what was your wake up call?

The day my doctor told me I was pre-diabetic. That scared the hell out of me. Since that day I have lost 49 lbs and my body fat has dropped from 38% to 30%. My last checkup was great. I am no longer pre-diabetic, my cholesterol numbers are excellent and I am on a lower dosage on my BP meds. My doctor was elated with my progress.

I weighed in at 205 lbs. this morning. Down from 254 lbs. in September 2011. My goal is 185 lbs. and 20% - 25% body fat. Not doing too bad for an old geezer ... I will be 64 in May. I feel better than I have for many years and I am probably in my best condition since I finished Navy boot camp in 1968.

My recent wake up call was when one day I woke up and none of my fat clothes fit! Then you know it is time to either get bigger clothes or make a change. I chose change lol

Oh my gosh I know that feeling.. I went to sweats bc my pants were to tight! but to make myself stop wearing the sweats, and watch what I ate and ultimately my weight, I squeezed myself back into my pants forcing me to lose the weight! I will not buy bigger pants.. I will not wear sweats, thats what I have to tell myself!

My wedding day. I didn't feel beautiful.

I've always been big, but seeing a picture of me and seeing how big I actually was and then stepping on the scale and seeing that I was actually 12 lbs heavier than I thought. My dad was diagnosed with diabetes, but for some reason it never really sank in until I realize that my weight was steadily increasing and I needed to do something about it.

being told i might have sleep apnea...i said f that.... its on... 47 lbs later, i dont care anymore of it

My wake up call : Getting back from a vacation with the family and barely recognizing the person in the pictures! Its weird how I didn't notice it nearly as much until the evidence was there in the pics. I KNEW I was gaining, I didn't know it was THAT much! I stepped on the scale after that vacation and was 242! The highest I have ever been in my life - including pregnancies!!! THAT was my wake up call.

Started my journey on January 7th and here I am today... 36 lbs down and as motivated as ever. I am not going to just slim down... I am DETERMINED to be FIT!

A few things triggered it for me. One was my mom being diagnosed with diabetes. I did not want to follow in her footsteps. Second was my Rheumatoid Arthritis. Third was seeing my 14 year old son follow my footsteps. He was becoming self conscious about his weight. I refused to use the word diet with a child, so we decided together to eat healthier and work out. I could not tell him to eat healthier while drinking a Dr Pepper. Now we both eat better and exercise

5 years ago I was so close to 200 I wanted to cry. I dropped 25 pounds.

January 2012 I did the body mass thing and found even though I was a size 12, at 175 pounds...not too big I thought! I was still too high, so I am working on 25 more. We'll see after that.

Also I am turning 50 next year and I want to at least be able to put on a bathing-suit and be OK with me.

My wake up call came in the new year when I decided enough was enough. I knew I had gained weight but had no idea how much. before I got on the scale I ordered e-diets meal delivery plan. The day it arrived, January 18, 2012, I went on the scale. imagine my horror when i saw 294.8. I got scared. I didn't think it was that much. it scared me that i was that close to 300 pounds. I was also worried about my children. I want to be around for them, even though they are 20, 18 and 15. My 15 year old has autism and needs me. My other wake up calls have been last dramatic. last year at my aunts funeral i bought a new dress and shoes and noone complimented how I looked but complimented my brothers girlfriend who is thin as a rail. another time I was at a cook out at my brothers and overheard my nephew make a comment about my weight. that really hurt.
On the plus side I have lost 16 pounds since January 18th and I do feel a difference, even if noone has really noticed yet. I tell my father and he is my biggest supporter as is my husband. Thank you for this thread.

I had a few of them. Seeing a photo of myself at a wedding. My favourite pj pants splitting and then the gap getting bigger and bigger to accommodate my growing butt and something a very good friend of mine said. It wasn't about me but about someone he'd met. He said that she was a big girl must've been around 16 stones (220 pounds). I thought, I'm about that. And throughout this journey he's been complimenting me every step of the way and now loves the new me even more than the old one.

A woman asked how far along I was and I wasn't pregnant

For me it was just stepping on the scale and it was a lil over 180lbs the most I have ever weighed..I told myself I have to do something about that right now before Im over 200 lbs. with that being said here I am now.

my 1st wake up call was taking a peak at my doctors screen when she was putting my weight in and seeing that my BMI was 40!! i was absolutely mortified.. i weighed 251.3 lbs

my second wake up call was not long after this... when my other half told me that he thought i needed to lose weight and that he wasnt happy with how i looked i was broken hearted!!!

8 months later i am now 57lbs lighter and two dress sizes down and very pleased with myself!! got about 50 more lbs to go and then i can stop stressing and enjoy my body

My wake up call was when I sat down in my car and could feel the fat in my back and on my sides squish together. Also looking on a menu board and what I was consuming for breakfast thinking it "wasn't that bad" and realizing it was almost 1/2 of the calories that I needed for one day.

After that, re-started my account here on MFP and have dropped the weight, learned to make healthier food choices while still being able to eat the things that I love.

I didn't have a ton of weight to lose (20 lbs) and am 3 lbs from my goal, but feel so much better than I did!