I know that SOMEWHERE awhile back we talked about our defining moment when we said, "OH SH**! I'm so FAT! Gotta DO something about that!" I was thinking that since we have SO MANY new members that it might be worthwhile talking about that defining moment once again.
Here's mine:
I took in my Christmas photos (Christmas 1999) to be developed and anxiously waited the hour for them to be ready. When I opened the package and looked at this one photo of myself in particular, I was TOTALLY disgusted by what I saw! I had a HUGE double chin and a very round face. Even my hands looked particularly pudgy to me for the first time. My fingers looked like breakfast sausages! My snowman fleece was a 3X and, until that moment I really did think that it hid any fat that I had! (How did I NOT know that a fleece top doesn't cover your FACE or your CHIN or your HANDS?!!! )
Anyway, at that moment I realized that pictures don't lie! No matter how I FELT, the picture told me I was FAT, FAT, FAT and was NOT doing a very good job of hiding that fact from anyone! It was time to LOSE THE WEIGHT!!
I've posted mine a few times, but I don't mind posting it again! I had gone to see a movie and went to the ladies room. I sat down and cut the outside of my thigh on a sharp-edged, metal trash receptacle that was next to the toilet. I realized a normal person's thigh wouldn't touch the trashcan, mine touched because it was so big. I sat on the toilet and tried to stop the bleeding and cried, because I realized that I was too fat for a normal bathroom stall. I changed my life within the week.
Mine was in December of 2006. Although I had tried off and on to lose weight, I was on my couch, halfway laying down, but on my side. I realized I didn't have room for my cat to lay beside me. When I went to "suck it in", it didn't go very far. The next day I weighed myself and realized that, at 281, I was only 14 pounds from my highest weight ever, when I was 9 months pregnant with my son. The big difference was that when I delivered him (almost a 10 pound baby!), I lost 30 pounds in a couple of weeks. This time I wasn't pregnant, so nothing was going to go away unless I made some changes.
Don't even talk to me about photos of myself!!!
There never really was a moment like that for me. I've always known I was fat and I tried to lose weight but I always just gave up. Then, I'd be dissapointed in my lack of will-power and vow to start again next Monday. One day I just got sick of it and I just did it, and forced myself to keep going.
ok mine is that i can barely fit into the seatbelts on the jumpseats on the airplanes...
now they arent NEARLY as big as they are in the passengers seats but are much smaller on the jumpseat and i relized wow...
im fat...
so here i am
After my third medicated TTC (Trying to conceive) cycle and I wasn't pregnant, I realized finally (although I had been told all along) that my weight was at least partially responsible for my not being able to get pregnant. I thought "It's TIME!!!" and here I am 7 months later!
Waiting in line with my sister's boyfriend for like an hour, getting on the ride and watching the attendant pushing his entire weight against the cage to try to get it closed. Finally, he stopped and shook his head and said, "Sorry. You can't ride." Wow. Totally humiliating. My sister's boyfriend rode it without me looking at me pitifully.
It wasn't that I suddenly realized I was fat - I suddenly realized that it was holding me back.
I've always known I was fat. I got up to 200 pounds when I was 14 and thus began a LOT of yo-yoing.
My most recent, though, was seeing my graduation pictures from last May... I have a double chin in all of them.... and the hideous picture of the hideous dress I was wearing under my robe where I was putting my FAT JIGGLY arm on my dad's shoulder... yeah, foul. That's definitely going to be one of my "before" pics.
But the one that REALLY resonates with me is not one that has anything to do with appearances. It was a few months ago.. I took my girlfriend out to a nice dinner. On the way back to the car we had to walk up a REALLY steep hill. She was walking so fast and I was... panting, sweaty, gross.. despite the fact that I"d always prided myself on being a fat chick in decent shape. I was so embarrassed and ashamed of myself... and I knew I had to change something, and so I did.
Mine moment of realization came after seeing pictures of myself this last Christmas. Although I was trying to hide my blubber behind my daughter, it was very obvious that I was fat, fat, fat!
Aside from the fear of future health problems, I just got to a point where I was no longer comfortable in my own skin. I've always been big, but I'd always been alright with it. But not at this weight. And I don't want to just lose enough to where I feel comfortable again. I want to be the healthiest I can possibly be.
Mine was a family trip to Disneyworld. I just couldnt keep up...I was exhausted by midday, my feet were aching and my ankles were very very swollen...and, I was too afraid to get on a lot of the rides because I didnt feel like the restraints were truly safe for larger people like me....I just didnt feel secured on the tiny molded seats. I'm happy to say that my next Disney trip was much much better...after only a few weeks of working out and losing approximately 15 or so pounds..I had a ton of stamina and really enjoyed the trip.
Phantastica: Sorry, I know you are sharing your pain as we all are in this thread, but OMG that's funny. I've been reading this from work and just had to laugh.
I don't remember if I posted the last time, or if I did, what I wrote, but I've had time to think more about this over the last few weeks.
I don't think there was one given thing that has snapped me into shape this time. I've always been fat, and then obese, lost most of the weight once to put it back on a few years later and then some. I married the love of my life, who was also overweight. The thing is that my husband has really packed on the pounds since we've been married. In our nine years of marriage, I have gone up one size to a 26/28. The husband had to rent a scooter the last time we were in Florida at Seaworld because he couldn't handle the walking without his back killing him.
I think the more I have watched him and watched how little he is able to do with our kids has made a huge impact on me. I can't do a lot with them either, as far as bicycling with them, etc, but I knew I never wanted to get to the point of not being able to walk through a theme park; not being able to fit in some rides was bad enough. I also turned 40 last year and really thought about getting to the end of my life one day, and then thinking about all the things I never did because of my weight. It was just more than I could bear.
Mine was actually stepping on the scales and seeing 346 on them. I had avoided weighing for about 12 years. I knew I was "a little overweight", but I was in complete denial as to how fat I was. I was still seeing myself as I had looked 150 lbs before.