what pushed you to get healthy?

Options
2

Replies

  • sarahs440
    sarahs440 Posts: 405
    Options
    might sound silly but I got some pictures developed and there was a pic in there of my best friends boyfriend and me and a Christmas party. I looked horrible. And what got me is that I thought I looked cute that night! The picture showed differently! So I decided to do something. A day later a friend posted a FB status talking about MFP, and I signed up that day and never looked back! God was working there, with the timing of everything. Now if I could just get these last 15 pounds off....:wink:
  • Saruman_w
    Saruman_w Posts: 1,531 Member
    Options
    I felt like crap and I pretty much hated myself. I wanted to get in shape so that I could boost my confidence and hopefully look great along with it. I've now made it my permanent lifestyle. I refuse to go back.
  • kerrphy_2011
    kerrphy_2011 Posts: 37
    Options
    I have been over weight all my life. I am currently the heaviest I have ever been. I also want children, but my husband and I are worried about pregnancy concerns with being overweight. I also want to look and feel great and be able to buy clothes anywhere. Mostly to be happy about what I see when I look in the mirror.
  • BrownEyedJerseyGirl
    BrownEyedJerseyGirl Posts: 97 Member
    Options
    1. Got tired of not wanting to wear shorts in public
    2. Recently found out that my heart was not exactly perfect when I was born and losing weight will put less burden on my system
    3. Not getting any younger
  • kenzienmady3
    kenzienmady3 Posts: 33
    Options
    My mother in law passed of heart disease January 2010. Nobody knew she had it, and it runs in my husbands family. It hit him really hard, and he began working out and eating well. He kept trying to get me to go, but I thought I was fine. Until I started noticing that none of my clothes were fitting. I looked at some old pictures and saw how big I had gotten. I wasn't big in most peoples eyes by any means, but I was the biggest I'd ever been. That was not acceptable to me. I've had two children, and I was using that as an excuse as to why I didn't work out and eat healthy. This year is my year, because I'm not using ANY excuses anymore. I've lost 13 lbs since January 3rd. I feel fantastic. I want my children to have a healthy, energetic mom.
  • boggsmeister
    boggsmeister Posts: 292 Member
    Options
    On the 15th of February I was in the shower and realized that I was almost exactly two months from my 40th birthday, so I decided to lose 20 pounds before then. I started MFP 2 days later. I won't likely lose that 20 before my 40th, I won't likely even be at my goal weight by my 41st, but I will weigh at least 70-80 pounds less than I do now, and I will be able to move a lot better.

    This is a lifetime journey for me now, and MFP makes it sooooo easy. No muss, no fuss, no gimmicky plans or lists of foods I can't eat. Just stay at or a little below your calorie goals, do some exercise, and watch the scale needle start to back off. Sure it's a little work to keep punching stuff into my diary, but it's awesome to not have to feel guilty about eating, well, anything because I planned well and stayed below my goal calories.
  • Curt959
    Curt959 Posts: 21
    Options
    Could not wear suits I bought a couple of years ago to my Dad's funeral (who had a heart attack)!
  • spectralmoon
    spectralmoon Posts: 1,230 Member
    Options
    My photographs showed someone near round standing where I thought I was supposed to be.
  • becoming_a_new_me
    becoming_a_new_me Posts: 1,860 Member
    Options
    The doctor told me that if I did not make a drastic change in short order, I would die within 5 years. With a 3 year old I wanted to see graduate, get married, and have babies of her own, I had to do something. That was my start...this is my finish.
  • KyleB65
    KyleB65 Posts: 1,196 Member
    Options
    Late March last year I was diagnosed with high blood pressure.

    The person who first told me was the Nurse from the insurance company. She said that I would certainly be dropped by the company unless I got the pressure down and that I should see a Doctor ASAP.

    Went to the walk-in clinic the next day, waited for 3 hours to see the Doctor. After a brief exam the Doc confirmed the high blood pressure, prescribed the first set of medication and told me that if I did not lose weight I would almost certainly suffer a stroke before \i turned 50. I was 46 yrs old at the time.

    This was my eye opening turning point!
  • hbm616
    hbm616 Posts: 377 Member
    Options
    I have been overweight all of my life. I remember every year at my annual physical my doctor would comment on my weight, tell me to 'lay off the sweets" and then move on to the next topic. In 2006 before starting my senior year of high school I weighed in at 299 lbs during my physical. I was appalled. How could I possibly be 300lbs?!? Then my doctor said she needed to test me for diabetes and I knew that I needed to drastically change my way of life. Luckily I didn't have any insulin resistance and my doctor and I formed a plan to get my weight under control. I started Jenny Craig two weeks later after I got back from vacation, and over the next few months I lost 30/lbs and I've never gained those back.
    Over the next few years I lost some more weight, and then gained it back until 2010 when I found myself back at 270 lbs. I cut out all junk from my diet and immediately lost about about 15 lbs. Then I started counting calories and dropped another 40 lbs or so. I got down to 210 and stopped counting. I wish I hadn't because I probably wouldn't have to be counting calories now but I had gone back to college and was working all the time and just too overwhelmed.
    This time around I have found a way to balance out the aspects of life and I know that I continue counting until I get down to my goal.
  • ImaKnitter67
    ImaKnitter67 Posts: 42
    Options
    Serious blood pressure crisis. Narrowly avoided a stroke.
  • auntiebabs
    auntiebabs Posts: 1,754 Member
    Options
    family history of heart problems, diabetes, arthritis, and cancer...

    be came real for me when I started to see my parents decline.
    To see them suffer and know how hard, not only me, but all 5 of my brothers and sisters, were working to do everything we could for them t keep them safe and comfortable.

    Realizing that I've got to do my damnest to prevent illness, since I've got no spouse or kids to be there for me.
  • KirstenRLD
    KirstenRLD Posts: 54
    Options
    i had been on here since september, but wasn't giving it all i could. i gained 7lb over christmas and felt like my body couldn't take it any more. i had chest pains and found it hard to breathe. since the new year i have tried hard to exercise everyday and stay under my calorie goals. i am still losing weight which i put on since joining (so my ticker hasn't moved), and still have a long way to go, but i am definitely feeling healthier and the chest pains have stopped. i think if i hadn't had such a scare, i would still be putting on weight.
  • Kell_Smurthwaite
    Kell_Smurthwaite Posts: 384 Member
    Options
    I found an old friend on FB. She looks awesome now, even though her kid is a year younger than mine. She mentioned she'd done it all with hard work, determination and MFP, so I thought, if she can do it, so can I, and promptly joined the site. That was 2 weeks ago and I've dropped 14lbs since then. I'd say this place really works keeping me motivated and on-track! :)

    18176012.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
  • Amy_Lee_2012
    Amy_Lee_2012 Posts: 156 Member
    Options
    I've dealt with weight issues for most of my adult life. Over the past 5 years, I really let myself go- weighing as much as 333 pounds at one point. I was in a very unhappy relationship (we're still living in the same house but we're not a couple- waiting for this house to sell before going our separate ways) and I ate to feel better about myself and to feel worse about myself- it was a strange form of self sabotage. I used to cry all the time while eating, but I just couldn't stop myself. Due to my depression and embarrassment over being so fat, I became housebound , not leaving my house for 9 months. It wasn't until I landed in the hospital for a staph infection that I finally left the house. Even that wasn't enough to convince me I needed to lose weight and get healthy.


    Late last year, I met this amazing guy, who changed my life. He was my 'dream guy', the guy I had always wanted to be with- but due to my weight, I let that opportunity pass me by. It started me realizing just how unhappy I was and just how many opportunities I had let pass me by due to my weight. I decided I wasn't going to let my broken heart be for nothing- that I was going to take him coming into my life as a sign to change my lifestyle and get healthy so when the next time a wonderful opportunity comes my way, I will be ready for it.
    Here I am, 63 pounds lighter and while I still have a very long way to go, I am determined to reach my goal weight and remain healthy and happy :)
  • Raina27
    Raina27 Posts: 133
    Options
    When I got on the scale in December and I saw that I was at my highest weight ever!! I said "Oh hell no"!! So I started in Jan and so far have lost over 20lbs by myself No diet just eating better and exercise!! I'm happier than ever too!! :D
  • Evelyn_Gorfram
    Evelyn_Gorfram Posts: 706 Member
    Options
    Numbers.

    Numbers like a Fasting Blood Glucose level of 120 mg/dl, when 126 mg/dl is the threshold for officially having Type II Diabetes.

    Like a Total Cholesterol/HDL ratio of 6.4, when 6.5 is the threshold for severe cardiac risk.

    Or like a Continued Life Expectancy of 5 - 15 years, or considerably less, based on those numbers and a BMI number of 46.

    I don't want to die. That's all there is to it.
  • CaitlinR85
    CaitlinR85 Posts: 35
    Options
    It's quite warm where I live and I felt like I couldn't enjoy summer because of my weight. I can't stand to wear tank tops without a cardigan over the top to hide my arms. And my thighs chafe so much walking anywhere, that I would have to wear leggings under my skirts to stop from getting an unbearable heat rash.

    As a result I was boiling hot all the time from being 45kg overweight and clothed from head to toe!
  • lururu
    lururu Posts: 123 Member
    Options
    I had always been small as a child until I had some operations on my knees at 11 years old, after that I was less mobile and so piled on the weight. I was 196lb at 17 but I was blissfully unaware. I developed osteoarthritis in my joints soon after a second op at 14 and my mobility was fiuther reduced. It seems that my family are suceptible to osteoarthritis anyway and the weight combined with the invasive surgery I had sealed the deal.

    I am 35 now and have been suffering since my late teens but I never thought it was within my power to do something about it. Control over my health had always been in the hands of my parents and the doctors and so I didn't realise that now it was in my hands. I wasn't told I had arthritis when I was younger, just something that would get better, all I was told to do was rest and wait (such bad bad advice, it makes me sad to think about it) I was later told, very brusquely that I was an idiot to believe that disgnosis and of course I had arthritis, it was just not common practice to tell someone of my age that they have it....

    Last year my best friend started losing weight and in a very shallow way I didn't want to be her fat friend so I thought I would give weightloss a go to, afterall, if she could do it why couldn't I?
    So in October last year I started my new way of life and I haven't looked back, I can't say that losing the weight has drastically changed my arthritis, I just had surgery on my knee and the consensus is that it is ruined beyond help but although that really makes me sad I don't want to stop losing weight. There have been so many other benefits, I go to a gym now, I look better, I have more stamina and I can wear nicer clothes :P

    But also my wonderful husband who loved me even at my biggest deserves a chance to love me at my best, my children deserve a mum who can play with them, even for a little while and who will be there to help them even when they are grown up and I deserve to feel beautiful, to wear cute clothes and to know that I took on the weight and won. Even if the battle is already lost I will always know that I have tried my best and just maybe bought myself a little more time before surgery to replace my joints entirely (which scares me so much).

    I want to get to 133lb if I can so I still have a long road ahead of me but in the nearly 6 months I have been doing this I have learned a lot and I am sure I can do this!

Categories