What made you WANT to lose weight ?

What is the thing that made you realize you HAD to lose weight ?

I understand so many of you... My mom is thin too, and she's making me and my sister feel like pigs.

I have three beautiful children who unfortunately inherited my genes.  I don't want them to grow up fat like I did, and I was tired of not being able to run around with them and play with them.  Fortunately for me, I knew the best way to teach them good habits was to lose weight myself, exercise and watch what I eat.  I never want my children to go through a fat childhood, especially if it's because I never showed them a better example.

Throughout high school I always weighed around 170-175lbs. I decided to buy a new scale, and I found out that my old one was wrong and I weighed about 10lbs more than that. Ugh. I was only about 15lbs from 200.. that scared me so bad.

I also was always the fat friend. All my friends were twigs, but of course when we went shopping together.. it was pretty much torture for me. Most of the shops I couldn't find anything that fit me.

Other things that people have said to me triggered it as well. An ex-boyfriend once told me "Your face looks good. From SOME angles" What a jerk. That still haunts me though..

And now? Well my major is Japanese, and I get some odd looks from asians in general. Makes me feel uncomfortable.. but I try to not let it get to me. I'm trying to be healthy. :)

I would have been so proud of my mom if she were in shape and I had friends who complimented her.  I no longer have a mom, but she was beautiful.  She lit up the room with her pearly white smile and sparkly blue eyes and I paled in comparison.

I've been watching my weight ever since high school. I have found it is the only way to be healthy; to exercise and watch what I eat.  If you want to be lean and healthy, it has to be intentional.

I had to do it for my children. I didn't want them to feel embarrassed when their morbidly obese mother waddled to school to pick them up. I wanted them to be proud or just not think about it at all! I also could not stand the idea that they might start eating like I did and be fat themselves. Going through school as the fat girl was absolute torturous hell. Now we eat right together as a family and we exercise as a family. My daughter talks about wanting to eat healthy food and how exercise is good for our bodies and I feel good about what I've done with myself for her.

Also...my best friend got gastric bypass and I was horrified by the idea of being the token fat girl in our group. That definitely gave me a big kick to the behind to get started.

My step mother, who is like 30 years older then me weighed less then me...

THAT, was the absolute last straw because to me she looks fat and i though.. wow thats how i look?!?

Now im down 15lbs, and feel much better. She no longer weighs less them me :].

Two years ago I lost 88 pounds.  Then I decided to shed another 220 pounds by divorcing my husband.  THEN I fell in love for the first time in my life, so over the next year I dropped most of my healthy habits and gained back 50 of the pounds I lost.  I had been so happy when I had finally gotten back down to a healthy size, enjoyed exercising, felt energetic & healthy, and LOVED shopping in regular normal-sized clothing stores.  But what really got me was running into my new husband's ex and she looks fabulous and I don't like the idea of her smirking about the dumpy woman he's with now.  Really, that's it.

So now I've lost 25 pounds and I feel great.

And yeah, I know what it's like to deal with a hot mother.  My mom loved that people always thought we were sisters, and I suspected that everyone thought she was the cute sister.  I think secretly she's always been happier if I've been big - she says all the right things but she just doesn't seem that enthusiastic about my weight loss.

Seeing photographs of myself taken at a recent party.  I was shocked and ashamed.  I knew I had gained weight but I had no idea that I looked bloated as I did.  The double chin sent me over the edge.   I use to be really involved in aerobics and working out on the step, but after some personal problems in the last 15 months I quit and my eating happens became horrible.  It took a toll on me and I need to wake up and get back into my workout routine, eat healthier and lose weight.  Pictures don't lie.

Well a few things.  Like someone mentioned before, i knew i needed to lose weight, but i seriously bought into that whole "you're not THAT fat" mentality. Then a few things happened:

1. Just bought a house, so I'm broke. I have a TON of clothes i cannot wear.  Since I'm broke i can't go buy clothes that fit, so now i need to lose weight and use my massive wardrobe.

2.  After I left HS i slowly became a " I do not like to take pictures" person.  After realizing i had barely any pictures of me and my 3 yr old son TOGETHER, i freaked out.  The more pictures i took and forced myself to KEEP, I realized that me FEELING fat, was not just a "feeling" it was a reality.

3.  Finally, i got tired of thin people giving me weight loss advice.  I know what I have to do.  i have been on a million diets, know healthy eating habits and like healthy foods, constantly read fitness magazines, books and newsletters.  I need to watch my calories, exercise and be consistent.  I do not need anyone else giving rudimentary diet and fitness advice; especially from those people who have NEVER had a weight/emotional/stress eating problem.

Wheewwwwwwwwwwwwww! It felt good to vent. Thanks for posting the question Missxdior!

My grandma died in April because of a stroke she had during a surgical procedure on her knee.  She had a quintiple bypass, a back surgery and three knee surgeries within a few years and it was just more than her body could handle.  These were all related to diet/weight related problems.  She was not morbidly obese, but was always just overweight.  At that point I realized I had to take better care of my weight, because it was just going up and up.

I would like to see my kids grow up. I am 53 years old and have a boy 2 and a girl 4. I was getting tired just carrying them in my arms. I started thinking that I will be in my 70's when they are in their 20's If I want to be around to see them graduate from high school or college, I better get fit and stay fit. I have not gone on a diet, I have really changed the way I will live forever.

Original Post by cmpass:

Well a few things.  Like someone mentioned before, i knew i needed to lose weight, but i seriously bought into that whole "you're not THAT fat" mentality. Then a few things happened:

1. Just bought a house, so I'm broke. I have a TON of clothes i cannot wear.  Since I'm broke i can't go buy clothes that fit, so now i need to lose weight and use my massive wardrobe.

2.  After I left HS i slowly became a " I do not like to take pictures" person.  After realizing i had barely any pictures of me and my 3 yr old son TOGETHER, i freaked out.  The more pictures i took and forced myself to KEEP, I realized that me FEELING fat, was not just a "feeling" it was a reality.

3.  Finally, i got tired of thin people giving me weight loss advice.  I know what I have to do.  i have been on a million diets, know healthy eating habits and like healthy foods, constantly read fitness magazines, books and newsletters.  I need to watch my calories, exercise and be consistent.  I do not need anyone else giving rudimentary diet and fitness advice; especially from those people who have NEVER had a weight/emotional/stress eating problem.

Wheewwwwwwwwwwwwww! It felt good to vent. Thanks for posting the question Missxdior!

No problem ! : )

I think it's a good thing to remember the reason why we all decided to get on this journey !

I was hospitalized with chest pains.  Turned out to be nothing, but they said I was already getting clogged/hardened arteries and my cholesterol was high.  I was only 43! 

Stopped smoking that day.  Tried to lose weight by doing a little cardio and watching what I ate, but then I realized that eating better foods in huge amounts, or saying "I only had a salad for lunch (so what if it was covered with cheese and ranch dressing) and I did 3 miles on the treadmill so that means I can have a monstrous bowl  of ice cream with hot fudge as a snack!"

Needless to say, it wasn't working, so now I count calories, do some cardio and I'm lifting weights.  It's making a big difference. 

2 years ago I was given uniform that was 2 sizes bigger than my actual size. Now, I fit in it. Few weeks ago it was tight on me. I never thought you can actually gain weight so easily!! :-)

Other thing is the beach/bikini problem. I am sure I am not the only one here!

Original Post by barunka:

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Other thing is the beach/bikini problem. I am sure I am not the only one here!

 Oh lord... You can't even imagine ! I'm 18 years old and I absolutely REFUSE to wear a bathing suit ! I hate getting naked in front of my boyfriend, even if he says I'm attractive to him and that he likes my curves. I haven't wore shorts in decades...

...Next summer will ROCK.

What made me realize I needed to, was when I saw I was becoming like my mom and dad. They are fat people, and they do nothing about it. My younger brother was, and lost nearly 100 POUNDS! He looks FANTASTIC. A little too thin, IMO. Me, I saw the scale reach 180...after being 116 ALL through HS, then a healthy 125-135 a year after HS....and it kept going up and up. I gained 20 lbs since like, December of 2007. It's a disaster.

I don't feel pretty. I feel like my BF, who I love so much and who loves me, is no longer attracted to me. It needs to stop.

For me it was a combination of things...

1) My health- I have gained 50 pounds in 3 years. I have high cholesterol and the onset of hypoglycemia.

2) My husband and I want to start having children and I will not lead them into the same lifestyle that made me this way.

3)I no longer feel attractive or sexy even though my husband is always tell me that I am. This has made me uncomfortable naked around him and eventually has effected our intimate life.

4) I don't do things I want to because of either fear that I can't, or fear that people will look/laugh at me.

All of this, and I am only 24.

Alica

At first I had no reason. I just started losing due to stress and change in life style (moved in with some other family).

I kept on losing it and that kept me going for a bit until I hit a plateau.

Now I want to lose around 5-10 more lbs because of skinny asian girls, sigh. I'm barely normal in Korea and I figured if I'm losing weight anyhow, might as well be at an ideal weight. (45kg)

There were so many reasons to loose weight, yet I seemed to ignore them all for a long time. My health was poor, I had acid reflux really bad, my knees hurt, my legs got tired simply walking up stairs. My doctors told me I had to loose 20lbs just to have surgery to help my acid reflux. My husband insisted he loved me as I was, but I didnt feel attractive anymore either....so, I finally put my foot down and decided I would do something about it instead of half heartedly blaming my genes or bad metablolism (because it couldnt have been my fault now could it??)....

I am more than halfway there now (yay me), my knees no longer hurt, I dont get tired going up stairs (okay maybe if it is a lot of stairs) AND my acid reflux is gone. I am finally begining to feel attractive again so that just provides even more motivation.

At the end of Summer 2006, I got a camera developed with pictures I had taken over the duration of the summer. Seeing myself that huge really made me realize that contrary to what I had been telling myself for years, it WAS that bad. I thought I weighed around 230 pounds, but actually weighed 270.

I began my weight loss at the end of that summer. This morning, I weighed in at 185 and have been slowly losing weight for over 2 years. I completely changed my lifestyle, and am NEVER going back!