What was YOUR final straw to finally make a change?

Pictures! You know when someone takes a photo of you, and you see it, and your like "woooooah, that's not me!" That was my moment to make a change!

P.S. congrats on the 16 pound loss! That is amazing!

For me it was seeing a picture of myself. It was shocking to see how far I had let myself go. I looked round and bloated. So mad at myself.

about 6.5 years ago I went in for my annual physical. My blood work was horrible...my triglycerides were so high that they couldn't determine what my cholesterol was...pre-diabetic...blood pressure through the roof, etc.

My Dr. was pretty upfront with me and told me that if I didn't change things around I would likely be very sick, if not dead in my late 50s or early 60s which wasn't particularly surprising as my dad passed at age 62 because he never took care of himself and I was going down that same path.

At the time I had a 2 year old and a new born, so getting my *kitten* together was a no brainer.

My doctor putting me on high blood pressure meds. That was the wake up call to losing weight.

MrsDogLady wrote: »

Everyone has a reason, right? What was the final straw? Mine - a pair of pants I use for work suddenly had a split in the hind end. My wardrobe was rapidly becoming more limited, putting on a bra after a shower was more like participating in a pro wrestling match. It was January 1st. So I grabbed my best GF, we are both here - and I'm down 16 lbs since Jan 1.

-I hit 40 this year and told myself enough was enough. I have a 2 year old son who looks up to me. I don't want to be huffing and puffing after him later.
-My old man did zip for his health when he was alive. Sitting on my *kitten* was what I learned at home.
-I lost a colleague to cancer several years ago. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Still not over it. Ever since then I try to eat as healthy as possible and exercise daily.
-I lost 35 pounds years ago by pushing myself as hard as I could. It was a great feeling to break myself of that mold and be reborn.
-Mental health - when I lift or exercise I feel amazing afterwards. Total stress and anxiety buster.
-Fatty liver that I want to reverse.
-Lifting and being active while eating carefully are my goals now.
-So much in our society tries to bring us down that is destructive: politics, fake food, fake news, fake relationships, technology. Most things these days are manufactured, over processed and fake. We are straying so far away from what is real, and healthy. And we wonder why mental health issues are on the rise. Watching what I eat, avoiding garbage food, exercising and limiting technology is all uplifting.
-What's even scarier than disease is how it's easy to settle for things once life gets hectic. I did that in my earlier days and packed on the weight. Fighting back one pound after another, through clean eating and being active is how I resist.
-When you make a commitment to be healthy, exercise, get fit, and watch what you eat, it takes action and will and makes you a bit of a rebel in this day and age of packaged food and media. Rather than settling, the fight is worth it and I admire everyone who gives it a shot.

Mine was last year when I came across my pregnancy book for my oldest son and I only weighed .4 ounces less THAN THE DAY I DELIVERED HIM!!! It’s not baby weight, he’s 23! 🤷‍♀️

I lost the Russian Roulette spin and got myself an obesity-related complication. The veins in my legs collapsed under too much me... which impacted my lymphatic system. Suddenly I had a weeping wound on my leg that wouldn't quit until about 12 weeks of antibiotics (it took some time for them to find the right one; when they did, it took three courses to clear it up), daily visits from homecare nurses to change the dressing, being told to rest the leg as much as possible, to the point where they wanted me taking a taxi (I don't drive) to my doctor's office, six blocks away—until the vascular surgeon cleared me to walk again.

The condition is controllable, not curable. And the main ways to control it? Compression stockings and weight loss.

I didn't want those 12 weeks to become my normal life.

That was 108 lbs ago. I'm about 10 lbs from goal now.

5 lbs did it. I hit a weight 5lbs higher than previous high, which was 20 years ago and when I was much stronger. I'm a long time gym rat (4-5 days/wk) and usually just tweak my diet a little to stay in my 'norms' but with age I've lost muscle and gained fat and that little bit more was just not acceptable.

So I got a plan from a lady at the gym and set some goals to get shredded. First I'll cut down to a certain target weight, that based on my history I should be pretty lean at, and then once there, decide what to do based on my body comp. Maybe cut more, maybe gain back muscle if needed? While I'm "in the mode" I figure I'll take it as far as I can.

Very happy so far with the progress. 20lbs in 70 days and 10lbs in the last 30 days. Strength is staying fairly consistent. Seeing some changes in the mirror.

Funny part: biggest goal was to lose the "moobs". Not even really focused on the handles or gut, I just want to be able to wear a tank top. I was actually surprised to discover that my waist was shrinking. Isn't that the first thing most people check?

There were a few final straws that made me change.

1. Both of my nieces, ages 15 and 4, said I wasn't fun anymore because I couldn't play with them like they wanted. (Tag, going to the park, etc.)
2. My glucose levels were not within normal range and was diagnosed with pre- diabetes. I saw how my grandma died of complications from the disease and it scared me.
3. I saw a picture of myself and I bawled my eyes out.

I am glad to report that all my levels are within normal range! I can play with my nieces like I used to do and I even allow people to take pictures of me. I used to hide and I feel so confident now, I even got a fairly extreme (for me) new hairstyle and color!

I tried on my shorts from last summer and realized that, no matter how hard I tried to cram myself in there, its just not happening. I also vowed not to hit 300 again (was down to 197) and, yet, here I am. I'm tired of being fat.

I watched a BBC documentary called "Obesity Postmortem " and that was my wakeup call. My son had recently told me about MFP, and I checked it out, and liked it. Now, almost a year later, I'm down almost sixty pounds and five sizes, and have never felt better. I have about 15 pounds to go for my goal, and am confident that I will succeed. Reading posts here has helped me immensely; I feel like so many people are going through the same struggles, and that motivates me to keep with the program. My MFPeeps are amazing!