what was your final straw?

lorengetsfit wrote: »

For me, photos played a huge factor. The picture of me that I have in my head, and even what I see in the mirror, is completely different from how I appear in photos. I absolutely hate taking photos now. It was also discouraging to look at myself in old photos, which I'm trying to use as motivation now.

I agree with this too. The crazy part is that it worked in the reverse, as well. Now that I'm nearing my goal, I'm surprised by how thin I look in photos. Trust, me, that's a first!! You can do it!

I was looking at my shadow and realized that I didn't walk, I waddled.

camilacreme wrote: »

Yes you will!!!

I have a similar story. I also packed on the chub with pregnancy - got up to something like 72 kg instead of what was my normal/decent 60kg. After baby was born I went down to 68 and just stayed there.

My clothes don't fit, I had to buy stuff but didn't want to spend money on big new clothes because kept thinking it was only temporary and so ended up getting cheap stuff that makes you look even frumpier and more horrid.

Photos were also a big killer - horrid to see big beefy me next to normal sized people.

And lack of fitness also a factor. Before baby I did capoeira and was fit. Post baby was just a beached whale.

Now am slowly getting to where I want to be. My top part is looking much better but still have the paunch hanging over my pants!!!

I have been doing the exact same thing - buying cheap, ill-fitting clothes to hide the weight I've gained, thinking this will only be temporary...

The final straw: I realized I couldn't hardly breath while I ran and always had a shortness of breath. When I saw a picture of the man I used to be and compaired it to the now me, I buckled down. Lost 22 Lbs in 3 months, and couldn't be happier. Still focused and wont miss a beat!

tdv1319 wrote: »

The final straw: I realized I couldn't hardly breath while I ran and always had a shortness of breath. When I saw a picture of the man I used to be and compaired it to the now me, I buckled down. Lost 22 Lbs in 3 months, and couldn't be happier. Still focused and wont miss a beat!

Wow. Inspirational! I've been anywhere between a size 6 and a size 24 since I was 20. Now currenty a UK size 14, but as I am so short, look so much worse!

inner thighs touched..

Throughout all my life, I've always gained weight, and would try to lose it. Since I was 12, my weight ranged from 120 to 145 lbs. 145 was my highest weight and that's when I decided to lose the weight for real. Before I made that decision, I was a binge eater and would always buy bags of chips and tons of candy bars and secretly stash them in my room to snack on at night. I ate fast food at least 4 times a week. This was when the weight started piling on. I remember trying to go to sleep and have difficulty breathing - it was scary. I couldn't walk from my parking lot to my school without feeling winded.

Anyway, I'm now 116 lbs which is the lightest I've ever been in my life. My goal is to maintain between 110 and 115 so I'm sooo close! (: I believe I was very fortunate to realize the bad things that were starting to happen with my health though. If I didn't acknowledge them sooner, the weight gain would have kept piling on and who knows how far my health would spiral down. At one point, I went from 125-145 in just a few months.

techgal128 wrote: »

ClarityPeace wrote: »

inner thighs touched..

Wouldn't you have to be stick thin for your inner thighs not to touch though? All I can think of is stick legs. I'm a big girl that could never have a thigh gap so maybe I'm just not visualizing it correctly.

It really would depend on your hips. The wider the hips, the higher chance of having a thigh gap.

You could still be thin and not have a thigh gap because you have small hips.

I got up to 172 and two things happened: 1. I saw two very large ladies waiting for the elevator to go up one floor in my office, and realized that, while I had a long ways to go, if I didn't make a change I would one day look like them. I had been gaining about 10lbs a year which was great at first (from 120 to 140) and then NOT so good. 2. That same morning my size 12 jeans were really tight, and I couldn't pretend to myself that yet another size was a good thing.

Something just clicked and I took a walk that afternoon I started logging on here the next day. I kinda eased into it pretending that I wasn't really dieting. I wish I had taken "before" pics and measurements, but as I said I sorta just tiptoed into it. Ended up adding lifting, martial arts, running, mud runs etc over the next year +. Lost 36lbs, decided that was a little small and picked 140 as my happy place. I'm currently back on because I've crept up to 144.

techgal128 wrote: »

I was looking at my shadow and realized that I didn't walk, I waddled.

Oof. That'd do it.

I have an adult sized kicked scooter with a 100kg weight limit. I weighed 94kg and realised if I gained anymore weight I wouldn't be able to use it.

I've been a diabetic since August 2008. I was at my heaviest then, 214 lbs. Oddly that wasn't enough to make me want to change.

A couple of years later when my size 40 pants started feeling a little snug and I was in danger of going up to size 42 I got semi serious and went down to 190. I went down to size 38. I guess I was happy enough with that for the time being even though I still didn't like the way I looked in the mirror or in photos.

But in December 2014 my A1C was 7.2 and the doctor wanted to put me on a second medication. I've already been taking Metformin since 2008. Something in me just snapped. Enough was enough. I didn't take that second medication. For one thing when we researched side effects we saw that the new drug can cause liver damage. In March I started walking daily, then graduated to running. Then I found this site and I stepped my weight loss up a gear. By the middle of June I was down to 171 lbs. I even stopped taking Metformin in April because my fasting sugar was becoming so low (averaging low 70's) I became genuinely afraid my sugar would start crashing. I tested daily and my sugar averaged in the 70's and 80's even without medication. So I was looking forward to getting a blood test and seeing what was going on. I went back to the doctor middle of June and my A1C was 5.8. The doctor seemed almost as happy as I was. I guess they don't often see patients have the willpower to get off medication through diet and exercise. Anyway, I went from being on the verge of being on two medications for diabetes to no medication at all. I love my new lifestyle and while I'm still not totally happy with the way I look, I know I look and feel much better than I did six months ago.

After being left for the third time in a row for a guy with six pack abs I decided enough is enough time to get myself in shape and take control of my disaster of a life.

My jeans where getting too tight and I didn't want to buy a bigger size.

Noodle797 wrote: »

My final straw was a couple of things. Big family reunion last summer in which I was only in 2 pictures because I was parked on a picnic bench all day which started me thinking about how I was missing out on my life. Then right around Christmas I was reading Where's Waldo with my 4-year-old nephew, who had to stand next to the rocking chair instead of sitting on my lap because i have no lap, and he said, "look auntie Cole! A big fat lady, just like you!" I know that he didn't say it to hurt me, in fact he often says he likes to sit next to me best because I'm so soft & squishy, but that hurt me more than any stranger's comments. I knew at that point that i just couldn't live like this anymore. I'm incredibly lucky to have the support of my family, friends & most importantly my boyfriend, it's much easier when you have people supporting & believing in you. And my nephew loves that he can go hiking with his Auntie Cole now.

Kids huh! My final straw was my 5 year old daredevil son being so excited he nearly wet himself about going on a roller coaster for the first time. My hubby and daughter are big scaredy cats and refused to go on, so rollercoaster duty was left up to me because he was too small to ride on his own. We sat down, the lady tried to pull the lap bar down over us. I had to suck it all in HARD and push my back hard into the seat. The lap bar came down - with my gut rolling all over the top. It was soooo close - another 1/4 cm and I wouldn't have fit.

Instead of enjoying the ride, I spent it running the scenario through my head, the scene playing out in my head of walking back down through the exit, explaining to his sad and disappointed face that we couldn't go on the ride he had been counting down the day until because Mummy was too fat. I decided I wasn't going to ever have that conversation, and I realised that I was missing out on life with my kids.