What was your catalyst for weight loss?

no_day_but_2day wrote: »

britishbeau wrote: »

What was that moment when everything just clicked into place and you could finally lose some weight.

Ive been wanting to diet for over a year. I always thought 'ill start monday' or give up after a day, but always hated myself for getting fatter and never losing. This week i was looking for motivation, like pretty much every other week, when I saw one pin on pinterest. No photo, just words.

Being fat is hard.
Dieting is hard
Pick your hard.

and eveything just fell into place. something clicked in my brain and i went out and bought vegetables, this week i have actually eaten vegetables instead of letting them go moldy in the fridge as usual, and ive lost 2lbs already. What was it for you? a picture? a situation? something someone said? I would love to know.

Being fat isn't hard. it's easy. That's why a lot of the world is obese. What clicked in me this year, I honestly couldn't tell you. I just wanted to finally show how hard I've worked. People always saw me running and working out, but I wasn't getting anywhere with it because I wasn't changing my diet. So vanity got the best of me I guess but this new found love for how I am changing my body for the better keeps me going.

It's easy until the extra weight causes health issues and then your life can get very hard, very quickly. Being overweight for me was easy, until I faced a high glucose number caused by the extra weight and the possibility of T2, which has already killed several of my relatives. That's when being overweight got real for me, and that's when I realized I needed to change how I'd been doing things. There's lots of people who have to deal with weight related diseases and conditions, which makes their lives very difficult.

Now several years into maintenance, reflecting back I don't consider the weight loss phase hard. But maintenance is a b**ch

I was always the "curvy" girl...and I liked it. Until I saw a photo of myself on my 27th birthday and realized: I was more than curvy: I was considered obese and my cholesterol #'s were out of control with a family history of high blood pressure.... I. HAD. TO. CHANGE. ME. So I did.

darlswife wrote: »

Most people see themselves as heavier than they are. I never think I look as bad as I do till I see a picture and see the lack of definition in my face, the bigger arms ......it's total vanity but it makes me eat less and move more so it works.

This is me. I'd put on some weight and I was annoyed at how my clothes fit (or, I should say, at how they DIDN'T fit) but I just wasn't really seeing it, until we went to see my FAVORITE band, and it was a small gig and they had a meet and greet afterward. I met the band members and I have pictures of myself with the lead singer and with the drummer. And I HATE those pictures so much. My face looks weird and I have a double chin or something going on and there are bulges in this shirt that seriously didn't fit me anymore but I was wearing it anyway and just oblivious, maybe, or in denial. Until I saw that picture of myself, with my favorite band. I wanted to love that picture, and I hate that I hate that picture. I want to show off that picture, and at the same time, I never, ever want to see it again.

So I guess that was the "wake up" moment. I didn't even have much to lose, really, I just wasn't myself and I wanted to get back on track.

I had tried so many diets and jumped on so many fad bandwagons. Each and every time, I had something that triggered my motivation to try and lose weight. Sometimes it was encouraging sayings, others it was feeling just rock bottom bad about myself by the way my clothes fit or looking at pictures of me. I spent years trying to lose weight and had so much denial that the real way to do it was not a magic pill, or diet, or home fitness dvds. Though those things worked short term, I couldn't maintain that lifestyle forever. The weight always crept back up and I ended up feeling discouraged, like a failure, and a little broke!

I'd been a member of chain gyms before where I would pay the monthly membership dues but no one could care less if I was there or not so I found plenty of excuses not to come. Eventually, it ended up just being a deduction every month for something I NEVER did. Just another waste of money.

I decided to join a local gym earlier this year where the owner takes it upon himself to really try and help his patrons achieve their goals. It was a little more expensive but it has completely changed my life! I started on the equipment, he showed me how to use every piece and gave me a workout plan to follow. When I started to skip gym visits, he messaged me on Facebook asking where I was. This made me feel a little ashamed but also really encouraged me to come back! Now after eating per his recommendation and working out regularly and actually pushing myself to do it, even on days where I don't feel like it, I'm seeing big results. THAT is where my true motivation has come from, knowledge is power, you have to put in the time and work for yourself.

lemurcat12 wrote: »

I saw a terrible photo of myself (on the internet, sigh), and realized I had no appropriate clothes for some work stuff I needed to wear suits for and 0 desire to get any clothes that would fit me. I finally decided things had to change.

The ill-fitting clothing situation has always served as a reality check for me. When my clothing would get too tight, a sort of anxiety would set in, as I refused to just surrender and go out and buy bigger clothes instead of addressing the underlying issue of my weight gain.

Fast food made me do it.
We ate Chick Fil'A one night, just a regular nuggets, fries, lemonade. I felt like garbage afterwards. Looked up the nutrition info on their site and realized I had eaten an entire day's worth of calories, fat, sugar, and sodium.
"I am getting healthy!" I thought. Not as a weight loss deal, or even for myself. I was just mad at the way I felt, and how I had bought into the American way of life of calories and low movement. I joined MFP and bought an $18 Jawbone Up on eBay. I've lost 43 lbs this year, as a big middle finger to the fast food companies. Weight loss is a side bonus.

Pictures of me before I gained weight kept appearing on my timehop app and I got so sad because I realized I used to look pretty nice back. I just want to be happy with how I look again.

I've always yo-yo'd. I lost 60lbs a few years ago but with the stress of university I put it all back on and then some.
I was inspired by my coworkers to join a local gym that does HIIT + Strength classes. The gym offered a "Life Change" program that taught not only about exercise and proper form but about health and nutrition. The class ended up actually being life changing... and here I am 7 months later.

I held my nephew's had as he passed from cancer. I realized that life is fragile and short - for all of us. If I am lucky enough to be alive, I want to actually enjoy my life.

I wasn't enjoying life as an overweight person. I've lost 23 pounds so far and I am amazed at the things that are easier for me know; like, walking up the stairs in my own house, bending down to pick something up off the floor. I didn't realize how much the weight was affecting my every day life until some of it started to disappear.