Why did you come to the conclusion to lose weight?

There were several things that hit over the course of about 2 months. I went to the department store to look for summer clothes and they had re-done their Plus section and it was full of dreadful shapeless clothes. I had started to have anxiety attacks again, even though I had overcome them about 15 years ago. My feet and back hurt after a trip to the grocery store, and it kept getting worse. I saw pictures of myself from the spring and was horrified by how big I was. My own clothes (22W pants and 2X tops) were getting tighter and more uncomfortable.

Now the sad part: I did not stick with an exercise / diet plan when I was diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol about 7 years ago. That should have been a life-changing moment for me, and I did lose around 25 lbs, but slowly gained back most of it because I did not view it as a permanent life change.

I had got up to around 245 lbs at my heaviest, then down to 234 lbs when my husband broke his leg in January of this year. Between his hospital stay and not having any kind of help at home, and still trying to work 50 hours per week, I lost 14 lbs in TEN DAYS. I'm not kidding - over a pound per day. The stress and the running around and the fact that he could not do anything at all for himself for several weeks... I ate enough to keep from passing out but I usually only got a few bites of food before I was so tired I fell asleep, or he needed something and I just never got around to finishing my plate. The lightbulb went on over my head and I finally realized that I COULD lose weight if I changed my relationship with food.

It took a few months - after my husband got a little better I gained back 2 lbs and THEN I decided to do something once and for all. It took a combination of the little frustrations, plus my previous failures, plus the unintended weight loss, to make a perfect storm. This time feels different to me - like no other time before. I will take that as a "sign."