What was your wakeup call?
jltheis7
Posts: 496 Member
So we are all doing this really hard thing but each of us has a different motivation, that moment of insight that changed you and started your new healthy life. For me, it was completely breaking down in tears at work twice in 3 months. I totally lost it. I no longer had the self confidence and resiliency that I had relied on for years. Food no longer masked the emotional stress I was experiencing. I made an appointment for a complete physical before the end of the day. Lucky for me, the only health risk they found was elevated cholesterol. And I started taking a mild anti-anxiety medication. But I knew I needed to change how I coped with stress. So I started talking to people about my struggles and someone recommended The Hunger Fix by Dr. Pam Peake. I read it over and over for 3 months and thought about what I wanted and how badly did I want it. I decided to start following the plan on February 22, 2013. Detoxing from white flour, sugar, high fructose corn syrup wasn't awful but it was revealing. I am a food addict. I also started meditating, working out daily, and setting daily achievable goals. Journalling is a am/pm routine for me now; I use MFP but my notebooks are better....I flip through them and see the progress in my words, pictures ( every month), and accomplishments (SW 347 lbs). I had lost 113 lbs. but I was injured at work this spring and couldn't workout much so gained 35 back over six months. But I resumed working out last month and I''ve lost 11 pounds. So, that's what changed things for me--humiliating myself in front of my coworkers and my students because I had lost the ability to manage my emotions without food. If you are able, please share your "EpiphaME", as Dr. Peake calls it, that "sudden, mind-blowing, sometimes life-changing insight into some essential meaning in your own reality. The process of change most frequently requires some kind of wakeup call..." Jennifer
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I had my wake up call back in April 2014 when my 55 yr old mother fell ill. She was really in bad shape and I flew out to see her. I felt stuffed in the airIine seat and I couldn't even get the belt across my waist! I spent 2 weeks in the ICU with her, my knitting and my thoughts...
I'm 33 and...
I waking up with racing heart
My feet (up to my knees) are swelling most nights
My lower back/hips hurt so bad at times I can't walk/sit or stand and if I am laying down I can't get up
I'm getting around like somebody three times my age. (above note: I wished I had a walker!)
How can I take care of Mom or my own family if I can't take care of myself?0 -
Thanks for sharing your EpiphaME; I hope it helps motivate you like mine does me. You are so right, you have to take care of you first.0
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I have been half-assed trying to lose weight since the day I started gaining it a few years ago. Cut a calorie or two here, attempt some workout DVD for a few days at a time, nothing ever sticking because I wasn't really trying hard enough and I was just content with not caring.
Until the day I moved from my apartment to my house and realized that I was useless. Like, I got so fat and weak that I basically just made sure that my kid stayed out of the way while everyone else packed and moved MY stuff. Nobody said anything negative, but it was humiliating. That was my turning point. I don't want to just stand on the sidelines anymore, I want to do things and go places and my weight was holding me back from everything!0 -
When my daughter was born 3 months ago, I just held all 3 of my babies in my arms and cried hysterically. I didn't have ANY photos of myself with my babies because I was so ashamed of the way I looked. I can't go back. I can't fix it. I know they will be disappointed when they grow up and look at their baby pictures, and I'm not in ANY of them. I know that I HAVE to get this weight down so I can take pictures of them without feeling ashamed (or worse, deleting it!).0
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I say take the photos now, even if you just print them and put them away in a box in the back of a closet. I know by looking at photos from 20 years ago, I didn't look the way I thought I did and I am so glad to have those photos I hid in a drawer for all those years. If you still don't like them in 20 years, get rid of them then. And I love any photo of my mom regardless Moms transcend the physical, you know? All I see is the love.0
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Dannyxtyler, please take the photos now! Please! As a mom I know how important it is to have photos of you with your children. Not only for you but for them as well. As jltheis said, they only see LOVE, nothing else. These are moments you will never get back so please take pictures now before you miss out on capturing those precious moments. And when you lose the weight, you can tell them, this was your motivation To be healthier and to be able to live a longer life so you can be there for them. I've missed out on moments because I hated my weight. I have some, thank goodness but not nearly as much as I could have had. Now they are grown and "almost' grown. Do not miss these moments!0
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Thank you! A friend of mine sent me a "before" photo, from before I even lost the 40 pounds. I forgot it had been taken because I never saw it (she took it with her phone). Of all 3 of my babies and me! I was so happy (ugh, so sad, but so happy) to see it because at least I know now that one exists. I have made it my goal to continue taking pictures, no matter how hard that is for me.0
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Was having a hard time getting up off the floor. Then had some blood work done and almost every result was borderline high.
I am looking for some more friends so anyone feel free to add me.0 -
The simplest things can be that aha moment, can't they? Looks like you have made great progress, as has everyone else that's replied. Have a great day tomorrow!0
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My sounds silly but I took my oldest godson to King's Dominion and I couldn't fit in the roller coaster with him not even the big seats..that was my wake up call.0
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Not silly at all; I have had that moment when I found I couldn't do something because of my weight that most people take for granted. I hope you take that roller coaster soon!0
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My father had a heart attack this past Monday. He's going to be okay, but had to have two stents put in. He's 64...and I realized, I may not live to even be that age if I keep going on at this weight.0
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So glad your Dad is going to be okay. This is your chance! You have a great resource at your fingertips with MFP and us! You can make healthy changes.0
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August 30 of this year is the day it happened for me.. From last December until that day I had totally quit even wanting to live. Eight months of deliberate over eating and never being satisfied proved to me that I can never fill up the void in my life with food. I finally said, I'm done with food ....done trying to use food to feel better....done using food to calm my emotions....done believing food is my happiness. God must of believed me this time because Aug. 30 I just knew I could do this the right way ....that I am willing to do what it takes. So many years I wasted, forty one to be exact. The hard part in this is letting go of the forty one years that I kept choosing food over life. Until that day , Aug. 30, I could not admit that it has been my doing alone that put me in this place and I don't want to cry over it any more. So here I am 19 days in feeling so much better and working hard to not think of the past to just let it go because I know now that tomorrow may not come so I better make the best of today...0
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Welcome and so glad you have chosen to live. When food no longer works to numb your feelings, you have to do something different.0
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Health-wise, I have had many wake up calls like high blood pressure, Borderline Sugar & Cholesterol but they never fazed me. It didn't bother me that I was morbidly obese or that I am carrying a significant health risk . When i think about it now, I was just trying to be ignorant, turn a blind eye as i knew that getting fit was a challenge and it was journey that i was not ready to take.
I love my kids, they are the world to me. Emotionally i had never felt so low as the day when i was not able to participate with my 4 year old at his sports meet while the other dads could do so. They disappointment i saw in his eyes was my ultimate wakeup call.
I have been letting myself down all this time but I will not let my son down.
I am exercising now, watching what i eat and i can see improvement :happy:
Here is hoping that it continues
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While I am sure that was a painful moment, I am glad it happened now, when your child is 4 so you have the chance to change things. Good luck! Be sure to include physical activities and healthy foods with him.0
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Guess I had a few of these. First it was hard to walk a few blocks AND up stairs to a classroom, then after that it was being unable to walk a block or two with the dog at a normal pace without back and feet pain, and I guess the third thing is that the physical inability combined with the way I fit into my clothes really started making me feel weird. I like feeling like I can DO stuff, like I'm capable, and there are so many things I'd DO if I wasn't as big as I currently am and those things are my real wake-up call, because they call to me all the time and now it's just a matter of WHEN and not IF.0
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First I want to say I appreciate how you follow up on your post, answering and commenting. Most just post and never really go back and check it or comment. So, I will open up to you. It all comes down to one day I had been hanging my hat on surgery. It seemed any easy fix so I would do it. All the other easy fixes never FIXED anything, and I mean fad diets. I had been dabbling with them for 30 years! My doctor would not refer me for surgery because he did not believe in it. I really didn't want it either and was leery of being cut open and altered. Long story short, I called the clinic directly and was told this and that, and all the hoops I would have to jump through and the kicker, I needed a medical line of progression in my files showing I had tried dieting, my doctor following my progress, etc to be approved. I broke down at this point with my wife present and she hugged me and told me about a lady at her work her was on MFP and doing well. I loathed counting calories, as I had seen my mom suffer for years eating 800-1000 calorie diets. I never knew about BMR, and the like. So I got the app and put in my info and was pleasantly surprised what I would be able to eat when in started, which was around 2900 daily. I could do that! And I have been, for 3 months with 36 pounds lost. The best and most evenly I have ever done and kept off. There is my story.0
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First, to forgivensins, so sorry I didn't see your response before today. I thank you for sharing. It seems as if you are very aware of how your weight is limiting your life and you aren't okay with it anymore. Yep, sounds like an EpiphaMe. I hope that you can soon enjoy those walks with your dog and feel comfortable wearing your clothes. Those are just such simple yet important aspects of our lives and you deserve to enjoy them just as much as the next person. Good luck!0
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And chilly1470, thank you. I think that I started the post because I needed to remind myself of my own aha moment as it happened a while ago and connect with the support of other MFP users who also had that moment. I often wonder about how people decide to pursue surgical procedures. I imagine many do so for medical reasons as well as emotional reasons. I do know it is not my choice even though I have met a number of people who have experienced significant weight loss that way. Everyone has to seek their own truth; the weight loss intervention that works for you is awareness and accountability through tracking; how awesome that your wife mentioned MFP and you have had success. I hope that you continue on your road to health and you get to enjoy a long life with your family. Be well!0
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:flowerforyou: Thanks I appreciate that! We're walking along slowly at about 5 miles a day now and I'm quite impressed with that so far!0
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At work we moved to a new office, everyone's desks got shuffled around. Now whenever I walk to my desk (so 20+ times a day) I can see my full-length reflection in the boardroom window. That was my wake-up call.0
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I fractured my 5th metatarsal. Mid foot part of the pinky toe. No weight for 2.5 months. Getting around even with crutches was extremely difficult.
Weight loss was recommended for the pain.
And the I went and saw a general doctor. And found that my heart was having a hard time with the extra weight, though settles quickly. Also a slight murmur.
Though the heart stuffs not really shocking, family is full of heart problems. Maybe I can take care of it before it gets worse.0 -
to dbeaut: well that must have been an eye-opening experience. I hope that you are now enjoying seeing the success of getting healthy every time you walk past.0
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To Rottified: The reality of hearing your doctor tell you some uncomfortable truths that inside you already know is humbling in my experience. I have a great doctor who is able to be honest with me while not demeaning or judgmental for being overweight. I hope yours is just as supportive. I know that losing weight helped me lessen my joint pain, heartburn, and back aches a lot. I hope you can heal your heart enough to overcome genetics.0
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It really was.
It was my first time seeing him but he was very nice and honest. Liked the idea of me on here. The orthopedic doctor I was seeing on the other hand was an *kitten*. He had a bad attitude and after talking with a few other people I found that that was just the way he is.0 -
2 years ago or so at 318 - I saw a video of myself and was just disgusted. I'm one of those people who look in their mirror and think I don't look that bad. Yeah...so I started fixing my life and my relationship with food which was mainly just a fast food addiction. I started going to the gym nearly everyday and lost 30 lbs in 3 months and maintained for a year. This year and after having my son, I stepped on the scale and saw 318 again. That's my magic number I guess. I was off of work for the summer because I work in the schools and I said to myself, "Look. You can either sit around all day and get fat this summer or change your life." and guess what I chose? 80 days in roughly and 26 pounds down and counting.0
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Couldn't climb the stairs without panting for breath, when I go up stairs I won't want to come down, and when I go out and come back in I don't go up until am ready for bed, with lots of back aches and swollen feet and had two shape pains in my chest, slowly I couldn't fit into my cloths, even the new ones I got this summer while I was in the USA , I just knew it was time to take hold of my life, it's not easy but am taking it one day at a time.0
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to whatsherface: You want this so you'll do it; you have a lot of reasons to take control and make it different, the least of which is you are a Mom and have so many life experiences to share with your child as long as you are physically able to. I want that for you! Be well!0
