what was your "rock bottom"? what made you change?

Seeing a photo of myself next to my husband. I looked so matronly...like about 20 years older than him. He is tall and athletic and in great shape and I want to look like I belong with him.

Also, being told by a doctor that I am obese. That shocked me, because I don't look obese or what I had in my mind an obese person looked like.

The embarrassment of getting weighed at the doctors and being self concious every time. I realised I was making excuses for myself. I also have a condition that means I might not be able to have children one day, every pound I loose increases the chance of me starting a family one day.

I was wearing what I thought was one of my "cute outfits" - running skirt, t-shirt...when I saw myself in the mirror, I actually walked up to the mirror (it's a standing one that just rests against the wall, isn't attached) and looked to see if it had bowed. I am not making this up. I actually thought that the mirror had bowed and was now like one of those mirrors in the hall of mirrors at the carnival, because it was the first time I noticed just how chubby I had gotten. I knew I had gained some weight, but jeez!

rock bottom, I thought, was my mom getting sick with Ovarian (and later re-diagnosed to Uterine) cancer.... I stopped drinking soda and thought the pounds would magically come off. By the end of last year, when I realized nothing was changing except I wasn't bloated, I decided to make a new years resolution to lose weight. Everything was going good, my mom seemed to be doing better, until all of a sudden, things took a turn for the worst in April this year and my mom passed away in May. I let myself grieve-eat and realized I don't want that to happen to me... so here I am again, to try to get back on track, for my mom, for myself. *edit to add* - CANCER CELLS THRIVE ON FAT CELLS! in case you didn't know... I didn't know this until my mom was diagnosed and almost every doctor told us this.

RIP mom, 5/11/12

a 3 in from of the other numbers on the scale. I knew I was heavy, but something about that number shocked me.

Diagnosed 3 weeks ago as being pre-diabetic.

I am trying to make sure I never make it to a full blown diabetic diagnosis.

When I started hiding from the mirrors literally.

Mine was finally going to my doctor for a full physical and having my blood work come back scary. High cholesterol, very high triglycerides. Also pre-diabetic and low Vitamin D and Calcium.

I'm only 45 and I just decided that there was no way that I would take a pill for this and continue the lifestyle I had. I want to be around for my husband and kids for a long time to come.

The final straw was when I fit into something that was size 20. I don't ever want to be above size 18, at the largest.
Also, I want to travel to interesting countries like Italy and Ethiopia, as well as enjoying the splendours of New Zealand, and I want to enjoy them whilst being fit.

Two things:
1) A picture of me taken at my high school reunion.... I knew I had gained weight; more than I EVER wanted or expected but actually seeing it shocked, killed, crushed me.
2) I ended my 18 year marriage just a few months later. I use that as part of motivation. He's gained even more weight; I've lost :happy:

I knew I hit rock bottom when I saw a pic once from my vacation last summer and noticed my chin and neck looked like one entity and the shirt I was wearing was kinda tight....it was a guys 2x and was tight!!!!

The first time around was the day before my 23rd birthday in 2005. I had gone to the doctor for some terrible headaches and found out that my BP was 150/100 and that I weighed 330. I had no idea I was that heavy. I did WW and exercised religiously and got down to 197 after around 17 months. Around that time I was happy with my weight (lowest I had been as an adult) and I had a very active job that I stopped going to the gym and WW.

Within 8 months of my lowest weight I was pregnant and you all know who's that goes. After my pregnancy I hovered around 215 for a long time. I went through some hard situations through out late 2010-2011 and was pretty depressed. In 9 months from March 2011 until December 2011 I gained 42 lbs without caring or paying attention. I didn't love myself, in fact I didn't think much of myself at all. I don't know what really CLICKED but I realized my clothes weren't fitting and had to buy more jeans. At that point I got back on the scale and I was 257. I started WW again in January and right now am doing both WW & MFP. I am thinking about phasing WW out due to cost. Since Dec I have lost 41 lbs and feel great, and am really feeling better about myself.

My rock bottom was when I found my BP was 220/110 I was afraid to go back to the DR knowing he might put me in the hospital that day that was May22 2008 I was 60 my resting pulse was 86 I have changed my life 4 yrs later avg pressure 116/70 resting pulse about 50 blood numbers great FEELING wonderful

My "rock bottom"...when I looked at pictures from my sisters wedding and I was absolutely disgusted with my weight, I was 246 lbs. I never knew I was that big until I saw pictures of myself, I looked like big drag queen. I couldn't believe that I destroyed all of her pictures with the way I looked. I'm now down to 179 lbs, I still have a ways to go, but so thankful that I'm not where I use to be.