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

Translated kilos to stones, looked at myself again - that's not "just a muffin top", that's a stone and a half of flab...

I stepped on a scale for the first time in over a year and it just about rolled back around to zero. The scale went up to 300. I said, "There it is, Steve. Almost too fat for a bathroom scale. A brand new low."

I started working from home due to coronavirus in mid March. It made it much easier to avoid food temptations and gave me extra time in my day (that was formerly taken up by the commute to the office) that I could exercise. BUT I was wasting the opportunity - for the first 4 months, I neither ate healthy not exercised. Then in mid July, I sat down and thought "if I had just started eating right and exercising back when this all started, I could've been halfway to my goal weight by now." And I thought, well, if I wish I had started 4 months ago, the next best thing is to start now.

Today...

Thinking about being on a diet is not the same as taking action. I have been thinking/planning for over 2 years now and it's time to get serious. My fitness pal works if you work it. I am proof since I lost 60 lbs in 2017. Little actions lead to big results and that is true for either weight loss or weight gain.

When my children were toddlers. I really felt I had to set the right example to them. This was back in 2011 and this is when I came here first and lost the weight successfully.
Unfortunately I feel off the wagon big time over the last 6-8 months, so I'm back in the MFP saddle now.

GreenValli wrote: »

I got serious about losing weight the day my picture was on the front page of the newspaper. It shocked me to see myself and have other people see me on the front page. I weighed 250 lbs. I have lost 70 lbs, but it has taken several years.

So relatable! I had a matching moment and it takes away from what should be a proud or fun moment. I was on stage with a coworker accepting something for our company at a big event to kick off the summer 2019 series, my first year with them and I wish I could have been comfortable with those photos. I didn't want anyone to see them actually and I felt embarrassed. This year was supposed to be my comeback and I was so ready but COVID ...bummer because I lost 80 lbs and finally wore shorts all summer after years of covering. Size 8 shorts.

Honestly it was getting back into the office. I'd been semi "watching what I eat" since around the end of January. Except I wasn't really, but I was very slowly losing weight. And then covid happened and I was working from home, stopped doing judo, then was furloughed. And the number started creeping up. And my mental health was really taking a big hit and finding any motivation to leave the house was hard. And I was bored so I've nibble. Not on "unhealthy" things, but a little bit here and a little bit there, and then the weekly takeaways crept up to twice a week. I'd stopped cooking more complex meals for easier, generally more calorie dense, less stressful meals. And the number creeped and creeped.

And then I got pulled back into work (remotely), and I'd reached a bit of a turning point with my therapy, and the Judo club was able to open up (no contact mind). And I stopped that number from going up.

And then they asked if people wanted to come back into the office and I said yes. And suddenly logging seemed manageable again. So suddenly I'm having to prep my lunches rather than browse the fridge when it come to lunch time. I'm getting ~3000-4000 more steps a day, without even trying. I'm hefting the motorcycle in and out of the garage every day and I'm riding it. My work/life balance is much better (as when I turn off the computer at work, it stays off until the next morning) and so I'm actually doing stuff in the evening.

While there was a day when I said "Today! Today is the day I start" it took me more like a week to really ramp up to it. Logging consistently and not binning out an meal's logging because it's a difficult log, or because I think it's going to be bad, or because lunch was a literal bag of doughnuts and I'm feeling guilty about that.

sunshine12303 wrote: »

when my husband served me a half bag of ravioli because he told me he knew I would eat it. he does this all the time.

Mine used to put candy bars under my pillow. Who does that??

springlering62 wrote: »

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.

Springlering. Yes.

I threw all of my Before photos into the bin. I know. I know, but I'm still happy about it. There's some missing time but I still don't care about those photos. I always had the Befores plastered all over the house with no corresponding Afters.

I flipped the switch because doing what I'd always done would get me what I'd always gotten. Mostly nothin'. Those Before photos were always taken at a time when I felt I'd reached the apex of rebound weight gain with friends. They were a way of holding myself up to the light and saying, 'Just look at what you've done to yourself now'. They inspired nothing inside of me but the reminder of the misery that comes from eating it all back.

I don't want anymore Before photos. I only want Now and waaaay into the future.

As you know, so much of this stuff is mental. This is my 2nd time and it was far more difficult than the 1st time. First time I was dieting by automatic pilot and remote control, just like my eating, that's why it all went down the drain. My head was not engaged in the process.

The brain doesn't care if you eat it all back. The brain doesn't really care what you do as long as you satisfy it with immediate gratification and food rewards. The brain loves it when we entertain ourselves with playfoods. The brain will go along for the dieting ride because it knows that somewhere along the line it can convince you throw the towel in and start all over again. For the rest of your life.

I made a choice not to wait until I was standing at the gate Before I made it all the way to my After. I wanted to reach my dream weight and that desire was greater than entertaining myself with playfoods. I'm not going out like that.

Slow and steady wins the race. Dropping it like it's hot only digs you into a much deeper hole with food. I have to think everything through with focus and consistency so it will stick, keeping my head engaged. Using my head besides something to part my ears with.

Today! This is my moment.

For me it was being diagnosed as pre-diabetic. It was realizing that if I lose weight I have a better chance of surviving COVID. It was learning that vaccines are not as effective in obese people. It was hating that I struggle to get up and down from the floor when I play with my 2 year old granddaughter. It was having a closet full of beautiful clothes that don't fit. It was being ashamed of how I look in pictures. It was realizing that I want to be here for a long time and have a good quality of life and that wasn't going to happen if I did not take control and work to become healthier.

I weighed myself on Sunday, and I was 198 - that's WAY TOO CLOSE to the 200 threshold. I passed that on the way down a few years back and do not want to pass it going the other direction.

Mine came during lockdown, after eating just for the sake of eating made me look back at how I've been eating the last few years, takeaways nearly every night. I then realised I'd gone from a 34" waist to a 40" waist and a large size t-shirt to an extra extra large t-shirt. Then came the scales, 242lbs. I was disgusted with myself. I needed to change. As soon as lockdown ended I put my new lifestyle into gear and am now starting to see results!

Getting Lyme disease last summer and now fighting to get back what i had lost... and getting married this past july to an amazing man and wanting him to be proud to have me on his arm (he already says he is but i want to be proud to be on his arm)...

I took a long hard look at recent pictures of myself and had nothing but negative thoughts about how I look. I couldn't find one thing I liked about myself. For so long every morning I'd look in the mirror and think and/or say out loud "I hate you". That in turn taught me to not see what was right in front of me; that I'm worth the effort and time it will take to be happy and healthy. I'm a pro at self-sabotage. I also convinced myself I had an eating disorder. The truth is I saw what my body was carrying and decided I deserve the junk I enjoy and 130 pounds is impossible to lose. I've been a member of MFP on and off for over 10 years. I still have that 130 lbs. to lose; the difference is this time I've learned to love myself as others do.