What was the last straw?

I'm 54 and 5'10" and at my heaviest was 251. A few years ago I lost about 25 of that and was just hanging around that weight. My last straw was just that I was tired of feeling and looking frumpy. My daughter told me about this site and I joined and fell in looove with it . I reached my goal of losing 30 in September and have maintained that, now I've decided to go for another 10. I hope to be there by the first day of summer.

1) I got dumped, and my relationship of four years ended, and suddenly I wasn't so hungry anymore
2) I got really sick, which was eventually pinpointed to a multitude of food intolerances
3) I started eating Paleo.
Best damn decision of my life.

A few things stand out. Not fitting pants anymore, not really feeling comfortable sitting in a bath, but in the end it came down to work.
At work they were restructuring and it was so itterly stressful for all of us. We all felt completely out of control of our lives, me included. However with the stress and how I felt about myself I was in no shape to go out and find another job, not a chance really.
I knew that the only thing I could really change in the situation was me, so I decided that that was the way to go.

I hate everything about myself, and this is the easiest thing to change.

I sing in a choir and we had a concert in January. I had my wife take some videos with my phone, and when I saw them I was aghast at how I looked the the love child of the Michelin Man and the Pillsbury dough boy. Enough is enough. Down 20 lbs since then and short term goal is 10 more by or next concert on 29May. Then, on my 60th birthday Oct 15, I would like to be down 60 lbs from the January embarrassment.

One day I thought I was having a heart attack. Had all the classic symptoms. A trip to the ER and a night spent in the cardiac care unit told me that I didn't have an attack, and I needed to do something so I wouldn't have one. Not to mention when I see the pictures of me at family functions. The motivation finally happened.

After my youngest daughter was born, I left my rather physically demanding job to become a stay at home mom. I realized how big I had gotten, feared gaining even more weight, and lost 30 lbs. However, after a while I lost my motivation and quickly gained it all back. Even though I realized I was eating like crap, I turned a blind eye and ignored the weight I was gaining back until the butt ripped in several different pairs of jeans. All the cute clothes I had were now too small, and the only pair of jeans I had left were from right after my daughter was born. And those were getting pretty tight too. I hated the way I looked, I hated myself for sabotaging all the progress I had made, and I had a huge breakdown. That was about three weeks ago. I've lost about 11 lbs so far, but just knowing I'm on the right track is giving me more confidence than I would have believed. 49 more to go!

Picture this:

Guatamala, the Tekal ruins. My family hired a personal guide when we got there so we wouldn't miss anything. I will never forget this as long as I live; through one of the trails in the jungle, he was just standing there. My grandparents, both in their 70's, were way ahead of him just hiking away. My cousin and myself, both in our late 20's, were way behind him struggling to keep up. I just remember him looking back and forth between the two sets of us and shaking his head.

THEN my 70-ish year old grandmother kicked my *kitten* up the stairs to the tallest ruin. (it poked out above the jungle canopy, so it was a looooong way up). I asked her why she was booking it up these stairs, and she told me there was a little old lady on the stairs as well. She refused to be beaten by a little old lady. The little old lady also kicked my *kitten*.

Got home from this vacation; headed to a friend's house. Dared her scale and saw 280lb staring back at me.

3 biggest kick-in-the-*kitten* I needed.

My final straw was when I was actually enrolled in the preoperative classes for a vertical sleeve, where they PERMANENTLY remove 3/4 of your stomach FOREVER. I was morbidly obese, but just at that line where if I lost too much I wouldn't really 'qualify' with my insurance. While working through the program, 4 months into a 6 month program, I knew that I had probably "lost too much weight". I couldn't bring myself to stuff my face to stay above the line of morbidly obese. I went to the 4th appointment & I was right, I had lost "too much". I sat down with the nutritionist and nurse practitioner who both separately told me that they thought I could do this without the surgery. One said "dear, you're no longer morbidly obese" and I cried tears of relief and joy!

I'm telling you, I got chills! I walked out of that office 10 feet taller and headed straight for the gym where I promptly started lifting weights. I was already doing moderate zumba classes. I now continue zumba, elliptical, and weight training. I'm down 3 pants sizes, 1 bra size, & 1 shirt size. I stay on here & log my foods, irregularly, but am making a renewed effort to keep logging. I'm staying in the classes for the accountability (3 more to go already paid for) & then I'll have to find another way to be held accountable.

CatchingThemAll wrote: »

What was the final push you had to finally lose the weight? What was your motivation?

I was the maid of honour in my sisters and my best friends weddings. When the professional photos came out I didn't even want their husbands to see them. I was so embarrassed. That was exactly 3 months ago. With two young children running around I haven't gotten as far as Id like to in this time, but I'm down 20lbs so far, and I WILL be down another 30 in July! I am SOOO determined