Did any of you have a clear moment when you said enough! I want to be thinner and just started to do it?

Haven't had mine yet for dieting but I did for smoking many years ago (I was 26) and also for excessive boozing (12 years ago).

My DH had his moment last Thursday. This is the longest he's ever stuck with not binge eating and he's actually joined up and going to a gym! I'm very proud of his first week as a fit person and told him so this morning.

I'm also very relieved as his whole family is morbidly obese and he was walking down that same road.

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm working all weekend but the perks are pretty good - hot tub, pool, huge house with many books, 2 blocks from some amazing shopping and 4 blocks from the beach.

Now if only Chris Noth were to wander along the boardwalk it would be perfect!

Cheers!
Dagmar

Kind of.....

Two years ago this August I quit my job of 14 1/5 years. I was going to take a 6 month "breather" before going to work with my husband. I thought that that would be the perfect time to lose some weight and get fit. Lord knows it didn't work because 6 months later I was not exercising and I had gained over 5 pounds and was suddenly at my highest (non pregnancy) weight.

It was just after Christmas 2005 when I found out that I wouldn't be reporting for my new job in January, but rather I'd be starting in early April 2006. I just said to myself, that this IS the time I NEED to lose the weight because who knows what is in store for me once I did start the job. So the journey started in January 2006 and I found 3FC in February (I think).

Mine was when I joined a gym. I had been uphappy with my weight since junior high but had some bad experiences with dieting in college and had decided that I was just doomed to be overweight.

But then I started having some health issues that my doctor thought were weight related (although, ironically turned out not to be) and joined the gym with the idea that I even if I couldn't lose weight, I could at least be in better shape. But the staff at the gym was so enthusiastic and seemed completely confident that I could lose weight; they just assumed it was my goal and seemed totally confident that I could do it. It really got me thinking. I remember going home afterwards and asking my SO if he thought it really might be possible that I could one day look in the mirror and feel good about what I see.

My lifestyle change didn't happen overnight, but it was pretty close to that. I signed up with a personal trainer right away and within two months I was exercising six days a week and counting calories. That was Aug 05 and I've been at it ever since.

I think I'm in the midst of my AHA moment... I hate what I see happening in the mirror and on the scale and I hate how OLD I feel. Kind of sludgy. And frumpy. My 50th birthday is next month and my 2nd anniversary is in September. My husband is 8 years younger than me, and his job keeps him fit and tan.

All this adds up to having the "gift" of desperation as my friend Vicki put it. I searched amazon for books that seemed to have a solution for me [a 40 plus menopausal female] and bought the Body for Life for Women book and decided to go with it.

So here I am. Driven by that precious gift of desperation.

cups

When the doctor told me what my BMI was and the health problems I could be setting myself up for down the road if I didn't get a handle on my weight (strokes, heart attacks, and diabetes run in my family).

I was about 155 pounds and really had no idea that I wasn't "big-boned" but literally overweight (with a BMI of over 26). I went home, cried for a while, and then threw out a bunch of food and started running six days a week. With breaks to maintain, I've been on a weight loss journey for about six years now--my BMI is now 20.6, right in the "normal" range.

betsysunqueen I'm your height (5"4") and I'll be really happy and satisfied with how I look somewhere around 130 lbs. The last time I was around your goal weight of 110 I kept passing out. Funny how different we all are - but that keeps life interesting.
Dagmar

My very first "ah-ha" moment was 19 years ago just before I got pregnant with DS... The zipper on my jeans kept breaking and I wasn't getting the hint that it was because I was 30 lbs overweight ... Silly me!!

The second "ah-ha" moment was when I started at 3FC around 6 years ago and wondered why I didn't lose weight, but when I really searched my soul and my looked at my food plan, I realised I wasn't eating all that well and needed to clean up my food and up my workouts if I wanted to lose weight... And lo and behold it worked !!

I never have a true Oprah A-HA moment..the kind that alters my life. It is all just a passing thought. I don't know if I've ever had an A-HA in my life...just take it day by day. Not a big goal setter...maybe that is why I have such a hard time with dieting (always living for the moment and can't seem to see the big picture!).

I guess my Aha moment was January 2006. All the ladies in the office are always talking about wanting to lose weight and i saw one of the older women outside walking the parking lot at lunch. That's when it hit me...I sit at a desk all day long, then i go to the break room and eat lunch and sit for another hour...why don't i go outside and walk for 30 minutes. So...I did. For 6 months until it got too hot to walk outside, I walked every day on my lunch break for 30 minutes then went inside to eat lunch and cool off before going back to my desk.

Now, I am at it again to finish what I left undone when I lost my gym membership and started dating. I lost half of my goal last year, now I am out to finish my 2nd half. :-)

Hmm... My AHA moment was probably the combination of a couple of worrying remarks on my blood test results and what the scales showed me in January 2005--my highest weight ever (it was probably a little over 165 lbs, even, during the dreaded Christmas period). And 165 on a short person isn't that great. That's when I realized that if I could gain 15 pounds in *one year* without even noticing it (deluding myself and exercising denial, rather... haha), then where would I be by 30? By 40? Ugh. So I decided to "just do it" and nip it the bud to remain at least "only overweight" if I couldn't reach "normal". Of course, there were a couple of setbacks (*a-HEM*) along the road, but each time I manage to pick myself up, it seems I learn new things, so I've decided to take it the positive way.