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

When my "fat pants" became snug, my legs started to chafe when running, I could feel my fat jiggle. Started to develope the love handles and muffintop which btw I'm still working off. I probably went up about 2 pants sizes and I was sick of wearing sweats all the time, no make up, I couldn't even face myself in the mirror or dread to look at myself in the shower. I've lost 10lbs so far but it really makes a huge difference on a small frame. I'm still not happy with the way I look, my pants still feel a bit snug and I still cringe when someone brings out the camera but the number one reason that made me snap out of it was the fact that I couldn't stand to see anyone I knew. I didn't want anyone to see me. I ended up hiding, even from my family!
What kind of a life is that?

My rock bottom happened in January. I severely herniated a couple of discs in my back. Completely excruciating pain, made worse by numbness in my leg and super fun muscle spasms. No trauma, no fall or car accident. I just woke up one day, too fat for my back to properly support itself. The tests have shown that it was a combination of excess weight, minor congenital anomalies, and adipose tissue creeping in.

I'm not pre-diabetic, my blood pressure isn't elevated, my resting heart rate is good, my cholesterol is normal. I'm a bit of a health nut. I just eat way too much. I used to joke that I'm the healthiest fat person you'll ever meet. That injury was the first time that my 120+ excess pounds affected my health, and it was terrifying. Six months later, after rigorous physical therapy, I'm still not fully recovered. At its worst I was bed bound, which destroyed my academics this semester, my reputation, my relationship with my boss... it was just awful. So yeah, I have to lose weight.

At my highest, I was at 290 something. I remember not being able to get the restraint to lock into place because I was too big. Having to walk off the ride with all those people watching... that was my rock bottom.

These responses have me on the verge of tears. At work and really trying not to start bawling.



A couple years ago it was seeing 363 on the scale at age 24 and refusing to go from size 28 to 30 jeans. I lost 50 pounds and maintained but after I quit smoking after 11 years I went back up to 339.

My second rock bottom was a month ago and watching a couple documentaries on food production in this country. I decided to change my diet (eating habits, not fad diet) and when I became vegetarian I decided to start exercising again. I refuse to be on all the medications that my father is on at his age. I will beat obesity dammit!!!

So glad tp see so many people comitting to changing their health!!

I've always carried 10-20 pounds more than I should, but once i quit smoking and moved from California to Indiana and became a stay at home Mom for a couple of years, I added another 30 pounds! My number that I could put up with kept creeping up the scale! Since I've always been curvy and I'm short, I've learned how to dress to hide my imperfections, but finally the clothes couldn't hide the weight. I too saw a picture of myself at the Zoo with my daughter and I couldn't beleive how huge I looked! I thought I looked cute when i walked out the door too! I began by eliminating all white foods and sugar, trying to eat clean and I thought the weight would just fall off of me. I dropped five pounds :noway: . I couldn't beleive that was it! I was no longer eating ice cream and rows of oreos and had replaced that with veggies and fruits and chicken, WTH! I had MFP on my phone, but never got on the website and once I did and found all this wonderful information, I realized I wasn't eating enough calories! I also realized that diet alone wasn't going to jump start my weight loss. So now I'm doing strength training and a little cardio along with Hot Yoga once a week. I feel much better and I'm seeing a change in my clothes. I'm not going to focus on the number on my scale (that can be de-motivating). I've just decided this isn't a diet this time, this is a way of life!

I got my body fat % measured. At 5'3" and 128 pounds I had 36% body fat. I cried for hours, then hired a personal trainer.

Mine was about 3 years ago when I fell and broke my leg. I could not get from the sofa to the restroom on crutches without being exhausted and out of breath. After that I lost 71 pounds. Over the last 2 years I got lazy and 30 pounds crept back on. Now I am working on losing some of that 30 pounds but not by dieting - this time I am changing my lifestyle.

looking at my last vacation pics.... :C horrible

CHUB RUB!

I've never really hit a rock bottom. But what caused me to change this time was realizing after all of my hard work losing weight last time, I'd managed to gain 7 pounds in 8 weeks from stress eating at work. I realized that this was an emotional problem, and if it continued, I'd be overweight and diabetic before I knew it. I had to change the way I was eating first, and now have to find a good outlet for stress.

Last August, two days before my 54th birthday my doctor said. " Sharon, you are now pre-dieabetic." I thought, "Oh heck, NO!" The changes came quickly. I cut out all soda after drinking 5 diet Cokes a day, all chips and joining MPF. I also started exercising and joined a gym. I am now down 66 pounds and have gone from a tight 24 W to a 16 that fits well. I still have 68 pounds to go to meet my goal but I am getting there. I have been lazy with exercise lately but the nutrtion part is now pretty much second nature.

My path to the bottom was watching my mom die of obesity related illnesses at 68.
Then I went to the doctor and my blood pressure was high and my blood work was all jacked up. Speaking of which they had to use the "large cuff" to get my blood pressure. That bothered me. At 194 and 5'4" I was in serious denial that I was "that big".
I thought it was grief or depression sucking my energy but it drug on and on and finally in March of this year I took a sick day because I was just too fatigued to get up and go to work. My diet was fast food whatever and no exercise at all. That day I remember sitting in the recliner thinking I am wasting my life just like my mom did. I've got 2 teenagers and how can I help them change if I don't pull myself up first? So I got a wild hair, found the courage to go to the gym and started Jazzercise classes. They were much easier in my 20s compared now at 48 but still just as much fun. SAVED my life I'm telling ya :-).

Now my daughter is looking into martial arts and my son's curious about it.

Rock bottom??? Hitting 202 in a pre-op visit a year ago, but didn't really think I'd have problems losing, as I'd yo-yoed before. Then at 197 after "trying to lose weight" on my own. As a young 52-year old, I had no idea it would be so challenging to lose this. Slowly adding size 16 pants to my wardrobe slipped up on me. I felt and looked horrible. I'm a grandmother, but don't want to look like Aunt Bea. Journaling/tracking food is helping! And, the encouragement here is inspiring. Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories. I've lost about 22 pounds so far, and am slowly changing my life and how important food has been. Getting outdoors and living healthy is more important than ever!

I never really hit a rock bottom because what made me want to change wasn't any sort of self esteem issue. I finally purchased a motorcycle a few years back, which was something I had always wanted to do, only to discover that my weight made it especially difficult and unsafe to learn as it made the bike too top heavy. So I decided to lost weight. And I did. Funny thing is there was no challenge about it and no real motivation needed. It was a simple matter of "I'm going to do this" and I did.

When the guy I'd been seeing denied our relationship because my body type was not date-able