What Did it take for you to start and be successful

For me it was seeing recent race pictures of myself. Took one look and said enough. I couldn't counter balance the exercise and food, I was just eating all the wrong things. Plus I quit smoking in Jan '11 and gained a bit since then. I have a goal that I set for myself, like a trip, new piece of clothing or something, or a night out on the town. It's so much easier I think if there's a reward at the end, of course the ultimate reward is feeling good, living longer and looking great. My current goal is to cycle from Seattle to Portland in July and I want to be a lot lighter for that.

This was mine also. Seeing a pic of myself at Christmas 2010, and it snapped that day that things were going to change...Keeps me going even though I am not losing anything, gaining inches due to building muscle. Is the fact that I feel so much better, I am wearing 4 sizes smaller than I was on January 1 2011. And I am seeing curves that belong on a woman's body, not because I had so many they had no other place to attach themselves too... It's all in what you want, and how bad you want it...

Come on Laura! You can do it! You have to want it. When you feel it in your bones, you will decide! Once you decide, and with the help of MFP (such an awesome too!), you will get excited! Change is good!!

For me, like most, I took a good look at myself in a recent X-mas photo and felt disgusted. I knew I had to make some changes. Determination. True, hard core Grit. That is what it takes..you've got it, USE IT!!! :flowerforyou:

I just started myfitnesspal last night but have been motivated to get started for so long. I too do the "going good for a few days" and then start eating bad again. I think setting an achievable goal and having something to look forward to is key. I am going to Maui in May and I have a pair of surf shorts that I love, my goal is to fit back into them. That's my goal and my "something to look forward to".

I'm just frustrated with looking like this!!!

I tried everything under the sun and all the failed attempts and crash diets landed me at 295+ on a 5ft 4in frame.

My kids started taking karate. As a child I always wanted to take it but my parents never signed me up for it. So, knowing that I had wanted to do this as a child my husband surprised me with a uniform and my own membership at our Dojo. I wasn't sure if I was happy or sad about that since I was a fat mom of two. I didn't want to embarrass my kids or myself....but the girls had never know me as anything other than my heavier self and they were excited for me. I couldn't quit. It would crush them.

The people at the Dojo were amazingly supportive and no one ever said anything unsupportive about me being overweight and in class. They didn't act like they didn't notice that I was overweight, they just acted like they didn't care.

Then, one day I find myself 20lbs lighter and in an Adv. Red belt. Brown belt testing was just around the corner and my instructor pulled me into his office and basically said that I was amazingly athletic but that I had finally hit a point where my weight was going to keep me from advancing any further. That he thought 25lbs would make a world of a difference for me. He told me to talk with his parents who were on a healthy lifestyle kick that was working wonders.

I did. They got me reading "The Rosedale Diet" by Ron Rosedale and "Mastering Leptin" by Bryon Richards.... I do a hybrid of the two lifestyles discussed.

I started my healthy lifestyle on 4-19-10 and I have lost 75lbs as of 3-17-11.....I went from a size 24W to a 14/16 depending on the cut of the pants. I am never hungry. I have more energy than I know what to do with and I am now a Brown belt in karate getting ready to make my way to Black Belt.

My kids and karate are what have kept me going. My kids are making better lifestyle choices from watching me... and my karate is unbelievably better than it was before. I have had people mention that I should become an instructor when this is all said and done.

My father and I have never been extremely close. He's an alcoholic, and I love bloomin' onions more than any person ever should. I felt really slighted that he treats my cousin more like a son than he treats me. I had a slight nervous breakdown, and it kind of dawned on my that neither one of us has very many years left. We're both destroying our bodies. Men my size do not live well into our 30's. I'm 23. I've already had an intestinal infarction at 17. I can't save my dad, but I don't want to die.

I, like others, kept seeing pictures of me that I was not happy with! I was always in shape and healthy in high school and I am just natually athletic, so being out of shape and being unhealthy was just rediculous to me! I couldn't believe I had let myself get to 217!! I knew what I was capable of looking like and it was killing me to see myself like the way I was. I hated everything about it. I hated the way I looked. I hated the way I felt. I hated the way none of my clothes ever fit me right, even when I bought new ones. I hated the fact that I was wanting babies soon...and it was only going to make me bigger (since then, I have had two babies...the youngest is 7 months and I have lost every last pound they tried to make me put on). I have alot of obese family memebers and I felt like I was just following in their footsteps. I had to put a stop to it! I joined this site July '08 and have been religiously using it since...aside from the two breaks I took during my pregnancies (I immediately started using this site as soon as I felt my body had recovered from preg/labor/delivery) and am so happy with the results that it has HELPED ME achieve!

I struggled with my weight my whole life. I constantly yo-yo dieted. With my first pregnancy I gained 80lbs.. UGH, took about 50 of it off, then got pregnant with my second.

Well.....................................

With my second pregnancy I was pretty sick. I ended up with Gestational Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, edema and was put on bed rest. My weight climbed to the highest I have ever weighed. The week before having my son I weighed in at 275lbs!!!!

I felt horrible, I looked horrible and vowed that this was it! No more messing around. Especially with the diabetes etc. My whole family has been plagued with heart disease, diabetes, etc. I was NOT going to follow the same path.

When my son was 2 months old (after healing from c-section etc) I got my butt in gear. I even started attended a running club.

3 years later, I am down 130lbs and my weight has been at this same level since Dec. 2009. I have given up the all or nothing mindset, and make sure to get my activity in most days of the week!!

My health has improved tremendously. I've had no issues with blood sugar levels, blood pressure is awesome and my heart is perfectly healthy! Dodged a bullet I think... LOL !!

I think I am vain. I think the idea of looking great and having people think I look great motivates me. I know when I go into a dressing room and see myself in that mirror I feel disgusted with myself. I also refuse to buy plus sizes and I know that the way I've been going I'm only going to grow as I age. MFP has been a tremendous motivation. Having to log everything in and really seeing what the food I'm eating costs me helps tremendously. And it gets me moving to exercise and burn off calories so I can eat! I was recently looking in the Oxygen magazines my sister in law has and the women in there are body builders so I don't want to look like that but I do want to get close! I want to feel good about myself and unashamed of my body. I just realized that it wasn't going to happen with dreaming and wishing so I started. Go for it Laura! It's time.

Mine was also seeing a picture of myself and couldn't believe how big my "butt" had gotten. Started having trouble getting up from sitting position with stiffness and knees hurting. Enough is enough . I've got to make a change .

it was my doctor telling me that i was going to have a hard time carrying children because of my extra weight. sigh.