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

I had several related issues, many years ago I had an IBS problem that was very severe, I was at 89 lbs. Food would not stay with me, I became painfully ill after any meal. Friends would say things like if only I could get IBS to loose my weight, I always replied and truly thought if my IBS problem ever got better I would never complain about being overweight. Many more years passed until it was somewhat controlled, but I stayed slim, I had always been small. I opened up a cafe which I served wonderful baked goods. I worked there lated hours skipping lunch and dinner, and choosing to satisfy my hunger with huge pieces of those wonderful desserts. I seemed to of puffed up overnight, but I felt guilty noticing the wieght gain as my IBS was the best it had been, and I remembered constantly what I had told myself about not caring what my weight was as long as I wasn't in pain and sickly as I had been. I went up and down a lot the next several years. Would try different exercise routines and just give up on them, as I had never been athletic. So this went on with me falling in and out of depression for several more years. Then there came a day when my husband decided after 28 years of marriage he didn't want to be married anymore, at least to me as he remarried just two weeks after the divorce went through. Needless to say I was devestated and fell into a severe/ acute depression. That's been almost five years ago and I'm still in therapy, I had been a mess for about the entire 5years. I didn't eat and if and when I did, there was nothing healthy about what I did eat. I mean besides the depressions lack of motivation, why would anyone want to cook for just there self. I had always enjoyed cooking party planning and entertaining but I was not that same person, and wanted nothing to do with that, or even anything else. I would eat two bowls of cereal for the day or toast or maybe frozen waffles, and if there was a sweet around I ate it til I was gone. My son-inlaw is a personal trainer and he and my daughter were constantly on me about the way I ate. Finally I tried a yogurt fruit and fish routine, but they both told me I wasn't going to loose any weight until I ate more and healthier and lots of protien. I didn't really listen to them and I continued to eat the same way. Then a day came when my daughter and I discussed my long severe depression, and how there was finally some improvement in that area, still along way to go. That was about five months ago. She came right out and told me how bad I had let myself go and how she was often embarrassed of me when neighbors and friends came around. I told her I was sorry I just didn't care anymore, and why bother I had no one to look good for. That's when she told me yes I do, I had her, my son and my three grandchildren. I decided right then I needed to do something, and I did. I had come across a sight that taught how to loose weight by counting calories and having the deficit and so on, which also led me to my fitness pal. I have been working hard on the diet, but still not so much on the wieght training. Progress was being made despite a seven day cruise and about six family occasions, I lost weight, I felt better understanding nutrition and how important it was to monitor my calories, protien, fat and sugar. I am very pleased at where I am now, actually found myself in ladies size 0 jeans just the other day. I don't quite understand that happening as I haven't lost hardly any inches. My daughter got me started on non processed foods whole and organic foods. I've been feeling so much better with my health, my confidence, and about me in general.
So to sum up this very long post I will add I'm keeping this new lifestyle permantly,
I want to be able to run and play with my grands, to be healthy in my upcoming 50's
I want to look better not only for myself but for my daughter too
I have a good friend I would like to know better, and would love it if he became very attracted to me
My son gets married in Nov. I want to shine for his special occasion, and even maybe my ex won't see me as so helpless, and will see a healthy happy women that he would wonder why he walked away
I'm gonna keep at it until I loose 13 more lbs and from there I'm gonna keep going to maintain and to cont to improve my lifestyle for as long as I'm here. And hopefully I will motivate myself to the training part, so my body will firm up from the loss, and so it will be strong.
Great thread, we all have our own reasons, issues, situations, but we also have in common the drive for this.

i didnt. i mean i did. a million times before.

but this time i didnt. i moved to a new neighborhood and decided to join the gym for the heck of it and see how it went and it seemed when i wasnt motivated by desperation i actually wanted to do it for its own sake. i am really into the workouts but knew it had to work in conjunction with better diet so i do both...

it for once had nothing to do with being prettier. it was all about that healthy feeling after a workout. i am in love with that warm tiredness and the feeling of being alive.

When I get fed up of not being able to wear the trendy clothes sold everywhere. I had to buy at the shops that sell big clothes-which are way too expensive and just ugly...and the fact that I'm the only fat one among my friends. OH. And also because I want to marry a Japanese guy.

The time when my parents always complain about my weight that im getting fatter every week lol.. and the worst thing is that my boyfriend also complains and he's getting colder to me .. So I decided to lose weight starting from 156 lbs to 121 lbs

I have been wanting to do this for a while. But never really had the motivation I guess.

Then around halloween I hadn't had a cycle in longer then normal. They have always been random but this was longer then I was used to. I took 4 different pregnancy test and they all said no. So I went to see my ob and he told me at 6 months without one we could do a few different things but that dude to my size they might just still be off. So we waited. Come january still nothing and I weighed 261 pounds, 5 pounds from what I was the day I had my toddler. That hit home a bit. So a 14 day round of meds and 2 weeks later I was 271 pounds now and was told it was my weight and if I ever hoped to have more kids I must get my weight under control. And that not having a cycle for to long could cause cancer. Well my family has high risk of cancer as is so id rather not give myself another reason.

I have a toddler who is extremely active and very happy. But I don't have the energy to do my house work and run around outside to play with her right. So I want that to change before she becomes a active child....plus my whole family on my dads side is over weight and I determinded to break out of that mold (my cousin is the only person smaller then I, and even she's decided enoughs enough. And is doing this with me). And not let my daughter get in it.

Plus side of losing weight, whenever my fiance and I have the money to have our wedding ill be able to find a cute dress. He said I'm beautiful as I am but I want to look better to. He never noticed the 50+ pound gain since our daughter was born (tho I think that's crazy and he did, but he won't say so!)

I was 167 lbs and stood at 5'5". I knew I wasn't skinny, but I kept myself blind to the fact that I was overweight.

Some girls carry their weight well, in their hips and breasts and backsides, and other girls aren't so lucky. I was one of the girls who carried all their weight in her arms, stomach, and love handles. For years I chose baggy clothes to hide behind without really realizing it.

One day, during class, a skinny, beautiful girl told me (very loudly, I might add) that my bra strap was stuck due to the baggy shirts (yes, I wore two, in the summer no less). I realized then that all my clothes were misfits and I wasn't confident enough to change my clothing style.

Two years and 50+ lbs lost, I feel like I am confident enough to wear tank tops and high waisted shorts and sundresses.

When I weighed more than my heaviest pregnancy! and I'm not pregnant! Last time I went swimming a chap thought I was swimming for 2 and I'm NOT pregnant!!
Really - I'm NOT expecting and I want to stop looking like I am.

When I realized I was going to have to buy another size clothing, yet again, I got on the scale and discovered I weighed more than my husband. The truth kind of smacked me in the face. Then I took a serious look in the mirror - I actually only own two mirrors and both are in the bathroom and mostly avoided by yours truly. What I saw made me cry. My husband is supportive of my decision; but, he will not join me or let me clean the house of temptation...so it's taken years for me to get to the point that I realized........if I want to do this, it's going to have to be real, and important, and meaningful to me on ALL levels. And, that day, that moment...I made my commitment to doing so.

The husband and I got new furniture for our house and while moving a loveseat, I almost passed out. My heart was racing, I could hardly breathe, my face turned stark white and I almost collapsed. It happened a few times after that, when exerting myself and I realised at 320 lbs...I had to do something about it.

Feb 7 last year, when I tried to walk the dog and felt like I was ready to drop dead from exhaustion only 2 minutes in! I tried to lose weight before, but I was mainly looking for a quick fix for vanity reasons. There is no "quick fix" for a 300+ pound person! So I usually gave up soon. This time I could see it was affecting my health. That day I did a blood panel and every single thing was out of norm, I was also diagnosed pre-diabetic.

When my weight started to creep into my health that's when I knew, enough bull**** and things need to get real. Almost a year and a half has passed and I'm still at it. The reason I'm still going is that my motivation, goals, and approach are all real this time. No more quick fixes.

My whole body hurt, nothing fit, putting on underwear was a challenge. I was pushing near 300. My husband told me he wanted to get a divorce because I wasn't taking care of myself in any kind of way. I said that's enough. I'm tired of being fat and unhappy. I'm still losing weight every week. My clothes are looser, my husband is noticing the care I'm putting into my health. We decided to stay together till we die through good times and bad times. I work out everyday I'm not in excrusicating pain. I see a chiropractor every week and am doing physical therapy to help with muscle tone and pain management. I wear orthopedic shoes and watch my food intake everyday. I've been on myfitnesspal for nearly 100 days straight. The weight is coming off and I couldn't be more proud to be on this difficult journey. I'm prone to depression and I was in a funk for a year where I gained a whopping 100+lbs! But when my husband wanted to leave me it wasn't just the weight. It was because I didn't care about myself at all. I have kids so what kind of example was I setting for them? It was the breaking point of my life and I think with God's help I've handled it gracefully and that's my journey thus far.

It was so many things. Not being able to walk with my husband without being out of breath, knee issues made worse because of my weight, back pain, not finding cute clothes and knowing that my health was declining. But the major moment was when my husband told me that he loves me regardless of my size but that he was scared that if I didn't change my ways that I would die young and our "forever" would be cut short.

That broke my heart and made me see not only what I was doing to me but to my husband and kids.

Bump

I was a nurses aid when I was in college and I had morbidly obese patients who were very difficult to help. I was diagnosed with Multiple sclerosis and I realized that when i needed help it would be very difficult for people to help me. I was scared into reevaluating my lifestyle.

Funny that you posted this today. I am starting over AGAIN. At my heaviest - EVER - didn't even weigh this much when I was pregnant with my last child. I wrote a list of why I am going to do it this time - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/redhothlava -To sum up my list - I will succeed this time because I am too fat not to, I want to be a good example for my daughters, I am going to die early if I don't, walking a 1/2 marathon will be much easier with less *kitten* to drag along AND I have found/created a simple diet to follow. Fingers crossed we both do it!!!