. I haven't been able to wear a lot my jeans since I had kids and I am desperate to be in them. I even bought a dress after I had my daughter that was way too small and I really want to be able to wear it. good luck to all of you and I hope we all reach out goals!

Omg, you sound just like me! I have 2 girls 16 months apart, and I was always fit/in shape before and then between both pregnancies I lost myself. Congrats for taking charge. I have 11 lbs to go and I can't wait!!

I edit

Have always wanted to lose weight (well, since I was about 17) and it just never happened properly. I'd lose a bit and then regain it plus a couple more lbs. Then last year I was house-bound for 9 months and gained another stone on top of the 6 stone I was already overweight by. Now I just want to shift it all and be slimmer, fitter and stronger.

My boyfriend had an affair with a girl who is as skinny as a stick insect. totally destroyed my confidence and now i'm doing my damndest to lose all this weight in an attempt to stop it happening again

Oh honey, there was something deeper under the surface and probably had very little to do with your weight. Don't lose weight for anyone but you.

^ THAT. Dump the pig and move on to look hott for someone who deserves it and appreciates you no matter how you look!



Anywho, I was tired of seeing each picture taken of me looking fatter and fatter. I put it off for too long and I snapped back into reality.

Honestly, what made me decide to finally start losing the weight is realizing that I actually COULD do it. I had tried many times before, but I always had an extreme "all or nothing" kind of attitude to doing anything. So I would go all hard-core and work way too hard and then I'd fail because it's impossible to keep that up. I thought going extreme was the only way to lose weight and I just couldn't keep it up for more than like a week or two at most, so I gave up. I had almost settled for just always being the self-conscious, lonely, invisible fat girl.

Then one summer, I was working as a summer camp counselor for my city's day camp for kids. I was outside playing games and sports with those kids all day. By the end of the summer, I had lost 10 lbs without even trying or changing my eating habits. I realized that then that I COULD do it! That my dream wasn't an impossible dream and that it wouldn't be nearly as hard or extreme as I thought! So from that point on, I started actually TRYING. I progressed really slowly though so it took 3 years, but I finally lost 50 lbs and reached my dream weight! Now I'm working on toning, building a little bit of strength and muscle, losing body fat, and losing those last few pounds I want off. But I never thought I could do it. I never thought I'd be at where I am today. I'm a completely new person living a new life that sometimes feels like it's all a dream...but it's real! And all because I finally believed in myself!

I've been overweight since i was in 7th grade (55 now).. tire of being fat and my doc told me yesterday that I will die if i don't do something.. so here we go again... I'm going to really try as it get harder and harder to be successful the older i get. .. good luck to you all!