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Old 01-31-2008, 11:58 AM   #1  
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Question Lightbulb Moment....????????????

For those that have lost a significant amount of weight ......did you have a lightbulb moment...a moment were there was no turning back??? no cheating or starting over and then over again?????????

I have been trying to get my mind in the game for about 6 months ..I saw a picture of myself taken last night and I really can't believe it is me?? I start over and then over and then over again. Just wanted to hear how everyone else was "triggered" to lose all the weight!

Thanks

Em
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Old 01-31-2008, 12:05 PM   #2  
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There have been many things that triggered me wanting and needing to lose weight. My underwear is lost in the fat, when i lay on my side my stomach seems to be in love with gravity, when i wear a big t-shirt you can still see the fat on my back, i don't have any cute clothes, i have to wear maternity stretch jeans because nothing else fits good, my pants size is at the highest its ever been (size 22), I had a look at my past and seen what I was like and I want that again, and the most and biggest thing probably was when my husbands mother gave me a pair of pajama pants for christmas----and it was an XXL (I was alittle offended that she actually thought I was THAT big) AND IT FIT--------PERFECTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it.
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Old 01-31-2008, 12:28 PM   #3  
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I don't normally post in this forum (since I didn't use LA Weight Loss) but I actually had a series of events that pushed me to lose the weight forever.

1. My Eddie Bauer size 18 loose fit jeans (which I had worn everyday for nearly 2 years - the only things that fit) had gotten tight. My boyfriend said "buy some bigger jeans" and the thought of buying size 20 jeans was just terrifying to me (becuase I could see a future where I would need bigger and bigger sizes, my eating and weight gain was spiraling out of control).

2. My naturally very slender and glamorous mother wanted me to visit for Christmas. I had been avoiding going home for years and was mortified by the idea of my mom seeing how heavy I had gotten. She is really one of those naturally skinny people, she doesn't really understand how people get so heavy.

3. I went to the bathroom at a movie theatre, a regular sized stall. I have always been a pear shape and my butt/thighs were pretty big. When I sat down on the toilet, the outside of my left outer thigh was cut by a sharp edged metal trash can stuck on the stall wall. A normal person would have fit just fine, but I was too big - a lifetime of plane seatbelt extenders and being "too big" for normal activities flashed through my mind. The cut bled and I sat on the toilet and cried.

4. I was fairly well-known online in an Everquest community. The developers of Everquest invited a bunch of people who ran online forums like me to San Diego to discuss the state of the game. I was terrified to meet people in real life who only knew my online persona - witty, outgoing, flirty, popular. I had to shop for the event and it was TERRIBLE. The only place I could find anything to fit was Lane Bryant and XXL stuff from Eddie Bauer. I must have shopped for HOURS before settling on 2 outfits I didn't really like.

All of these events made me miserable. At this point, I desperately WANTED to lose weight. All the wanting in the world is useless though, until you can actually make a plan and execute that plan. So, the next thing that happened was pretty magical.

I was browsing in a bookstore and found this booK: SuperFood Rx: 14 Foods That Can Change Your Life (I always adored all kinds of weight loss books and always flipped through themin the bookstore, dreaming, but never doing). WHAM. This book - it was like grabbing hold of an electric fence. Literally, everything crystallized instantly in my head, I knew exactly what I would do and had no doubts at all that it would work.

You can read the link in my signature for the long story, but I basically completely changed the way I looked at weight loss forever. Intead of a punitive diet where I restricted foods and was hungry and miserable and couldn't wait for it to be over so I could eat "normally", I changed the way I eat forever so normal was good, healthy foods I liked. I started eating foods with powerful nutritional properties and avoiding foods with limited nutritional benefit -I gave myself the gift of a healthy slender body. It has been 3.5 years, I have lost 70+ lbs and I feel fabulous every day. I never stopped and have never needed to "cheat!"

Good luck with your journey!

Last edited by Glory87; 01-31-2008 at 12:29 PM.
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Old 01-31-2008, 12:37 PM   #4  
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I didnt have a "lightbulb" moment, i've always wanted to lose weight just didnt know how and after i had my 2nd child i was actually 20lbs light after having him than i was before i was even pregnant so i figured since i had a head start i'll continue and thats what i did. I hate that i cant wear all the cute stuff in the stores and i have to look like a granny because i'm heavier. I hate clothes shopping because nothing ever looks good and its just depressing. I finally wanted to be happy with myself and i also dont want my kids to have a fat mom. I want to be able to live a healthy life for them and to be able to run around with them and not get out of breath just from being fat. when i was younger i told everyone that i will not lose weight for anyone and if they didnt like me the way i was then that was just too bad. I always said that i'll lose weight when I wanted to and when i was ready. You have to do it for yourself and its a very hard thing to do so #1 you have to do it because you really want to and you have to commit yourself or you wont succeed. I think what keeps me from cheating is the fact that i know i can do it and my happiness is definitely worth sacrificing food. Think of it this way, bad food is like drugs. You get a short term high then you feel like crap after. (honestly i've never done drugs but from what i heard, this is what its like).
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Old 01-31-2008, 12:47 PM   #5  
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Glory87 i looked at your pics, you look like a completely different person. Congrats on the lifestyle change. You look so happy compared to the before pics.
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Old 01-31-2008, 12:49 PM   #6  
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my moment was last year and the fact that i was turning 25 and couldn't believe that i was still struggling with my weight. i was still the "fat girl". i have been up and down the spectrum of the scale and had joined LAWL twice already and still didn't maintain my losses.
so this time around i joined and told myself that this was IT. i joined on feb 5th last year and it's been almost 1yr and i'm almost at 50lbs lost. that's the most i've ever lost and the longest that i've ever stuck with it. i'm at the lowest weight i've been in over 8yrs. and
i've done too well and have come too far to go back. i've re-learned how to eat and take care of my body for the rest of my life and i'm never going back to where i was. i'm finally in that place where you just want and need to do it for yourself and keep going with it. i'm not quite at my goal weight, but it's just a number for me to focus on. i'm going to stop and maintain my weight once i feel completely comfortable.
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Old 01-31-2008, 01:07 PM   #7  
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I went with my DH and DS and some friends to an amusement park and was too big to pull the overhead bars down and hook it (it was a ride where your feet hang loose). It was the only thing I wanted to ride and I was "too fat" to fit.

I was done. I realized that I didn't like what I saw ... not even a little. I decided that I would try LA Weight Loss. My DS who was 7 years old asked me why I wanted to go on a diet. He said I looked beautiful to him.

I think that the ride was the catalist, but that true defining moment, when I said I was going to lose this weight today and not "tomorrow", was then. I made up my mind that he would always be able to look at me and think I was beautiful. That he would never have any reason to be ashamed of how I look. That I would be health so I could see him grow-up, get married, and see him in his children.

That 1 simple sentence was my "lightbulb moment". That was 4 1/2 months and 63.2 lbs ago. I am almost 1/2 way to my goal. I will make it there before this year is out.
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Old 01-31-2008, 03:58 PM   #8  
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I haven’t lost a great deal of weight, but I am well on my way and know that I will get there! Hopefully you can still benefit from my story.

I have been in extreme denial last 10 years about my weight. I’ve been really lucky to have great friends and family that love me just the way I am. I also have no health problems and have a very successful career. I was as happy as anyone possibly could be at 374 pounds. Or at least I thought I was.

I always watch all the shows on the Health and Discovery channels about obesity. One day I was watching and the guy weight 380 pounds. He was HUGE and I realized that I was going to pass that weight and probably hit 400 soon.

I still don’t know really motivated me to do actually go to the center. My mom said her friends were on LAWL and offered to pay for my membership. I knew nothing about it and that appealed to me. I just said okay and the next thing I knew I was at the center. THAT is where I found my motivation.

My counselor commented on how I only rated my motivation for losing weight a 7 (1-10 scale). She thought it should be a lot higher than that b/c of the reasons for losing the weight I had on my form – health and wedding. I had this total epiphany that I had completely put my life on hold. I have been engaged for 3 YEARS and keep putting off the wedding. I’ve canceled it twice and have said it was a “financial issue” both times. That’s a complete lie. I can’t imagine putting on a wedding dress and have everyone look at me the way I look now. Horrific. I love my fiancé and we should be married.

It made me stop and think of all the things I was missing out on. I love to shop. Because of my weight the only place I can get clothes now is online catalogs. I can’t even buy regular shoes that fit.

I avoid people that I haven’t seen in a while b/c I don’t want to see how much weight I gained. Believe it or not 10 years ago I was thin and beautiful at 140 lbs. Everyone gains a little weight now and then but I had more than doubled my weight.

I love to travel, but was scared to go on airplanes for fear of not fitting in the seats. So I didn’t go anywhere unless I could drive there.

I love live music and dancing. I couldn’t make it through the shows b/c I’d get so tired and my back would hurt. I skipped my favorite music festival with my friends last summer and I was the one that started the tradition of going every year. Lame.

I want kids. My weight has caused me to stop ovulating. The doctors have told me that my cycle will return once I lose weight.

This one really bothers me…….I can’t walk my dogs. I love my dogs : (

Suddenly it was all so ridiculous. Where did I go?? I completely lost myself in all this fat.

One week into the program something clicked in my head. I told one of my friends that this was totally something I could do for the rest of my life. And I meant it. The program just makes sense to me. I’m never hungry, have a ton of energy and am eating very healthy foods. I feel fantastic and I’ve still got a long way to go. I can’t imagine going back to where I was!

Wow, this was really emotional for me to read these and write my post. Thanks for creating this thread. I just wrote things down that I had never really admitted. Even to myself.


Good luck.
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Old 01-31-2008, 04:34 PM   #9  
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My decision to get serious was in September of 2006 when during a Dr. visit, I hit 300 on the scale..

My lightbulb moment was about 2 months later when people kept telling me I looked great.. It hit me that it was easier than I thought it would be and that I was doing the right thing.. Sure, there have been ups and downs, but in the end, I made it through.. It's been one of the biggest, most important accomplishments of my life..
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Old 01-31-2008, 05:32 PM   #10  
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The posts on this thread are so inspiring and heart wrenching to read because I see myself in so many of them, especially yours, Jill. Thanks for sharing your story, it really meant a lot to me to connect with someone and realize that I am not alone in this struggle.

My light bulb moment happened last summer when I was parked in a lot facing the disabled parking spaces. There was a lady in a wheelchair on a ramp that was slowly lowering from the van to the street when the ramp jammed and lurched. The wheelchair was secured to the ramp but apparently she was not and the most horrifying thing was that she took a header of a fall, nearly 4 feet, to the pavement.

I ran to her to ask if she needed anything and her driver was already on the phone calling 911. She told me not to move her, she said she was so big and I would hurt myself. I should say that I was, at that point, 110 pounds overweight. Anyway, I would not have tried to move her anyway for fear of injuring her more than the fall.

Stayed with her until the parametics arrived and went back to my car realizing that if I didn't do something right away, that would be me in a wheelchair SOON.

I went to LAWL the next day. To date, I have lost 40 pounds, and need to get re-committed. Been really lazy about following my program and this morning I pulled out my journal and started logging foods and getting real with what I was eating.

Thanks for this thread. Reading the stories is inspiring to say the least. We all have our 'ah-ha' moments.

Roberta
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Old 01-31-2008, 06:49 PM   #11  
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Kelly - My light bulb moment was something similar to that. All of the safety bars on the rides are a little more snug than I feel comfortable with, especially with my 100 lb daughter sitting next to me. We went on one of the older rides at Knott's Berry Farm last spring that just had a regular lap belt. I couldn't get it to snap closed and was ready to just get off the ride but the guy who was working the ride insisted he could get it closed and it was just stuck on my jeans pocket. He did but how embarassing that was...
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Old 01-31-2008, 07:34 PM   #12  
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My problem was different than most of yours. My jeans were getting tighter and I had the muffin top that I was trying cover up. My boyfriend didn't complain or say anything but I had gained 15 lbs since we starting dating. I had to do a presentation at work and had to pin my pants closed cuz they had gotten tighter. After I had done the first one, I went to the store to buy something to wear and had to try on bigger sizes.

We had health assessments done and my came back that I was overweight. On their scale, I weigh almost 160! How could that be? I worked out 4 times a week and ate healthy.

I started a weight competition with a girl from work - we both put in $25 - the person who lost the biggest percentage got the cash. For 3 weeks, my weight didn't change even though I was trying to diet. Since I'm 50 I knew it would be tough to lose but I thought it wouldn't be that hard.

That was when I decided to go to LAWL. I started Oct 16th. My weight came off slowly. Today, I am 15 lbs lighter and wearing a size 8. Even size 8 are getting too big. We had our final weigh in today. I am happy to say I won our competition and am $50 richer now.
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Old 01-31-2008, 08:23 PM   #13  
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My lightbulb moment came in 2001 as I was looking over my only sister's wedding album. I was so shocked to see this chunky bridesmaid coming down the aisle... I looked closer and still closer. OH MY GOD! It was me! Mind you, I'd been a chunky preteen; had a growth spurt and started my diet cycles in high school. Got into college around a size 7 maintained it. I got married around 9/10. Somehow, in the 2nd year of marriage, during my move to PA, I ballooned up to 160! It was all my emotional eating of sweets and chocolate. It was nights off ordering out and hanging out. No exercise and no activity. I was totally addicted to that sugar high! All of that weight made me look bloated and heavier than I really was. Those 30lb extra were what was enormous on my 5 3 frame. Not to mention, I was still trying to squeeze into my 10s. Talk about a muffin top! I had to buy new elastic waistband clothes. I think I had size 14s before I had enought and started serious weight loss. What still surprised me after all those years, not one person told me how I looked when I was chunky. Granted I didn't travel back home for much of that year but I have to think at some point my family would have seen me and asked me what the **** happened?? I was introduced to my sisters inlaws looking like that. After I had gained all this weight, and saw the wedding pictures, I watched a commercial for LA weight loss and went in right then. I signed up with gusto and lost 5 lbs on take off. Once, I started losing it I got so many complements on my weight loss. Some of my coworkers had joined too, so i had additional support at work. I'm a RN, and so many patients bring in Thank you sweets on discharge. IT was soo hard resisting all those doughnuts, bagels, sweetened coffees, and sugared cookies. Even still, after I had lost a few pounds, I couldn't help but thinking to people who were going on and on about how I looked, "but this is how I usually look...you just met me on a difficult emotionally draining year!"

Needless to say, I got pregnant at 136! One lb from my goal, which I wanted to be in a safe zone before we started trying. That was in April 2002. Each pregnancy and subsequent delivery I started back on program. My youngest in almost 2..in March. I want to get back in safe zone since we want to try for another!
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Old 01-31-2008, 08:43 PM   #14  
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I had several light bulb moments.

It took many things to break through the denial in which I was living.

My former brother in law (my nephew's father) died. He was 42 and had a heart attack, basically because he did not take care of himself. He was almost 3 years younger than me, so that burst that whole bubble of I'm too young to have health problems hit me. And not everyone gets to do better after the heart attack. A lot of people just die with the first one.

Then I got my blood results back from a physical and my triglycerides were very high. My bad diet was starting to show up in my blood. My cholesterol numbers were still in the OK range, but the HDL numbers were a little low and they were creeping up every time I had them measured. It was clear that I was starting to head into problems.

Then I went to a family reunion and sat and listened to my aunts complain about all their health problems, all obese people, who I had based my fat doesn't kill us denial on (they are all still living). Sure they are still alive but they are not enjoying a quality of life, when 3 out of 3 of them show up using a cane and discussing the surgery they had for this or that. I believe a lot of their problems stem back from being very overweight and out of shape for a very long time.

So anyway, shortly after this glorious cane filled family reunion, I joined LAWL. I began researching exactly how bad it was for you to be overweight or obese. I was alarmed. So there were a series of ah ha moments as I started to lose weight.
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Old 01-31-2008, 11:02 PM   #15  
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What a great thread. Thanks all of you for sharing your stories.

I was always thin. In high school I had a perfect hourglass. In college I had to have a stomach surgery that put me off solids for months. I dropped down to 102 lbs. I started my freshman year wearing little girls size 12 jeans. I am so short, along with being so thin, I was just tiny. My parents and both of my sisters were overweight, ranging from obese to just a little chubby. I was always the thin one. Then life happened. Finally at 220, when my mom was giving me her old clothes that were too big for her, I realized that I had a real problem. It wasn't just the weight. I was miserable with my whole life. I had gone from a beautiful girl who would not leave the house without her hair and makeup done to this frumpy lady who never did her hair or wore makeup, was very over weight, and just threw on stretchy pants and big tshirts every day. Where did I go? Losing weight was the best thing to ever happen to me for so many reasons. I started doing my hair again, wearing makeup, jewelry even. I left a very oppressive religion and felt freed up to be myself. I started buying and wearing cute, sexy clothes. I love to show off my great cleavage, even. My grandma hates it. She says, "Katie, you dress like those girls on TV!" She means it as an insult, but I just smile and say, "Thank you" as if she has just given me a very sweet compliment. I no longer make excuses. I am me. I am always gonna be me. I was down the 150's, but after a LAWL hiatus, I have gained some back. No worries. I am back on the downhill side, and I am gonna stay there. I am going all the way. Wait until my Grandma sees what I wear this summer in my teeny little 130 lb body!
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