What was your turning point?

My original goal was to know skinny before 30. Well that didn't happen! Every year it would be my goal. Well last year I made a goal to walk every day from my bday to myn ext bday. And to lose something! Well goal 1 was not very realistic but I walk as often as possible still. I hace lost 30 lbs. I could barely walk a half mile. I can walk up to 13 miles at one time. My turning point? That I was not going to give up this time when it got hard, I was not going to let my husband be my excuse to quit (bc he is negative and does not like my foods or exercise and its a fight every time) I was doing it for me! And I have! I have completed slim in 6. I have completed a 5k race. I have attempted to complete p90x 2 x both at 6 weeks mark. I have done c25k. I have done chris powels the workout. I have run up hill (the hill from hell) without stopping. I have cried during walks and runs and working out bc I feel pride! I feel wow look what I can do! I am no longer the fattest mom at the bus stop huffing and puffing to get there! I can do run club with my daughter and walk her to school. I can outrun my eldest in a footrace. I can crawl on the floor to play and chase my 18 mo old. I am now very active with my kids and I have more energy and get up n gothan my whole family! Saturday the 3rd marks my 1 year fitversary of a goal I set out to achieve. I have lost a total of 50 lbs post baby 18 months in the making!

I knew I'd gained a few pounds, but I didn't weigh myself so I wasn't sure how much. I was wearing lots of floaty skirts so I didn't really feel it in my clothes. One day I wore my skinny black jeans and they were so tight I had to rush out and buy a skirt and tights to change into. I realised that my usual size was now too small and I didn't want to buy the next size up. I got on the scales and I was now 126lbs! I had to do something about it then!

tsw413 wrote: »

Did you have a moment when something inside you just clicked?

Yes, my birthday one year ago. Coincidentally I'd had a physical a 10 days earlier and got the blood work and other results and everything showed a U turn in my health that I could not deny any longer.

I was not unhealthy or overweight for most of my life and in fact was a lean distance runner and mountaineer right up to my 30's. I put on a few pounds, nothing serious, due to tons of business travel but the gain really started about 13 years prior when a sports injury sidelined me for some time. Quickly I put on 20 pounds before I figured out that I couldn't eat like an athlete any more, but I didn't take the next logical step to lose that weight. Other factors and my own blindness eventually saw me gain another 85 pounds over the subsequent years - slowly creeping up - maxing out at 255lbs at my heaviest last year.

I was still somewhat active through most of that weight gain period; walked a lot, still rode my bike; almost broke the weight gain cycle in 2013 but since I didn't perceive I had a real problem then, didn't give the issue the focus it deserved. Slow, long, weight gain is... insidious! I was lulled into complacency since my BP remained low for all those years, blood work showed nothing unusual, and I was still able to do *most*, but not all, things I enjoy doing.

The Turning Point

Until 2014. Very quickly I started feeling more poorly in the summer of 2014 and my health report showed me I could no longer coast. I also found myself making more and more excuses not to do things I love to do, like take that extra long walk or hike, ride up in the hills, taking the dog out for a better walk - you name it. My health was impacting my family's fun, not just mine.

Ultimately it was seeing a big and negative change in my health markers (aside from the obvious weight!) that drove me to declare enough is enough. That day was my birthday last year.

I've gone from being 105 pounds overweight (based on "ideal" weight estimates) and unfit to 80 pounds lighter and extremely fit and I know I'll get to my goal, no question. Quite honestly... it was EASY to drop the weight, all I had to do is decide to start and commit to it. I can't remember more than a few days of issues around calorie restriction when adapting to my vastly more active life.

Given how easy it was, you can imagine how stupid I feel for not starting years ago, or for letting my weight get out of control for as long as I did.

Motivation is fleeting; make a commitment. My commitment was to be healthy again, like I had been for most of my life, for myself and my family.

There's no chance I'll go back to the way I was, overweight and unfit and afraid, yes, afraid, to make the changes needed. What stopped me were BS excuses I told myself -- namely the fear that the work to lose would be too hard (it wasn't) and the the fear I'd fail (I hate failure even though I was living it).

I stopped buying my own BS last September and just got going. By the end of December I'd lost 30 pounds and most of my health markers had improved markedly. My very recent annual physical was a complete 180 of last years.

I'm thankful for the minor health scare in that it caused me to look seriously at myself, but I should have done that a long time ago.

Moral: Don't wait for life to deal you a reason to take your health and fitness seriously. Life is short. Don't waste it.

My turning point was when I went to buy a pair of jeans and some work pants because my old ones were grungy(the old ones were all ties so i had room to tie it as loose or tight as i wanted). I tried on size 16, because lets face it I knew I gained some wieght (used to be a size 10-12), I couldn't even get them past my bottom thighs. So I tried 18...I couldn't button them. Even though I felt so horrible and embarrassed I tried on (and had to buy so i would have work pants) size 20 pants. SIZE 20!!!!!! I felt so miserable for the next couple days. I swore I would never reach that size. I have been on about 20 diets in my life and none of them lasted very long. Last week I decided I needed to change, I wanted to be able to paint my toenails again, go on a swing with my kid, eat in front of people and not feel like I was being judged. I had to look in the mirror and realize I was obese, no one and nothing could change that but me. As a result I am on week 2, dealing with a little bit of hunger pains but I WANT to do this! I NEED to do this! I CAN do this!

I simply didn't want to keep going up dress sizes. I lost weight prior to my wedding, all of which has now returned within 3 years. This is the most commited I have felt to improving 'me'. It has taken me some time to properly understand lifestyle changes and not just the quick fixes!

For me my turning point was seeing myself in friend's pictures. I was officially the chubbiest guy in all of them. I know you shouldn't judge yourself based on your friends but still... I don't want to be the fat friend.

Part of the problem I think is how my body stores fat. My face still looks skinny even though I'm 35ish pounds over weight, my body likes to store it all in my stomach area. Every day I'd look in the mirror (at my face) and think "I look pretty decent today". It just wasn't until I started looking at pictures and I realized... my beer belly had evolved into a beer keg.