[Gamecockgrrl]

We have all been on dozens (hundreds???) of diets in the past, but I'm curious, what has made this time different for you? Was there something that prompted you to get back on the horse? Did you have an event coming up?

[ladyfyre]

I think my wake up call happened this summer. My in-laws were visiting and there happened to be a fair in town. Nobody would go on rides with my neice so after a lot of begging I agreed to go on the Octopus with her. (I am cringing just thinking about it.)

I could barely get the bar closed. I had to pull in into my stomach really uncomfortably for it to close. There was not a chance in h*ll that I was getting back of that ride with the excuse that I was too fat, so I decided to suffer. An suffer I did. Afterwards I felt so sick, I claimed it was just the motion of the ride, but I knew it was because the bar had been digging into my stomach painfully for the entire ride.

My second reason is that I have a conference coming up in Los Angeles in April. I went last year and was really uncomfortable. I also saw pictures that devestated me from that conference. How did I ever allow this to happen to me. I was the biggest person in every picture.
These are just a few of my reasons.

[Gamecockgrrl]

Ladyfyre, I can soooo relate to the fair episode. This past year, I was hoping my son couldn't go on adult rides because I was afraid I wouldn't fit.

[FitGirlyGirl]

Mine is really simple. In July 2009 I was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic. I want to live. I want to be a mom - hubby and I are adopting and we would never have passed a homestudy if I were still as unhealthy as I was. I want to live to see my future kids grown and to see their kids. I like my feet and would like to keep them. I like being able to walk and would prefer continuing to do so for as long as possible. I like my vision and want to keep it. It is truly not about vanity for me, it is all a health thing. I'm actually terrified as far as the vanity side goes since my hubby prefers fat chicks. I have now gotten myself down to the smallest woman in his entire life (I was actually pretty close at my starting weight), all is well so far and he says he loves me and will love me even if I get truly skinny, but it still scares me.

[Amber1011]

My big epiphany was when I started to have to use the motorized carts while shopping because of my back pain due to weight. Its necessary so I'm not hurting, but sooooo embarrassing!

[darway]

Crossing 250 lbs, was the final straw that made me want to lose it "soon".

But seeing photographs of myself with my gut hanging out and fat creeping into the sides of my face, also were motivators. Plus a parent developing diabetes, on a side of the family with a prevalence for it.

What makes this time different is the acceptance I cannot "crash it off" anymore. I'm 42; I want what I lose to stay off, and I have to adopt new practices to achieve that.

[CurryMama]

I guess the new year did. I just don't want to waste another year with this problem. I'm tired of wondering what people are thinking of me when I'm out. I'm tired of stepping out of the shower and being ashamed of what I see. I've never really sat down and came up with a plan to lose the weight but now I have and I'm serious about it!

[Shmead]

After thirteen years of discussions, I mentioned to my husband that we were approaching the "now or never" point of having kids (I was 33). He was like "well, put it that way, let's get started". For a variety of reasons (PCOS for me, genetic disease/low count for him), I knew we'd have to use IF treatments, and getting myself in tip-top shape was the first priority.

Our whole lives changed that day. We were happy, but we were treading water. Not only did I change my whole dietary lifestyle, we changed our whole financial lifestyle as well. We used to just spend money willy-nilly, but we had to save for treatments/baby, so we went from living just outside our means to saving about half our net income.

[Skinnycow]

I had 2 things in the same week. I had to get my license renewed. My previous weight on my lisence was 200...I weighed 269. The second thing was that my friend decided that it would be funny to pretend to be upset with me and not talk to me for a whole week...we worked and lived together. I decided that out of spite I would start eating right and get skinny. Not the best reason, but it worked.

[Trazey34]

I'd tried a million times to lose weight "for" something -- a party, a reunion, for my parents, for my friends, for my DH, a million different reasons. It would always start the same (very enthusiastic, 'this is it' mentality, super gonna do it this time!) and end the same about 4 days later (wow this is hard, meh i was meant to be fat). What was different THIS time was I did some digging around in my brain to see WHY i was fat, why I REMAINED fat, why I followed the same patterns. A little tweaking, a little this and that, a little beating the spoiled brat inside of me into submission and voila! a lost a whole PERSON!!!

I guess the main thing is -- if you do the same thing over and over and over again and expect a different outcome, yer bonkers!

[JustSharing83]

In May 2009, my sister-in-law tagged a bunch of photos of me on MySpace. It was the middle of the night and I was alone when I saw them and I just started bawling uncontrollably... I had no idea I looked like that. I mean, I knew I was fat and that I wasn't beautiful, but I didn't realize just how bad it was.

I haven't lost as much as I would have liked since then and I've been about the same weight since April of last year, but I haven't gained it back so that's a positive. I've had a bit of a restart on January 1st, nothing major happened, it's just time to finish what I started.

The link in my signature is to the progress pictures I posted last year. The "before" photos are the exact photos that were posted on MySpace and they remain my motivation.

[OhMyDogs]

My turning point happened last month. I had this weird rash on my legs. I had had it off and on for a few years, been to MULTIPLE docs, who kept telling me it was ringworm. With a husband, 2 kids, and 6 pets I knew it wasn't because someone else would have it. I went to see a different doc because I had a chest infection, and ended up breaking down in tears and mentioned the rash, she took 1 look at it and said "Oh hey, that's granuloma annulare". She explained that it was often associated with diabetes, did a spot check, and I was a little high. That was the day my life changed. I do NOT have diabetes, but I am insulin resistant, and if i don't get a hold of it now, it will become diabetes. A week later, I went back to see the same doc due to a sore knee, to find out I had osteo arthritis in my knees. Those 2 things were key for me. My health is now seeing negative impacts due to my weight, so it's time to take it off.

[goal4agirl]

Originally Posted by rainbowsmiles

sadly...i was watching football with my dear hubby...and they introduced a player...he was a guard...and weighed 354 pounds...and the announcer was saying things like, OMG....just look at him...he is huge...this man is a freakin machine...look at those arms!! this is one huge dude...you wouldn't want to get in his way....he can run over a train!

i weighed more than he did....

I WEIGH MORE THAN AN NFL FOOTBALL GUARD!

i excused myself from the room to the bathroom...where i just sat on the toilet looking into the bathroom mirror....and just cried and cried....

Rainbowsmiles- Bless your heart...you have moved me to tears! Your doing good with your weight loss! I hope you have lots of joy this year!

Gamecock- My weight loss journey began the end of May last year. A very smart doctor who was treating me for Crohns disease ordered blood work done on me and requested my thyroid function checked. I had tried many times to lose the weight only to gain. I would just give up every time in frustration. It never entered my mind I had Hypothyroidism. I was started on the replacement medication and without trying I lost weight within the first week. I was like WOW I wonder what would happen if I "tried" to watch my calories and exercise? The weight came off. And kept coming off.
It has leveled off. I lose about 5-6 Lbs. a month. I think that is good for me- I will be fifty this year
The replacement meds have also shrank the nodules in my neck- a happy surprise I found out right before Christmas!
I still have my struggles with craving sweets And my joy when I step on the scale and I have lost another Lb. I just keep hearing something on the inside telling me- you are going to make it this time!

[mdchick88]

My boyfriend's sister is getting married in October, and I'm a bridesmaid. We went to try on dresses this past September, and I couldn't fit into any of the dresses to try on! I think the samples are like a 10, and the bride and the rest of the wedding party are a size 2/4. I guess I just realized how uncomfortable I feel when I'm bigger than everyone around me. I refuse to go back home to see high school friends, because I've gained so much weight, and it's just a crappy way to live. I graduate college in May, and I want to be able to proudly display graduation pictures that aren't strangely cropped to hide my weight. And after graduation, I want to be able to walk into job interviews confidently.

So I guess a lot of stuff all hit me at once, and I'm tired of losing 20 pounds, giving up, and having to re-lose those 20 pounds.

[ParadiseFalls]

rainbowsmiles, I always feel so humiliated when they start talking about sports players' weights. Usually they'll be talking about what a monster some 250-pounder is, and I'm sitting there realizing I'm bigger and a foot shorter!

ladyfyre, the same thing happened to me a couple of years ago except I actually could not get the bar down. The way the ride worked, our whole row (with just me and my bf in it) wouldn't light up with the "all clear" light, so he thought there was just something wrong with it, but I was so humiliated. I acted like I thought it was unsafe and got out of there. Oh, and this is after I needed a stool to get up onto it in the first place.

I've had so many "rock bottom" points that I thought were really it, but I always give up. A few summers ago, (around 250 pounds) I was riding my scooter (motorcycle-type scooter, not one of those stand-up ones) and some guy yelled from a truck, "Aren't you a little big for that thing?" Two summers ago (about 265 pounds), I was in Berlin and eating an ice-cream cone at a fair, and a guy gave me this disgusted look and, I'm almost positive, said in German, "You animal." There have been other things, like people from high school not recognizing me, and each time I started a diet but gave up soon after.

The last time (300 pounds last March) was two things: My cousin's wedding this May, in which I'll be a bridesmaid, and the fact that I simply can't start another chapter of my life this way. I started middle school, high school and college fat. I absolutely can't graduate and start a job fat. I always think, oh, it's fine, I'll just lose the weight before _____. Well, this is it. I'll be moving to a new city and meeting all new people, and I don't want to join another group of friends as the fat one.

Jeez, sorry for how long that turned out to be...