Your 'Ah-Ha' Moment
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To lose weight? I was just tired of being mediocre, and I had recently quit my job. I needed goals to pass the time, so this was it for me.
To get fit? I realized that fitness is more than losing weight when I started becoming more active on MFP and made friends with some amazing women. They are great role models that I look up to, and I have already furthered my fitness because of that.3 -
I knew I had gained 50lbs I saw how fat I was but had excuse after excuse: I have multiple back fusions I can't work out like I used to. I have hypothyroidism it's too hard to lose weight, I have damaged nerves in my leg so I can't run or do anything hard, THEN I went outside with my entire Squadron to watch one of our young Staff Sergeants who had lost a leg in Afghanistan attempt to run on his prosthesis he just got fitted with a day before. This kid ran in pain for a mile from his shop to our main facility. I knew THEN I was just BS'ing myself, so I sucked it up and went home, got my shoes on and went out for a walk/jog, it hasn't been easy and I have had setbacks but I think about that kid everytime I have an excuse47
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•My "Ah-Ha" moment was being told I was being put on Insulin. I knew that I had let myself get past the point of no return. . . My food HAD to be taken care of, and that meant taking better care of myself, too.
•Meds. Damn is insulin expensive! Not even just insulin, but the test strips, needles, other meds, etc. etc. it all adds up to an extra $175 a month. Yikes!!
•I always think of a quote from the Batman movies.... "Why do we fall, sir? ... So we can learn to pick ourselves up." I'm still learning from each fall, but the important thing is to get back up and keep moving forward, not sitting on the ground going nowhere and doing nothing.
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My "AH-HA" moment was when we went to Busch Gardens and I could not fit comfortably in the seat...or at least feel "in" the seat enough to warrant going upside down and still feel safe. My hips were just too wide. I had to sit in a "big girl" seat and it crushed me. I felt embarrassed for myself & for my husband. He was sweet of course and said it was my chest and that's why I couldn't fit...but I knew that wasn't why.
I think my motivation this time was turning 28 in July. I kept telling myself through my 20s "Oh, I will start next month on trying to lose weight." Then it was "Oh, I can start losing weight next year." It finally dawned on me that my 20s are almost over, and I have been overweight throughout my ENTIRE 20s. It's time to change. I want to have a baby when I'm 30ish and feel healthy, fit and strong. I don't want diabetes. I want more energy. Basically, I've just had enough of being overweight.
Without the correct mindset you will never get through this. You will make excuses, you'll fall off the wagon. You need to be committed, motivated and determined. I also highly recommend working out with a friend. It makes you accountable for your workouts. I also think you need a good support system. Tell everyone you know you're trying to lose weight...post it on Facebook. This will also hold you accountable because you know everyone knows, and you don't want to fail with everyone watching. I think the first step is admitting you're overweight. Be confident in saying that. It is what it is. Wishing the weight away is not going to work. You have to hold yourself accountable for the fact that you're overweight. It is no one's fault at the end of the day but our own. We CAN change though.
Good luck on your journey!
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When I was at work with the radio playing. I don't know if it was an advertisement or a talk show or what but it was just background noise, "blah-blah-blah". For some reason, the "noise" cleared and became a couple of doctors talking. One said he was seeing a dramatic increase of chronic illness in his morbidly obese patients under 40. The other replied it was more dramatic that he had no morbidly obese patients over 70. I thought, "hmmm . . . interesting." then just went about my business until a cold chill went down my spine when the reality of what they were saying finally hit me :-\ I don't think I said "Ah Ha" . . . more like "Oh S**t"23
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My Ah-Ha moment came when visiting a doctor for the first time in over a decade to establish a primary care physician and get a referral to operate on a curled finger(dupuytrens disease). My plan was to take care of my finger and start an exercise routine to prepare myself for a return the daily work regiment.
During the prescreening process, after taking a blood pressure measurement, the assistant gave a most incredulous look and asked "Do you feel alright?" then rather hurriedly left the room. I overheard her worriedly telling the doctor "His blood pressure is 220/140. What do I do?".
After a lengthy conversation, little of which regarded my finger, I asked Doctor Donna to give me six months to improve my health then we would discuss my blood pressure. She responded by giving me a prescription for Enalapril and a follow up appointment for two weeks later.
Six weeks later, my finger is nearly healed and fully functional, my blood pressure is squarely in the normal range in the morning, sometimes rises into the pre-hypertensive range through the day and has only twice hit the hypertensive range at 141/78. My hope is to get of the meds on my six month checkup visit.
This is the first time I have made a concerted effort to improve my health in any fashion. I think I will succeed because after researching the effects of high blood pressure I now know just how much danger I had put myself in by allowing my health to deteriorate to the point it had. Heart disease runs in my family so there is a fear factor there. Also the rewards of losing just a quarter of my goal loss have been incredible. I don't commit to things easily but once committed I can show a dogged determination.
Down goes the weight, up goes the enjoyment.
It's a wonderful world and we get to live in it. ENJOY16 -
I had just paid for another program and was in week two and had not changed. It hit me that It was all up to me. I was the only one that could do the work. No one else was feeling my emotional pain just me, so unless I did the work nothing would change.10
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shifterbrainz wrote: »When I was at work with the radio playing. I don't know if it was an advertisement or a talk show or what but it was just background noise, "blah-blah-blah". For some reason, the "noise" cleared and became a couple of doctors talking. One said he was seeing a dramatic increase of chronic illness in his morbidly obese patients under 40. The other replied it was more dramatic that he had no morbidly obese patients over 70. I thought, "hmmm . . . interesting." then just went about my business until a cold chill went down my spine when the reality of what they were saying finally hit me :-\ I don't think I said "Ah Ha" . . . more like "Oh S**t"
O-M-G I snorted in laughter at the last bit! Thanks for that.
And I too love the fancy dress & self discoveries.
There seem to be quite a heavy dose of this general sense of helplessness in the other forums that I just needed some inspirations so THANKEE ALL!
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For me, it was as simple as seeing 211 on the scale. That was too much for me. I didn't have a lot to lose (I'm 6'4" and maintaining at 180 +/-), but seeing that number on the scale gave me the push I needed.4
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Looking in the mirror. That's my a-ha moment.
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Mine was last summer realizing I was going to have to wear some skating dresses and have enough stamina to hold my partner up. I accomplished it and think I looked pretty good in the dress in my picture3
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Mine was when I got ready for my brothers wedding and my dad looked at me and said "Wow, you got chubby. Go change, you can't wear that"
I will NEVER forget that moment.11 -
I went to the doc a couple of weeks ago and found out I had high blood pressure. Then, when my blood results came back, I found out I was diabetic. I've been on MFP for a couple of years. I would stop then start again. This time, it's for good. It's for health. I want to see my kids graduate high school, make lives for themselves, give me grandbabies, and enjoy more time with my husband. I still need to write that book, too.5
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I obviously have far too much time on my hands as another question out of sheer curiosity has been nagging away at me ... so here goes.
- When was your 'AH-HA' moment that made you decide, 'ahhhm okay it's time to do something about this weight?'
- What made a difference this time which differed from previous attempts to lose weight &/or get healthy? (motivation)
- How much impact do you feel that a correct mindset has on the level of achievement?
Well, my a-ha moment (this time) was just being tired of trying to squeeze into my clothes. I rarely bought new clothes so in my mind up (until that point) was if I can still fit into them (albeit with muffin tops in multiple places) then the weight must not be that bad. Of course having clothes that stretch definitely contributed to my conclusion of being able to fit into them. Finally got on the scale at the end of June and saw the number and realized that was the same weight I was when I lost weight 8 years ago.
What's different this time? Probably not relying on a drastically different diet to lose the weight. As many has said, this is something you have to do for the long haul. It wasn't that I was restricting what I was eating but rather limiting myself in food selection and eating something different from the rest of the family. So I decided to research and find recipes that would not only help me but also something that my family would eat as well. I also focused on creating a organizational system to make it easier to keep me on track - cutting up vegetables and fruit ahead of time, pre-portioning out snacks into bags or containers,etc.
Having a correct mindset is definitely a huge part. But also understanding what made you "fall of the wagon" in the past and modifying your habits to account for that is important as well. On my past weight loss attempt, I didn't count calories or weighed my food and was able to lose about 30 lbs. But I eventually gained it all back because I didn't address those two areas once I went into maintenance. Now I use MFP as well as a food scale which I hope will allow me to maintain the weight loss once I hit goal and transition to maintenance this time.
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For me, it was when I saw a picture my husband took of my daughter and me. I couldn't believe how frumpy I looked. I'm usually the one behind the camera so I had no idea. Pictures speak 1,000 words.
Also, my clothes were not fitting correctly. It was hard to find the right size, especially in pants. It killed me having a muffin top spilling over my jeans.
I can't say it's different than other attempts because I knew counting calories would work as it was the solution for losing weight between having my daughter and son. I simply said I'd do it, and I did. I only had to lose about15 pounds, but on my small 4'11" frame, it's an enormous amount. If you add me as a friend, you can see how different my face pics are.
I'm at goal weight now, and this morning I realized my "girls" have gone down a size. I'm not disappointed, but I hope my husband doesn't notice Time for bra shopping3 -
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For me it was when my mom had a debilitating stroke. That day I got off my fat bum and changed my life forever.5
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It didn't feel like an a-ha moment at the time, but I went in for my annual checkup (which was the only time I stepped on a scale) and was up from the prior year weighing in at 265#. That didn't really shock me or even make much of an impression, but my doctor commented on it and simply told me that if I could maintain a 500 calorie a day deficit, I could lose a pound a week. It sounded easy - I bought a fitbit, found MFP and discovered it *was* easy.4
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