Your 'Ah-Ha' Moment

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  • vahrheit
    vahrheit Posts: 2 Member
    My husband bought me a wall hanging that said, "She believed she could, so she did" and it made me cry. Once I started to believe I could do something, I did
    this made me cry :)

    Go you!

  • spzjlb
    spzjlb Posts: 599 Member
    My moment was this very weekend a year ago. I wanted to take my daughter horseback riding for her first time and the woman who owned the horses told me I was too heavy to ride her horses. I was devastated and had to stay back and watch her go with my husband instead. I sat in the car and cried until they came back. It was an instant reality check. Planning to take her riding this weekend 110# lighter! I am so excited.

    Awesome work!!! Enjoy riding!
  • AlexanderAmelia
    AlexanderAmelia Posts: 29 Member
    My moment was this very weekend a year ago. I wanted to take my daughter horseback riding for her first time and the woman who owned the horses told me I was too heavy to ride her horses. I was devastated and had to stay back and watch her go with my husband instead. I sat in the car and cried until they came back. It was an instant reality check. Planning to take her riding this weekend 110# lighter! I am so excited.

    Wow! Yay, you!

    About six months ago, I decided to try a "Paleo" diet for health reasons (hormonal/skin related). Unexpectedly, I lost about 10 lbs (mostly water weight) very quickly. I was shocked: you mean, diets actually DO work?!

    I have lost almost 50 lbs since then, using Fitbit, Myfitnesspal and Trendweight. No longer following a "Paleo" plan, just counting calories in and calories out.

    :smile:
  • lindaloo1213
    lindaloo1213 Posts: 283 Member
    spzjlb wrote: »
    My moment was this very weekend a year ago. I wanted to take my daughter horseback riding for her first time and the woman who owned the horses told me I was too heavy to ride her horses. I was devastated and had to stay back and watch her go with my husband instead. I sat in the car and cried until they came back. It was an instant reality check. Planning to take her riding this weekend 110# lighter! I am so excited.

    Awesome work!!! Enjoy riding!
    We absolutely had a great ride!!!

    spzjlb wrote: »
    My moment was this very weekend a year ago. I wanted to take my daughter horseback riding for her first time and the woman who owned the horses told me I was too heavy to ride her horses. I was devastated and had to stay back and watch her go with my husband instead. I sat in the car and cried until they came back. It was an instant reality check. Planning to take her riding this weekend 110# lighter! I am so excited.

    Awesome work!!! Enjoy riding!
    My moment was this very weekend a year ago. I wanted to take my daughter horseback riding for her first time and the woman who owned the horses told me I was too heavy to ride her horses. I was devastated and had to stay back and watch her go with my husband instead. I sat in the car and cried until they came back. It was an instant reality check. Planning to take her riding this weekend 110# lighter! I am so excited.

    Wow! Yay, you!

    About six months ago, I decided to try a "Paleo" diet for health reasons (hormonal/skin related). Unexpectedly, I lost about 10 lbs (mostly water weight) very quickly. I was shocked: you mean, diets actually DO work?!

    I have lost almost 50 lbs since then, using Fitbit, Myfitnesspal and Trendweight. No longer following a "Paleo" plan, just counting calories in and calories out.

    :smile:
    We had a great ride!! I smiled the entire time. Glad to be "back in the saddle"


  • Runagain_4
    Runagain_4 Posts: 97 Member
    My most recent 'aha' moment came a week ago when we came back from a 3-week holiday and I realised my wedding band was stuck on my finger. I'm not taking it off for fear of not being able to put it back on ... which wouldn't be an option. I weighed myself the next morning and realised I'm the heaviest I've ever been. I know I've got to lose at least 10 lbs to loosen up the ring, 15 lbs to feel decent in my clothes, and 20-25 lbs to feel like ''me'' again. 35 lbs would get me back to what I was 8 years ago, but that's probably a pipe dream so for now 20 lbs is the goal. By logging and eating healthy (except for wine on one day!) the last week I've lost 3 lbs. Exercise to be added in gradually starting this week. My goal is to lose 1 lb a week, slow and steady ....
    This has to be for life ... 50 is only a bit over 4 years away ... I want to get there healthy and fit.
  • DebFromFortWorth
    DebFromFortWorth Posts: 18 Member
    My 'AH-HA' moment was realizing I am going to be 61 very soon, I was over weight & wanted to be healthier so I could live long.. I also have a goal of wearing a swimsuit next year when my husband & I celebrate our 42 Anniversary by taking a cruise. Very happy that 30 days in I have lost 14 pounds.. 40 to 50 more to go!
  • viperbrick
    viperbrick Posts: 9 Member
    My 'aha' moment was when the wellness nurse from my work's health plan told me I had high blood pressure. I have two small children, and I just felt so heartbroken and selfish that I'd allowed things to get to this point that could endanger my health.

    I have a co-worker who was similarly heavy who went to a doctor for help with weight loss, so I got her recommendation, and I went to an obesity specialist. I'd used MFP off and on before, but I'd never been as serious as I am now. I stick to my calorie goal daily, I work out at boot camp and run, and I've never been stronger.

    That was at the end of May, it's now September and I'm down 50 lbs. I'm about halfway, or maybe more than halfway from my goal weight, but I'm determined to get there and remember why I'm doing this.

    By the way, the doctor told me I DON'T have high blood pressure, that maybe she used the small cuff or she didn't read it correctly. He took my blood pressure and did blood work and told me I was in great health! But that's ok, I'm not wasting this chance! :)
  • Queen_Vanellope
    Queen_Vanellope Posts: 35 Member
    I was 19, working in a department store. My much older coworker was talking to me as we folded clothes. I can't recall exactly how the conversation went, but it ended with something like "yeah.. girls like us can't get men."
    It took me a moment to figure out what we had in common, and then it hit me.

    I didn't even realize I was overweight. I didn't own a scale. When I did weight myself, I found out I wasn't just overweight, I was obese. I spent that whole summer break from college working out every day on the elliptical at my apartment's fitness center, and swimming in the pool. I lost 80 pounds.

    When I went back to school in the fall, I got tons of comments from classmates about how great I looked. I was suddenly getting attention from men. When I saw old pictures of myself, I could finally see the weight that I couldn't see before (I erased all of them, though I now wish I hadn't).

    I stayed skinny for a while, only gaining weight when I started living with a guy. I've been losing/gaining the same 25-30 pounds for the last few years. I don't know how that 80 pound loss in college was so easy. My workouts were so low intensity. Now I work myself red and sweaty every day, and it hasn't been getting the same results. So I'm counting calories for the first time. I'm really determined to reach my goal this time. 10 pounds down in 30 days, 15 pounds to go. I'm hoping to get through the holidays without falling off the wagon, and make it to my goal by Christmas.

    I'm still pretty new to this community, so feel free to add me as a friend :)
  • FoodFitnessTravel
    FoodFitnessTravel Posts: 294 Member
    [/quote]

    Fun questions!

    I'm not sure I really did have an A-HA moment. My goals evolved over time. I started in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ~3.5 years ago, because I'd moved to a new city, had no friends in the area, and was quickly falling into a pattern of work, go home, drink and watch TV. Not a healthy lifestyle!

    After losing 15 lbs by accident (due to less drinking, more exercise), I started to clean up my diet; Started reading more about nutrition, which lead to MFP/calorie counting; Attempts to gain muscle (still ongoing :P)

    My weight was all over the place in the decade before BJJ, but mostly because I was a "victim" of my own circumstances. I worked night shifts at a restaurant, which was boring, so I'd eat all the time - gained a ton of weight. Lived in China for a while - lost of a ton of weight. Came back to Canada - gained a ton of weight.

    BJJ has been the only thing to make me focus on my health and diet. I never did it for its own sake, but once I started training, I became much healthier and ate better all as a goal of improving my jiu jitsu. Being healthy, skinnier, more muscular are just happy side effects :)[/quote]

    lol i live in china now :) its funny how people lose weight here, i personally don't like Chinese food, at least the authentic kind. But you can imagine the struggle of trying to count calories of ANYTHING here ;)
  • drywall_painter
    drywall_painter Posts: 321 Member
    I don't remember one, it was probably tight fitting clothes, what drives me is wanting to Improve my endurance through the work day and not being depressed about appearance when I get dressed in the morning.
  • ... The final 'a-ha!' was realising there is no end point. I could take as long as I needed to get to goal. I could change my goal, I could extend my goal, I could add fitness goals along the way. Then, finally maintenance itself becomes a goal. It was so liberating!

    I think you've truly arrived at the #1 secret of success from losing weight to maintaining!

    Bravo to you!

  • ilovesweeties
    ilovesweeties Posts: 84 Member

    Bravo to you!
    Thanks!

  • mikehardin62
    mikehardin62 Posts: 122 Member
    I obviously have far too much time on my hands as another question out of sheer curiosity has been nagging away at me ... so here goes. :D
    • When was your 'AH-HA' moment that made you decide, 'ahhhm okay it's time to do something about this weight?'
    • What made a difference this time which differed from previous attempts to lose weight &/or get healthy? (motivation)
    • How much impact do you feel that a correct mindset has on the level of achievement?

    Here I'll start this one:
    • My 'AH-HA' moment was when I saw that my blood glucose level was 101 mg/dL and the normal range was 70-100 mg/dL.
    • My motivation this time was not about making that silly little # on the scale go down, but it was about fighting off an impending diabetic future if I did nothing. The thought of all the complications that comes with diabetes. ie. kidney functions, amputations, blindness, etc. petrified me.
    • For me, the mindset of 'oh I need to get healthy' rather than 'lose a few pounds' oddly took the pressure of me to 'loose X weight by X amount of time.' I looked at it as I have a lifetime to continue to reach for my goal. So the weeks where I was loosing mere fractions of a pound didn't bother me because progress was progress. <3

    Well Said

  • girlwithLion
    girlwithLion Posts: 8 Member
    My aha moment was when my best friend sized me for a ring she wanted to get for me and a few weeks later when it came, it was "a little snug". I realized I was on that good old weight roller coaster and I wanted to get off of it. So MFP has now become a real pal of sorts. :D
  • beth0277
    beth0277 Posts: 217 Member
    I had two things that happened really close to each other that sort of set me on the right path...

    First, my nephew who is in 1st grade got on his bus and one of the other kids started making fun of him for his "fat mom" (my sister) who was standing there when he was picked up. My son is in kindergarten and I don't ever want him to be made fun of for how I look.

    Second, I had started a new job and there was a morbidly obese lady in another department and I walked past her office a few times a day. Her office was always filled with tons of Styrofoam cups of diet soda and 2 liters on the floor. She must have drank a few 2 liters a day. I had a bad diet soda habit (not as bad as hers) but it just grossed me out so much to see it. It was almost like "Hoarders - diet coke edition". Every time I walked past her office I winced. I gave up diet soda because I just didn't want to have that same problem and seem as sloppy as this person did. After I gave it up and switched to water, healthy food choices came so much easier! (FTR, I'm not saying drinking soda/diet soda makes you gross, just the amount of diet soda this person was drinking and the empty bottles/cups all over her office are what grossed me out).
  • SweetPeasMom55
    SweetPeasMom55 Posts: 3,385 Member
    Seeing me in the pictures at my daughter's college graduation. I realized OMG i will be the fat mom at her wedding if I don't do something. I started immediately and I'm not looking back. :)