What gave you that final push to start this journey?

My 3 year old, poking me in my thigh and asking me why I was so "Cushy" as he put it. I new I was in need of change, after seeing pictures of myself in my sisters wedding, but I didn't have the motivation last year and started then stopped. But my 3 year old made me realize I needed to change for them. I have a 4, 3 and 1 year old that need me to be here and healthy for a long time. There are quite a few illnesses that run in my family and I want to try and avoid as many of them as I can by being fit and healthy.

My sweet husband of 30 years had a heart attack on January 14. WOW! What a wake up call. They had to shock him 11 times to get his heart out of d-fib and back on a normal beat to stabalize him to do an angioplasty. He had a 100% blockage in the main artery on the right side of his heart. He's 60 and I am 55. He ate what I fed him. He had to quit smoking and take care of his health. I became deterimed to do this for both of us. He went and had tests done on Friday just to check and see how he was doing and the dr. said it was an amazing recovery. It is in a big way due to our lifestyle changes. We are eating healthy, losing weight and exercising. It was the push I needed. He has already lost enough that he's happy where he is. I still have a long way to go (90 or so pounds) but I am going to do this. YES, I AM GOING TO DO THIS!!!!!!

At 298 lbs, I realized if I didn't change what I was doing, I'd be over 300 soon. I decided I wanted to be more active with my three kids and be around for them as they get older.

I started in Oct 2010 with walking and lost about 4 lbs. I switched to logging my food in Dec 2010 and the weight started coming off slowly. I lost over 50 lbs, but then plateaued. I got a fitbit a few months ago and it has spurred me on to increase my activity. I'm getting close to a total of 70 lost- soon I'll not be obese, but just overweight-what a goal!

I feelso much better- lots more energy and I'm the size I was when I got married. By my 20th anniversary in July, I'll be smaller than at my wedding!

For me it was a guy that I like very much. Met him on a dating site. We emailed each other for about a month and were very compatible. When we met for the first time, it went well, but within a couple of days he sent me an email stating that he could not overlook nor live with my "neglect of not doing anything about losing weight", but that we could still be friends. Additionally, he said that my goal should be a size 6 or 8.

I replied to his email pointing out items from previous emails as well as items on his profile that he had posted, all without attacking him in any way, just stated facts. I included an inquiry as to how he could state that I have neglected to do anything about my weight when he had only seen me once as he had absolutely no basis for that comment. We continued to correspond and saw each other for about another 6 weeks. On Christmas Eve he said that he felt he could commit to me and the week between Christmas and New Year's Day was great!!! I spent most of New Year's weekend with him only to have him dump me on New Year's Day, although he wanted to remain friends.

Since then we have seen each other a couple of times and exchanged a few emails and text messages. I want more than anything to show him that I can do this and look like and feel a whole lot better. I have no idea what the future holds for me in regards to having someone special in my life, but I have a dream that I will someday have someone special in my life who will appreciate me for the person I am, regardless of my physical attributes as they tend to change as one ages.

I do not know if my future will include this man in any aspect of my life or not, but it was great for a while to connect with someone as much as I felt we did on multiple levels and to be as compatible as I was with this man. Today it has been nearly 2 months since I have seen him and about 2 weeks since we have exchanged any sort of communication, so it may be a total lost cause for me in regards to him being a part of my life at any level, friendship included.

Understand that my current journey isn't being driven by my like of this man, but it certainly has given me added motivation. I AM doing this for myself as if anything, he did give me hope that there is someone out there for me. I just understand that I will have better luck in meeting other men if my physical looks were more appealing, i.e., smaller size. Although I am 5'8", I don't really feel that a size 6 or 8 is possible for me, but I will never know. I just keep on keeping on.

My boyfriend of the time breaking up with me because I wasn't physically attractive.
Plus I didn't feel great, and couldn't buy cute clothes.
Now single and happiest I've beeen, look at me now haha

he is a loser and he doesn't deserve you at all ..

I had been getting bigger and bigger and there were a number of things that were making me realise I couldn't carry on this way.

♦ Going to Frankie & Benny's and not being able to fit in the fixed seating.

♦ Barely being able to fasten my seatbelt on a plane and certainly not being able to put down the tray without it pushing into or resting on my belly.

♦ feeling breathless when I walked into town

♦ sweating like a pig when I walked (briskly) to get a seat on the train

♦ getting a stitch in my side when wiping my backside & not being able to see the wee man unless I leant over or pushed my belly aside

♦ looking at my wedding photos and seeing how fat & round my belly was when my sporran slipped underneath my gut

♦ having to buy 46" trousers and XXXL shirts for the summer

Yet, despite all these incidents screaming at me to lose weight, I didn't seem to have the motivation to do anything about it.

In July of last year me and the hubster went out and bought ourselves new push bikes, with the idea of getting some exercise. We went out a couple of times together, but the weather turned and it wasn't always that nice. Nevertheless I started going out for an early-morning bike ride at the weekends, but I wasn't even thinking about what I was eating.

Then one of my best friends took me to task in the pub one weekend and had a go at me for saying that I was going to do something about my weight, but never actually doing anything. So worn down by all the nagging I agreed to give up sweets and chocolate for 8 weeks as we had our friends' wedding to attend at the start of October.

I started keeping a food diary and went online to find the calorie values of the fresh foods I was eating and that's when I stumbled upon MFP, or Facebook for Fatties as I affectionately call it :laugh:

The rest as they say is history.

I've been logging for over 7 months now, I've lost 50 lbs and have gone form couch potato to super-swim-star.

I've made changes that work for me; I eat/drink what I want, but I account for it and in doing so I am happier and healthier (not that I had any major health issues - my blood pressure, cholesterol, sugar levels were always within normal parameters - but I have greatly improved my aerobic capacity) and because I can physically see the changes, it's made a world of a difference :happy:

My final push was when I had to unbutton some jeans that I could previously fit comfortably...It was time for me to stop being in denial....and also constantly feeling heavy!!

I'm sure we've all tried this many times before - I know I have. But this time, I'm in it to "thin" it (lol).

Love that!!!
Was just so tired of being fat & feeling fat.

Thanks guys! Yeah he's been texting me asking what's new and I actually say what's new.. running, organic foods, etc
And he laughed "Since when do you run"
I said "Since when is it any of your business what I do anymore?"

^^^ Love this!!! What an *kitten*!!! He isn't worth your time....



and for the question... I knew I had needed to lose weight for a while now but I didn't know where to start so it made it hard to do that .... Started to eat alot of fast food and gained a few more kilos.. Then my sister put me onto this site and I haven't looked back... I love that I can eat what I want (in moderation of course) and still lose weight.... and now I've lost those extra kilos I had put on in not a very long time, I lost it in about a month... I am loving life right now and my journey has only just begun :bigsmile:

I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes....that was all it took. That diagnosis also nudged my husband into taking a look at his diet/lifestyle...slow but sure....