When did you know?

At Christmas time, I usually make a huge food spread for just my husband and kid's. Kind of like a huge amount of appy's from a party. In the past we'd pretty much finish it in one day. (Mostly just my husband and I.) We'd gorge ourselves silly. This past year we didn't even make a dent in it. We laughed and had to give about half of it away. I was incredibly surprised. But at the same time ridiculously proud!!!

When I leave food on the plate and know that if I eat any more, it would just be very greedy.

When I had knee surgery and couldn't chase my two year old around. The extra weight had made my recovery slower than normal. But I'm down over 20lbs in three months

When i put weight on so fast i got stretch marks like i was pregnant!

When I looked at my ailing Pa (stroke and heart disease), and my sister (three strokes before she's sixty), then at my teenage daughter and realised I didn't want her to have to take care of me for something I could have avoided.

My "click" or awakening moment was February/2014 when we experienced a pretty cold winter in the Houston area, and I began having neuropathy (tingling/numbness) in my hands & feet. I know at least 1 person who has lost toes due to diabetes, and plenty of people with this condition including in my family, I didn't want that to be me. I realized I had to do this. Before then, all I cared about was food & losing weight to be desired by men, I still care about food, but now I just want to be healthy and feel good period (emotionally, mentally and physically).

My moment was shortly after my third child's first birthday. My house was filled with family and friends, and only the chaos a house full of children at a birthday party can bring. I was horribly out of breath. My friend, a photographer, came to do a sort of candid photo shoot as a birthday present. I was trying to lug my toddler around to capture him in different settings (he couldn't walk yet), and I couldn't breathe. That's when it hit me that enough is enough. No more fad diets. No more pointless pills. The reality of it wasn't easy, and it's had alot of bumps in the road along the way .... but that moment has always stuck in the back of my mind as a motivator.

sign_painter wrote: »

Maybe it'll sound silly but for me it was when I reached 30 years of age in January. I sort of shifted my way of reasoning. I thought, OK so for 30 years I wished I wasn't overweight and that I didn't smoke and that I was in shape and some other things, so what exactly am I waiting for. It's never gonna be the right moment and no one's gonna do it for me and do I really want to spend my thirties feeling sorry for myself and being insecure like i spent my twenties. This is something that is completely under my control, or rather, it should be. So this is what I'm doing - I'm taking control of the things I can control.

Quoted for truth! Turning 30 has had a massive impact on me, as I realise I am now a grown-up and have, to a large extent, wasted my youth feeling crappy about myself. I look back and it's more than half my life so far feeling fat, weak, ugly, not good enough. When you think about it that way, it's ruddy terrifying. So no more. Time to do this for future me, so when I get to 60 I can look back on half my life spent hitting goals, feeling great about who I am and how I look.

My weigh in was the same 3 weeks in a row, my trainer asked me "When are you going to get serious about this? You are paying me."

I'd say there were a few big ones for me. The biggest one was about a week and a half ago. A friend of mine passed away and I was just devastated. I even ate my favorite comfort food because I was so sad. I took the rest of the day off work and told myself that that day was dedicated to her. I gave myself permission to just be sad and grieve and not think about my program or food or anything like that. And while I DID eat some junk, the 'click' moment came when I realized that my friend would NOT want me showing my grief by ignoring my own health. I logged the junk and did the workout I'd had planned for the day.

The second one came a few days later. I was stressed and busy and didn't have time to pack lunch, so I knew that I'd likely have to buy something. Instead of getting fast food, or even a high-sodium healthier option, I went to a health food's store and got a bunch of nutritious foods instead. And I didn't do it because I felt that I had to, or because I felt guilty, or because I was afraid of failure. I did it because I didn't have any desire to eat any of that other stuff. A total "click" for me.

When my aunts diabetes got so bad that she can barely walk. She just turned 60 and can't go up a flight of stairs. If I kept on the pace I was going I would get diabetes for sure and I didn't want to end up the same. Now I'm down 30lbs.

I finally realized that I just have to keep going. Even if the scale isn't moving, or I go way over my calories one day, or my giveaf*** takes a vacation. It doesn't mean I have failed & now have to give up. I just have to start fresh everyday. If I stop caring & trying, I'll go back to where I started. & I'm not willing to do that. Again.

I've always been a pretty confident fat chick. It was what I was. I looked good, I did what I liked and yeah it held me back but there was nothing for it, the only 2 times I had lost weight was at 15 where I stopped eating (poor choice) and 24 when I had a 4hr break between school and work that I just spent at the free college gym. Neither of these was sustainable in adulthood so screw it I said and lived my life.

Then I had my boy, and lots of things clicked. Mentally (I was now responsible for someone who wasn't me) physically (pre-eclampsia was my first real proof that I wasn't indestructible) and spiritually (I didn't have one after all). Amongst all those swimming thoughts was the realization that to be the sort of mom I wanted to be I needed to succeed in loosing weight. It was no longer a party till the family diseases settled in, it was being there for the little one so that he didn't have to be my parent 30yrs from now.

I be an running, tried eating clean, then found MFP. The click happened when I forced myself to log a cake binge. I woke up the next morning, saw that red bar for the week and thought "that isn't so bad, I can keep going". First time I ever felt hopeful about weight loss!

It's amazing what the little monsters can drive you to do!

When I started thinking of my meals as fuel for my next workout!