[Katz]

I'd like to know what made you act and pushed to lose weight. Most of us try and give promises and nothing happens. At least I always fall off the wagon by the end of the day.

[mj5]

I can't say for sure what exactly "clicked" for me...I just decided I was DONE...done w/ the excuses why I couldn't eat well, exercise, etc...from that day on (12/14/10...totally random day, by the way) I started. Sure I have had struggles along the way, but I re-focus and get back on track.

I do know that setting small goals w/ rewards along the way has been helpful for me...things I wouldn't normally do for myself: a massage, manicure, things like that.

You CAN do it!

[Lisa532]

I remember exactly the day I FINALLY decided to lose weight.. I was viewing my brand new daughter-in-law's facebook page and viewed the hundreds of pictures of her and my son's wedding... - but not one picture of me was posted. My ex-husband who only visited my son once every 5 years and just happened to attend the wedding had his picture posted! I looked at the wedding pictures I had taken and saw how awful I looked...

[Rana]

I haven't reached goal yet, but I became sick and I realized that I couldn't continue doing this to my body anymore. The last two years or so have been about making changes to my life that help and sustain my weight loss.

[TheCuriosity]

I've tried and failed a few times in the past, mainly do to not being serious, pushing too hard for unrealisitc results and believing my excuses were reality.

The lightbulb moment for me that changed my whole outlook on my condition was an episode of The Colbert Report when Colbert had his waist measured and it was 36" (he likes to joke about how fat he is even though he isn't fat, just more to love.) I was 41" at the time this episode aired and it just didn't seem right. Something was wrong in my world. It was just a comedic moment in a comedy show, but it did something to my thinking. It finally clicked that if I don't start taking myself seriously and act now and stop giving into my excuses and stop blaming others for ruining my diet by bringing bad food into the house (and me "having no choice BUT to eat it"), my health would continue to get worse. As it was, I couldn't stand for five minutes without being in pain, and that pain was caused by the added weight on my previous injuries. If I continued down this road, it was only going to get worse.

I should be healthy and I shouldn't be using my injuries as excuses, but rather do something about them. In the past when I tried to lose weight, I would fall off the wagon really easy, but now I realize that... okay so what if I "accidentally" ate a whole pizza? Yes i hurt myself by doing that act, but I am only hurting myself more if I give up now. Rather than give up (as I would have in the past) I looked at why I binged and rectifed it (in the past I restricted myself too much, causing me to give in to my urges (I'm very weak-willed.) To prevent those urges from happening, I now force myself to eat every 3 hours so there is minimal chance that I will ever feel hungry and eat more than I should or make a bad choice in food. Since I'm not really hungry, I am more likely to pick something light to eat like an apple rather than those tasty Chinese Chicken Balls (at 128 calories per ball before the sugary sweet n' sour sauce) sitting all heavy in my fridge.I also preprepared some meals that are around 300 calories that I can throw into the microwave just as easily as that pizza.

This board helped(s) put things into perspective, too, making me realize the obvious - you didn't gain it over night, so you won't lose it over night; sitting and complaining about being fat isn't going to make you thin, but doing something about it, no matter how long it takes, will. I also found some direction here on dealing with my injuries. They are no longer my excuse to not exercise, but rather what helped shaped how I designed my exercise regime.

[InsideMe]

I'm not at goal yet but for me it was years of that UGH, tired, feet hurting, can't keep up with my kids lifestyle. I tried on and off for years but it was a build up of just feeling sick and tired of feeling this way. I tried everything first, slim fast, diet pill etc....but nothing worked. When nothing else worked I realized I had to change my lifestyle. I had to exercise, I had to eat properly. My children also motivated me. Having 2 VERY active boys (who are now 6 and 4) I couldn't keep up with them. I realized as a single mother I am the only one here to take care of them. If I'm gone and if I continue to slowly kill myself (which I was doing) these boys wouldn't have a mother. I love them way to much, and I am starting to love myself (slowly) and realizing I am good enough to be all I can be inside and out. I was just so sick of it. Tired of finding clothes that complimented my figure, I was more or less trying to hide my fat! I want to just go to my closet and put anything on without any bumps and fluff. I wanted to run up the stairs without being winded to tend to my kids, or play soccer with them. I wanted my knees to stop hurting, and my digestion and skin to get better. I wanted to FEEL ALIVE, cause at 240lbs (and at my highest 265lbs) I FELT DEAD. I wasn't living. I was wasting my life and not enjoying it. I wanted to be an example to my boys so they wouldn't grow up with the same issues I had to face with being an overweight child. I wanted them to enjoy activities. I wanted to do so much out of life I realized that my weight and lifestyle was holding me back. I was SICK of it, sick of the fad diets, sick of finding a quick fix, I just knew I had to get off my butt and do it. I figured 1 year in perspecitive isn't that much to enjoy years of healthy living. When I looked at it that way I knew I had to do it.

[kaplods]

Personally, I don't think I had a "turning point" or epiphany as much as I finally stumbled across my own personal keys for success. I think it was a combination of luck and a culmination of all I learned in the last 40 years of trying to get the weight off.

I've certainly worked MUCH harder for and have been much more dedicated to weight loss than I am this time. I've been so burnt out on "traditional dieting" that I just don't have the physical or emotional strength to commit to traditional weight loss.

I think most of us fail at weight loss, not because we're lazy, crazy, or stupid (as we seem as a culture to want ot believe), but because failure is built into the system. We learn weight loss by watching, listening, and reading, and most of what we learn is how to fail. We don't have many models for success (and the ones who are in the spotlight tend to be those who've lost at an incredible speed, so we have even fewer models for moderate weight loss).

The closest I came to a "turning point" was my doctor recommending low-carb dieting, because he said there was some research that folks with insulin resistance like me, did better on low-carb (but warned me not to go too low).

I'd always thought that low-carb was unhealthy and even dangerous, so I never stuck with low-carb plans (I also restricted carbs to the point that I would feel quite ill, I had to learn the right carb-level for me).

I suppose it was a turning point in realizing that much of what I thought I knew about weight loss, could be wrong. I soon learned that MOST of what I thought I knew about weight loss was wrong.

By all previous definitions of successful weight loss, I am failing (so I should give up, because that's what everyone does when the weight loss isn't fast enough) - but I've failed off nearly 100 lbs. I'll take this failure over all my previous successes, even though it's taken me 7 years to get off 98 lbs.

The "difference" this time, was making it about more than weight loss, AND deciding that I was going to diet "backwards."

There was a Seinfeld episode in which George Castanza (the geeky, failure of the group) started succeeding in life by doing the exact opposite of what he wanted to do.

To some degree, that has been my "secret."

What I did do: I'd try to get the weight off as quickly as possible, which meant working at my maximum effort, far harder than would be sustainable for a lifetime - telling myself I coud "relax" a little bit AFTER I reached my goal weight - but I never reached goal weight. Eventually the weight loss would slow, and because I had no where to go (I was doing everything I could) it felt like the most dismal of failures. If I was doing everything possible, and I wasn't losing (fast enough to feel successful), it felt like I was doomed to failure. And if I was doomed to failure anyway, I might as well get to eat what I want (It makes sense in the moment).

I had to break that cycle, and I wasn't sure how. I decided to do something very radical, and "diet backwards," by deciding to start with healthy changes that I was willing to commit to forever, whether weight loss resulted or not. Then,when I was comfortable with those changes, I'd add more, but taking weight loss out of the equation.

Eventually, I started losing weight - but even when I didn't - the changes yeilded other rewards. Other rewards I had mostly ignored in the past, because I was too focused on the weight - the number - to see anything else.

Weight loss became the reward, rather than the goal.

I have been able to focus a little more on the weight loss, but I have to be very careful to seeing weight loss as a result of behavior, rather than a behavior. Because often in dieting, you can do everything right and still not see a change on the scale. This feels like failure, unless your goal isn't weight loss at all.

So I make my goal about eating on plan, or going to the gym 3 times a week.

And I also focus on success rather than failure. We're taught that to diet successfully we're supposed to focus on the failures. We're supposed to feel bad and guilty when we don't stick rigidly to our plan.

I still suck at dieting, at sticking to a food plan, but I've learned I don't have to be perfect or even very successful - I just have to make progress.

I've taken most of the stress out of dieting, and I work at making the healthy changes I want to make, fun and entertaining.

I also learned to avoid "starting over." There is no starting over, just picking myself up and moving on.

If mountain climbing were like traditional weight loss, we'd throw ourselves off the mountain every time we stumbled, so we could start fresh. You couldn't do that with mountain climbing, because you wouldn't survive the first fall.

Central to my new outlook was deciding that "Not gaining" was my first and primary goal, so that "might as well eat what I want and start fresh later" never made any sense. Instead my priorities (in order) became:

Do not gain.

If I do gain, do not gain more.

If I do not gain - be happy about that, and try to lose "just one more pound."

By focusing on "not gaining" rather than losing, I got to celebrate most days - and got to feel like a success more often than a failure (and that's very motivating. We don't quit because we're failing, we quit because we feel like we're failing. Finding ways to feel successful, increases motivation and prevents discouragement).

I didn't learn this sooner, because I didn't realize that most of what we learn about weight loss is nonsense. We learn to fail, by defining success in a way that most people can't accomplish. Failure becomes the norm (and the research of weight loss success rates are fairly dismal, up to 98% of weight loss attempts fail - because we're taught to diet my methods that don't work very well - and methods that aren't very rewarding).

I learned that weight loss was more about "unlearning" than about learning.

[JessLess]

I haven't reached goal either but for me it was more about fitness than weight. I started a new job and most of my co-workers were 10 years younger than I was. I couldn't keep up when we walked to restaurants for lunch. It was really embarrassing. So I started working out and did that for 6 months with no weight loss. Then I took Phentermine for 4 months and with that assistance was able to eat a lot less. Finally I went off Phentermine, started doing interval training 3x a week and started counting calories. The 3x a week workouts and the calorie counting has been what has kept me going with ongoing losses.

[Jadeybaby]

One day I just decided I wanted to lose weight and feel healthier. I was doing well for a week or so and my friends and I were talking about vegans. We were like, "what do they eat?" So I decided to experiment and go vegan for a week. Then the weight just started falling off and I've NEVER felt more healthy and good. Two months later I am still vegan. So I didn't really have a turning point, I just decided out of the blue.

[namaste984]

I'm not even close to goal yet (though I've made some awesome progress thus far!) but I have to say that my "aha" moment came when I hit 219.8 pounds. I had lost some weight in the past but I was in a relationship that was very detrimental to my health and 90 percent of that weight loss came from stress and anxiety (cause when I stress, I don't eat anything). So I gained some weight back after the stress in my life was gone, but when I saw it hit 219.8, I realized I was so close to 220, which was the heaviest I had been in over a year. And suddenly I just got this metaphorical kick in the bottom and I said, "[namaste984], you're not going to do this to yourself again. You are worth more then that." And so I started out slow and did some reps at the gym 1 day a week. Then I added more and did 3-5 days a week. Then I ran out of days and topped it off at 7. But I started to feel better, I cared more about life, and I just enjoyed myself. So far I have lost about 8 lbs, which is not bad, but I have become toned and in shape, and I am so happy about that.

[racrane]

Have some people had no turning point? I feel like I had to fall off the wagon many a time. But each time I learned something new. There really hasn't been a turning point for me.

Thanks

[Onedaysmaller]

My turning point may seem pretty petty but... I have a childhood friend who, while growing up, has always been chubby and larger than me. However in the last few years I have seemed to let myself go and she has been getting herself together! And even though she's during her second pregnancy, she looks better than me. It made me very jealous when I stepped back and took a good look at myself. Haha. So, I've decided to get back in shape. It's a VERY long road ahead but I'm getting there.
I like to eliminate things that I know are bad for me. ie: junk food, alcohol, etc. I try to limit carbs/fat to minimums. Little to no bread, no starchy veggies (potatoes, corn), things like that. It sounds awful but I've only been doing it for 2 months now and it's become a habit. I don't like to eat bad foods now because it makes me feel guilty. I just grab some old pictures out and then I realize why I NEVER want to go back there again. Thinking about wearing a bikini again someday, IS SO WORTH IT.

[Unna]

I met a new boy and he taught me how to jog and love it.

There was no epiphany. Every change was gradual, leading me to where I am now. I gave up smoking. I started really researching what a healthy diet looks like.

In the past, I had only ever had successful weight loss attempts when I practically starved myself and filled the void with smoking.

Then I found CCing and this website. I realized I had a problem with overeating (not a slow thyroid). I'm still realizing new things everyday. This is the first time I have ever gotten down to 158 without extreme dieting. I'm going to see where I go, with moderation. I don't want to be my own tyrant anymore.

Jogging helped get me going- it showed me what it feels like to challenge your body in a good way. It also relieved stress and depression.

[Miss LunaStar]

I've always hated my weight, I've had such a hard time keeping any weight loss off.
I don't have a turning point, my weight has always been an issue. The pressure this time is not only from myself but from my boyfriend and the nearing of my 21st birthday. I'd like to be able to get up on stage at a strip club and do a sexy little number lol. I've never been more pressured or determined. I don't wanna be fat anymore.

[rachaelm]

I went to my son's school for open house, looked around at a gym of about 400 people, and realized that there was only one other person there who was as big as I was.

I decided I could change that. So I am.