Why did you come to the conclusion to lose weight?

I lost 40lbs in 2013-14 and it had started to creep back on, I refused to buy a bigger Jean size again so here I am..

Yes, investing in larger sizes. Being too poor to buy new fat clothes. Not looking good in my old dance moves anymore. Out of breath on simple flights of steps. Watching myself gain 5ibs per week but barely eating, wtf. hormones all over the place, and my iron levels falling way below all the while trying to control my calorie intake while very active physically with my stressful night jobs. Rotator cuff injury and yearly joint pain bc of it. Meniscus tear in my right knee trying to run steps 30 min for 5-6 days straight and standing 10 hours. Mother of 4 kids. I was spinning out of control. Now been spinning on a bike from an Orthopedic Dr. Recommendation so found a fav. Routine, and I've tried most routines for two years straight never seeing results adding to my stress while trying out paleo eating habits. What a yo-yo. I needed a life and stress relief escape! Simple Excersise and eating healthy is one of them.

My saying regarding discipline...
~It hurts so good instead of hurting so bad.~

I realized over and over again that being fat sucks. Nothing feels better than being comfortable in your own skin, and unfortunately having excessive fat, makes me uncomfortable in my skin.

I've always been fat. I had gestational diabetes with all three of my kids. It dawned on me that if I stayed the weight I was it wasn't a matter of if, but a matter of when I'd develop full blown type 2 diabetes.

I don't want that. I want to be around for a long time.

I've wanted to and kind of halfway tried since I was a teenager. I did lose a significant amount of weight in 2009, before getting pregnant with my son, but gained it all back plus quite a bit more within a few years of his birth.


This time, it's been easier, because several things are working together to motivate me.

1. I decided I wanted to become an EMT, and was directed to the volunteer fire department as a good place to get started in the field. I realized I needed to get in much better shape quickly before I'll be able to do a lot of tasks there, and I don't want to be the "weak link" or the one who lets anyone down, or becomes a casualty myself because I'm out of shape.
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2. Related to the first one, I made a friend who just totally changed my life and inspired me to follow a lot of the dreams I'd given up on. A lot of this was things I used to do, but am now too heavy for, like skydiving and ropes courses. I want to do those again, and share them with my son, so now some of my short term goals are meeting the weight limit for a nearby ropes course by the time he is old enough to go on it with me, and getting down enough to skydive again.
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3. The one that re-motivated me when I got all depressed and started slacking off for a while in the past few months was taking some nude pics for my guy. I had somebody else take them (it's complicated, lol) and saw myself from angles that I hadn't seen in several years, which made me realize just how big and out of shape I had gotten, especially in my butt and thighs. I got back to tracking food and working out again the next day.

Was just sick of how I looked... my eating habits... not fitting clothes... not being as flexible as I used to be... and that getting older every year is scary enough without getting fatter as well lol

After I realized my weight does affect others, not just me. It was a struggle for my boyfriend, who has had a hip replacement to hold me up on the back of a motorcycle in stop and go traffic. I am also tired of feeling fat and blah. Plus, all the nice biker chic clothes are made for skinny girls!

I want to look good and feel good!

As far as I could remember I was always overweight. What made me finally decide to do something about it 4 years ago was being rejected by my crush. As silly as it sounds, after I was rejected all I wanted to do was lose as much weight as I could over the summer break and when I saw my crush again he'd be shocked and regret turning me down! (I had really bad self image and thought the reason for being rejected was because I was overweight and unlovable). Once I started losing the weight though, I realized I felt amazing and my motivation turned into wanting to do it for myself, so I could continue to feel healthy and strong.

My aha moment came when I couldn't fit clothes in the women's section any more at Macy's-they carry to a size 18, but I thought as long as I fit up here I'm good. then I had to go shop in the PLUS size in the basement...Very heartbreaking. I was 30 and I wanted to wear what girls my age were wearing. It was time to change. That was 2007. I'm 5'2" and at my top weight was about 220-225? Not sure because I stopped weighing myself when I saw 218.

In 2008 I did so many of the gimmick diets, at work weight lost challenges and joined a 6 week bootcamp. I got down to 191. Then I gained again. I started over. Got to 185 in Feb 2010 when I got married. When I went to the doctor in Dec. 2010 I was 195. In 2011 I began a new journey, A co-worker who was a fit nut said he'd help. He kept me accountable. He watched what I ate at work and told me what to do at the gym, and I did. By that summer I was 182. Although he left the job when he moved out of state he set me on the right path of eating and exercising properly, no gimmicks. Summer 2012 I was 174. Summer 2013 I was 165. October 2013 I began very ill and was hospitalized. I dropped to 157 when I got out.

I used the weight lost as a catalyst. I went hard at the gym the first three months of 2014 until a personal situation thwarted my efforts. In dealing with that personal situation I dropped to 150 by May 2014. I won't lie, I was happy to be that small. But that wasn't a healthy drop. As I worked on my situation, I got away from the gym and I got away from MFP.

Last year(2015) I started seeing the weight creep back up. I felt as long as I was 162 or under I was still ok because I was still close to the 150s. But then 163, 164, 165. the scale was going the wrong way. I took a trip with my husband, in mid- November, came back and the scale said 172. Yep. I was done.

So now I'm back. Re-focused. I know how to do this, I just need to do it. 168 as of last Thursday.

*Ok, probably more than what you were looking for, but it was therapeutic. I guess I shouldn't be too ashamed looking back from where I started. Day by day.