What was your breaking point?

This might get moved to the lounge (it seems like i never post stuff in the right place), but what was your breaking point that made you start a weight loss/gain journey?  Everyone seems to have a different point where they just say "enough is enough".  What was yours?

Mine was when I was 16 (and unfortunately again when I was 19) when the scale said 252.5 lbs.  I realized that I was officially closer to 300 than 200 and that scared the crap out of me.  My parents always taught me to love myself and the word "fat" was off limits in my house, but I had to admit that something was wrong with me and needed to find a way to end my self destruction.

It was a week before my 25th birthday and I had not lost any of the weight I had gained during my pregnancy....and my son was 18 months :\

A little less than a year later I am down from 245 to 197 :)

thats so awesome kelleigh.  i cant wait to be 197

When I moved to Europe and realized that I was at 240 pounds (about 109kg?) - It hit me that I was already at 30 and my clothes did not fit anymore.

I also thought that it would be nice to see my daughter's 18th birthday at least. (She was 2 then - hehehe - hit me pretty early)

Now I'm down to 98.5 kg and I feel great!

I think I am at my breaking point right now.  I have just received a second steroid injection shot in my spine for herniated discs and I have been pysically inactive for over 6 months.  I also do not care how much soda or sweets I drink or eat daily, but I feel like crap and I am having back problems and I'm only 41.   I'm on 3 controlled substances for pain, energy and to sleep.  I need to lose 30 pounds.  I weigh close to 150 and I have never weighed that much in my life.  My clothes are tight and I am ready to move up to the next clothing size.  I just can't do that.  I'm ready to start a diet and excercise program, but this time I am taking "baby" steps.  I have always tried too much too fast. 

thats awesome bugokkaba.  good luck invisible.  ive lost 28lbs and im at 224lbs now.  i set mini goals for myself.  right now i want to get to 219.  then i want to get to 212 which was my weight in 7th grade.  after that im looking towards 199, and then 190 which is the lowest weight i ever remember myself being.  from there i think i'll just send 10lbs goals.

My breaking point was when I stepped on the scale and it said 240 lbs!!! I didn't know how I got there, but there I was and felt miserable about it. That was in March of this year....and here I am now at 144 lbs! :o) All it takes is the decision that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH and it's time to do something about it...

Holy Crap lovemym_m, VERY NICE!!  U go! 

I just got sick of seeing myself sitting at the bar drinking (almost every day after work) and eating my good friend (Jimmmy the chef's awesome fattening food. I was a GREAT athlete back in the day, and let myself go.  I had already been diagnosed with HBP and I was on a collision course with heart disease (or worse).  It was just time to reclaim myself!  NO drinking, changing my eating habits completely, and working out 6 days a week as INTENSE as possible.  I figured...what's an hour a day gonna really hurt me.  I'm not doing anything (beneficial) anyway.  Today I can't see my life without exercise.  It's wonderful!

MJ

Seeing myself in photos at my daughter's wedding in August, 2005, at my top weight of 225 pounds, was my wakeup call.  I'd gained all the weight since hitting menopause at 45 years old.  Before that I weighed between 125 and 135 when not pregnant - I seldom thought about what I ate.  If I gained a few pounds after a holiday, or after having a baby, I'd go on a crash diet for a month or so and lose it.  When I reached menopause that no longer worked.  I gained 90 pounds in 20 years.  That's about 5 pounds a year - it really adds up!

It wasn't until I joined CC in January of 2006 that I realized that dieting doesn't work.  I began making changes to the way I cook, eat, exercise and live.  I made sure they were changes I can live with for the rest of my life. I use all the CC tools and the Advice section. I get support from forums, my journal and now Groups.  It's been a long, slow journey for me, but I continue to lose and will never turn back.

thanks for replying.  you guys are awesome.

Mine began when I was seventeen. I was tired of being bullied. I was even confronted by a group of girls at the subway station when I was sixteen. They screamed at me and called me fat in front of everyone.

About six months before my 40th birthday I found out I had high blood pressure, 140/100.  My doctor told me I would have to take bp meds for the rest of my life, or lose some weight. 

Well, 54 pounds down and 16 more to go.  I went from 226 in March to 172 yesterday morning.  I run 3 to 3.5 miles everyday and eat whatever I want (in moderation of course). 

So I am 40 years old and in better shape than I was when I was 28!

thats awesome.  my bp is 126/89.  is that high? low?  i know 120/80 is perfect, but when is it considered high in a dangerous way?   I wish I could lose weight a little faster.  I have insulin resistance and i'm pretty sure my metabolism is really messed up because I have been doing everything right and ive only lost 28lbs in a year.  I swear i gain weight sooooo unbelievably easy and it just doesnt want to budge.  *sigh*

My breaking point was in high school when I saw that there were fewer and fewer "curvy" girls, it was dividing into thin vs fat, and I knew which side of the line I wanted to be on!!

Unfortunately it took until I was able to move out of my parent's house to get down to business!

Hey jessica,

Blood pressure is considered high when it's consistently above 140/90 (above either number, or both), so you don't need to worry.

Good luck with your weight loss, it is frustrating when it is so slow! My weight has always come off in surprising bursts and then long periods of nothing... I guess you just have to view yourself as in it for the long haul. I mean I took about 5 years to lose only 40lb, though I wasn't extremely overweight. I don't weigh myself hardly ever, and make sure I enjoy my eating/walking and don't view it as a chore, and then it just sort of happens by itself, in the background, rather than being a focus of my life and a cause for disappointment. I am near enough the size I want to be now, so I might just work out when/how to stop losing weight, I am actually finding working out the best way to stop losing weight a bit tricky as I don't diet I just eat healthily and really enjoy my cooking and I don't "exercise" I just walk to the hospital and back everyday for work, so I'm not sure what to change! Or perhaps Christmas will sort that out for me! :P

My breaking point came a couple months ago, when my bras stopped fitting! That was when I got on the scale and discovered I was up to 180, 20 lbs more than a year ago. I had a hard time finding bras as is (I was a 34DD), and being a 34DDD means I have to go to either specialty stores or order off the internet. So far, I have lost 12 lbs, but it seems to have come off of everywhere except the chest. Naturally, my husband is thrilled, but I would prefer to be able to fit into my old undies!

My breaking point was seeing picturse of me at a conference (they are in my gallery if anyone wants to see them).  I clearly remember that day - I thought I looked good, I was confident in my looks.  Then, about a month after, I saw those pictures and was absolutely disgusted.  Those pictures were taken on about 12/5/07 - now I about 75 pounds lighter - yay!

When I realized that I was going to be 30 before too long and that I had wasted my entire 20's being fat and miserable. I was 320-330 lbs (6'1") and wearing a size 28. I wanted to go into my next decade finally feeling attractive and happy, not laying around in pain all the time. That was about a year and a half ago. I'm now maintaining my ideal weight of 170, wearing a size 8, and 3 months from now when I turn 30 I'll have something to smile about, I've never looked or felt better.

wow.  you guys have some awesome stories.

I've made the decision to lose weight twice in my life. The first aged around 13 when a classmate told me I was really pretty and could be a model if I lost weight (the positive image of myself that throwaway comment gave me worked where criticism hadn't!), the second after I gained weight during treatment for a thyroid disorder and I made a decision to use my metabolism to lose the weight but decided to wait two years from being discharged from the hospital before doing anything that might throw my body off balance again and stuck to that decision to the day.

The first time I lost weight it was a pretty miserable affair. I was a fat kid and I starved myself until I was a thin kid. This time it was much better, using exercise and adjusting my eating habits to make my metabolism as effective as possible and I'm now about 10-15 lbs lighter than before my thyroid screwed up (and still losing weight) and feel so much healthier :)

well i had gained weight from stress my senior year of high school (maybe about 10-15 pounds) and then during college i realized how my body changed and i didn't like it anymore. also, it had something to do with a guy that i liked. i was stupid and thought that he didn't like me back because i was "too fat" which probably wasn't even true... i was at a pretty normal weight. well i lost 25 pounds as a result and and it's pretty much distorted my view on eating and my body image.