At what point did you finally decide "this is it..."

At what point in your life did you tell yourself "It's time to lose weight" and ACTUALLY meant it??

- I'm 41 and gained over the past ten years... so basically I spent my 30's fat and miserable. I don't want to spend my 40's fat and miserable so this is my main reason for being here. I've decided to make a lifestyle change of counting calories and becoming more active. I didnt get fat overnight and won't lose it overnight. I'm only 4 days in but I feel better already (mentally)..

What about you??
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Replies

  • shadowofender
    shadowofender Posts: 786 Member
    I couldn't appropriately reach to latch sandles. It was just...enough.
  • mthr2
    mthr2 Posts: 158 Member
    I saw an 80 year old woman who was fit and beautiful golfing with her granddaughter. I thought "I'm not going to be able to walk when I'm 80 at this rate." So I took up running.....but didn't lose any weight....so I began working on my intake. That was a year and a half ago. I change my plan periodically and allow for plenty of cheat time, but I will never go back to being fat and inactive.

    I new I had changed when I thought to myself, "Well being fat was fun because I never thought about what I was eating...." And then I realized how absolutely ridiculous it is to NEVER concern yourself with what/how much you are eating.
  • sheedy17
    sheedy17 Posts: 128
    When I was at 287, I thought to myself I am not even 30 yet and almost weigh 300 pounds, and I said enough is enough.
  • CraiggyBear
    CraiggyBear Posts: 13 Member
    When it takes effort to put on socks...! That and breathing hard after climbing stairs
  • Awesomers
    Awesomers Posts: 144 Member
    I wound up in the hospital with pneumonia, was almost 300 pounds, and at one point I could barely walk without my lips and fingernail beds turning blue (I was also a smoker). My decision to quit smoking/start exercising was a mutual killing-of-two-birds and ten months later I am nearly 50 pounds down and a regular runner.
  • tracymayo1
    tracymayo1 Posts: 445 Member
    When I spent a whole summer in shorts or pants because my thighs rubbed together so much it hurt. This summer, I wanted to wear skirts, so I bought the "nylon shorts" to stop the rub... $40 for those shorts.. when really it isn't solving the problem!

    That I really am just disgusted with myself overall. My kids want me to go in the pool with them, and I refuse because I won't wear a swimsuit, and feel embarrassed knowing only by wearing shorts and a shirt would I go in, which is embarrassing because then every KNOWS I am disgusted with myself.. and why aren't I doing anything to fix the problem...
  • hipsterkhris
    hipsterkhris Posts: 15 Member
    Honestly, there was no real specific thing that made me want to get in shape.
    It was move of a "hmm, I should get in shape". So I'm doing just that.
  • shrinkingbrian
    shrinkingbrian Posts: 171 Member
    My five year old son and I were playing hide and seek one day and he said "Dad, you're too fat!" That really hit me. I knew I had to make changes. He was right. I was over 400 pounds, unhealthy, and facing a premature death. My grandfather died of a heat attack at age 47.

    Now, almost three years later with losing 200+ pounds and keeping off that weight for more than a year, he is now my workout buddy. We do burpees, push-ups, go running, and have flex arm hang contests at the park. He is my inspiration to live healthy.
  • For me, it was when I stepped on the scale and it was 20 pounds over what my "skinny" weight was. It just really shook me up and since then (near two weeks ago) I've really cracked down on myself. I was already exercising and such before then, but counting my calories was an aloof process that I never remembered to record down. Not anymore. I'm exercising hard and log every calorie consumed and burned to this site. I've already seen progress (lost almost 4 pounds this past week), and since I'm lifting (just toning out for now -- hard to build muscle at a calorie deficit), my ideal weight might even be 5-10 over what I thought my "skinny" weight was before. We'll see! If I get to my current goal and still don't feel satisfied, the journey will continue!
  • sassyjae21
    sassyjae21 Posts: 1,217 Member
    Not liking what I saw in pictures. I never felt big IRL and then I saw pics. And was like oh. LOL
  • mariluny
    mariluny Posts: 428 Member
    Not liking what I saw in pictures. I never felt big IRL and then I saw pics. And was like oh. LOL

    Exactly this. When i looked in the mirror, i didn't think i was big (although i knew i was it's like i didn't think it was real?) and at christmas i saw a picture of me and i just could not stand it. I did not recognize the person in the picture at all. 66 pounds later i'm much happier!
  • sassyjae21
    sassyjae21 Posts: 1,217 Member
    Not liking what I saw in pictures. I never felt big IRL and then I saw pics. And was like oh. LOL

    Exactly this. When i looked in the mirror, i didn't think i was big (although i knew i was it's like i didn't think it was real?) and at christmas i saw a picture of me and i just could not stand it. I did not recognize the person in the picture at all. 66 pounds later i'm much happier!

    Isn't that a weird/awful feeling?? Congrats!!
  • acollis1
    acollis1 Posts: 167 Member
    When it takes effort to put on socks...! That and breathing hard after climbing stairs


    This ^^^
  • Einheim
    Einheim Posts: 4 Member
    My 41 year old cousin dropped over dead with a heart attack. Found out it was due to his being obese for the majority of his life. Also, I have two kids who I love more than life, and to think I could die young from being obese made me realize I could leave them behind without their father. On a minor note, never being able to enjoy anything, cant shop for normal clothes without having to order a XXXL version, sit in a booth during a family outing, things relative to normal life that I cant do.
  • no_russian
    no_russian Posts: 893 Member
    I only started losing weight because of a calorie lesson in physics class. The professor explained how eating at a 500 calorie deficit would lead to losing 1 pound per week and I experimented it on myself. I actually went overboard on the deficit and dropped about 50 lbs in 3 months. I didn't even think I was fat until I saw old pictures.
  • ccrdragon
    ccrdragon Posts: 3,374 Member
    two things combined for me - saw myself in the annual Christmas pictures and thought 'dam... I look huge' and then had my annual physical on Jan 2 and after getting on the scale at the dr's, said 'dam I AM huge' (my heaviest weight ever at 270 lbs - just a stone's throw from 300).

    I won't ever let myself go back there again and I will look good in the holiday pix this year!!
  • luzdelua
    luzdelua Posts: 88 Member
    I know usually we're supposed to do it for us and not other people, but my breaking point was when I realized that my boyfriend wasn't attracted to me anymore. I lost 30 pounds, and nothing changed in our relationship. Turns out, he was just an a**hole.

    Now, I keep going because I have gained so much confidence and it makes me feel strong and secure.
  • almaa89
    almaa89 Posts: 2
    Me too! I used to love taking pictures but I hate them now because I don't look how I want to look. Also, my pants no longer feel comfortable and if I have to go up a size that's not a good sign. I want to continue to fit in to my clothes and decided to do something about it now when it is only 20 pounds I need to lose before it becomes an even bigger problem.
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
    It took being told I was diabetic and hypertensive before I took any big leaps into doing something about it.

    I went in for an ob/gyn checkup for the first time in 10 years. My blood pressure was 160/97. At 31 years old. The doc was afraid I was going to have a stroke! Sent me to an endocrinologist that very same afternoon.
  • Mav3rick54
    Mav3rick54 Posts: 180 Member
    When I was out of breath tying my shoes......and needed to buy another size larger pants. I said no to the pants and started moving more and eating less. So glad I made that change in my life.
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
    I was adopted out as a baby.

    In June of 2012, I got to meet my biological Aunts for the very first time.

    Everyone was floored, amazed, shocked at how me and a certain aunty looked the same, acted the same, gestured the same, same face, same laugh, EVERYTHING.

    The only difference was, even with me being at 245lb at the time, this aunt was a couple hundred pounds bigger than me.

    I saw my future self that day, and even learned that everyone in the family has type 2 diabetes.

    I also had not weighed in quite some time, and it was there I found that I weighed in at 245lb, alone in the bathroom.

    That day I was determined to change the family line, and be the one who broke the generational obesity and diabetes.

    A few months later, after deep contemplation and beginner efforts, I took my "health oath" (an oath is a very, very serious commitment which not fulfilling is quite punishable and shameful in my religion) and have been going strong every since.

    :flowerforyou:

    Edited to remove names.
  • sparklefrogz
    sparklefrogz Posts: 281 Member
    My clothes shopping selections became undeniably restricted to the Plus size section at Walmart, and were heading quickly into specialty plus-size store only territory.

    I knew things had to change. (Not least because I didn't have the money to go to those kinds of stores!)
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    I've had many of those times. I usually manage to lose 20-50 pounds before motivation wanes. Then I gain it back and start over next time.
    This time, thanks to MFP I didn't gain during my unmotivated period, so now when I am motivated again, I'm not starting over completely. yay!
  • Fit_Fox88
    Fit_Fox88 Posts: 410 Member
    Not liking what I saw in pictures. I never felt big IRL and then I saw pics. And was like oh. LOL

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: OMG this made me laugh out loud... This is exactly what I always felt like when I saw pictures of myself
  • linsdog
    linsdog Posts: 94 Member
    Rode mountain bike to a bar 2 blocks away and was out of breath. Decided it was time to get back in shape!
  • emilyb117
    emilyb117 Posts: 56 Member
    After avoiding the scale for so long because I was scared of it, I decided to weigh myself after I saw an awful picture of myself.
    The number I saw snapped me back into reality so I could no longer be in denial. I used to tell myself I was just "curvy," but now I know I need to make a real change. It is about admitting it to yourself.
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
    When my friend joined Weight Watchers and let me log into her account and I saw that it was pretty easy.
    Then I remembered how I had always told myself "when you move away from your parent's you'll have more control on what you cook and eat" and realized I'd eaten pasta and almost only pasta for a year an a half after moving out.
  • ew_david
    ew_david Posts: 3,473 Member
    I should have had many "a ha" moments, but I didn't. Two days after Christmas in 2012 I decided to log in here again. The following week I started running. Two months later, I started lifting. The diet part was the hardest to get under control, but once it was, things finally started changing.
  • My mother died at 59, when my daughter was only 5 months old. I am an only child and my daughter is most likely going to be as well. My grandmother and uncle both died prematurely due to health conditions that were made worse due to their weight. I decided that it had to end with me. I had to set an example for my daughter. I want to be able to do more with her AND be able to be around for my daughter as an adult because a girls need for her mama doesn't end in childhood. I know that it is said if you don't do it for yourself first you won't succeed, but I don't believe that. My daughter is my inspiration and I live for her, so she is my number one reason!
  • Erin_goBrahScience
    Erin_goBrahScience Posts: 1,215 Member
    When my fat jeans no longer fit and hurt to button.