Hello all =) I just started here and thought I'd post a thread/question. I know that I'm not alone on my current weight loss conquest (I'm calling it a conquest because I like making it sound like victory is imminent) but what got you all started? Where did your determination come from?

When did you finally put down your foot and say, "Enough is enough"?

What are your starter stories, if any? Have you have ever had a "moment", like mine, when you decided to get in better shape, or have you had someone hurtful to you that made you realize that you wanted to change?

I booked a holiday in Israel next year with a friend. Great person but can be very bossy. Fat, I would have looked belligerent, or just a fat dope next to her; thinner, I'll feel very different.

TBH, though, my underlying fear is dying too fat for the undertakers to carry me. Sorry to be grim but it's true!

Good luck, Belle!

Haha ^_^ no harm no foul.

I agree with you, I want to stop looking so big next to my friends! And my husband -.-

We are not bad because we are fat. We don't deserve less in life. We are not less than people with different body shapes.
Losing weight can be great! Feeling good about yourself is even better. Your weight, no matter the number, is NOT an ok reason for someone to guilt you or try to hurt you.

Body shaming others is not cool and I'm really sorry you got a dose of it from your own mom.

when my ex told me i should stop eating that i was very pretty to be so fat.. that just hurt me so much that's when i said enough is enough

My weight actually WAS affecting other people. My family. I was not physically capable of doing many things. There was lots I just sat around for and didn't participate in - doing things with my kids - bike riding, horseback riding, ice skating, swimming, taking loooong walks. I begged off of a lot. I avoided going on trips.

And the truth is, I was looow on energy and stamina. I thought I always compensated for it, but that was not the case. Upon losing the weight, I became a bundle of non-stop energy. ALWAYS ON THE MOVE. I get SO much done and accomplished in a day. Not sure how I ever managed when I was obese. Oh I know how - I barely did.

Than there's my mental state. Again, I always thought I compensated for it, but AFTERWARDS, I realize just how much happier I am, how much more joy there is in my life, how much less worries I have and that can't help but spill over into how you go about your daily things for the day and how you treat people and so on.

All that extra weight literally dragged me down and held me back. It was always *there*. This extra burden that I always carried around with me.That can't help but affect how you go about your day and it does rub off on other people, unfortunately the ones you love get the brunt of it.

I have so much more self confidence and self respect for myself. AGain, that can't help but spill over to each and every area of my life.

Some one once said something that really stuck with me. Think of your family as this big wonderful tree. The leaves there on top, that's your family. You (the mom) are the roots. Those leaves there on top can't prosper and grow properly if the roots aren't well taken care of.

Again, this may be no one else's experience but my own, but I am able to give more of myself, on so many different levels. For me, having lost the weight, I am definitely a better mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend, neighbor, stranger, person, citizen.

Enough for me is my health is suffering.

And I realize that for me being this heavy my weight is tied to a lot of things I am not happy about in my life. Food is not worth my unhappiness. Its just not.

Make sure to do it for you. Do it for your health!

I did it for myself....no one else. Selfish? Yeah....but after putting everyone before me for almost all my life, I think it was time

I hope your mom doesn't talk to you like that all of the time....she sounds a bit toxic

I have a zillion starter stories, but my last one and the one I REALLY plan on doing was when I friend on August 1, 2010 said something that made me sit up and take action. She told me that the only reason I was still fat was because I didn't want to be thin bad enough. She said that if I wanted it, I would do it. This made me mad and then it made me mad at myself because she was right! That is when I started and I will keep going from now and forever.

There are several reasons but the main one is I want to be able to do things with my kids that I can't right now because of my weight. It's holding me back from living the life I want to live, that I should be living. And that's going to change, period.

Two words: pain and fear.

I've had Achilles tendinitis for a couple years (since I overdid it trying to jog at a high weight). Usually it would get worse when I was over 280, but when I lost weight it would ease. It just wasn't easing. I began missing days of work because of the pain of walking. I'd load myself up on ibuprofen, then when that didn't do enough, I'd have a couple drinks to numb the pain. (Even after losing almost 50 pounds, I am in a lot of pain, but not as much as I was.)

I was officially diagnosed as pre-diabetic. It wasn't a surprise, or at least it shouldn't have been. I've known I was IR since high school (almost 30 years ago), and I've known I had PCOS for almost 15 years. I KNOW my body doesn't like carbs. But it didn't really click for me until I got a blood sugar meter and actually say, in numbers, how my blood sugar reacts to a two-slice-of-bread sandwich and an apple and chips all in the same meal. That's just too much carb for me, yet it's fairly "healthy" (depending on the chips).

So now I've pretty much eliminated sugar and starch from my diet, and I try to find exercises that I can do that don't entail walking or impact.

Pain and fear. /sigh

Thinking back at all the times I decided to lose weight, fat comments probably made up around 90% of the motivating factor. Trying to get a man was the other 10%.

This time (and so far my most successful attempt) I did it because I was afraid I was going to die. I did it because I was so miserable and sick and lifeless...Oh and did I say miserable? This time no one had anything to do with it. It was a decision I made for me to better my miserable life. Though it might sound a little cliche'..."I was sick and tired of being sick and tired".

Ah, Jelbelle, I am sorry to hear your mother story. The people we love the most can hurt us the most. Once the hurt wears off, will this motivation keep you going? I doubt it. Lose weight for you, so that you can have the fullest life possible. You are worth it and you can do it.

My weight definitely affected others, my family and friends and coworkers to some extent. Not quite as much as it affected me but it still affected them. My mobility was being affected and I was miserable. I had two choices, lose weight or end up in one of those little scooter things.

I was at a friends house, and I went on facebook for a minute. One of their friends happened to be looking over my shoulder and saw my picture and asked "who is that?" I said, "me, when I was skinny" and he said, "geez, you were HOT!"

I felt ashamed and embarrassed. Never again!

I dont know if it was an enoughs enough trigger for me but I was sitting at home with my 7 month old and he was grabbing for my food, I actually said "No, this isn't good for little guys" then a light bulb just went off . . . If I wont feed it to my son because its not healthy, why am I eating it? That turned into cleaner eating, when that started to make me FEEL healthier, I wanted more. I wanted Jack to be proud of his Mom, I want him to grow up being an active Kid and I want to be active WITH him, not watching him.
It was just a domino affect with me, the more I worked at it, the more I saw the benefits.
Now, I'm getting a bit vain I'm starting to really like the way I look and I'm proud of what i've done to my body . . . I want more