Why did you come to the conclusion to lose weight?

When the DR told me I was definitely Pre diabetic and I needed to do something about it before it became more serious. I DO NOT want to be on meds for the rest of my life. So I am finally watching what I eat. Only down 6lbs but it's going..

Minpinhead wrote: »

becbo22 wrote: »

At the age of 20 I had to be put on blood pressure medication. I didn't want to go down that path of health problems. I also went to a doctor's appointment and found out I had gotten up to 302 pounds after a fight with depression. I had gained 110 pounds in 2 years of college between psychiatric medications, binge eating, and lack of activity. I have now lost 60 pounds and plan to lose at least 40 more. Taking my life back!

60 lbs is amazing! Congrats!

Thank you so much! I've also become a certified personal trainer during all this

I saw myself in some photos at a parents wedding anniversary and didn't recognise myself, kind of.. I knew I had been putting weight on but I just didn't care. It was that moment that I got on the scales and saw I was 285lbs and decided to do something about it and get my life back. I'm now 210 but still have a long way to go but chipping away at it a day at a time.

I've wanted to lose weight forever. I think this time around I gathered the mental energy to start again because my father had open heart surgery. In the past few months, for the first time in my life, I "gave up." Not on losing weight. Lol, I gave up on everything. Trying to get my life together, trying to fix my career, dating, etc. I decided to just stop trying. It was shortlived, but it was the first time in my life I felt that hopeless about everything.

Two things happened, though, when my dad had surgery:

1. My father had to have two valve replacements. It was from a complication he had from getting rheumatic fever as a child at age 11. Since then, he's been very careful with his diet - being vegetarian, exercising regularly and doing yoga, limiting saturated fats and cholesterol. While talking to his cardiologist it became very clear - there was no way he would have survived this condition since childhood if he had not been careful with his lifestyle. Not a chance. If he lived like me with this condition, he would not have survived past 35.

2. On the morning of the surgery, prep started at 5am. My mother and I wanted to be there for that. However, it was 4:56am when we finished parking. I didn't think it would be a big deal if we got to my Dad's room at 5:05am, since prep was a few hours long before surgery. However, my mother wanted to be there for every second of it. So she, aged 64, whom I had never seen exercise, ran down the hospital hallway in heels, and I didn't keep up with her. When I did catch up, she wasn't short of breath, at all. Lol, she's a a lifelong vegetarian and has always watched her calories, and she hates sweets.

Lol, so I'm a bit inspired by that. Also, my parents have been very supportive of me, and I really want them to see me happy. They deserve that - to have the pleasure of seeing their child happy and peaceful. I don't think I have to lose weight for that to happen, but it does go hand in hand with me getting the rest of my life together.

My wake up call was in 2008. I had just gotten a new job, and I was wearing size 16 pants that were tight/uncomfortable, and was wearing 2xl shirts. I was about to go buy size 18 jeans, then it hit me that I was just one size from being a size 20 which I was horrified by, and wasn't going to wear that size. The new job offered 1/2 off at the gym, so I joined and started working out. 6 months later I was much stronger, but still hadn't lost weight. So I started walking at the local high school track. I'm physically disabled - walk on crutches - and have been told not to walk much otherwise I would ruin my arms and not be able to walk eventually. I just decided that I had to lose weight, so walked anyway. I could barely do the 1/4 mile the first time. I had to stop several times. But by the end of that summer, I had lost 2 jean sizes and was walking 1/2 mile at a time. I maintained that weightloss through the winter, started again in the spring, lost 3 more sizes the next summer. I have consistently been a size 8 for several years now, until 2 years ago.

I started gaining again, and couldn't explain why, but I was also getting weaker and couldn't walk very far. Chalked it up to not walking/going to the gym much because i was always so tired. Long story short, I almost died because I had a 17 lb ovarian cyst that was causing my weight gain. Went into renal failure, spent 6 weeks in the hospital because all of the excess fluid I was retaining due to the kidney failure went to my legs and I couldn't get my leg braces on to walk. When I got out of the hospital, I was extremely weak and needed a lot of physical therapy. Last July I still wasn't happy with my leg strength, so I joined a medically oriented gym. Now I'm stronger than I've ever been. I lost 30 lbs when they took out the mass, and the water weight. Now I want to keep losing again, now that I'm strong and healthy again.

I keep motivated because my mother is obese and has had high blood pressure, diabetes, and has had 3 strokes in the last 10 years. I DO NOT want to be like her.

I didn't want the beer belly anymore

Today was the wake up call. Menopause hit me hard a year ago and gave me a belly I've never had in my life. I've always had to work hard at not gaining weight and have had various ups and downs in the 10-20 lb range, but nothing like this. My future daughter in law sent me a picture of me and my son from Easter yesterday, it was a sweet hug pic, but all I saw was a 54 year old woman that looked pregnant. I was literally devastated and decided it's time. I know how to do it and will come here for inspiration, support and guidance.

When I went to the doctor for a physical and the scale read 290.6. That's all I could think about that entire day. And I said that is enough I will get below 200 lbs. This weight has destroyed the person I used to be. And that was it. I bought a Garmin vivosmart and most days I still have issues hitting my step goal. But I have lost 7 lbs since Feb 23.
I have had my days... but i get back up and keep going.

When I hated shopping because I only fit into the frumpy plus size clothes

echofm1 wrote: »

I went to the doctor's and she hounded me about my weight before she even asked why I was there (which I was a bit upset about). She encouraged me to see a nutritionist, which was free through work. I agreed to see the nutritionist, dropped the doctor, and started MFP to track what I was eating for the nutritionist to see. Turned out it was a lot easier to manage than I'd ever thought, so I kept on doing it. Seeing the scale near 350 pounds was definitely a wake up call too.

Happy to say that I've been here a year and a half, am at 246 currently, and still going strong on my goal towards a healthy BMI.

Yes very inspiring. You go girl!