How did you commit to weightloss?

When I started, I didn't have a doctor tell me I needed to lose weight. I realised that in the course of a few years I had slowly put on 10kgs as I came out of puberty (high metabolism) and started settling into my adult metabolism. I bought food, did some meal preparation and started the next day (was already past dinner at that point). I never had failed "i'll start tomorrow" so when I said to my mother (who has been "starting tomorrow" for most of my life) that I was starting the next day, she was shocked when I actually did.

OhMsDiva wrote: »

When I was miserable everyday. When my knees hurt everyday. When I could barely move without being in pain. When I felt that I had no control over my health. When I turned 45 and was fed up

For me, it was a finding out a friend who'd lost 50 kg and kept it off for two years wasn't a mathematical genius with her calorie counting and learning she was using MFP to make calorie counting easier.

I thought, "Science! New! Shiny!", and signed up, and was instantly hooked. 6 months later I've lost 22 kg.

There's nothing like a Doctor telling you that "you're a heart attack waiting to happen" to give you motivation to lose weight!!

Without realizing it at the time I took baby steps.

I first worked on my fitness. All I could do at the time is walk slowly so that's what I did. As I got into better shape I tried different workouts and discovered what I liked and what I didn't like.

Then on the hardest part for me...my nutrition. I slowly started incorporating veggies and greens, then I worked on reducing my portion sizes and the amount sweets I used to eat.

Later on I slowly made the switch from drinking soda, store-bought juices and alcohol to water and unsweetened tea. My taste buds eventually changed and I got used to eating/drinking this way.

Also I started soaking in information from health and fitness books from the library, forums and sciency things about weight/fat loss online.

Before I knew it, I got into a groove and found a good, comfortable balance between exercising moderately and eating healthy while still incorporating treats here and there.

Everyday wasn't a good day and I lost the majority of my weight somewhat slower, but I stayed the course and things stuck. I steadily lost weight and inches and I've kept 80 lbs off for 2 and a half years.

I never had a goal weight (I did have a dream measurement range/dress size however) and I didn't lose weight for an event or had medical issues etc. I was just tired. And determined.

I had the goal of losing weight for years, but my wake up call push came from seeing pictures of myself with friends where I had done my best to look "thin" (spanx in the summer, yep) which made me realized there was no hiding it from myself or others. And yet, that was all just the ignition. Anyone can decide to lose weight. It's the decision to do what it takes to lose weight that is trickier.

My decision to lose weight and to sticking with it came from logging in one full day and then another and then 10 days and then 30 and then having a goal of logging in one full year (which I recently did). After a few weeks of seeing the relationship between complete, honest logging and losing weight, I was hooked. It was no longer mysterious to me what I had to do. I was also inspired by so many MFP people who had lost a lot of weight and I would read everything I could about how they had done it. The people who inspire me the most do very reasonable things to lose weight. Their stories gave me the confidence to keep going and made me realize you don't have to be perfect or have a loss every single week to be successful.

MandyQ1972 wrote: »

Now that I've joined I keep thinking "I'll start tomorrow". What steps did you take to begin and how did you stay focused?

I randomly joined MFP on a Wednesday afternoon in the middle of the month about a year ago because I was tired of being left behind when walking with my family and getting out of breath climbing stairs. I entered my stats and activity level and just went with the calorie goal MFP gave me. I started logging food the day after I joined MFP and have logged every day since. Most days I have pre-logged my food.
I started reading on the forums and got some friends and that inspires me.

I had surgery scheduled. Anesthesia scares me so to make me a bit less likely to die on the table I decided to lose some weight. After surgery I just continued what I had started. A few months later I added strength training and got back to twice weekly deep water running. I'm in better shape now - and 58 pounds lighter - than I have been in decades. My only regret is not doing this sooner.

Pure vanity. Looking at pictures that no amount of cropping was going to fix. I knew I had some huge events, and trips coming up and wanted to look at the pictures and be proud of the way I looked in them.
Its shallow but it worked!