Curiosity - What was your wake up call?

Turning 45, realizing my pants didn't fit well and then that I had hit the top of my healthy/normal weight range. Then the realization hit me that if I didn't change something, this was the smallest and most fit I'd ever be again.

Getting winded doing simple tasks.

Being told that since my mom and dad had diabetes, I would get it too. I'll be damned!

My wake up call was the first time my husband didn't quite know what to say when I asked him if he thought I was fat. He simply said he thought I could lose some weight. He's always loved my body, even though I've always been plus sized. But I got really heavy by last summer. And that was it.

And for me, the best advice I can give is drink lots of plain water. I'm talking more than 8 glasses a day. A better guide is to divide your weight in half. That's how many ounces you should be drinking. More if you exercise. Don't like plain water? Tough.

i'd say the biggest thing for me was looking through old pictures compared to new pictures, and realized that there was a very good chance that if i kept eating, there was a very real chance I would spend the rest of my life alone, with no self esteem and no confidence. Almost a year later, I'd say I'm a completely different person!

Heather- mine was that i was starting to see saddlebags and when i sat down i would have to adjust my pants. I didnt wanna do that anymore. i also started going to the gym in sept and had a wake up call that it wasnt working when i went to a fit club w/ Beachbody back in Feb and realized i was getting more outta that so i quit the gym and paying the trainer $220 for 10 sessions and workout in my living room. I just push "play".

My tips are: drink plenty of water b/c water helps to keep your metabolism up. dont skip meals. Breakfast is essential. Eat tons of protein when working out 1-1.2 grams per lb of your body weight. Lift weights, heavy. Dont do as much cardio b/c you are just burning calories during the workout but when you are doing the weight lifting you are still burning fat & calories after the workout b/c you built muscle & muscle burns fat.

ok, that's all for now

I had a blood clot last year and afterwards didn't really think much about my eating habits. Earlier this year I started to develop iron anemia, followed shortly after by a potassium deficiency. I wasn't eating what I should have been eating, and I was tired of being sick and miserable. I hated having to adjust my coumadin dose because I wasn't eating what I should have been. So I guess it was for overall health.

My tip: Eat cleaner foods!!!!!!!!!! Processed food holds no nutrition and makes you feel like crap. Stick to fruits, veggies, and lean meats, with an occasional treat. It's not as hard as everyone makes it out to be...honestly I rarely crave sweets anymore.

Reaching the weight I was on the day I gave birth to my 2nd child...yikes!, turning 30 and not wanting to face the same fate as most of my family - heart attacks, hypertension and diabetes

When going to the mall with my sister and mother and they ask if I wanted to stop in and when I looked to see what store we were at it was "Lane Bryant's, and that is when it hit me that they think I'm a plus size person...it didn't occur to me that I was until then. I learned to accept it and do something about it now.

I had a few, but don't know why it took so long to sink in. Last summer I ended up in the hospital with serious stomach pains, ended up with CAT Scan, chest xray's the works, they couldn't find anything. You would have thought this would have got my butt in gear, but still no luck. A phone call from my older sister after her visit with my folks over Easter in April was my wake up call. I wasn't able to go home due to work, but my sister called me up and said she was worried about me. She mentioned that my name came up in conversation and that my family was worried about me. For some reason, this hit me hard and got me thinking. I need to get healthy for myself first and foremost, but my parents and siblings were worried about me and the serious health risks that come with the weight I was carrying. May 1st, 2011 is when I started changing my lifestyle and using this site. I started at 308 and as of this morning I was around 263 pounds. I feel amazing and am hoping to drop another 45-55 lbs which will take me to a weight I haven't been at since early in high school.

-Dave