What pushed you to lose the weight
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bdbfangirl20
Posts: 57 Member
I have always been big and at one point I just accepted it. Lived my life eating my feelings without a care. I think what did it for me was actually a conversation I had with one of my siblings. It wasn't the usual "you should lose weight because.." It was more of harsh judgment. Instead of brushing it off, something had finally clicked. I wasn't angry, I wasn't sad, I was ready. It was like a switch went off and every painful memory that somehow connected to my weight resurfaced. Ex: not fitting into a rollercoaster ride on my big senior trip in high school, getting asked out only to be told they did it because they felt sorry, having my older brother constantly tell me I would be so beautiful if I just lost a few pounds, hearing "friends" say they're surprised I'm so adventurous for a big girl, being told not to do things because I'm not skinny, always being called "pretty for a big girl" and described as "well she's large but she has a big heart." And it goes on and on... for years I suprisingly managed to not care. Until that moment. Sitting on my couch no longer paying attention to my sister's rambling but lost in memories. After that night I took the time to really look at myself and I thought "you cant love yourself if you refuse to care for yourself." I preach and preach about healthy living and enjoying life to everyone but myself. And for so long.. But now I'm going on my third week, I've continued to stick to active living and actual clean eating. I feel so good. I have gained my determination and I refuse to lose it.
So..what pushed you to lose the weight? What broke those mental barriers?
So..what pushed you to lose the weight? What broke those mental barriers?
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i was told that my entire family was fat and ugly so last year - including myself from somebody that was close to me (not anymore) idk i guess i was like man I have so many things in my life in order, but i need to get ahold of my health. So i began the journey. Dropped 37 pounds last year and gained 20 over the holidays. So I am dieting again to cut back down. Its a journey for sure, but you have to want it, and when you dieting in calorie deficit it sucks you have to hold out on going out to eat, eating with family, avoiding sugars and alcohol. you have to be disciplined and make sacrifices to get the progress you want. It doesnt come easy7
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I was vomiting blood and having heart issues. Legit dying.1
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JustTrackinIt wrote: »i was told that my entire family was fat and ugly so last year - including myself from somebody that was close to me (not anymore) idk i guess i was like man I have so many things in my life in order, but i need to get ahold of my health. So i began the journey. Dropped 37 pounds last year and gained 20 over the holidays. So I am dieting again to cut back down. Its a journey for sure, but you have to want it, and when you dieting in calorie deficit it sucks you have to hold out on going out to eat, eating with family, avoiding sugars and alcohol. you have to be disciplined and make sacrifices to get the progress you want. It doesnt come easy
Yea I can relate to that my entire family is overweight besides my brothers they are actually pretty fit and healthy. I'm not sure i have iron discipline yet but I'm pushing myself. You look great, hard works paying off1 -
I was vomiting blood and having heart issues. Legit dying.
Wow, I'm sorry to hear that I hope your lifestyle change has helped. Weird thing is I had multiple ER scares and still didn't care enough to lose the weight. Just last summer I almost passed out on my job, had to call the paramedics. Found out I was lacking the proper nutrients and vitamins. Got put on multiple medications for 6 months.1 -
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I got sick of getting boils, wasn't planning on losing weight, just cutting down sugar, after a while of that my appetite dropped so I decided to see what else I could do, that's when I joined mfp2
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I lost the roulette spin and got an obesity-related/exacerbated problem. Since my legs were forced to carry more of me than they were designed to do, the veins in my legs became refluxed. I found out about it when I developed cellulitus, which led to lymphedema, which led to a weeping wound on my calf that took months and multiple courses of antibiotics to heal. It also led to a referral to a vascular surgeon who ran the tests that uncovered the circulation issue. The issues that face me now are:
1. This condition can be managed (with compression stockings and weight-loss), but it can't be cured.
2. I have to be careful of my lower legs, because any time I break the skin, I run the risk of an infection which often won't heal without oral antibiotics, which also means...
3. I am at risk of building up a tolerance to antibiotics due to frequent prescription. (It's hard to call it 'overprescription' when I need them to heal, but it's not good.) To give some perspective, when I was diagnosed with cellulitus, I received one course of antibiotic A intravenously and went home with a prescription for antibiotic B (an a couple of pills to tide me over, since I left the ER around 3AM). 10 days of Antibiotic B appeared to deal with the cellulitus, but by now I had that weeping wound on my leg, which seemed like it might be improving... so my doctor gave me another course of Antibiotic B. This one did nothing. So, he cultured the wound and gave me a course of Antibiotic C in the interim. Which was useless. Still didn't have the lab results back, so he tried Antibiotic D. Which was also useless. They got the lab results and discovered that the bacteria in question generally only responded to Antibiotic E. Which was prescribed forthwith. However, at this point, it took three courses. A couple of months after it finally healed, my treadmill threw me off at 5.3 mph and I ground my calf into the carpet and scraped off a patch of skin. Despite immediate use of Polysporin ointment, it became infected and needed 2 courses of oral antibiotics to treat. I use a ski machine now.
So... let's just say that I've been scared straight. The weight needs to come off and stay off. I've been on MFP for 141 days and dropped 44 pounds so far. 80 more to go!8 -
For me it was after I got rejected by a boy. Who reassured me that I was a lovely person, a wonderful friend, etc, etc. He did nothing wrong, mind you, but I've noticed for many years now that if you're a big person a lot people will never look at you in a potentially romantic way. The fat so to speak creates a barrier. And I'm sick of that. I think this is a very subconscious thing for most people, but I've found that this is the case. I feel that in order for people to "see" me for who I am I need to reduce my size. It's so, so sad, but the proof is in the pudding.6
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It was worsening existing spinal and nerve damage. I wasn't ready for surgery (L4 and L5 and incontinence in case something goes wrong ) I was being treated by pill pushing "experts", you can only doc shop for so long before getting frustrated. So one day I said f it, I'm too young for this to be my life, started with a VERY knowledgeable rehab trainer, one thing lead to another, started eating better. 60lbs later (up and down within 10 because of stress eating issues but never regaining permanently ) and I'm defying doctors who told me I would need handicap sticker and meds and an extreme low calorie diet. Not only do I not need to park in handicap but my best hike distance wo stopping is 10 miles.8
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For me it was when someone asked what my weight was in a public setting (horse riding stables, in front of staff and other customers) and then proceeded to make a fairly big deal about potentially being too overweight for the horse. At that point I had been unhappy about my weight gain for some time but was also trapped in a vicious cycle of emotional eating to deal with said unhappiness. I was so mortified at the thought that my weight was affecting my ability to do the things I enjoyed, that was the final straw for me.3
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bdbfangirl20 wrote: »I was vomiting blood and having heart issues. Legit dying.
Wow, I'm sorry to hear that I hope your lifestyle change has helped. Weird thing is I had multiple ER scares and still didn't care enough to lose the weight. Just last summer I almost passed out on my job, had to call the paramedics. Found out I was lacking the proper nutrients and vitamins. Got put on multiple medications for 6 months.
Oh, it definitely has. It was all obesity-related, it seems. I'm having... Other issues now, but it is still 1,000% better than when I was obese, so I still consider it all a 'win'.0 -
What finally really got me motivated was my dad having a heart attack and needing quadruple bypass.
My doctor had told me months ago I needed to lose some weight because my blood pressure was so elevated but my numbers were good every where else so I was like "yeah I'll get to it".
My dad's heart attack was a wake-up call because it felt like, that could have been me!1 -
I really wanted to do it for myself and be able to walk down the street and not be out of breath. I wanted to walk into a store and find jeans that fit. I wanted to get healthy for my family!1
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I think it was a combination of two incidents... the one time in October I went to my favorite hiking trail and realized I physically couldn't hike it anymore. Not even get through it with some struggle, like I was nauseous and hyperventilating trying to do it. That's when the reality of my immobility set in, and I think that's where I'm getting my strength from now is I value my freedom so much that it bothers me I let myself take it away for no good reason. I want to be free to have whatever experiences I want, without my body coming in the way of that.
The other was also last October, and my uncle died of a heart attack. He kinda gave up near the end, started lying to family about his health and doctors visits. I don't want that to be me. Well, I don't think anyone does, but having that experience made it pretty personal.1 -
I value my freedom so much that it bothers me I let myself take it away for no good reason. I want to be free to have whatever experiences I want, without my body coming in the way of that.
I don't do a lot of things anymore because of my weight. I am really tired of it holding me back when I know there is so much more in life for me than that.
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My favorite clothes being too tight. Going clothes shopping and realizing i would need the next size up. How big the roll of fat around my stomach was. Seeing photos of myself and realizing how big i looked. Being afraid of getting diabetes and of having to stick a needle in myself everytime I want to eat, and of all the *kitten* ramifications of diabetes like kidney failure etc.
Also I watched a documentary on Netflix called 'hungry for change'. Alot of the people on here were overweight or had horrible health issues but they managed to overcome these health issues by eating healthily. Also their skin looked incredible and they looked so youthful! So this inspired me.
Also I re-watched 'Super Size Me' to remind myself of the terrible impact that unhealthy foods can have on your health and how you feel everyday. Everytime I want to eat unhealthy I ask myself if I am happy to feel uncomfortably bloated/exhausted? End up with a headache or pimples on my face? Happy to see the scales move up? Etc
Also i waited two hours to see the doctor for my blood tests results and everything was fine but thinking about what could have been wrong with me FOR TWO HOURS was so awful and very stressful!1 -
I lost a lot of weight a few years ago then let it creep back on, slowly ay first, then I gained a lot over the last few months before starting here. I ran into a guy I hadn't seen in a year. The look of shock on his face followed by pity and embarrassment was a wake up call for me. I made myself really look at myself and wake up from the fog I had been in. I also had some physical things like asthma that is so much worse than when I'm lighter, back and leg pain, acid reflux....all things that will be alleviated by weight loss. Cheers to us all! To better health and quality of life!1
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I started losing a couple of years back when I moved to a new part of the country. It's less common for people to be heavy here. So when I saw a picture of myself at a family dinner -- one where I'd been thinking that I actually looked nice -- it was just too much.
I lost 20 lbs, then lost my sense of urgency. This past fall, I started again when I realized that I wasn't living the life I wanted to. I've always wanted to be an athlete, and I think I have some characteristics that would make me good at it. So as an entry point to getting fit, I got a coach in my preferred sport, signed up for a spring race, and started training. Training always leads to more intentional eating for me. I've lost another 20 and met my race goal.
I have about 20 to go and have my next race (and a faster goal pace) picked out.1 -
What pushed me to lose weight: I was seeing a doctor quarterly to manage my high blood pressure. My high blood pressure was barely high and my medication was the lowest dose of the cheapest available medicine. Managing the illness of my obesity was easy. All my life, my cholesterol numbers had been good. I was proud of my cholesterol numbers. In January of 2016, my doctor informed me that my cholesterol numbers had turned bad, and the only choices to me were to either exercise and lose weight or take statin drugs. I hate drugs. I hate drugs so much, I decided to exercise and lose weight. I lost so much weight that my blood pressure is normal. My blood pressure is almost low now. I have actually been in a multi-decade long struggle to learn how to control my weight. I understood that my breakfast was not the problem, and that my workday consumption of free office food was not the problem. My problem was my conduct in the hours after returning home. My use of the mfp tools has enabled me to gain control of my evening activity. Now I have a meal and avoid, mostly, the constant shoving of food into my face which characterized my evening activities before January 2016.
I don't know if I'll successfully reach my goal of 160. But today I'm at 179.4 and I don't see any possibility that I'll return to the piggish eating that made me look like a pig.1 -
For me it was after I got rejected by a boy. Who reassured me that I was a lovely person, a wonderful friend, etc, etc. He did nothing wrong, mind you, but I've noticed for many years now that if you're a big person a lot people will never look at you in a potentially romantic way. The fat so to speak creates a barrier. And I'm sick of that. I think this is a very subconscious thing for most people, but I've found that this is the case. I feel that in order for people to "see" me for who I am I need to reduce my size. It's so, so sad, but the proof is in the pudding.
Just to illustrate this. I've lost a lot of weight and I look good in my Brooks Brother's shirt with a new haircut. Yesterday I was walking in the hallway which is common to all the businesses on this floor. A slim younger woman doing walking laps of the floor approached me and said "Hi" as she passed. That was so rare, so unexpected, so unusual, that I can only blame it on my slim appearance.1
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