Mine came when I realized I was punishing myself w/ food and wine over my brother's suicide. Its as if I felt like I didn't deserve to be happy when he apparently had been so unhappy that he would do that to himself, and I never saw it coming. So, I drank, and ate, and tried to numb the pain, grief and guilt until I put on most of the pounds I had lost years ago, and had kept off effortlessly for so long. But, now, I realize his death was his choice, and I choose to live, and live a good life. I wish I could have helped him, but, he kept his depression hidden from all of us, and he considered it a weakness to seek counseling from anyone, including family.

So, I will lose this weight again, and be there for his kids, because I cannot do anything about his death, but I can do right by him in being there for his kids.

wow. thats so deep. You are an amazing person for still being there for everyone. Claps@!!!!

I would have to say just recently. I have tried WW's I don't know how many times, but always gave up. Just this past week Isaid it's now or never. I'm tired of the extra weight and I want to be here for my kids and husband. I also want to feel good about myself again.

Two things actually: First, my dad found out he's diabetic. AND, all of his brothers and sisters (of course, my aunts and uncles) have some level of diabetes. I favor my dad's side of the family, so I decided that now (at 40) is the time to start taking better care of myself.

Second, on my 39th birthday, I went into Old Navy to buy some new clothes and had grown out of the largest size I've been to date. I put back the clothes and bought my Sugar Busters book and joined this forum. By the time I was 40, I was half way to my goal.

This fall is going to be the time I tackle that last 25 pounds. Buh-bye stress weight!! You are nobody's friend!!

This is a great thread. I've always hated sitting all scrunched up on planes, especially if the person sitting next to me takes up more than their share of the space. Then one day, I realized that I WAS that person oozing over onto the next seat and crowding out the person sitting next to me. How had that happened without me realizing it?

The light bulb turned on one day...nothing special occured except for lunch. I realized that I had to do something. I was on a downward spiral. My weight was a big problem for me. It was eating up my self-esteem and confidence. I would hate to look in the mirror and I hated even more going clothes shopping. So, I started researching programs that would assist me.

I have been dieting off and on for 5 years and then I realized Im turning 30 soon and I refuse to be this way in my 30s. I have a little over a month to lose another 15lbs to be at my goal. I had all my kids young started at 15 ended at 23 and I wanna be the hot mom so my daughters boyfriends will say Im a MILF and not a soccer mom

You'd think it was gonna take a movement from God himself to get me to realize how fat I had become. Knocking stuff off tables, etc. didn't do it. Buying yet another larger pair of jeans didn't do it, disappearing toilet seat? Naw. Photos? Nope. Not fitting in a harness for the canopy adventure in Mexico? NOPE. Getting pregnant with my beautiful baby boy? Now we're talkin'. 1 st Dr. visit I stepped on the scale for the 1st time in 6 years....242. Wow. I vowed in that moment I would make my best efforts to gain only the required healthy amount, and lose it when he arrived. He's 7 months old now. I'm gonna do my best to set a positive health example.

My moment was about two years ago. I had finally downloaded all 250 pictures from my digital camera and was so excited to see the pictures...my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. As I looked at the first few I though boy that was a horrible picture. But then about 30 in I realized it wasn't a bad picture it was me. I looked horrible...had a double chin and really questioned...could she be pregnant? At that point I began to notice how tired I was when I walked up a flight of stairs or across a parking lot with a load of groceries. Also my 16 jeans I had bought last week were really too tight when I bought the. It has been two and I have gone from 198 to 170, with many ups and down. I have recommited myself to get down to 135 within the next year.

I think I am just hitting that "enough is enough" stage. I had to have my gall bladder removed last year, someone compared me to a really large famous person, when I went to the doctor I saw their patient record for me listed obesity (which they never talked to me about), I've never been happy with how I look, I've had to go up clothing sizes recently, and playing team sports with healthy friends was too much for me (and it shouldn't be).

I'm tired of my knees hurting, I'm tired of just barely fitting in plane seats and cars. I'm tired of my thighs rubbing together and causing a rash. I'm tired of what I can and cannot eat ruling my life. I want more energy. I want to look good in clothes and maybe someday even look good out of clothes!

All those things combined are adding up. I've been making small changes to live a healther life, but I think I've almost got myself convinced to start a major exercising routine again.

I'm lazy copied from my Goal thread:

In 1999, I weighed 150 lbs (I was a constant yo-yo dieter, I had been up and down for 20 years, 150 was a nice "low" spot for me) and got a great new job. I love my job, but it's very stressful and takes up a lot of my time. My job also has an awesome cafeteria. It was a combination of staying late at work and eating dinner out of the snack machine, not working out and basically just eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted - I ended up weighing around 200 lbs.

I spent a couple of years miserable with my weight - fantasizing and wishing I could lose weight. I knew I had to eat less and exercise more, but it just seemed like TOO MUCH WORK, I couldn't get over my depression and unhappiness to make any kind of positive change.

I let myself go, quit wearing make up, quit buying clothes, I basically wore the same pair of size 18 loose fit Eddie Bauer jeans for 2 years. I let my hair go long and curly - I kept telling people I was planning to donate it to Locks for Love, but in my heart I knew I felt too unattractive to bother with my hair every day. I quit looking at myself in the mirror, or down at myself in the shower. I tried to make myself disappear.

In July of 2004, a couple of things happened. First, my size 18 jeans got tight. I complained to my boyfriend and he said just buy a bigger pair. I couldn't face the thought of buying size 20 jeans. Then, I was in a public bathroom and sat down and cut my outer thigh on a metal trash receptacle. I bled and I cried, I was too fat for a public bathroom. Finally, my mom insisted that I would come visit her for Christmas - she's a naturally genetically skinny person, she had never seen me that heavy, I couldn't bear to go to Texas and have her NOT mention my weight and talk around it for the entire visit.

I was in a bookstore and saw this book called Super Foods Rx: 14 Foods That Will Save Your Life by Steven Pratt. I was idly looking through it and what I read actually made me excited. The author thought that some foods were nutritionally more powerful than other foods - some foods could fight disease, maintain youth and prevent age-related brain degeneration (for the record, the super foods are blueberries, broccoli, beans, tea, walnuts, soy, oranges, tomatoes, pumpkin, yogurt, spinach, salmon, oats, turkey). The book was so exciting, I bought it - what happened next was pretty magical to me.

I decided that day to completely change everything. I had to accept that I could not diet short term. I could lose weight on diets, but I always always always gained the weight back because I never made any permanent changes. I would restrict calories, be "perfect", exercise like a fiend - but only for the short term, I couldn't stick with it. Eventually, I would give up and return to the unhealthy eating habits that made me heavy in the first place. I had to accept, really accept that I ate terribly and I needed to change how I ate forever. No more junk food, no more soda, no more "all the way nachos" from Qdoba, no more creamy sauces, no more packaged baked goods, no more 1000 calorie breakfast EVERY morning (venti full fat caramel latte with whip and a cranberry walnut muffin - my breakfast every work day for 5 years). No more crap. I had to accept that it wasn't destiny or bad genes or big bones or whatever lies and nonsense I told myself - I was fat because I ate badly. I ate too much of the wrong kinds of food and didn't exercise. End of story.

I wanted to make changes to be healthier, to lose weight and most importantly to lose weight long term. I did not go on a diet, I changed my lifestyle - this is forever. Whole foods in, processed foods out, 5 veggies, 4 fruits, 2-3 dairy, 2-3 whole grain, 10 different super foods, protein with every meal, green and black tea every day, between 1400-1600 calories - I concentrated on what I should be eating. My goal is to eat whole, nutritionally powerful foods every day and avoid foods which are not good for me. I gave up the following foods forever - fast food, processed baked goods, sugary soda. I limit the following foods - booze, home made baked goods, fried foods.

I completely changed my mindset - I am not depriving myself, I am giving myself the gift of health.

To lose weight, I did the following:

1. Count calories - be accountable for everything I eat. That meant keeping a daily food journal. I had to eat ENOUGH - no more starving myself.
2. Eat 10 super foods a day, concentrate on nutritionally powerful foods. I concentrated on what TO EAT. It's not just "eat less, move more"for me it was "eat less crap, eat more good foods, move more"
3. Work out at least 3 times a week.

The weight just flew off, I weighed 163 lbs by October and 153 lbs by Christmas (good visit with my mom, btw). I now weigh 128 lbs. I went from a tight size 18 to a comfy size 8 (a size 6 sometimes!!). My waist went from 37" to 27", I lost 6" off each thigh. I lost nearly 8" off my chest - going from a 42DD to a 36C.

Changing my way of eating has given me so much more energy. I am constantly amazed by how good I feel, all the time. I have been sick one time since July 2004. When I was eating all that processed junk, I was drowsy and tired all the time. I used to fall asleep in my office every afternoon. I don't feel that giving up processed foods is a deprivation at all, I feel amazing.

Before and after pictures -

http://gloriana.myphotoalbum.com/vie...umName=album02