what started it all for you?

I had a mini thought in my head that I wanted to have my energy back and my feet to not hurt so bad, I felt like I was an old 40 year old instead of a young 27 (28 now) so I asked for a Wii for x-mas thinking if I could just start with something fun that I could do in the house I would lose weight.

I got my Wii...and when I weighed in for the first time (I didn't own a scale at that point) I almost fell over in shock at the number. 212.5 lbs! From that day forward I changed my life. I am down to 177.5 since that January day (my half way point) and never going back!

I woke up one morning a little over 4 years ago and decided that I was going to start changing my life that day. I went in to just join the gym, but they convinced me to get a trainer, BEST decision of my life. Without my trainer I dont think I would have lost the 100+ pounds I lost. Also my mom had just lost almost 200 pounds, but she had the surgery, but she had followed what they told her to do.

Today my mom and I look much alike and its nice since before I never saw it.

It will come to you, you just have to do it in your own time. Even if its getting some one to help hold you accountable. That was a big help factor in keeping me going. They didn't require me to loose it, but in my mind having someone there to celebrate with you with every pound lost really helped keep me going. My friends and family were so supportive of me as well.

Good luck! Your time will come.

My husband started working out. He lost 25 pounds and got within 2 pounds of my fat *kitten* and I couldn't let him beat me! So I started and about fifty pounds later here I am!

Dr. told me I had diabetes, and I said "No I don't!" 65 lbs., a year later and healthy eating, my blood sugar and A1C levels are normal!! I could not have done it without the people on MFP!!!

THANKS EVERYONE!!:flowerforyou:

i had the same size waist (34) from age 11-21. then i moved up to 36. when those started getting tight i got on the scale and realized i had gained 60 lbs. that was when i decided to start exercising. that was about 5 years ago. i am back in my normal weight range and can still wear clothes from high school.

I had a baby in May and my husband and I do not want him to have the weight issues growing up that we did. We've learned from our parents' mistakes, but we also need to model healthy habits so I want to be sure I'm doing that!

My dad said he hated fat people... Since that day I have been craving his attention. I want him to love me but every time he talks to me he says he can't help but scream at me because he gets frustrate with seeing my fatness. And i got rejected by a guy I really like because I'm fat. I want to come back to school with a rockin body so all ye people that doubted me can eat their heart out (:

my mother's stroke, heart attack, diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure all before she reached the age of 55, all this having only been 40 lbs overweight.

It was February of this year and I began feeling my clothes getting a a bit tighter...it was absolute motivation to go where I had never been before!!! It's been 5/6 months and I am totally addicted...it is my venting session, my therapist, my massage, and my recharge all in one!
I can finally say that I am at the lowest weight I've ever recorded..possibly even smaller than in HS!!
It's a fantastic feeling!!!

My dad said he hated fat people... Since that day I have been craving his attention. I want him to love me but every time he talks to me he says he can't help but scream at me because he gets frustrate with seeing my fatness. And i got rejected by a guy I really like because I'm fat. I want to come back to school with a rockin body so all ye people that doubted me can eat their heart out (:

Oh my gosh :-( That is aweful!!! I can't imagine what that must have felt like to have your own father say that :-( I hope you get that rockin' body you want so both your father and anyone else who didn't want to love you for who you are now, or get to know you for who you are now can eat their heart out. When you have a child you love them unconditionally small, big, short, tall, gay, straight it shouldn't matter. What matters is the heart and if someone can't accept you for who you are on the outside they have no right to get to know who you are on the inside father or not.... He doesn't deserve your attention and one day he will be "craving" your attention he will be lucky enough to recieve it.

I've always been overweight, but last year i got sick to the point I couldn't do any physical activities and I gained a lot of weight. In september I got engaged, and noticed that I wanted to be beautiful in a wedding dress, and I want to wear something I choose, not something that fits. Sometimes when we're overweight, we don't have a lot of clothing to pick, because most of it doesn't fit. I was buying a lot of boring stuff, just because it fits.
In March I finished my treatment, and felt I could get my life back. I started slow, and I got results pretty fast. But I still have a year ahead of me to achieve my goal, it will be hard, but totally possible.

My friend called me fat.
He was right.

Ditto here..

So many reasons. I was 135 when I graduated high school. Gained the freshman 15, then got knocked up in senior year. 195 at delivery. Hung around at 185 for a long while, then over the course of a year got all the way down to 161 (not sure how, I didn't really do anything, but I was seriously depressed for a long time and I think that curbed my appetite a bit). In 2009 I got back up to 180. I was also a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding that year. I cried when I saw the pictures. All the other bridesmaids were girls we'd gone to college with and they looked fabulous, and there I was, the frumpy fat friend. I was so ashamed. I tried logging cals and exercising for a few weeks, but it just didn't stick.

My boyfriend proposed to me in February of this year. I thought to myself, "I better lose this weight sometime soon so I can look nice at my wedding." But I wasn't in a hurry. Our wedding isn't until October 2013, so I kept thinking to myself, "I have over a year. I'm fine. I have plenty of time." Then, in May this year, I was in another friend's wedding - I read a poem at the ceremony. When THOSE pictures came back, I had another tear-fest. I guess I had forgotten how terrible I looked. Those pics sure reminded me. And I realized I couldn't keep saying, "I'll start trying to lose the weight soon," or "next month" or whatever. I had to start NOW. No excuses. I did not want to look at my OWN wedding pictures and feel the same horror I felt looking at the pictures from my friends' weddings. I was NOT going to ruin such a special day with my self-loathing.

My daughter has wonderful eating habits. We go out to eat and she wants applesauce, fruit, chicken, all the good stuff. Meanwhile my friends' kids are shoving down fries and McDonald's and everything fried, some of them at EVERY meal, and some of them are just three years old and already too chubby for their age. When I take her grocery shopping and ask her what she wants to buy, it's always apples or clementines or grapes. And one day, while I was slicing an apple for her and feeling so proud of her food choices, I thought, "Who taught her to make these great choices? We did - her parents. *I* did. And if I can teach her, I can sure as hell teach myself."

Those are the main reasons. I am just not gonna let this fat suck all the happiness out of my life anymore. I am done with that kind of lifestyle! I want an active, healthy, happy lifestyle that I can be proud of

I've been on MFP 45 days and I've dropped 11 pounds. Today I saw 168 on the scale and I cried - happy tears this time! I am reaching my goals and feeling fabulous!

Either I'm just having an emotional day, or the stories on this thread are really, really touching.

So many people, have suffered so much. Yes we are responsible for where we are, and yes we are the only ones that can do anything about it, but there have been some hurtful people who have said a lot of hurtful things to a lot of people on here and that makes me sad.

You are all so inspirational. We all have our own story. Thank you for sharing them

There are some key factors- my kid needs a role model, my doctor kept using the words "morbidly obese" on her reports... A couple years ago, I suddenly became "more single", and started dating these guys that were either nuts, or "just not that into me". I kept giving these men the benefit of the doubt, continuing to fall for their lines of baloney. After one guy stood me up for the third time... and I was all sad and mopey, I said the same thing we all tell ourselves when someone acts cruddy to us.... "I deserve better". BUT this time, I realized I was looking in the wrong direction. I was expecting other people to treat me well, when I wasn't treating myself good. I DO deserve better and who best to provide me with "better" than myself? You know the deal about being in a crashing plane, and putting the oxygen on yourself, so you are alive to save your kid... well, treating myself with respect is my way of putting on my own oxygen mask, so I can save my kiddo. Because he is worth it too, and will learn from my example.