What was your aha moment that made you finally start a weight loss journey?

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.

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.

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.

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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!

A lot of things were building up, and I had been trying off and on for years, and was trying again. My feet had started hurting again and I was worried about being able to keep my job, which is very active, but was losing a lot of funding, so most of team were being laid off, and I had started taking some medication that was actually helping me function and feel like a normal human being. Then I was walking along, minding my own business when my sore foot snapped. Aaaand I was stuck on workers comp, since it happened at work, and I was off work for over a month, and since this is a school job, I'm off all summer. Fortunately I made the cut to work next year, but I still need to show I can handle it physically to keep it.

When I couldn't hide the pain inside anymore of being overweight, I looked at the soda I was about to consume and put it down for good and the rest is history.

For me there I would say it was a concurrence of many things coming together:

While Shopping for clothes, my hubby found a very nice shirt of my favorite colour. While being a 17-1/2 size (xl) is was way too tight for me. However it fitted him so he bought it for himself. I searched for the same shirt in xxl size but it was not available.

A work colleague started using MFP to log his meals at lunch time. I always had an interest in scanning barcodes with a smartphone to get nutritional info and that intrigued me. I downloaded MFP on my phone but did not get further at this point.

I had to go to a mandatory First Aid training at work and they needed a volunteer to show how a small person is able to lift and turn a much heavier one on its side in case of emergency. I ended up being the volonteer for the patient being the largest one of the group...
8. Reading the Success Stories on MFP inspired me to set myself a goal just to see if I could loose a few pounds. That was 3 months before my 45th birthday so I picked a silly and random number... Loosing 45 lbs by the time I reached my 45th bday.

That was June 16, 2016 and I was at 265lbs back then. Pants size 40 and shirts XXL started to feel too tight. I was not feeling well, being tired easily and basically enjoyed eating and resting as doing much else was just too exhausting...

The day of my 45 birthday I was 44lbs down. I missed my target by one pound but decided to continue just to see when I would get to the -45 mark. The weight kept coming off, I started buying new clothes and feeling good about myself. As I approached the 200 mark I set myself a goal to continue until I reached Onederland (<200lbs). I reached 199 lbs on December 26 despite some holidays indulgences...

Getting the the 180 range I considered continuing to get to 165lbs, marking a whole 100# loss. Well after going up and down a few pounds over the last few weeks, I am finally there as of this morning!

I am so proud of myself and I was looking forward to this day to share my success on MFP. This community, friends and message boards are a great source of motivation for everyone that is serious about taking their health under control. Read, make friend and stick to the recommended caloric deficit suggested by mfp. Be persistent and patient, it will work!

Feel free to send friend request and ask questions, it will be my pleasure to give back as much as I received support here.

Have a great day!

P.S. during my weight loss journey, I got to the point of being able to wear that nice shirt my hubby had bought for him and even found one for myself on a liquidation rack later in the season for a fraction of what he paid for his. But not it is way too big and cannot wear it anymore, I have however bought some nice clothes since then to replace that loss

Well, I was a thinner teen. Not perfect but I always watched my mom over eat and would look around at the family and how tired they got. My mom couldn't play with my little sister very long and laid in bed a lot. She tried a diet here and made an excuse there. I swore that wouldn't be me but after two kids it was. It got real bad a few months ago after being on and off diets for 7 years and in a 360 mirror at the mall I realized I pretty much was built like my mom before she died. I worked on eating habits and getting a gym membership and as of tomorrow ill have been lifting 6 days a week with HIT cardio 3 times a week for a month! I'm addicted now. There is no going back. It feels so right this time. Even if I have plantar facitis.

I got sick and tired of it. Of being sick and tired all the time, of not being able to find clothes that fit, of having trouble walking up a flight of stairs, of getting winded carrying in the groceries, of my feet being in near constant pain, of not owning a single pair of boots simply because my calves were too big, of having to order bras online because stored rarely carried my size. I just got completely fed up and really angry with myself. It's been two years, now my biggest problem is the endless pile of dirty gym clothes.

My husband defended his dissertation this spring after years of hard work. I was excited to have a picture with him to commemorate this incredible achievement that we both sacrificed for, and when I saw the photographs, I was devastated. It wasn't just that I looked huge next to him, it was my face was no longer my face. I didn't recognize myself, and it really upset me. I can't really articulate what this felt like, but it was like I lost myself. So I dusted off my old MFP account and I'm back and not leaving until the old me comes back.

Two years ago I bought a pair of shorts a size bigger then the ones I had been wearing the year before. Got home, tried them on, and couldn't even get them over my thighs. Looked at the size tag about three times, to make sure I hadn't misread the lable. Nope I read it right. Couldn't believe I had put on that much MORE weight. Talk about an AHA moment. Started working on it with diet and exercise the net day. Down almost 40 lbs and feel better not only physically, but mentally. Was so worth the effort.