What was the moment? When did you decide to take back control?

bear2303 · May 5, 2020 4:15PM

Maybe it wasn't one exact moment for you but what were the things that led you to finally say enough is enough and to get serious about your health and try to lose the weight?

For me, I was driving aimlessly looking for something to pick up for lunch.

I thought mexican? Nah. I just had that the other day, Cheeseburgers nah, I had that last night, chicken nuggets? Nah going to have those for dinner. I realized in that moment that the even if I gave myself ZERO restrictions about what i could eat that still nothing sounded good because I ate all of those things with way too much regularity.

Going out to lunch wasn't special, it was just what I did every day and I realized how unhealthy and how much of a pattern it had become. After that, I restarted using MFP and started to make better choices.

What was your moment?

nighthawk584 · May 5, 2020 4:18PM

When my doctor called and said I was pre-diabetic

Tesha231 · May 5, 2020 4:50PM

Yesterday. When I held my first grandson for the first time. No more blaming my age, stress, Covid-Quarantine...it's me and my choices that gained these 30 lbs. MFP helped before and it will again.

Terytha · May 5, 2020 4:55PM

My doctor refused to renew a certain medication I rely on because it was too risky at my weight. He put me on a different, lower risk one that had side effects that made me cry myself to sleep for weeks.

I couldn't stand it anymore. I googled weight loss, found this app, and never looked back.

RelCanonical · May 5, 2020 6:33PM

I got a new job, after five years of working in an environment that was not a good fit for me and made me feel like I was trapped in it. I thought "if I can finally escape and get a new job, I can lose weight too." So I started working on my eating the same day I started my job. Probably not the best idea in hindsight, but since it was a better environment, I was able to succeed, The environment has changed to a not so good one again for reasons out of my control, but the habits are much more ingrained now, so I'm glad I took the opportunity to build habits when it was easier.

Kathryn247 · May 5, 2020 6:44PM

I needed a new job because my company was moving out of state, then I saw my reflection as I passed a window and barely recognized myself. My outside didn't match my inside, and in interviews I wanted to give the right first impression. I wanted to be ready for whatever came next.

shabanabibi1986 · May 5, 2020 8:30PM

When I counted and noticed that im taking about 14 pills a day. I can't stop taking pills for my lupus and migraine but I can eliminate others by managing my weight.

KHMcG · May 5, 2020 8:39PM

Doctor pronounced high cholesterol. These will be your meds if....

diliveslife · May 5, 2020 8:51PM

For me the moments come and go frequently. My weight loss/ body comp journey has been a rollercoaster. I am not one of those who had one "ah-ha" moment and "got it right" from then on, suddenly loving lean meats, veggies, and all things health. I have many "whys" but they never exactly correlated with 100% success in following through. It's been ups and downs over the years - with habits becoming more ingrained over time. When I am on track and proud of how I look its because I am consistent in my actions and behaviors - regardless of my "mood" or "feelings". When I slide off a bit, its usually seeing myself in the mirror or in a workout that creates awareness then I start reeling it in. I love to eat and have a sweet tooth, so my downfall is typically too many "cheats" and not enough greens. I always remind myself that I don't have to feel like eating a salad or veggies to do it. I joke that I should tattoo that on myself but really I should LOL.

Xilarated · May 5, 2020 8:58PM

The vacation photos slideshow I have as a screensaver on my PC. Every time I walked past my PC and one of the photos of me in the yellow dress or the gray shirt came on, I was reminded of how much I needed to fix my situation. Took a while, but I finally got sick of seeing those pics & knowing that was me right now, of not being happy with how my clothes fit, and missing the confidence I used to have. I'm 9 lbs from my goal weight now (18 lbs down) and being attractive again is making me super happy!

MeganD1704 · May 5, 2020 9:16PM

Leaving my 70+ hour work week job and realizing I need to take care of myself again (December 2019). It's been a slow process but now I am back here and getting my act together.
That job was a job I will call my dream job till the end- I never would have left if it wasn't closing- however I painfully neglected myself to the point I broke every fitness and good eating habit I had pre that job and gained back every pound I fought to shed before getting said dream job.
Now I just want to find balance and love myself again (and have 1 less chin in photos

)

dhiammarath · May 5, 2020 9:46PM

For me... in 2011 two things happened:

1) I saw a picture of myself that I took at Disney Christmas of 2011 and I came face to face with the truth. I'd felt super cute, and I was to the people that mattered, but I wasn't healthy.
2) At about the same time I noticed that a FB friend had significantly slimmed down. Her progress was slow, over the whole of 2011, that I'd not noticed until that Christmas. I went through her pictures and thought, wow, she's awesome! I could do this.

So my husband and I started the process of getting healthy. I started going to the gym... but it wasn't until another friend pointed me to myfitnesspal in the middle of January 2012 that it clicked. And since then, I've lost 105 pounds and I'm still working on the last 15-20 (they are v. slow). I've taken breaks here and there, but it's now eight years and I've kept most of the weight off minus a 20lb re-gain due to health issues, but I've since lost that.

I'd always been unhappy with my weight since I had issues in college, but it wasn't until 2012 that I realized that I had the power to do something about it and all it required was an understanding of food. I'm not a huge foodie (I dislike most food, but what I did like was all calorie-dense or liquid calories -- hello Starbucks Venti frapps!), so managing my food was easy to do once I knew *what* to do.

Knowledge is power and key to harnessing your own destiny.

missyelainious · May 5, 2020 11:55PM

I teach Spin and was talking to a student after class who referred to another teacher as ‘really fit’. At that point I realized that even though I was okay I could do a lot better! Also, I put boots on that I hadn’t worn in a while and they were so tight I had to unzip them when I was at dinner. Boots!! And then there was being down to 1 pair of pants I could actually wear in public. You can make a lot of excuses and modifications to hide the problem, accepting and changing is a whole different thing.

GummiMundi · May 6, 2020 1:15AM

For me, it was the moment I started taking meds to control high blood pressure.
(And "take back control" is exactly what I decided to do.)

maggie_fly · May 6, 2020 1:41AM

Last year I went on holidays with my daughter and I paid extra for the front exit seats for the legroom. On the the flight over it was fine, just about, but coming back the belt was just too short to close. The attendant said I couldn't sit in that seat with an extension belt, so I had to move seats as well as the embarrssment of having to sit with an extension. I was mortified. I cried silently the whole way home. But that wasn't it. I've struggled with my weight since my late teens and at that point I gave up and decided that I was stuck like this forever. My doctor told me that I was pre gout and had inflammation. I was past caring. I had back pain, knee pain, foot pain but I didnt care. I had given up on myself.

It was around this time that I had started to see a new psychologist for depression. I thought I was going to spend my time talking about the usual stuff therapy always been about for me - abuse and complex trauma - but she started digging at stuff I hadn't looked at in therapy before. She gradually over a few months brought the conversation around to my weight. I have a better understanding of why I have gained so much and why when I start to lose a lot of weight I always sabotage it. I had no idea how screwed up the reasons that I have allowed my weight to get so bad were. She has helped me realise that I have an eating disorder, but that she says it's secondary to all the other stuff in my head. And by dealing with this other stuff while bringing my weight and eating into the conversation I've had some lightbulb moments and I'm back losing weight. There's a long way to go till I get to a healthy weight. It's slow and I sometimes mess up but this time I have some hope that I'll actually get there.

LukesGreenMilk · May 6, 2020 2:06PM

Seeing an unflattering facebook picture - looks so different than the mirror but a good wake up call.

NovusDies · May 6, 2020 2:17PM

I had just about every moment there is to have. I followed up each of those moments with a terrible plan and another failed attempt to lose my weight.

This time I didn't have a moment. I had given up. I was going to need a huge casket and a piece of machinery as a pall bearer.

I accidentally created a calorie deficit and started losing weight. When I realized what was happening my whole attitude towards weight loss shifted from something that I force to happen to something I can just allow to happen. I started going back over all my other past failures, made up some initial rules for myself, and here I am over 200 pounds lighter and a few pounds away from starting to watch for a place to stop and call it an initial goal weight.

Kupla71 · May 7, 2020 12:50AM

A few years ago I lost 15 pounds and kept it off. I still have 20 lbs or so to lose but my weight has just not budged. Well recently I noticed my weight creeping back up. I knew I had to do something different. I didn’t want to end up where I started so I adopted a completely different way of eating focusing on fruit and vegetables. I’ve dropped 3 pounds already and know it’s working. I’m so relieved I have decided to take control of my weight. I’ve even started jogging. So happy about this!

mlrtri · May 7, 2020 12:59AM

I unfortunately have had multiple “moments” in my history of yo-yo weight loss/gain. This time - I have been doing a lot of video conferencing for work (thanks Covid-19). I saw myself on the screen over and over. I realized that I was fat. I always had excuses before but this fact was indisputable on the screen. Then I got down about it. Then I decided I either needed to find a way to be ok with it or find a way to fix it. I don’t think I can find a way to be ok with it. So I am fixing it.

NC_Girl · May 7, 2020 1:13AM

Ring camera😥

beachbody4l · May 7, 2020 3:57AM

I had a job interview and went to put on my only pair of black trousers. They were too small, like not even close to being able to button. I had to wear jeans to the interview. I broke down crying and I was like this has to end. (I did get the job though!)

What was the moment? When did you decide to take back control?

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