I'm curious what it was that prompted people to make the decision to get healthy. Personally, I knew for years that I was overweight and unhealthy, and made half-hearted attempts to change things, but i really wasn't trying. I had my annual physical at the beginning of the year, and my really cool doctor sat down with me and talked to me about my weight (in a non-condescending way, so i didn't feel ashamed or anything) and what I could do about it. All the advice he gave me was stuff I already knew, but I guess I was just ready to make a change, because I listened to him, and so far it's working. Did you have a moment that turned you around, or was it just a gradual realization that it was time? Love to hear your reasons!

last year i was diagnosed with cervical cancer. i was treated by radiation and chemo which has so far been working. it was just so embaressing to be treated cuz i was so big .one man in the waitng roommade a comment that bothered me... he thought i must have been waitng on someone . he implied that because i was so big i couldnt possibly have cancer. i let him him know though that i did indeed have cancer.. that shut him up.

When I stepped on the scale and realized I was double the weight right before I was pregnant with my oldest son. I was in shock, and I really mean shock. I spent probably a full day in a stupor. Then I cried, sad, felt defeited, cried some more and then got angry. That anger carried me through 30 lbs, then just doing it was enough.

A change in my circumstances really made the decision for me. I switched jobs last summer and the building where I currently work has a gym. In January, they waived the sign-up fee so it really just costs about $1.00/day to join. I figured, "well, I have no excuse not to join," so I signed up. It was my first time ever joining a gym. Since I don't have to do any extra traveling to get there, it's easy to make working out part of my daily routine. For me, working out is the hard part, so it wasn't too difficult to adjust my eating habits so I don't undue all that hard work I've been doing at the gym.

Great question.

Hmmmm... was it stepping on the scale and finding I weighed more than I ever dreamed (nightmare, obviously) I'd weigh? Was it that my blood pressure, reliably low, kept creeping up and up? Was it that my cholesterol number, also reliably low, had busted 200 and was climbing? Was it that photograph my husband took from the back of his daughter and me walking along the beach, and the butt comparison between us was embarrassingly unflattering? Or was it that my right foot started hurting so much every time I first stood up that I had to gimp around like ol' Hop Along Cassidy for 10 minutes every morning before the pain abated?

Any one of these things. All of these things. Some of us need to be hit over the head with a club before we figure it out.

Thanks for asking.

All the best, Rae

For me, it was something I knew I needed to do for a really long time. I didn't like feeling restricted by my body. I want to be able to go outdoors and hike/fish/ski/run/swim/etc. without limitations. I was getting fed up with myself like I was, honestly... Then my baby brother asked me to be in his wedding, and his fiancee chose a slinky red dress with spaghetti straps... I knew that was the catalyst I'd been waiting for. Whew. What a dress!

Good question!

Empty nest syndrome and turning 40 all in the same year!!! I was "mom" for so long I need to find me again and know that the kids are acting all adult on me (thought dd came home for mom to take care of her when she got a really bad flu bug & ds comes home once a month for his favorite dinner). Part of finding me is taking care of myself and weightloss is part of that.

My turning point was when my grandmother mailed me some unflattering photos. What I'd been seeing in the mirror was a far cry from the girl in the photos. What a wake-up call!

I've procrastinated about dropping the pounds for quite some time, but my moment of realization came the day after Christmas. My mother-in-law took me shopping for blue jeans and the plus sized jeans were all the way back in the corner. After walking past all of the cute jeans to try on my size 24's I decided it was now or never. Now I'm in an 18, but I know that my journey has only started.

Unflattering photos....being treated poorly by perfect strangers just because of my size....Having so little energy that I needed to nap almost every afternoon...Getting awfully close to the same weight as hubby...watching my overweight mom struggle to walk and not wanting to follow the same path...There are so many more that I could never list them all.

Realizing how many of my family have health issues. Losing the closest members of my family and realizing that I want to be happy and healthy because no one else is going to take care of me if I can't take care of myself. Realizing that for the first time in my life, I really feel like I deserve to treat myself better than I have been, and that I want to be the lively, outgoing, fun person I could have been had I not made choices to be inactive, self-conscious, and insecure. Knowing that I have a choice every day to make changes in my life, and that I want to be healthier in mind, spirit, and body.

And living in Florida among all the pretty people (and a surprising, to me at least, number of pretty people via plastic surgery) makes me want to look a bit better in a swimsuit. But I digress.

I'd yo yo dieted since I was 20. But at 37, I bent to tie my shoes one day and ended up so out of breath that it was just all it took at that time to get me finally completely serious about it. I'd been serious before, and did lose the weight. But I wasn't committed enough to making a lifetime choice until that moment. I don't think it was being out of breath, and knowing that I'd had open heart surgery as a child and wasn't helping that any, or knowing that at 37 I felt like I was 50...and probably looked it, but it was all that, combine with it just being the right time...with my being ready this time. I had also been living away from family (bad influences) and in a healthier area, which probably influenced me over the years I lived there and was subjected to the healthier lifestyles.

Wow... it was a bunch of things that kind of contributed to me wanting to lose weight. First of all, I work as an Educational Assistant at a school, and I went into a class and saw a student that I haven't seen in a while, and the precious little thing asked if I was having a baby. Oh... children and their brutal honesty! Also, all of my clothing were way too tight, and I was too broke to go buy new pants. Also... I have soooo many unflattering pictures that I can barely stand to look at. OH... you name it, it was just time to buckle down and start actually losing weight. ALTHOUGH... lol i can't say that i'm not exactly losing pounds... more inches from working out at the gym.

I was having alot of back problems. I wrenched my back by stepping onto a pothole and went to the doctor for treatment, I suppose I expected him to discuss my injury and lay all the blame on that. While he did acknowledge that I had an injury from an accident, he also said was I should lose weight if I wanted a healthy back. I was living under the false impression that I still had baby weight to lose (my daughter was over a year old and I was conveniently ignoring the fact that I was actually heavier than I was when I was pregnant). It took a doctor actually spelling it out to me to make me see it. Even then, I sort of blamed my inability to lose weight on having a Depo (birth control shot) jab while only half-heartedly attempting to lose weight.

The family Christmas photos later that year just sealed the deal! I looked enourmous! Sometime in February of this year (duh! took me long enough), while hubby and I were starting to create a music video compilation of Christmas photos and video to surprise my parents with, I just found myself not at all interested in the project. I couldn't stand to see myself in any of the clips or photos.

So, how embarrassing is that? I had the doctor's order to lose weight for my health and it finally took unflattering photos to make me actually start doing it!

My goal for this Christmas is to watch the video from last Christmas and smile smugly at everyone and say "I can't believe I ever looked like that!"

A bit of a change of circumstances and boys!

I moved out of home and started a new physical job. I quickly dropped some weight and eventually I just wanted a healthier lifestyle. I keep learning and keep losing!