Do you remember your tipping point?

When my dr told me I would have to be on medication for my depression and anxiety forever, I was out to prove her wrong - and did through exercise and healthy eating

mine was when i my size 22 pants were getting too tight. i didn't want to be size 24 so i started working out.

I took care of a 600lb patient that it took 3 nurse to hold her tummy rolls up to clean in her private areas. And even then we weren't quite sure what we were cleaning exactly....I didn't want to end up that patient and be such a burden to the hospital staff. I occasionally fall off the wagon, but whenever I do, I end up with a super obese patient and I think to myself "this could be me, and I don't want that" and I get my butt to the gym and think about what i'm eating.

When I didn't recognize who was staring back at me in the mirror...

This year I've gained a lottt of weight. I have never been classified as "overweight," but I am now under that classification. I noticed it all year, but kind of ignored it. I felt really self conscious during swim-suite season and I kinda wanted to do something about it. I started a diet in July...but didn't stick with it. I battled on and off with it for the past couple of months until the other day I picked up a couple of pairs of jeans that I bought barely a year ago and tried them all on. Not one of them fit anymore. How the heck did I go from a size 5 to a size 11 in a year?? I know to many people that's not a big deal, many people where bigger sizes and have more reason to be upset with themselves...but as a 20 year old in college who feels like the "big girl" around all of her friends, that hits you hard. The other day my girl Bridget was over and we were getting dress to go somewhere...I had to make excuses as to why I couldn't find a pair of jeans that fit me. It was embarassing. I wanted to cry...and on top of that, non of my tops look right anymore. I look pregnant in many of them...and I don't want people to stereotype me as the 20year-old who got pregnant in college without a boyfriend to take care of the baby. But after the day with Bridget, I couldn't get over how disappointed I was in myself. I knew I had to change....and soon. My family has a history of obessity and I am NOT going to let that happen to me. I realized right then and there that I had to fix my behaviors...and now, I am on track. It's only been about a week, but I am feeling so much better about myself.

When I step on the scale and saw 220lbs...eekk!

It was when i saw pictures of the past 2 weddings Ive been in... I looked like a giant Oaf standing next to everyone in one picture and in the other my tux looked ridiculous because my gut was as big as it is. Not very flattering pictures Id have to say. However, that slowly planted the seed in my head that it was time to do something and do it right and completely. So here I am, 1.5 months in the books and im down 27 lbs. Granted it will take me another year to get where i need to be, but im in it for the long haul.

Seeing 216.6lbs on the scale. I always said I don't know what I would do if I went over 200lbs because I knew I had a problem controlling my weight and I didn't know I could ever handle that. Well I knew by the fit of my clothes that I was gaining weight but reality really hit after Easter when I saw that dreaded number. I was that close to losing it and just giving up but then I was reminded of this site in a blog post I was reading. I had signed up here 2 years before and totally forgot about it. Well I came back and renewed the fight and right now I am just glad to again be below 200lbs while working my way down even more. Thanks MFP and all the wonderful people here. We all can do it. You all inspire me.

I remember it vividly. college reunion in Qatar in the middle east of all places. we all played basketball in college and ALL of us had packed on SERIOUS excess weight, but the jokes aimed at me cut deep...real deep. i didn't have a hissy fit, far from it, i even indulged it, but knew that day that as soon as i got back to england i HAD TO CHANGE. Those jokes still cut deep even now...my friends have no idea i am much thinner now..and i won't tell them either . we are meeting in florida in march. I'm getting my middle finger plenty of practice for that day.

Maybe TMI, but I started to be too out of shape for sex. I'd lose my breath and have to stop before the end.

That, and I swore that I'd never be 300 lbs. The scale at the doctor's office (with clothes and shoes on) popped me at 300.5 lbs and it was a big shock. We went on vacation a few days later and I started the lifestyle change as soon as we got back.

When I leaned over to look at something and the weight from my stomach caused my back to tighten up to balance it and I ended up on the floor at KMart from a back spasm that felt like a ruptured disk. Couldn't get up and couldn't walk. Had to be helped into a motorized cart to get to my mom's car. Still couldnt' walk after I got home and had to crawl to the bathroom. Got stuck on the floor in the bathroom and couldn't move. After the paramedics injected me with morphine twice I could tell it was a spasm and not something that was damaged and being damaged further by movement. Was treated like a fat, useless, waste of human cells in the ER when they told me it was a spasm caused by my weight. Spent 8 days unable to walk and lost 8 pounds because I couldn't eat because the muscle relaxers and pain pills made me sick to my stomach. I figured 8 pounds was a good start and once I could move again, I kept on moving until I lost 100 pounds, because I didn't ever want anything like that to happen again.

Yeah. When I got blood clots in both legs, and a guy at work who was 3 weeks younger than me had a minor stroke. I was waddling around, miserable, and suddenly came face-to-face with the very real possibility of serious medical issues. I have a totally different and much healthier body now than I did 5 years ago!

Watching Biggest Loser eating an entire big bag of Candy Corn. I realized that I could not be that way anymore. That was February 24th, 2011, February 25th I started MFP. Haven't looked back. 78 pounds and 4 dress sizes later I will never go back. Still have half to go but better then nothing!

It's a vanity thing, but family pictures. After my daughter was born, we had portraits done. They were awful, but I blamed it on being 6 weeks PP. So we did updated pictures when she was 18 months old, and when we got the proofs back, I wanted to cry. I hated how I looked in all of them (more than 100 shots done)



I finally decided that enough was enough, I was going to stop complaining about my looks and do something. That was five years ago, when I first decided to get healthy.

My most recent burst of motivation came about because my work clothes are getting tight, and I can't afford to waste money on a new wardrobe when self control is free! :bigsmile:

Seeing my wedding pictures for the first time 5 1/2 years ago. It still makes me sick to my stomach to look at them.