Ok lets hear it!

When I went shopping for clothes and couldn't fit into ANYTHING off the rack, from half a dozen stores.

when looking down the wrong things were getting bigger while the others were disapearing......


belly and toes.. gutter minds lol

When i ran (or tried to run) for a bus and a car full of young men shouted "go on fatty run"......

OMG. What a bunch of a-holes. Sorry the world is full of so many oxygen thieves.

When i saw the belly apron one day as i was getting dressed.

When i saw the pictures taken on holiday last year in Spain, i was suprised green peace didn't try to throw me back in the sea (beached whale look)

It was some random night a couple years ago, much like tonight. I was pleasantly plump. I relied on taking my asthma inhaler daily. I embraced the idea of taking the elevator instead of the stairs. I didn't have the stamina to run around the block. I hadn't lifted a weight since I was a teenager. I didn't have the first clue about nutrition ("bacon cheeseburgers are healthy, for they have protein!"). I had just finished reading the whole Internet and was waiting for them to print more of it. And I thought, I've really got to do something about my lazy fat *kitten*. I picked up a book that had been sitting on the shelf for a few years that I could just never get myself to read before. It explained some really basic principles of nutrition and exercise that I was previously clueless about. I finished the book the following evening, and starting the following morning changed my whole lifestyle. I've never felt better.

I went to put on a denim skirt who's size I was less than thrilled with anyway and it was too small. I had to face that fact that that skirt had not gotten smaller, I'd gotten bigger. And that was scary but I'm so glad I realized it and started making lifestyle changes.

I still have the skirt, I can put both my arms in the sides next to my body now and its still too big. Can't get rid of it until I get to my goal weight or close.

*I feel like I'm boring people with this story...I keep telling it. It's interesting to a point. Skip down to the "TL;DR if the length is intimidating*

Almost dying from a diabetic coma pretty much made me come to terms with an entire lifestyle change. I hadn't even known I was diabetic until one day, I noticed that I was extremely dehydrated to the point of my skin being able to stand if I pinched it, and any form of liquid was no help. Then the frequent urinating. Then the lack of an appetite. Then sudden vomiting. The next day after that I felt fatigued, exhausted, weak, and apathetic, along with a sharp stabbing pain in the upper left quadrant of my abdomen. I had the impending sense of literal death coming, and I was willing to accept it, though I didn't really want it. Without any fluid intake, I still had the frequent urinating. I began to notice the darker color of it and the odor was somewhat odd and almost fruity.

I took 2 guesses at that point, I was diabetic and becoming ketoacidotic, or I was experiencing kidney failure due to having diabetes and not knowing it. It was the former. I tried to sleep it off because I had no energy to do anything, and my brother and his gf noticed I was shivering and had aggressive tremors in my sleep. I was rushed to the ER and my blood sugar was so high, it was immeasurable on the glucose meter... It gave an error: glucose level too high for reading. When they flushed out my blood with IVs, it was finally brought down to a number that could be read...the upper 550s [normal is between 60 - 99].

On top of that, I was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis. The result is usually death. 80% chance of death to be a little more accurate. After multiple lab tests from bloodwork, I also had a fatty liver, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, fatty deposits in the blood itself, high uric acid, [extremely] low potassium, [extremely] low CO2, [extremely] low bicarbonate levels, rapid, shallow respiration, and fluctuating rapid HR. I was textbook for the worst case scenario possible. I was supposed to die. I was willing to accept it. I just wasn't quite ready to stop living.

Needless to say, I survived, and after my 9 day stay in the hospital, 4/9 days in the Critical Care Unit, 5/9 in Med-Surg, I decided that it would be a really good time to beat the odds and see if I could reverse any biological, genetic, and physical predispositions that I currently had at the time, that were shortening my lifespan, and take on the ultimate challenge of taking what rightfully belongs to me, and not to life itself.

I'm currently asymptomatic and medication free from any existing health condition that I previously had, and I'm healthier than anyone I know in my family and my circle of friends.

* TL;DR - I almost died. I survived. I'm better now because I made changes. The end.

I have been unhappy with the extra 30 pounds I have been carrying around for oh...8 years or so. Two things happened to make me get serious. The first was my size 14 pants were getting a little snug. I was fearful of having to shop plus size. Mentally, I couldn't handle it. Not to mention every day I was trying to find something to wear to work that camouflaged my expanding waistline and I was not feeling good about myself at all.

Second, my husband and I were discussing vacation possibilities and I realized I subconsciously didn't want to go anywhere tropical because I was horrified at the thought of me in a bathing suit for the majority of our vacation. I was angry at myself for potentially letting opportunities pass me by just because I am overweight. What else have I passed on in life because of my weight, either consciously or subconsciously? After that realization, I searched around a bit and found MFP.

By the way, the vacation is booked for May in the Caribbean, and although i won't be at goal weight, hopefully I will be at peace with myself in a bathing suit (HA! If that's possible).

When I saw pics of me from my florida vaca I was shocked as to how big I looked!