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

When I couldn't fit into my favorite outfit.
Now I can't fit into my favorite outfit but it's because it's too big. I'm waiting for my tailor to be back to work so I can have it taken in.

lovin_soul wrote: »

Covid, and I was still obese and with many high risk factors. The least I could do was try to try to save myself by getting healthier.

This. Woke up one night with vertigo and decided that night that i was taking my health back. Covid would probably kill me due to my weight and blood pressure and I was scared straight. 29 lbs down since May 27th

jeallenster wrote: »

I weighed myself and to my horror I had gained about 15 lbs in a very short period which put me at my heaviest I've ever been.

This! Unlike you I am still trying to shift the last 1 lb of those 15 lb gained, and then I am aiming to lose another 15 lb to get me back where I was four/five years ago.

When my surgeon implied that unless I lost 15kg I may be refused hip replacement surgery. 2.1kg lost in 3 weeks so still have a long way to go.

When someone who has known me my whole life gave me a huge hug and congratulated me on my pregnancy. She has known me forever, and she's normally very tactful and would not have made the assumption if it did not look so very much like I had to be pregnant!

When I realized that I did not want to go outside of my apartment because I felt ashamed of how I looked.... An old friend had reached out to me on Facebook and I was avoiding responding because I knew he would want to meet up. And the only reason I did not want to see him... was because I did not want him to see me with 30 pounds over from the last time we saw each other. At night I told myself, this has got to stop !

When my husband asked me to take a pregnancy test because my stomach was so much bigger 😭 Then I realized a few weeks later that I was almost at the weight I was when fully pregnant with my daughter who is now three years old. Six pounds down, six more to go and feeling much better.

I had my colonoscopy a couple of months ago and apparently I had a adipose tissue in my colon (a fat glob) and that really shook me up. I have been prediabetic for several years. It ocurred to me that I may be building fat around my organs also. I also am having issues with inflamed muscles so I chose to follow the Mediterranean Diet.

tonygermano2 wrote: »

At 435 pounds at 41 years old, even though I'm 6'3", I pretty much had those moments every waking moment of my life. Constant pain all over my body, clothes not fitting, not being able to keep up with two little kids, a SECOND blood pressure medication added, not being able to buy a small, manual transmission car becuase I LOVE driving, fearing death and not being there for my wife and kids, etc, etc, etc... You name it, I had those moments almost every second of every day.

Im now 45 pounds down. I know I have a long road and I'm not sure what's keeping me going. However, I know that recently, this quote I came across..“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons” has really resonated with me, and become something of a mantra that I keep saying to myself when I'm fighting cravings, old ways of thinking, or just the demons. It actually re-motivated me because the lay-off from work and the stress and sadness that came with the pandemic had me really down, and moving away from healthier habits.

I love that quote. Thanks for sharing

I was doing really well and got back to a healthy BMI back in 2017, but then I slacked off and gained half of those pounds back. I had all kinds of excuses and told myself I didn't care and was tired of obsessing over calories and how I looked, etc. Then, last month, I developed some breathing problems, and I was really scared it might be Covid-19. I got the test, and it wasn't that, thankfully. But it made me realize that I was just really out of shape from being so inactive for the past year or so. At that point, I decided to put my foot down and get back on track. This time around I'm focused more on fitness and strength training for sustained fat loss (trying to up my TDEE), and I am being a lot less restrictive with my diet. It was too easy to get discouraged when I was eating 1200 cals/day and would hit a plateau. I was too focused on what the scale said. This time, it's more about health. Now, I'm eating more and the scale is still going down.

In November of last year I sat on the Computer and, without warning, started sweating profusely and getting incredible dizzy. Every time I so much as blinked it felt like the floor was rushing at me. DH called an Ambulance and several hours later I was released without a diagnosis.
The doctor told me that he thought at first that I had a stroke, but now was not sure. My systolic blood pressure (the top number) was sky high (196) and he thought I needed to be treated at least for that. He also thought I have some heart issues and kindly gave me a script for a beta blocker (Metropolol).
I have no insurance so following up with a regular doctor is out of the question. The clinic here is asking for $200 just to walk in the door and there is only one low-income clinic 20 miles away and they are not accepting new patients. The medicine took care of the dizziness and I let this go for a few months.
Then something finally clicked in my brain and I knew I needed to do something other than to feel sorry for myself and complain about all the things I CAN'T do. Instead I started focusing on the things I CAN do.
I started talking to friends and family to build a support system and then did a lot of research into different eating plans. One of our friends had bariatric surgery last year and he became my mentor. I can't have the surgery, but there is no way that I cannot eat as if I couldn't have it.
I started with a clear liquid diet for three days, progressed to regular liquids for three and soft foods for two. That alone made me feel better, no more liver pain for me. It also made me much more aware of portion size. I'm continuing the bariatric diet with very high protein and small portions and lots of liquids. For the first month that means not much calories, but lots of nutrients. I don't get much exercise yet because it is still super painful to do, so I keep Calories low.
It seems to be working for me. I am not hungry; I learned to drink first when I feel "empty", chances are the empty feeling goes away. I have regular meal times now instead of cooking/eating willy-nilly throughout the day. DH has been super supportive. Previously when I was on a "diet" he would bring home Pizza, Burgers, Tacos. Now he picks out recipes for me and with me and told me he was proud of me for doing this. I'm truly blessed. I'm down to six pounds (280 from 286) after 2 weeks and see no reason why my goal of losing 110 pounds by Christmas of 2021 is not attainable.

This isn’t a “take back control” moment. I’ve already done that.

This is a “strengthen and resolve” moment.

If you haven’t had your moment yet, allow me to share this one.

I visited a morbidly obese, close elderly family member today. They are bedridden from diabetes, and receive 24/7 care at home, including diaper changes and feeding, since they lost use of hands and arms as atrophy moved up their body from their feet, due to lack of use .

To my horror, there was a large bruise on their forehead,”which the nurse anxiously explained was due to this person being so large, that the night nurse lost her grip trying to roll her over at night and the patient whacked their head on the hospital bed rail. (Which, I might add, was the first thing I guessed when I saw the bruise. I know how well this team cares for my family member.)

Ask yourself. Is this the future you want for yourself? Being trapped in a bed for years? Being fed whatever someone feels like cooking you and having to be grateful for it? Having to ask someone to answer and hold the phone for you? Being stuck in an endless, endless loop of TV crime drama and infomercials? Being attached to a tube and having someone you met an hour ago know wipe your bottom and change your diaper?
Wiping out your family finances and worrying what will happen when the savings are gone and the house has been sold? Placing this burden on your children? Being constantly angry, depressed, perpetually needy?

Wishing you had lost weight years ago? Well, as I had to tell them, it’s a little too late for that now.

I don’t mean to sound cold, but if anything would ever motivate me to stay on track, this was it.

Two incidents in one week: 1) a wonderful work colleague, younger than me, died of a massive heart attack and 2) I was at a hang gliding training session and a student my age nearly fainted after two small runs. He had 3 valve replacements in the last three years. With heart disease in my family, I finally came to terms that I was being selfish being overweight and putting myself (and therefore, my family) at risk.

I was 37. I was nearly 300 lbs. I was nearly out of my size 24 pants. My doctor was about to prescribe insulin for my Type 2 Diabetes that was getting worse. I felt diseased, monstrous. I walked stairs with a cane. One night in July of 2017, I just had enough. I had lost weight before, I knew it was going to take a high protein/low carb diet, plus a good amount of exercise. I haven't missed a day on MFP since. 117 lbs and 14 sizes down, plus a normal A1C to show for my dedication and efforts. Hitting rock bottom saved my life.

It used to be a break up from a controlling but now honestly it's all for self improvement and better mental health. It's always been a passion of mine but lost site of it for a while.. No matter however because I took the necessary steps to find myself and this passion again.