what made you start this journey what gave you this burn..ur

I'm not getting any younger, I want to be healthier, I want to be comfortable in clothes and naked, I want to be happy, I want to feel good and strong...

Soooooo many reasons

I know that the older you get the tougher it is to start healthy habits.

I got married at 33 and had to be sewn into my dress because I went from 130 - 152 in 3 months from simply eating out with my soon to be hubby who just got back from a tour with the army.

I was starting to feel ok about buying larges and not wearing sleeveless shirts.

The MTV show I Used to be Fat is what got me started.I realized that if they could do it being that over weight that I could lose 20 pounds.

the why: because i was unhealthy and always tired. Now i'm fit and filled with energy (and have added YEARS to my life)

for the HOW, follow the link in my signature

Tired of being the fat mom at my son's school events. Tired of buying bigger clothes. Tired of hating my pictures. Tired of feeling sorry for myself in the mirror.

Two weeks ago I got on the scale and it said I was 159lbs....There was no way I was going to get into the 160s as I already felt horrible being in the 150s. A couple days later I was covering a co-workers desk while she was away and noticed this website in her internet browser history. I'm happy I found MFP as I feel like I can finally do something about my weight.

I didn't feel good. Foods were affecting my moods, I felt lethargic and despondent. It got to a point where I'd consume 4 and 5 cupcakes at night, some ice cream, snickers bars, etc. I'd sit down and feel so damn bloated, rolls forming in my gut and flapping over my bra. So not only did I not feel good but I was uncomfortable.

I had been down the road before of eating healthy and exercising but then falling right back into old habits. This is the longest I have ever stuck to this and I know that I am in it for the long haul. What's different about it this time for me is that I had kicked a 6 year drug addiction. The high that I used to get from it I now get from exercising and breaking a sweat. The healthy foods that I put into my body lift up my mood, spirits and hunger for life - a hunger that was never quite there before due to numbing it with drugs for so long.

So that's what made me start this journey. Realizing that I want better for myself. Realizing that my body is my longest domain of residence and I want to keep it clean and fit.

These are both so humiliating to me that I can't believe I'm writing them. But it's a very good reminder.

1. We were on the beach this summer and my three-year-old daughter wandered too far away down the beach. My sister in law had to run to get her. I was in no shape to catch her myself.

2. We have to pay more $$$$ for health insurance because of my weight.

Being a full time online college student with only 3 week breaks for two years, an going to the doctor in Aug. I had gained 27 lbs in one year...I always said I would start tomorrow an that tomorrow started that day!

My father died of a single, massive heart attack when he was 58. I was 9. This year, my daughter turned 9. That was a reality check for me.

I had already started mountainbiking again after a decade's hiatus, but after I went to get my first post-40 checkup and I weighed 288 lb at 6'5" on the scale at the Dr, I decided to really get after it and lose some weight this fall. So I signed up for MFP, bought a scale, and started paying closer attention to what was going down my gullet.

So far, in the past seven weeks, I'm down 23 lb (as of Monday) to 265, and I can completely tell the difference on the bike, especially in speed on the flats and the effort it takes me to get up the tough climbs. I'm currently riding for about an hour at a pop, three to four days a week. In the spring, when I bought a new bike, 12 mph was a tough speed on the flats that I could only maintain for about a half hour. Now, I'm averaging around 16 mph on flat ground, over an hour's ride. There are muscles in my calves and quads that I haven't seen in years, and I'm about to have to buy new belts, because I'm about out of notches.

The good news is, the doc says my bloodwork is great, except that my HDL (or is it LDL, I can't keep 'em straight. I mean the "good" cholesterol) is a little low. I'm hoping I can get it up where it should be by losing weight and eating more fish, because every omega-3 supplement I've tried has made me queasy. My EKG's are "perfect" according to my doctor, and even my outlook and energy levels are already better.

In my best shape, during college, I was playing a lot of racquetball and volleyball, biking daily for transportation, and skiing 25-30 days a year (I love living in Colorado). At the time, I weighed around a buck-ninety-five, and looked a bit too skinny, at least according to my wife. I'm hoping to get myself down to a trim 210 or so by springtime.

I'm not on any kind of special diet or anything, just paying closer attention to calories in/out, NOT counting on tabulated exercise calories being accurate enough that I can eat them all back, eating a little less overall, a LOT less garbage calories, and forcing myself to go to the hotel fitness centers when I'm traveling. That last bit is the hardest part for me. I HATE exercising indoors. "Doing stuff outside" isn't exercising to me -- it's just fun.

I still eat burgers and fries on occasion, just on a lot fewer occasions. I still brew and enjoy my own beer, and I still eat tasty food -- just a little bit less of each and a lot more exercise (along with lots of salads with plenty of dark greens) is what it's taken so far.

Wow. I didn't plan to write a novel here, but it just sort of spilled out. Props to each and every person on MFP who's made a commitment to action in pursuit of a healthier and happier life.

I dont think I have ever really been "skinny" but what I didnt realize was all the time I spent thinking "I was never skinny" I was gaining more and more weight. In 2009 I would look back on pics in 2008 and think wow I looked good, same thing in 2010, same thing in 2011 because every year I was gaining more and more weight and hating myself and my image more as well. I have tried for years to lose weight and I have sometimes done healthy eating and exercise months at a time but then I would always fall off track and back to my old ways of fast food, no exercise, buying crappy groceries ect. Then one day it just clicked. I dont know what happend exactly or why I all of a sudden had this desire to stay on track but I did and I am on the right track now. I dont crave the bad food because i am SOOO MAD AT IT. I dont want to eat candy or fast food infact at this current moment in time I would prefer to buy a crap load of it and throw it in the garbage so myself and other people cant eat it anymore. I am so upset at what I havedone to myself by eating all the crap that I no longer even want to look at it! I have found a new love for veggies, fruits, water, milk, eggs, meat and nuts/seads and it is wonderful because I am not tracking my calories, or saving stupid weight watcher points for foods or eating a ton of supplements I am eating foods that are good for me and enjoying eating them. I think that is the best diet ever!