What made you decide to lose weight?

    Most of us are deciding to lose weight because we know it's better for our health, long life, reduces risks of disease, and improves our quality of life. But most of us have known that all our lives, and if we didn't, the media was only too quick to remind us that we would be "happier" if we lost weight (often this is true, but not for the reasons the media tells us!) Only now have we made the decision, though.

For me, there was a turning point. After I went in to hand in my final assignment for this semester at University, I rewarded myself by eating an entire packet of chocolate biscuits. As I sat with the empty packet, evidence of my wretched betrayal of my body's needs, I realised that something had gone horribly wrong in my life. And at that point I saw that not only would it be "nice" to change - I had to.

Anyway, I wanted to share that, and ask if anyone had a similar turning point?

For me it was a number. All my clothes were too tight and I knew I didn't want to go up a size - I was already dealing with having gone up a couple. I have never had an issue with my weight and so was not in the habit of wieghing  myself. Well I dusted off my scales (literally), and stepped on. It read 155 - I am five one and a half! I was flabbergasted! Of course I thought the scales were wrong.

So, I went and bought a higher tech "good" scale that was going to tell me the truth - it was like a slap in the face: 158! That same day, my Runner's World magazine came and there was an article about training with weight loss in mind. I figured the universe was trying to tell me something. I read and found out about CC.

I haven't looked back since; I am down 11.5 pounds and have gone from being moderately overweight to slightly overweight. I feel healthier, and my running is improving everyday. This whole process reminds daily that as I make promises and commitments to other people, I have to remember to keep my commitments to myself. I matter. I think I had forgotten that.

I'm doing this now because I have two small children and I want them to grow up with healthy eating habits, I don't want them to struggle with the same weight issues I did growing up. And plus, I was looking at our family photos and in the last 4 yrs there might have only been 3 pictures of me with my kids, I was so sad about that, I want to record memories with my kids but I'm to ashamed to have my picture taken, I want to change that, I want to be in the pictures! One of my mini goals is to lose enough weight by the end of Nov so we can get a family photo done for Christmas.

For me it was a picture of me at the office Christmas Party.. I kept looking for one with me in it and someone else had to point it out.  It didn't look anything like what I "thought" I looked like!  I finally weighed myself and was 155 at 5'3.  I decided that I needed to loose some weight.  I got a membership at the gym, and started there.  In april I had lost about 9 pounds and found this site.  The best thing I ever did was create a profile here!

For me, it was never about losing weight, but about being healthy and getting in great shape. And it was the thought of turning 30 and getting older that was the turning point. My mom is a great role model of how to be 70 and smashing--she plays tennis, golfs, swims, eats well, looks amazing, and can still turn heads when she wears a short skirt. She looks mid-50s tops, maybe 40ish when she's laughing. Yet I was watching some of my frends slowly putting on the 30-something heft. They got more and more sednetary, more tired, less energetic, and--honestly--less fun.

So I made a deal with myself: take after mom, not after friends. I gave myself the goal of running a marathon before I turned 30--which I did in novemeber of last year, about 4 months before I turned 30.  I started yoga and weight training. I had cut out meat a couple of years ago, so I made sure that my diet was supplimented by extra protein--soy, nuts, and healthy grains. I slowly cut out processed foods and I now cook almost everything I eat (or am sure to know exactly what's in it if I order out). As a result of the increase in exercise and diet, I inadvertently dropped about 10-15 pounds. And at bars I get carded more now than I did when I was 21. :)

Thanks mom!!!

For me it was kind of a gradual realization.  I've always been heavy but never really cared about it.  Then I got an office job and gained 10 lbs in 6 months.  I hit my all time high of 160lbs at 5'1" and when I went back to school I took weight training.  Then the next quarter, I added kickboxing with the same instructor.  The weight sat around but I felt better and I'm convinced that those classes were the only thing that kept me from gaining even more weight.  2 years after that, I went to Europe for 5.5 weeks and dropped 10lbs!  And then I got another desk job.  Where I did almost nothing.  So I read articles.  Articles on decorating, style, cooking, you name it.  And eventually, articles on weight.  I was appalled!  I knew I was overweight but I didn't realize by how much.  So I thought about dieting, but I knew "dieting" doesn't work, so I asked my friends if they had any suggestions and one of them pointed me here.

Now I feel better than I have in a long time, my stress level is down and I have more energy.  It's great!

For me it was just me being tired of looking at myself in the mirror and hating myself.  Me always being considered the "big guy".  Got tired of people lying and saying "oh youre not fat...youre just...BIG...thats it, just BIG."  I also got tired of being horribly out of shape, being a lazy bump on a log, and when I found out that I had mild sleep apnaea, I hopped on the weight loss bandwagon.  It's amazing being ONE thing all of your life, thinking thats how you're supposed to be and lying to everyone and saying "oh I don't care about my weight, it's who I am, I'm meant to be large."  Well ya know what?  I think I'm meant to be thin and healthy...to be happy with who I am.  I always loved sports but never played cause I was out of shape...well I'm changing that!

Tiamat...I know what you mean.  I was 260 lbs when I had an active job, then when I moved behind a desk, I gained 25 lbs in 7 months.  Something had to change!!

My knees.  They started to hurt.  I do martial arts twice a week and run the other 5 days, so I'm very sensitive to what I'm doing to my knees.  It wasn't fair to them to put an extra 30-40 pounds of weight on every step.

And... sory phime, I guess we're having a 43things moment here, I wanted to run a marathon before I turned 30.  Again, it's not fair to the knees!

Cancer hit my family.  My dad was dignosed and died in Nov. 05 with skin cancer.  At the same time my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer.

I want to be healthy.  I want to prolong my life and see my children grow up and have children of their own.

I decided to change for a few reasons, some good and some just plain selfish:

I am getting married and I want to be sexy and thinner for my wedding day, I want to be at a healthy state when we want to have babies (and be able to get back to the weight after), I would like to prove others wrong and that I can do it, I don't like the feeling of being the "biggest in the room".

And (don't get me wrong, I love my Mom) but I don't want to end up like her and some other members of our family... it can be really scary.

I set out to lose weight and get healthy... and most importantly, I don't want to let myself down like I have in the past.

For me it was a combination of several things...a bit of weight gain from college, feeling completely out of shape, and wanting to start the rest of my life out on the right foot (including, like raelyn, being in shape before deciding to have babies).  And then I got online and figured out that where my BMI was, I was on the bottom edge of obesity.  Me!  Never even considered that I would be anywhere near that (I started out at 175, I'm 5'4").  My goals are more about getting in shape and staying healthy, because I know that if I do that, my weight will 'correct' itself.  

For me it was my doctor.  He saw my blood pressure and his face got this funny look on it, and he said "Sit down!".  Uh oh.

That was less than two months ago (yes, I'm just getting started with this).  CC tracks sodium.  Now my blood pressure is normal and I've lost 12 pounds... but I have a new goal to fit into some of my old clothes.  Reading what others have said here, I have realized I should be paying attention now (40ish) because things will be even harder when I get older and I want to see my kids grow up.

My doctors ganged up on me. A couple of years ago my GP ordered me to lose 10% of my body weight in 6 months. That's 21 pounds. I lost 10 pounds in that time purely through walking, then gained it back plus another 10. I couldn't handle the interruptions of my walking routine due to bad weather (I'm a wuss - I won't walk unless it's above -14C - that's about 5-10F). So I didn't get through the winter and my walking became very irregular.

Last time I saw my GP he told me again to lose weight. And my psychiatrist said I looked like I'd gained weight and weighed me - both are concerned because obesity and diabetes are a *nasty* combination. Almost as bad as smoking and being alive! (3 weeks without ciggies now!)

I started walking again, and a few days later found CC. That inspired me to diet for the first time since high school.

Didn't like how my clothes fit.

My sister and brother were both diagnosed with diabetes in the past year. They are both overweight and both 10 years+ older than I am. I want to avoid that. I am extremely obese (so bad I can't even say the number here in anonymity. Ok I am 5 1" and 266.. EEk! I really want to avoid diabetes and blindness and having limbs amputated and all of that..... also I will be flying to europe next spring and I would like to fit in the airplane seat and not have to ask for seatbelt extensions.
 : o (  So far I have lost 32 lbs. I hope to be 232 or less (ok definitely less) by next May. Wish me luck. I will be flying to spend a month in Tuscany next May 15th.

I was in my last quarter of my first year in college (about three months ago) and I stopped denying my weight gain for the first time. All through high school, I was always under 130 pounds, but after two horrible quarters of college and a mixture of campus food and my boyfriends' diet, I had ballooned to 165 pounds for the first time in my life. With none of my cute summery clothes fitting me as the weather got nicer, I became very emotional about it. So then I went to the local Super Supplements and bought some appetite suppressants (all crap) and energy supplements (life savers), but then I found this website and it has been there for me since I really became serious about losing this weight. And it just so happened that having something tangible to strive toward helped my grades too, and I made it on the deans list right after I lost 15 pounds.
Good luck to everyone and lets keep working our asses off! (literally!)

One - it was the right time for me.  Everything happens in it's own time, and for me this wasn't my time until now. 

Two - I made a bet with my mom in December that whichever of us lost more weight by an outing we had planned for May had to pay for the other's ticket.  And being the competitive little bugger I am, I couldn't help myself but to follow through.  And yes, I won.  :)  (Mom did good too, though!)

Mine wasn't very dramatic.

I was in karate class and we were doing a kata called sanchin. Our sensei walked around testing our stances, which involves kicking and punching and pushing to make sure our muscles are  tight. He checked my stomach and grunted.

Now, I don't know what he was grunting about (he does that a lot), but I realized my tummy probably felt pretty soft and squishy, and I should probably do something about it.

You can camouflage a little with the right clothes, but you can't hide from sanchin testing.

I stepped on the scale one morning.  The number was the same as when I weighed in just hours before delivering my first baby, only this time, it was all me!  And then I saw a picture of myself and my face looked inflated.  That did it.

    Wow, thanks for sharing, everyone! 

What made me decide to lose weight? I have 5 kids now.  I had my 5th in Fed 2006.  I am 41 yrs old and MAN does that weight like to stick around.  I had my gall bladder out march 2005 and was layed up with that and starting to recover and then found out I got pregnant in may 2005.  I am trying really hard but I have to eat a little more because I am also breast feeding.