What Finally Motivated You to Lose Weight?

doctor said my BMI was 25.1 and I was now officially overweight.

I need knee surgery due to a variety of reasons (including some misspent and reckless youth activities) but Doc said my weight was an issue. He suggested the bariatric program, but I refused - said I wasnt likely to learn anything from surgery. He said well, there is a diet component to the program so I said sure - then found out there was a year long wait to get into it. So I said screw it, I'm doing this NOW. And so I am. I am booked into the surgery program now, just waiting for the date...........

November 2014 was a very dark time for me.

I take care of my mom, who has an autoimmune disease (Systemic Lupus Erythrematosus, or SLE) and Cushing's Syndrome from a non-operable tumor. She's suffered 4 strokes in the last year. She'd put on 200 lbs of weight over the previous 5 years because she lost what limited mobility she'd had, coupled with emotional overeating; this put her from big to just plain huge (context: she peaked out at 500 lbs). Assisting her was very difficult, just on the basis of her weight. She can't toilet alone or anything, and when she fell we had to call in the ambulance to pick her up off the floor. So I saw how disasterous being morbidly obese is, and its downright terrifying.

I also have SLE, and in summer 2014 it decided to attack my heart. Between August and November I put on about 15 lbs due to eating but not moving. I was definitely really depressed, and I just wasn't paying attention to my food intake. I was already quite heavy due to major lifestyle changes (thanks, arthritis and multiple serious back injuries), but I was able to do the things I wanted to do before that. However, that month I had been laid up in bed with no recovery in sight, and then I stepped on a scale. 270 lbs.

I went into my bedroom and I bawled. And bawled. And bawled. It was unimaginable, yet there I was. I think I moped for two or three days. Then I realized I had to do something. It didn't matter that I couldn't work out, or dance, or anything I'd loved doing before I got sick, I had to get my weight under control no matter what, so that I didn't make other people have such a hard time taking care of me. I can only say this because I know my mom won't read it, but her refusal to watch her weight at all has led to a LOT of difficulty for my dad & I. And I couldn't do that to someone else.

So I started watching my intake. I got a new doctor who actually LISTENED to me about the severe amount of pain & fatigue I was having. He started me on medication to treat it, and that helped...a lot. But I went from 270 down to 245 between November 2014 and May 2015 without doing anything except controlling my calories.

Today, 14 months later, I weigh 199. I know to a lot of people here, 199 is an unimaginably heavy weight, but for me its a major victory.

I was able to start walking in May 2015, and I've made getting that exercise a priority. I walk *at least* 30 minutes a day, even on my worst lupus flare days (if you have lupus you know this is a major battle). I do a very light resistance training routine twice a week, to recondition the muscles I lost from being in bed so much over the last 5 years. I would probably be very happy to live my life at this weight, because I can do the things I love again. However, I'm aiming for 175 because my immune system still attacks my heart regularly. Its exhausting, and I just don't want my poor heart to battle the extra weight on top of the stress of that. I know I can do it.

My mom's still hanging in there. She's in stage V kidney failure now. She lives in the living room, and can barely get onto her toilet, which is right next to her chair 24/7. I still can't push her around in her wheelchair. What she has to endure is heartbreaking. I don't think anyone can prevent being helpless if they have degenerative diseases like she does, but usually it happens a lot older. I have very complex feelings about her weight; compassion, because I know what she's facing and how painful her life is for reasons that have absolutely NOTHING to do with her weight; frustration, because her weight makes things much harder; anger, sometimes, because she refuses to allow us to do much about it, and because she directly tries to undermine my weight goals; sadness, because of all she's lost in life. And honestly her weight is the greatest immobilizing factor. I can't get her in/out of the house, she cant' use a normal toilet, she can't shower. I do not want this for her, or for myself, or for anyone. Its awful.

courtniekrebs wrote: »

Mine started with an Ultimatum from my BF. Be at 135 by June or we're done. I started at 175 and now am at 155. Here recently two of my really good friends are competing in figure/bikini competitions so that's inspired me to work hard and have a goal and not just do it for a stupid guy.. LOL

In my head, you are going to stay with him until the day you hit 135. Then you're going to call him into the bathroom, show him the number on the scale, then be all "LOL BYE *kitten*" and zoom away in a red Porsche convertible with a hot muscly personal trainer, never to return. If this isn't your plan, please don't disillusion me.

Some of the other people in a Facebook group I was in decided to sign up for MFP. I'd had a few false starts previously and I have no idea why it stuck this time, but here I am 267 days later and counting!

I went over my calories yesterday and looking at photos of myself before I lost the weight is helping me stay on track today despite considerable stress. Looking at the progress I've made always makes me happy!

I was having health issues - out of breath, high blood pressure, knee problems, etc. But what really did it was seeing a photo of my son's birthday party and not recognizing a fat lady in the pic. It was me. Ha! That was a total wake up call because I had no idea I was THAT overweight.

vespiquenn wrote: »

courtniekrebs wrote: »

Mine started with an Ultimatum from my BF. Be at 135 by June or we're done. I started at 175 and now am at 155. Here recently two of my really good friends are competing in figure/bikini competitions so that's inspired me to work hard and have a goal and not just do it for a stupid guy.. LOL

.. You need a new boyfriend. That is a horrible thing to do to a person.

This. Jesus your BF sounds like an *kitten* ... sorry.

For me, it was a combination of things. Some were chronic: lower back pain from too much weight and the onset of minor arthritis, blood pressure getting a bit high, cholesterol getting a bit high. Some were annoyances, like finding airplane seats too narrow for comfort. But probably the single most important motivation was wanting to climb hills faster on my bicycle, which is a lot easier at 148 pounds than it was when I weighed 215!

No we are still together. I just found another focus. If by June I'm not good enough oh well. My friend did a bikini competition and its inspired me to work hard. It's now about me and not what he wants

The first time was in high school when I hit double digits in pants size. The second time was after college when I wanted to lose 5 lbs and get healthier for my acting career, which actually resulted in a 15 lb weight loss

SweetestLibby wrote: »

My sister has had Type 1 diabetes since she was 12 - as a result she has been through kidney failure twice (her's plus transplanted kidneys). The hardest thing I have ever had to endure was to be told that I was a match for my sister but at 5 foot 4 and 215 pounds I wasn't healthy enough to donate. I need to get healthy - if not for me then for her.

It took 2 years but I lost 100 pounds. I decided that I wanted to be more muscular for I gained 5 pounds of muscle to make it 95 pounds lost. I maintained there for 2 years and in the last couple of years I've picked up 25 pounds with life changes. I'm down 5 with 20 more to go. My sister hasn't been healthy enough to go through the transplant process again but I want to stay healthy just in case she is.

That's a painful wake up call! I wish you both luck and good health!

courtniekrebs wrote: »

Mine started with an Ultimatum from my BF. Be at 135 by June or we're done. I started at 175 and now am at 155. Here recently two of my really good friends are competing in figure/bikini competitions so that's inspired me to work hard and have a goal and not just do it for a stupid guy.. LOL

Dump the guy. Do it for yourself. Find a better fellow who appreciates you for you.

My motivations:

1. Hitting 220 for the first time. Boo!
2. I've always wanted to participate in obstacle runs, specifically Spartan and Run for Your Lives.
3. I like hiking in the mountains and it would be nice to do so without carrying the equivalent of my dog in extra weight...

TheChrissyT wrote: »

I just really want to be who I feel I am on the inside. I am full of life. I am adventurous. I am strong and outgoing. I have always had a lot of love to give, but I've never given any of it to myself! I had a bit of a mental collapse involving a great deal of awful events that were out of my control coinciding, and I killed myself through it trying to make everyone else happy (and failing), and I broke. I hated myself, my life, my looks, everyhing. I was desperate to not feel the way I was feeling anymore so I started doing affirmations, listening to self help youtube videos, anything.... slowly I started to come out of the dark and on my way decided that I couldn't keep trying to pour from an empty cup, and decided that my health and happiness matter too. Being healthy mentally and being healthy physically are linked for me. I cant be one without the other so I decided I would do both. 70lbs later, I'm half way through to where I want to be and I truly feel like I'm shedding off what I never was and exposing who I've always been.

Thank you for letting me know it's not just me.

May 2012 got diagnosed with Type 2. BMI 44%
June 2012 found MFP
March 2014 hit goal (but have subsequently lost 15 more pounds) BMI 20.4%
No more Type 2, no more hypertension, no more high chol/triglycerides....off the 5 meds I was on for all this.

It is do-able. One day, one pound, one step at a time.

My primary motivation was getting right with my relationship with food. I was miserable that food controlled me and knew I would always yo yo if I couldn't fix that. I spent the last year working on that so when the weight started going away it would stay away. I cannot over-emphasize how important that was for me. I learned to trust myself around food. I regained my power & confidence.

I too was on diet after diet starting in junior high. In my early 20s I got motivated and lost 50 pounds. Not super skinny but good for me. Then years went by. I got married and had 2 kids. Stay at home mom. Bam, I was 100 pounds over my adult "low".

I still couldn't get motivated. Then I started having heart palpitations and had some bloodwork done and discovered I was prediabetic. That was it for me. After watching my mom and grandma deal with diabetes I said "Hell no!!!!"

I reduced carbs, cut out ALL sweets and started walking. I've lost 45 pounds and my cholesterol, etc has gone way down. I still need to lose another 50 pounds and have plateaued but I will fight pre-diabetes tooth and nail!!!

Take charge of your health now. Don't end up in your 40s (or sooner - who knows how long I held it off by losing the weight in my 20s) staring down a serious health problem.