What was your aha moment that made you finally start a weight loss journey?
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I was at the heaviest in my life, and I was embarrassed at what I looked like in pictures. But that was still not quite enough of a kick until I realized I was winded from carrying my infant son in his carrier from the garage to inside the house. I was a few months shy of my 38th birthday. I am now 42 and in the best overall shape of my life.16
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When pants size 40 and shirts XXL started to feel too tight I realized that it was time to exercise7
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A few weeks ago I looked at my medical records online to see some blood test results... and saw that one of the medical codes my doctor had put in my chart was for "morbid obesity". Turns out she had put in that code every time for the past couple of years, I had no idea my weight was considered that level. Two days after seeing my chart, I left on a business trip and it was almost impossible to buckle my seatbelt on the plane. I spent a 4-hour flight squished in my seat, unable to get up for fear it wouldn't buckle again. The moment I got home, I made the commitment to change my eating habits for good.20
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It was really a culmination of many issues that were a turning point for me. I had to ride a motorized scooter in a grocery store because my legs just couldn't handle walking. I dreaded riding in an airplane because I feared that they would make a purchase two seats. I couldn't find cute clothes because I was just too big. I started out at 327 pounds in 2010 and have since lost 140. I tried on my prom dress and it was way too big. I tried on my 8th grade dance dress and it was big in the waist. I weigh less than I ever have in my adult life and I'm still going! I am the girl that looks forward to working out, loves taking the stairs, makes friends have walking dates with me and runs pretty much everywhere I go. I am a barre instructor in training. I had so much energy and motivation that my instructor asked me to help her out with expanding classes. I am THAT GIRL!
SW:327lbs
CW:187lbs
Goal: to be healthy! Always strive for healthier!53 -
I knew I had a serious weight problem from my teens onward, but I was always fine with the way I looked, had no real issues or problems, none of the expected health concerns, etc. I kept up with friends and even outdid a lot of my average or slightly overweight friends when it came to anything active/sporty. So I thought I was good.
Then I started working at a more professional job, which was a lot more stressful and sedentary. I suddenly put on even more weight. I was not happy about that, because I was almost 30 and ever since high school I'd been able to grab anything in size 20 or XXL and know it would fit me perfectly...suddenly I needed bigger clothes, sometimes the biggest available in the plus section... and that scared me.
Then I went on an Amtrak trip with my normal weight boss (who was a woman about 8 years older than me) and I REALLY couldn't keep up with her and found myself huffing and puffing with pains in my shins and ankles, out of breath after a couple flights of stairs, etc. It was time to change.
That is when I started my ~130 lb weight loss. It took me about six years though to lose it all, and I didn't discover MFP until I was ~50 lb down and several years in.15 -
well the first is to see my grandson graduate high school. He is 4 and I'm 63. Halt my kidney failure, plus get off some meds. Basically feel better.10
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In many ways realizing I had sleep apnea allowed me to make peace with what had happened to me. I'm not saying it gave me an excuse, but it allowed me to look at the situation and say that it wasn't completely my fault, I had a pretty severe case that just wiped me out so badly that I had no energy to do anything but sit in front of the TV and eat. I loathed the idea of going on walks or even leaving the house and alcohol was my comfort.
After realizing I had severe sleep apnea and recognizing what it was doing to me, I knew there was a very different me trapped inside. I could finally hear his calls, and knew... He needed me.13 -
I don't think I really had an 'aha ' moment but rather, it's been a process. My primary reason for over eating was emotional. I had suffered serious abuse in childhood and food never let me down. I was addicted to it, then to food and alcohol, then to food, alcohol, and drugs. When I was younger, I was active enough that my weight stayed down. Then I quit alcohol and drugs. The only addiction remaining was food. It's also been the hardest one to break. Through years of therapy and self discovery, I have finally broken free!
For reference, I'm 6 feet tall.
SW: 431
CW: 387
GW: 23025 -
I hadn't been feeling that great about my body, I had been trying to "embrace my curves" even tho I wasn't happy.
I had a medical emergency and saw the number at the scale while at the emergency room. Afterward I knew I needed to start taking better care of myself and make myself a priority.9 -
My pants didn´t fit... at all. and I refused to buy a bigger size.12
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Every time its been a picture. First one was one you could clearly see me trying to hide my face...and it was my own wedding. The shame was deep and I knew why. Second was one i was tagged in on Facebook. Didn't know it was taken and I was furious with the family member but it was because I was so big. It was after a really hard miscarriage and very clear i had let myself go. Third time was about a month ago taking a pic with my 8 months pregnant sister in law and i was the biggest one in the picture. I cried hard that day. All my previous hard work was more than undone.10
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My boyfriends sister called me fat. I never thought i was fat . maybe I wished I had a flatter tummy or I would jokingly grab my back fat but it never occurred to me that other people saw me as fat. ... That was all I needed to hear . sadly9
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Time... yep, you read that correctly. Time was my "aha" moment. It was the day after Christmas, almost 5 weeks out from a really bad car accident, I laid in bed crying. I was in so much pain. I knew my weight had to come off. I was over 280lbs. However, I've always failed.
This time as I laid there thinking about what I should be doing, I realized that TIME was going to happen. I couldn't stop it or rewind it. Each day, week and month was going to happen. That's when I said it, 6 months from now you could stay at 280 plus or be 25 to 50 pounds slimmer?
So, on Jan 3rd, I started MFP for like the hundredth time and actually stuck with it. 6 months later, I'm down 38 pounds. I know what it looks like to give up, this time I want to see what happens when I dont.
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Hair loss.
After getting down to 170 lbs in 2012, a perfect storm of adverse events crashing together caused me to stop caring. I regained 30 lbs in 3 months and concurrently lost half the volume of my hair never to be seen again to date. In fact, it continues to thin; just at a slower rate. And it's moot which came first at this point.
My medical PCP has absolutely ignored my complaint every year for the past five years, despite it not being normal for (at the time) a 38 yo woman with no history of familial hair thinning/loss until in their 60-70s to be experiencing it.
I figure the only way I can legitimately demand an endo consult beyond an outdated and archaic "thyroid panel" that won't get ignored is if I drop the weight first so it can't be silently judged/assumed to be secondary to obesity and the hair loss persists.
Some might consider that such a superfluously vain reason. But if you have no expectation of hair loss every happening to you (by looking at the immediate and extended family), losing it is soul crushing in ways I am not comfortable verbalizing on a public forum.
Well, there's a couple other reasons but that one is a shareable one.14 -
It was just this past February, that my wife of almost 19 years said that she wants to separate/divorce. We'd grown apart in the last few years. The only things we'd talk about were our kids and all the activities and schedules they had. She needs more. Deeper conversations, sharing emotionally, and being each other's best friend. As a typical guy, I just didn't open up to her. I never, ever saw the possibility of separation. Maybe that's why I didn't try harder. The only thing we ever argued about was not talking and sharing more. We agreed that our kids are our top priority. To help financially, we're still living in the same house. She's upstairs and I'm downstairs. We're still very civil to each other. I still care immensely for her. We're making this arrangement work out, especially for the kids. She will always be the mother of my children and part of my life. (Maybe, a bigger part in the future.)
But this event really caused me to re-evaluate my life - work, health, quality time with kids, etc... I've been a "medium size" since I was in high school, till my early 40's. Now in my mid 40's, I found that my gut was forcing me to buy large size. That was the last straw. I started eating better, bought a fitness tracker, and found MFP.
Since March, I've lost 32 pounds. I'm at my target weight of 140 lbs. I've been walking >12K steps, everyday for the last 60 days. No going to the gym nor killing myself with exercise. Just a better diet and walking everyday. I look and feel better than when I was 30! I can see abs. I actually find myself looking in the mirror more.
It's like when the oxygen masks fall out in an airplane. I'm focusing on getting myself right and then I can help others.27 -
My journey didnt start to lose weight. I felt like crap (largely due to hypothyroidism), I was on a bad schedule (staying up late and sleeping in til after noon), and I was addicted to sugar. I wanted a change, so I decided to do a Whole30.
About 2 weeks in I felt such a change, I had energy, I was sleeping well, I was on a good schedule, I was eating well, I just felt fantastic so I decided to add some exercise into my routine. Then I added more exercise, and some more exercise.
I joined MFP just to get an idea of my caloric intake. I'm really tracking macro's not calories but I enjoy the camaraderie and accountability.
I'm about 5 weeks into my journey and down 18lbs and 8ins. More then that I feel like Ive changed my life and I couldnt be happier!10 -
I was sitting on a bus with my three year old and my one year old (this was 8 years ago mind you) and I saw a very large woman get on and sit in the back. She was arguing with her little boy, who wanted to go to the beach, but the mother was saying she was too tired. When the boy burst out crying and said "but you promised" the mother got angry and said "WELL WHAT DO YOU REALLY KNOW YOU'RE 5! WE ARE GOING HOME."
Now, I was just listening, at first relating because I was overweight and a trip to Walmart had me exhausted. But then I was horrified. I decided right there I would not be that person, the one that was too fat, exhausted and angry to go to the pool, beach, park, whatever.
I started that very day. Haven't looked back.
Beautiful, just what I needed. Thank you. And good for you!!!! Best thing you could do for yourself of course, but especially for your children.5 -
I haven't had one moment. All of them very briefly:
1. Being overweight or obese my whole life with obesity in my family history on both sides.
2. Seeing 2 as the first number on the scale when the low range of a normal bmi for my height is barely above double digits.
3. Nursing school opening my eyes to how my weight was impacting my life.
4. The effort of getting pregnant via IVF.
5. My pregnancy from hell. Including my labour in which every single medical professional asked me if I had gestational diabetes - some of them more than once in the same conversation. Then being treated as if I had it even though I did not!
6. My csection recovery - including qualifying for a special trial for new treatment due to my obesity.
7. My daughter needing a mom who can keep up with her, play with her, and do all the things I envisioned doing with her that I couldn't while obese. She's 7 months. I want all her memories to be of having a healthy mom who is a normal weight!
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I have been unhappy with myself for a long time; as an overachiever I've always invested my self worth in my work, and though I fluctuated a lot from my high of 140 (I'm 5'0") I never could consistently take care of my body. I didn't feel I deserved any better for my physical self; I was smart but ugly. Well after several times of losing and gaining weight, and having it creep up recently during the aftermath of a breakup, I was looking for some pictures to add to my dating profile and I couldn't find a single recent one I was happy with. And I realized I was in denial about how my eating habits were affecting my body and how much I have gained and lost recently... and most importantly, how in denial I was about my poor mental health, how I wanted to date out of loneliness and how I didn't feel I deserved someone who treated me better. I started being open with close friends more, journaling more, meditating more, doing dance breaks in the middle of my work day, and 16:8 IF. No more crash dieting, no more beer-or-3-a-night weeks, no more food shoveling. I'm only at the beginning of what I hope is a slow weight loss and healthy and consistent long term existence, but I really really want to commit to my physical and mental health. I even bought myself a cheap ring as a cheesy reminder of my commitment to myself!18
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