Why did you come to the conclusion to lose weight?

I was getting on one of those funfair rides and the thing wouldn't fit around me. It was really embarrassing cause everyone was staring and giggling.

If that wasn't bad enough my teacher (who is overweight herself) called me fat in front of the whole class.

My extended family are always teasing me about my weight.

People in general just making fun of me.

Just wanting to be accepted by society really.

I was at a point where I was completely unhappy with my lifestyle and the way I looked. I had lost 30 pounds in 2010-11 and kept that weight off but fell slightly into older patterns and began eating like crap again. At my biggest, fast food was my main diet. I ate it 2-3 times a day and my only beverage was soda, every day. After losing the 30 pounds I was able to maintain that since I then ate fast food once a day 3-5 times a week as well as cutting back on soda. I was disgusted and disappointed with myself because I had come so far but stopped before I was even half way there because I couldn't control my cravings. I started thinking about people I knew as well as strangers who had been successful in losing weight and thought to myself that if they can, why can't I? At the end of August of last year I went to a birthday party for a family member as well as her roommate since they have birthdays only a day apart. The roommate was once over 300 pounds and had lost about 125-150 pounds. She had weight loss surgery but still, she lost and is obviously not planning on ever going back. There also happened to be another guest at this same party (that I don't like much) who was on a weight loss journey as well. To me, she didn't look like she had lost anything and was basically just crash dieting for an event. I felt like the way she was doing it right and that she would probably end up gaining the weight back after the event anyway. I knew I didn't want that to be me. Then, after seeing a group photo from the bday party and noticing that out of about 10 people in the picture, (which contained the two previously mentioned people above), I was the second biggest person in the picture, I knew I had to do something about it. Now, here I am 5 1/2 months later, 28 pounds lighter and counting!

I saw the face of this tremendously overweight woman. In my mirror.

Clothes became XXL instead of XL. X did not mark the spot, its just made me miserable.

I am 65 years old and knew that the weight loss becomes more difficult as you age, so it was now or never. I am retired and had begun to feel very depressed and out of control. Something had to give so I made up my mind to get serious about weight loss. Just using what I knew about healthy eating, I started watching my weight, but I wasn't recording my food or exercise. It was my daughter who put me on to MFP.

Growing up I was always thin, but after the second baby, I was just too absorbed with kids, job, an aging mother and other responsibilities to pay to much attention to my weight. I weighed 135 at my wedding, 155 after the first baby and 180 after the second baby. Over time my weight ballooned to an all time high of 235--100 pounds exactly from my wedding day. I've given myself one year to lose 52 pounds. I still be clinically overweight at 175pounds, but will be out of the obese category. My BMI is already down from 35 to 33 and at my recent doctor's visit, my BP and cholesterol levels had shown improvement, so I'm headed in the right direction.

It's not like I haven't tried to lose weight, but I just couldn't stick with it. I lost 18 pounds on Weight Watchers about a year or so ago, but for some reason the points system just didn't click with me. Things I thought were low points were surprisingly, distressingly high and vice versa. Calories in/calories out is the only thing that makes sense to me. MFP (with its terrific foods database and mobile apps) and my Fitbit are two tools that I am using on this journey and for the first time I feel like I am really in control. The amount of feedback I get from these two tools keep me honest and allow me to make adjustments throughout the day.

I've been working at this since January 5th and am down 10.5 pounds. I guess age has helped with holding off with the typical impatience I always felt when trying to diet. As a matter of fact I don't even think of this like a diet. Instead it is a lifestyle change: I'm eating better, walking more and keeping tabs on my progress.

I lost 60lbs years ago went from 250 to 190. After being 190 for 10 years I started to gain weight again. Just lazy I think. I am 40 now..lol

But now I am 215 and the extra weight just plan hurts, short of breath. Time to get active again I don't feel like dying yet. And everyday as I move in pain and gasp for air I know what it's time for. Monday was my start day -6lbs so far. I don't track much on her as it always says im starving and won't show me my 5week weight. It was always wrong in the past. I blow past what it says way before 5 weeks. Just was a fun feature.

My doctor used the words "prediabetic" and I am only in my fifties. It's in my family but I didn't think I'd hit it until my 60s or 70s. So I'm avoiding the dreaded diagnosis.

I decided to lose weight one day when getting ready to take a shower. I looked in the mirror and thought to myself, "my boobs are almost as big as my wife's" then I looked down and realized I hadn't seen my feet or my Willy in a while.
Since then I've been going to the gym 3x/week doing free weights. I'm down 20lbs since November and I'm gaining some muscle. I'm also type 2 diabetic and not on meds and don't ever want to be. My cholesterol has been coming down and my BP is 121/80.
I'm 50yrs old and 5'6"tall, BMI OF 30 obese (I hate that term) my ideal weight should be around 155-165 according to my Dr.
I'm just learning to use MFP, and it gets easier to use every day. I'm almost half way to my goal and don't plan on stopping.

I just got to the point where enough was enough. I had friends who had lost weight and seemed happier and healthier. I just always accepted that I was stocky and that was that. But I began to think if these people can loose weight and have their own success stories then I am more than capable as well.My wife is also trying to loose weight so it is a motivation for us both.