When did you decide.....

The day my seatbelt was too tight when I got in my car. I didn't have a coat on and I could barely buckle it, even sucking in my belly. I just refused to buy an extender. Since that day, I can wear a bulky winter coat and have room to spare. I have a long way to go but I'm on it now!!!

For me, it was the day my doctor asked what I was going to do about my weight. I knew I was overweight, but it took hearing from a doctor that I trust to really kick me into gear. When I went back for my last physical after losing 15 lbs, she was ecstatic! That was totally the motivation and reinforcement I needed.

For me, it was a scare with adult-onset diabetes. At my annual physical, my blood sugar was elevated (not terrible, but kind of high), and my doctor wanted to see me again in two months. At the time, I was taking Lipitor, and having horrible leg pain and achy joints. I quit the Lipitor cold turkey, and returned in two months. Blood sugar was still elevated, cholesterol was sky high again. In between doctor visits, my sister was diagnosed with diabetes (adult-onset), and put on two kinds of prescription medications. There is a HUGE family history of this disease.

My doctor sent me to a dietician who recommended keeping my total carbs to 15 or under a day (15 grams = 1 carb), and writing down everything I ate. My thoughts were, "yeah, right....this is gonna work...NOT." Well, almost five years and 60 pounds lighter, I must admit, it did. I also bought a treadmill and began walking all the time. It was after I bought the treadmill that the weight really started to come off. At one point, I had lost 70 pounds, and I'd like to lose five-ten of those again.....but in all honesty, I am at a healthy maintainable weight, and I may have been "too light" at my lowest.

I am now at a weight I hadn't seen since high school....it's wonderful, and also great to be able to shop the 'regular' sizes, and even find stuff that fits me on sale. That NEVER used to happen.

Good luck!
Kaye

Mine was when I saw a picture of my sister who had always been the "heavy" one in our family, who always proclaims to be fat and happy........and then realized I was looking at me - I didn't even recognize myself!!!!!
Wow, what a wake up call.

Mine was when I came to the realization that if I don't start doing something I am going to be one of those people who ask for a table instead of a booth... because I won't fit.

Mine was when I bought one of those talking scales (I'm a tech guy) and I stepped on it and it said "one at a time please".

Not really.
I had obstructive sleep apnea, was diagnosed with high blood pressure (155/90) and had a fairly normal EKG. I was about 41.
I was wearing a 40" expandable waist pants, couldn't tie my shoes and see my shoes (or anything else important), when I looked down. Enough was Enough! January 2009 @ almost 250 lbs I made only my second New Years Resolution that I've ever kept.
Now over 2 yrs later (reached my goal weight of 200 lbs June of 2009 and went lower from there.
I am no longer on any medications (blood pressure 120/70) or CPAP machines and last EKG was normal and I run a sub 7 minute mile.
Thank You Beachbody.com products - P90X / Insanity / Turbo Fire / Rev Abs and MFP for helping me track my food.
And Thank you to the MFP community for being so great.

My journey has been a long process. I was born with a heart defect that was repaired in infancy. I was born sick and looked sickly as a child--skinny, pale, etc. My mother (who I love dearly and don't fault) wanted to "fatten me up" so she fed me a lot of high fat, densely caloric foods so that I wouldn't be such a stick. Hmmmmmmmmm, guess what kinds of foods I like now as an adult!?! I was also restricted in physical activity as a child due to my heart defect. Fat food + not much exercise...hmmmm

Fast forward to advancements in cardiac care. Physical restrictions were lifted as I entered adolescence. I was always physically active playing sports and such. Weight was never a problem for me in childhood or early adulthood.

That is, weight was never a problem for me until I became pregnant (while under the care of my cardiologist) and was considered very high risk. So, again, no physical activity. The entire pregnancy was really hard on my body and I became severely depressed and started emotional eating.

I recovered from that somewhat and then we chose adoption for our next 2 children. If anyone has adopted older children, they know the physical and mental nightmares some of these kids have gone through and as a mother I bore the brunt of a lot of the stress in the household. I again started emotional eating. Big time.

So, the turning point came for me slowly. Last May my cardiologist told me I needed to lose about 20 lbs for my heart health. The more blood my heart has to pump, the more it swells and that is just not good. I ignored that mostly, though. In December, my sister & her family was here for Christmas and we wore the same shirts on accident. Mine of course, was covered by a vest. My mom wanted to take a picture of our matching shirts, but I was too embarassed to shed the vest and show everyone how my belly rolled over my jeans. And since my belly was heading over my waistband, I knew I needed bigger pants.

Now, I really have never hated exercise. In fact, I've always LOVED it. But with 3 children it was so hard to make time for me. I knew in my head the only time I could carve out for me was early in the morning, but I never followed through until 2011 rolled around. I just kept making excuse after excuse. Finally, I set a date-- Jan 4th, set my alarm and I haven't looked back since.

My day was a month ago after suffering from the worse headache ever and being in the ER with a blood pressure of 189/139.
Sure I had wanted to loss weight for years now, but never could find what worked. I did not want to pay to lose weight and I did not want
to do something that could not be done for the rest of my life. At the same time I wanted to have control and freedom. I had heard from either someone else's success story about keeping track of what you put into your mouth and taking account for it. Then I found MFP.
I recall Dr. Oz saying it takes planning and effort. If you have to go looking for what you are going to eat (foreging for food) then you are
going to make unhealthy choices. Hence you have to be prepared. I went to Costco pciked up a Rachel Ray lunch bag. Then went to Sams and picked up some glass storage containers with latch locking lids. Because I felt if I made my food look appealing and made it convenient, I would eat it. Every night I take 10 minutes to plan my meals for the day. I weigh out my cearl (1 cup) put it into a snack size ziplock bag. I measure out 3-4 oz of milk and put it in a glass container. I decide what my lunch is going to be, and put it into containers, and then all of my snacks. I weigh everything. Then after about two weeks you will get a great sense of sizing and portions. After putting all of my food for the day into my lunch bag and storing it in the frig. I log into MFP and input all my food. Then I take my bag with me in the morning and I eat from my bag all day. Making sure to have a snack and my drink container filled with lemon water for the drive home, so I am not tempted to stop at fast food. Oh that is another can of worms., if you have a fast food addiction, watch this documentary called FOOD INC (netflix has it), it will change your life. Well it changed mine, I no longer eat fast food or have a desire. I have been able to give up candy bars. If I really desire a candy bar, I buy a high quality one (organic or dark chocolate). You have to move during the day to burn calories....by the time I get home I either don't want dinner or I eat something light, veggies and protein. Most vegetables are VERY low in calories, so they are somewhat limitless.

I want to help you feel as wonderful and in control as I do. So hit me up!! I will take your journey with you!!!

quite a few moments for me..

when i moved to London a year ago and realised that I was a lot bigger than I thought and unable to keep up with the speed that people were walking at and also realising that it was too hot to wear a jacket on the tube and feeling really self conscious as all my lumps and bumps were obvious..

applying to be a children's nurse in September was a big push, if I really want to learn how to treat sick kids and be a good advocate for looking after themselves then I have to be an example of that, being 5'5" and 250lbs is not healthy and I wouldn't trust an overweight nurse to tell me how to look after my kids, I need to be confident that I'm looking after myself properly before I can take on the responsibility of looking after others..

at my 21st birthday in October.. avoiding certain shops because they don't stock my size is no way for a 21 year old to live, heck its no way for anyone to live and I finally decided to do something about it.. it's hard but in the long run being able to walk into any shop and know that I will fit into it will be such a good feeling and be worth it.
Also for my future, when I have kids I want to be able to run around after them at the park, take them swimming, to the beach, to the kids play centre and have them want to play with me. I want to live to a ripe old age and meet my grand kids and any great grand kids they may have..

I know the weight won't drop off over night but just working hard today and tomorrow means that one day later on I can be a bit more carefree and comfortable with myself

Ahh that's an easy one. I was 7 month pregnant with my 2nd and I have a great picture of my Dad and I (he is very overweight and we have very similar faces) sitting next to eachother - and I looked too much like him! :laugh:

Now yes I was pregnant, but I only gained 17lbs when pregnant both times, so it was a reasonable consensus. Soon as baby was out- I went on my quest :flowerforyou:

I decided in January of this year. I am tired of being tired. I decided that I will teach myself the right way to live. I will not starve myself or try some crazy fad diet. I am learning moderation and patience. I am down 25 and have about to go!

For me it was my 7yr old DD asking me why my belly still looked pregnant.....
If my belly only looked this small while I was pregnant!

This 3rd pregnancy really made my stomach stick out and even though I've been trying, I can do better to lose this last 15-20lbs.

I descided that i needed to lose alot of weight right after christmas of 2010. I was sick of how that i just had no energy and just was not happy at how that my clothes fitted ! I have lost 21 pounds since then 13 since i joined myfitnesspal mid January and i am never going to go back to my old eating habbits ~! After seeing some pictures of me at christmas time i was like i will never be at that weight again !

I did this really backwards. I didn't have a day. My friend was on the site, and I knew I needed to lose weight, but I didn't really have the motivation or desire to, but I joined and started logging for the heck of it. Part of it was the shock of what I was actually eating, the other was the feeling of success, learning about C25k and learning to love running, so I stuck around and kept lowering my goal.

Mine was when my weight whould start changing day to day:brokenheart: . I went shopping and had to go to the big girl section:sad: I did not know what to think.. I made a dr. appt. and he told me to get the weight off :grumble: I feel better now that i am working out each day and can out last my kids by the end of the day...:happy: yeah:happy: