What Did it take for you to start and be successful

I was sick of not having any clothes that fit, or if they do fit, they don't look nice. I was sick of being tired all the time and having no energy. I've only been doing this since Tuesday, but I have to say that I already have more energy to get through the day at work because I'm not constantly stuffing my face with junk food. And I have more energy when I get home to do more than just sit on the couch and then go to bed.

In a nutshell, my motivations to start were:
1: Wanting to be present for my daughter
2: Diabetes type 2 diagnosis (and the other associated stuff - lipids, cholesterol, high resting heart rate)
3: Back in the dating pool - I was newly single (that's code for having been "kicked to the curb")
4: 50th birthday looming, no more time to postpone this. Twenty years is more than long enough.

My current success (at least so far) has indeed addressed the above items. I'm much healthier - for both my daughter's sake and my own, a1c / lipids / cholesterol / bp / rhr are all now normal, I have a delightful woman in my life, and I will reach my weight goal before my 50th.

I started late last year, and I am close close close to my goal of being of "normal" weight for my height. I am not made of extraordinary stuff, so if I can do this, you can do this too.

Just relax, take a deep breath, and "stay the course".