I live abroad and went home for my best friend's wedding last September (2010). They had to order my bridesmaid dress based on my measurements and I didn't have a chance to try it on. When I got home, I tried the dress on - five days before the wedding - and it wouldn't even zip. I thought I was going to have to wear a sweater over it. Luckily a good friend and very talented seamstress took it out all the way and I wore it, but it looked awful. To boot, I was convinced that the size of the dress was too big and it would need to be taken in!

Her entire wedding day I knew I looked awful, and I look awful in the photos. That was it for me! Came back and hit it hard and have lost 40 pounds and still going.

For me there should have been many times in my life that forced me into losing weight. Lots of embarrassing moments related specifically to my weight. Feeling tired and achy all of the time. Watching my sizes go up. Not being able to shop in a 'normal' clothing store with my friends. Feeling insecure and not dating. Even getting diagnosed with Diabetes last year didn't do it.

I have tried sporadically to lose weight. I'd work really hard for two months and not see the scale budge. I'd get discouraged and quit. What I've learned in the recent years is that I'm battling hypothyroidism and PCOS. So while I'm the one to blame for putting on the weight, I had other struggles internally that was preventing me from losing it. But even after I went on medication I still didn't work on it.

Well a couple of months ago I woke up and realized I was 35 1/2 with no life. I've always wanted to be active and outgoing but never made the effort to do so. I decided that if I was going to live the best life that I could (quoting Oprah) then I needed to get my health and weight in order. So I wouldn't necessarily call it a light bulb moment. But it was definitely a moment of clarity into the state of my life and who I wanted to be.

I have been trying to lose the weight that I packed on from having my 1st child for the last 11 years. I haven't had much success however so one again trying again. I figure someday the hard work I put in will lead to some results.

For me it was seeing my daughter put on weight and finding out I had high blood pressure.

I had a brain tumour removed in Oct and I was told that the tumour had been growing at least 10 years and could have been due to my poor diet and diabetes. That's enough to make ANYONE want to get their body in check!

I was still in recovery early this year and didn't really start with any change until March but now that I've made the decision to better my life I'm sticking with it

At my highest of 227, my husband was the best man at a wedding. There were pictures of me and him, and after I saw the pictures (thank you instantaneous digital cameras), I knew I had to do something. I truly had no idea I was as big as I was. My husband was leaving for Iraq a few days later, and I decided I would lose the weight while he was gone. I did, and had about 15 lbs. to go to get to my goal weight when he returned. I maintained for a while (lots of eating out and some new routine adjustments). Just as I got the hang of it and dropped another 5 lbs., I got pregnant.

I gained way too much weight (60 lbs., I think) during the pregnancy. I lost about 25 without trying, 10 more with calorie counting, and then I decided it was time to use a stricter approach (a low carb diet) since I was yo-yoing and not gaining much ground. I just got tired of feeling fat, and I want to have another baby (he's 16 months, so this has been going on a while) but refuse to let the extra baby pounds pile up on top of each other.

I have struggled with my weight for years. I have been depressed about it for a long time. As you all know, losing weight is hard, if it was easy, everyone would be skinny.

My turning point was this year. On July 1st, I decided to give myself the BEST birthday present ever. To be healthy and fit! I haven't looked back since. I have so much energy, went from a size 18/20 down to 14!! I have a couple pairs of 16's I wear, but I need a belt. Now when I look in the mirror, I smile. It doesn't get any better than that!

The first time I had a light bulb moment (about 8 years ago) was due to considering joining the army, and realizing how far I had to go before I would be in an acceptable weight range. That was enough motivation to get me started, and I lost ~80 lbs over about a year.

Then I kind of lost interest in the whole "eating healthy - being fit" thing; I was too busy doing other things. I gained back about 20 lbs over the next 2 years, and then met my husband and gained more, had two babies and gained a LOT more.

This past November, I was looking at weight loss sites for motivation (as always) and came across a site called "Body For Wife". It motivated me to start taking steps toward weight loss (check out local gyms, figure out a time to go, etc.) before actually getting started. I dropped the gym attendance after a couple months, still futzing around with my diet, but I had lost some weight and drifted down a few pounds.

Then, when I got back from my vacation at the beginning of July, I was relaxed and in a good mood, and (upon discovering my weight had drifted up a bit) buckled down on my diet and got the weight moving in the right direction again. Seeing it work boosted my motivation, so here I am still working at it.

Two moments for me, really. One was when I went to the doctor and stepped on the scale - and it read over 230. I don't know why I could not accept that, but I just couldn't... And like some other people here, I thought, 'I may weigh 235 pounds, but I sure as heck don't look it.' And then I saw my engagement pictures!!

I totally looked it.

So both my fiancee and I joined the gym, which has been super helpful; and I went back on birth control to see if that helped, once the doctor diagnosed me with PCOS. I still feel like I have an appetite that is larger than most people's -- like I am HUNGRY all of the time -- but I am choosing to fill in with healthier foods.

I was 180 lbs in the eighth grade... I was a size 12 when I weighed 190lbs a few years ago, because I was working out a lot. I haven't weighed less than 180 lbs since being in eighth grade, and I am excited to be on this journey. For maybe the first time in my life, I feel like it might happen!

Reading everyone's answers made me both smile and tear up! I actually used to be a weight loss counselor, and it brought back memories of all of my successful clients. I was muscle-y then, and used to tell my clients about my weighing 230 lbs in the past... and here I am again! Thanks for being so inspirational!

I realize there are a plethora of exclamation marks here... I guess that just goes to show how exciting weight loss can be!

For me it was the dreaded facebook tag. Boy was I in denial until then. Once I saw that picture I immediately went and repacked my lunch for the following day.

I don't know if there was one moment. The determination I have this time is from a culmination of moments..

Growing up as the fat kid with the fat mom,
and it costs too much to bury my feelings in chocolate and ice cream...
Losing the man (and life) of my dreams because I didn't want him to touch me
My doctor telling me the week after I ran a marathon that I was obese-and him showing me where I fit on his little coloured chart
From thinking about this for the last 15 years, every minute of every agonizing day and doing nothing about it
The day I started chewing and spitting...the day when I found out that I do have a gag reflex, that a binge can be undone
Crying myself to sleep because I didn't think any man would ever love me again
Crying because I don't know how to love me
Because my uncle died at age 45 from being fat
Because I want to save myself so that I can inspire my mom and my auntie and friends that are going down that road
Because I want and deserve to be happy
Because I'm not going to throw junk food anymore Sunday night farewell parties
Because this diet doesn't start on Monday-it's not a diet and it starts now

Great thread topic!!

My moment was a few years back, when my scale said 198. I was in shock, 'What? 2 pounds shy of 200?' So there I went, cried my eyes out, and drove the next day after work, straight to LA Weight Loss. Signed up. And went and lost 40 pounds. I was celebrating 160 lbs. And so so happy. Then one day, my favorite counselor quit without telling me. After two three weeks, I finally asked the other ladies, and they were surprised that I didn't know. I felt like an abandoned child. And quit going to my weekly weight ins. I was out of them LA Lites and my contract was about up anyways. Couple months after that, the local store, as many others have closed their doors.

Somehow, I forgot all I learnt, and gain weight back to 178. I hit the breaks. What? Size 14 is getting tight again. I will not go over 180. I managed to lose a few on my own, doing zumba couple times a week. Trying to eat right. And came back to 3FC awhile clocked in at 175.

I signed up on all sorts of challenges, to keep myself in check. Though Labor Day throw me a curve ball. And I didn't want to fight the family. I strayed. But tomorrow is a new day, a new day towards my goal.

*Cheers* everyone! May we all dream come true. And lots of to help us get there.
God Bless.

It was soon after the birth of my daughter in 2007. I had my husband keep taking picture after picture of us together because I didn't like my face in any of them. I looked horrible. I weighed around 270 lbs at her birth. 3 months post birth I could barely fit my pregnancy pants which means I had to have weighe dmore than I did at birth. I joined myspace around that time and went to upload some pictures of myself but quickly realized how ashamed I was as to how i looked.

I got down to 141 lbs by the end of 2009 but found myself pregnant again and went back up to 220 (fell off the wagon horribly) and now im working my way back down. I tasted what fitness felt like in 2009. I got to feel the difference of how people look and treat you in stores from being morbidly obese to fit/shape and i want to be back down to 140. I could breathe right, my blood pressure great, i could outrun mychildren... I couldn't do anything at 270 lbs. My blood pressure was on the verge of medication. I was facing the high risk of diabetes. My aha moment was realizing I was alive but I was far from living