What clicked with you?

I'll try to keep this short. I'd previously yo yo dieted for as long as I could remember and never managed to maintain for a significant period of time. I was only ever interested in the superficial side of losing weight, looking good, wearing nice clothes etc.

Last year, it all got a hell of a lot more serious. I was having serious episodes of binge eating beyond anything I'd ever been like before. Proper episodes of waiting until I was alone and eating, eating, eating and feeling so out of control as I did it. My weight soared as a result. My mother in law had a stroke, a direct result of being obese and there was a point where the doctors didn't think she would survive past as few days. She's still with us, but she is a shadow of the woman she once was. All I could think was I was on a very slippery slope to ending up the same.

Then I fell pregnant with my second baby and it was a really tough pregnancy. He was a large boy (8 and a half pounds born two weeks early!) and all the extra weight on my small frame made any sort of physical activity hard. I had really bad oedema and high blood pressure which eventually turned into full blown pre eclampsia and put me in the hospital for a week before I had him. I also ended up with bells palsy (temporary facial paralysis) and split stomach muscles. Looking after my eldest son while pregnant was physically exhausting and I found it almost impossible towards the end. A month before I had him we walked to the park that is ten minutes from our house and it nearly killed me! I had to sit on a bench and watch him play.

It was at that point I promised myself and my boys that I didn't give a s**t about how I looked anymore. I just wanted to learn to maintain a sensible weight and be fit and well enough to look after my family. I didn't want to be a mum who was too fat to play with her kids and be on deaths door before I had grandchildren. My whole mentality towards losing weight, my body and exercise has changed massively since. My son is now three months old. I'm back to my pre pregnancy weight with the extra I put on beforehand to lose now. Physically, I'm not where I once was. My face and blood pressure are back to normal, but after two csections and my split muscles, my stomach is still pretty weak and I'm only just starting to build up now from walking.

No matter how hard it gets, I will keep going forwards cos I never want to go back to how I felt a fee months ago!!

Do you remember that ice bucket challenge from last year? I got nominated and so I did it, after I did it I watched the video and thought, "Omg.... I look like that?!" and that's when it clicked that I was fat.

Seeing a photo of me now (or super recently). I've never looked unhealthy in my life and now at me heaviest weight, I don't even recognize myself! I've committed to big consistent changes. No more excuses no more waiting. I'm just going hard at it every day.

The thing that clicked for me, was going to my doctors office...looking at her face and seeing the concern in her eyes, and hearing the words "Brandie, you HAVE to lose some weight..." Test results dont lie...I was incredibly unhealthy.

I asked a friend of mine who has lost 160 pounds what I could do as a woman who weighs 338 pounds and tying my shoes was a chore. She told me to walk. Simply walk. I didnt have to be fast, just do it. So I walked. One mile. It KILLED me..my hips screamed, my feet were hurting so bad I cried at night. But I did it the next day...and the next...and the next....soon i was walking 4-6 miles 3/4 times a week. About 2 weeks I started tracking my food in MFP as just a 'for fun' thing to see what my calorie intake was. OMG I was eating horribly..no wonder I was fat! Consuming 3000+ calories a day! I began tracking seriously and was staying at my allotted amount of food and still walking.

Fast forward 3 months and I am down to 294 pounds (46 pounds lost!) And i am walking 2-3 times a week, and running steps at a local school 2-3 times a week. My hips and feet dont hurt nearly as bad, and I notice I can jog an entire lap of a track without stopping, where before I would about die to jog 100 feet! I also took my calories down on my own (This is NOT suggested by MFP, its my own person thing, FYI) to about 1200-1500 calories a day, depending on my activity level that day).

My ultimate goal is to weigh 170 pounds, so obviously I have a long way to go. But I am so motivated by seeing progress. So I guess what REALLY 'clicked' for me, was seeing results of my hard work. Oh, and having others see it and comment is amazing too! lol

I felt like the only thing that was going to happen was that I die from health issues. Definite wake-up call.

When after many years yo-yoing I finally had a lightbulb moment of inventing my own "diet" (way of eating), something that I feel I can sustain for life. 38 days in and 14lbs lost. Happy

I was such a doormat, losing weight made me feel so much better about myself. My hubby and I have been married 15 yrs and he was taking me for granted, being a bit hateful like complaining I was snoring and just not sweet talking me like before. I lost the weight and boy things changed. Everyone seems to treat you better when you lose weight, not right but it is the truth.

Two years ago, at 30 years old, my doctor wanted to put me on cholesterol medication. Medication that I would have to take for the rest of my life. I told him "no way", and decided in that instant that I was going to get healthy. I downloaded MFP that day, and began logging my food and going on walks. I walked 200 miles that year, and dropped 90 lbs. No medication for me!
144 lbs down now, and I still have the occasional bad week, where I lose focus and just give up. But then I make myself look at old photos, and I tell myself that I am never going to be like I was in the past, and I have a future to live for.
My kiddos need their Momma for as long as possible.

It only felt "uphill" for the first month, when I had constant DOMS. After that, the immediate benefits to mood and well-being after workouts were very clear and completely outweighed the DOMS. Then, I felt like crap when I didn't exercise. I liked being able to feel strong, see progress in the # of pushups I could do, eg. The food part came after that, and that was easy, too, because my body was functioning better. I just felt better after eating healthier stuff, and I wasn't as hungry bc of the cardio.

I'd just broken up with someone. I got through that first month bc I wanted to a) look good and b) have an outlet for various strong breakup-related feelings, lol

I was getting bigger and getting lots of pain in my joints so decided to keep. Record of what I was eating an it helped me keep on track ,I have lost weight and just taking it one day at. time ,and get to my goal hope it helps you

Great post and great replies so far. Very motivating.

For me I hadn't liked the way my weight was creeping up, but didn't want to"diet" having seen too many people yo-yo on various regimes. I started dreading trying clothes on and hating the increasingly matronly options my husband was picking out for me from catalogues and Costco, but felt hopeless about finding a sustainable path to a better body. One day around this time I saw MFP on Google Play and started reading the reviews and gradually I started to understand how CICO might work. Reading and rereading the community forums has really helped me. I got a fitbit, which increases my accuracy in counting and motivates me to get off my butt. ☺ I really got serious this spring and then the results made me realize that I could do this! I still have another 5 it so lbs to go, and then I want to improve my shape/strength.

Good luck in your own journey.

Goliath1357 wrote: »

Heartbreak, I tried dating again after being single for 3 years. The guy turned out to be a jerk and I decided to focus all the negative energy (sadness, anger) into working out. I got over the heartbreak in a few months but I didn't stop and kept going. I weigh less than I have in over a decade, I'm healthier, and I met a way better guy

Awesome!

• Witnessing my dad pass away from poor health habits (literally witnessing him die before my eyes)
• Not being able to fit in a booth in a restaurant
• Pre-diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, gastric reflux, constant fungal infections...
• Straining my shoulder and arm so I can wipe myself after going to the bathroom

I was 403 lbs and I had lost my will to live.

Those are just a few things that led me to losing over 200 lbs in just short of a year... without surgery or being on a "diet". I changed my life and my habits.

I got gestational diabetes when I was pregnant. Before this I had no idea how much a weighed and my partner always assured me I wasn't fat. My weight had an impact on my unborn child, could have killed her and was a massive wake up call for me.


After I had my daughter born healthy and beautiful with a full head of hair and big blue eyes I continued to try my best but things had slipped and after a nasty episode of bipolar landed me in hospital I was at square one. Mentally and physically I was a mess but I vowed to get myself better. exercise helps me keep stable and losing weight has given me more confidence. it wasn't until I found mfp that I finally had the right tool. So far have lost 39 lbs this year and now have all the energy I need to chase after a toddler