What sparked "I'm going to lose that weight!"

After gaining and losing the same 50-80 pounds several times over the past 40 years (most years spent on the high side) I found out shortly after I turned 55 that, despite being a vegan for over 20 years, I had high cholesterol and was pre-diabetic. I failed a stress test, which scared the bejesus out of me since my dad died of a heart attack at 54 and my sister had a pacemaker/defibrillator implanted at 54. I felt like I was living on borrowed time.

My heart turned out to be fine, and I've been scared straight. I'm down 22 pounds in two months, with another 28 to go

Heart attack scare :noway:

I want to look good in my wedding pics. Also I have always been a 12-14 (Aus) but recently I crept up to a 16 and even they were becoming tight. Enough was enough and now i'll never look back!

In September I had blood work done and it came back that I was diabetic. That was just not a acceptable to me so the very next day I started eating healthy, watching my carbs, excerising and losing weight. When I saw the doctor I asked her if I was prediabetic or diabetic and she said diabetic but if I lost weight it would go away. That has been my goal every since. I am 68 years old and have decided for the rest of my life I am going to eat healthy. I go back for more blood work at the end of January and I know my sugar count will be down. I kinda think this has been a good thing because it got me to be serious about a healthy life style.

I always was a *little* overweight. My weight would go up and down but I always had back fat, a stomach, and huge boobs. I thought of myself as like 5 lbs overweight at most. One of my best friends is same height as me except super skinny so I felt like a fatty around her. I also wanted to look nice in a bikini for the summertime.

When all my pants stopped fitting I got really irritated. I wasn't sure if my pants were shrinking or I was ballooning. I did a little WiiFit here and there (which consistently told me I was overweight) to lose 5 lbs or so and usually gained it back but prior to summer I said enough was enough and started working out every single day and now here I am!

Became tired of struggling with health and comfort. Knew I was capable of losing and got determined to figure out how and to do it rather than just thinking about it.

1. I hated taking pictures, I wasn't used to my face being so pudgey and the double chin.
2. I lost my curves, I had just become somewhat of a blob.
3. I hated wearing anything other than sweats.
4. I had to sing at an event for 30 min. and I was getting out of breath while walking on stage singing (and I've been performing since I was 10 years-old) and this was the first time that had ever happened to me.
5. My friends who have always been bigger than me had lost a lot of weight and were a lot less then me.
6. Comments that had been made to me.
7. I missed feeling anywhere close to pretty.

I was sick of myself. I felt awful in my own skin and I realized if I didn't do something, I would be over 300 lbs in no time.

I put on a size 14 and it was tight. It was instant. I'm obese and I'm done. Within 6 months I had dropped 40. I have lost a total of 52 and am LOVING IT!!!!!! So much easier to get dressed in the mornings now!

Looking in the mirror and REALLY seeing myself for the first time in years.

My daughter and I were walking through a store and a friend pointed out a dress with an empire waist that was very pretty, just not for me. I told her that that style makes me look pregnant. My 6 year old daughter replied with "but you do anyway". I went home and just cried and cried. It hurt so much. I am okay when strangers who dont know any better ask if I am pregnant, but for my daughter who knows I am not....... it was hard. I cant look like this anymore. I have to get rid of the belly.

I've been trying to lose weight for about 6 years. After leading an unhealthy lifestyle with my ex fiance. I tried on and off for years, but he was always unsupportive, demanding pizza instead of cooking and never coming with me when I wanted to go on walks etc. But because we'd been together 8 years it didn't seem like it mattered too much since "he loved me anyway" but I was unhappy in myself and lying to myself I was happy with him too.

So I made the hard decision to leave him and live my life for me. So far i've lost 20lbs and I don't plan on stopping till i'm happy with me for no one elses benifit but my own!

having avoided looking at myself in the mirror, I ignored the weight gain, until I realised if I don 't want to look at me looking like this, then I doubt my other half wants to either, and he has to!!!

So I did it for me, and he is awfully happy too, I have about another 20 lbs to go...having lost 30, and I am enjoying the compliments from hubby and my family!

I have pretty much always been overweight, but I was on the heavier side when I got pregnant in April 2010. I ate whatever I wanted while I was pregnant and gained weight like crazy. I have no idea what my pre-pregnancy weight was, but at my last pre-delivery doctor visit (38 week visit) I was about 255 pounds. I had never been anything close to that heavy before in my life - the high end of my typical weight range was probably about 185. I appreciated that some of the weight is normal, but 255 is a lot. My doctor didn't say much, which I was happy about at the time but am sorry about now. Only at one visit did she express some concern over a high gain during that month, but I had gone on a cruise and eaten like crazy. She just said that if my next visit showed the same high rate of gain, she'd put me on a diet. However, I guess I didn't gain that much the next month. I continued to eat a ton post-delivery because I was nursing, and I "overestimated" (read: lied to myself) the amount of calories I needed over and above normal to be able to breastfeed. Two months post-delivery (end of March 2011) I was still almost 236 pounds. I had a 7+ pound baby (plus lost all the fluids and whatnot) and still weighed that much.

It got to the point where I was still wearing maternity clothes two months post-partum that I realized the "I just had a baby" excuse was not going to last much longer. I was also super sore in the mornings in my lower joints (hips downwards) with lots of lower back pain, and I was sooo slow getting down to the floor and up off the floor to spend time with my son. God help me if I had to pick him up, then get up off the floor. I would get up, then pick him up, then sloooowly put myself upright because my back wouldn't let me go fast. I had a rough time with nursing (my supply was nearly zero), so I finally quit and began tracking my food using MFP.

I did well just by eating less (I didn't exercise very much at all). In August my sister started doing Couch to 5K and invited me to join her, which has changed EVERYTHING. We got into Spinning together, so we either run or Spin 6 days/week now! I have successfully lost weight in the past, getting as low as 151.5, but I never did it with exercise. Today I am 163.8 and fit into clothes I used to only fit into when I was in the mid-150s! I am also seeing some awesome muscle development that I've never really had before. :happy: All of those physical problems, the back pain, the joint stiffness, etc, have since disappeared. I literally don't ever feel that way anymore. I can get down on the floor and back up (regardless of whether or not I'm carrying my 25-lb son) without any hesitation whatsoever. So part of this is that I didn't want him to grow up with a mom who couldn't do stuff with him, nevermind the whole setting a bad example thing.

I do plan on having at least one more baby (probably just one more), so it seems a bit silly to go through all this effort only to "ruin" it by getting pregnant again (not right away). However, I think it is more than feasible to go through a pregnancy healthily. I understand I will have to give up some of these workouts (or dial them back based on what my doctor says) and that post-partum I'll have to work hard to get myself back to where I was, but I'd rather do it that way than stay fat until I am done having kids (whenever that may be).

My sister and I call these the "light switch" moments - when the light switch in your head gets turned on for whatever reason. No one can turn it on for you, and it's your job to keep that switch on

For me. I was 32yo, 350lbs and had never had a bf, and loved children watching all my friends around me get married and start having babies. I knew I was killing myself and taking away the life I wanted to live. The final straw was when I got out of breath from holding a new born in my arms. That was it...how was I going to have the life I wanted and be this fat. I gained another 40lbs before my surgery but that was my motivator ultimately. Now 185lbs gone, and 2 years later...still no babies lol BUT a full life, active, I feel fantastic and just met someone amazing who knows what the future will hold but a whole lot more than if I hadn't finally had a rock bottom!