I was lying in bed one night when I realized there was something beside me. Turned out it was my gut. The penny dropped, and I embarked on the long journey......

A tiny, marathon-running, boot-camp-attending friend keeps asking me on vacations with her. I've seen her other vacation photos -- they involve tiny white bikinis, zip lines over Costa Rican canyons, hiking up mountains, etc.

I really wanted to go but I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with her -- and I sure didn't want to see any vacation photos with me in a muu muu and her in a tiny white bikini!

I realized that my weight was destroying my life. Did I want to spend the next few decades watching TV, with the only man in my life the delivery boy from the sub shop? No!

So I got back into making healthy choices and told my beautiful fit friend that I'll go scuba diving with her this coming Christmas.

As of today, I've lost 10% of my total starting weight. Yay!

For me it was seeing pictures of myself! I just couldnt stand how I looked because of my weight. As many of you know pictures show it all. I hadnt really took pics for years until about 8 or 9 months ago because of my weight. Now when I take pictures I see a difference and I love it and that is what keeps me motivated to keep going. I also feel that this time is the time that I am going to accomplish my goal because I have never been this into losing weight.

For me it was when my doctor said she didn't want to perform a tubal ligation on me because I was too fat. It was the first time I realized my weight was getting in the way of something I wantd to do. What the heck took so long I'll never know.

Awful pictures, where I could see how full my face got and how BIG I was....I actually cried. (at this time I was 203#).

I've gained weight back the last 2 years and am fighting to put everything back in place, despite age and menopause! I had forgotten how much I loved going to the gym...now I'm back for good!

No one big 'ah-ha' moment for me. I just got sick and tired of losing, gaining, losing, gaining. Bleh! Finding out that my BMI put me into the 'obese' range vs. just the 'overweight' range DID push me but just being tired of being fat was the real kicker.

In a nutshell this sentence is now my mindset:

Why this time around I get it and not before? Who knows! Just glad I finally, finally, finally got it through my bonehead. Glory, thanks for these words; it truly doesn't get any simpler than this.

I started getting heart palpitations while lying in bed (in my 20s!) and couldn't fit on the rides at Cedar Point. I had stopped really living my life, but I didn't think I could really change anything (or didn't know how) until I saw a 20/20 special about David Smith, a young guy from Arizona who once weighed 630 pounds and lost over 400 after a lifetime of morbid obesity. I figured if he could do it, so could I!

For me the final straw was seeing an old friend who had lost a lot of weight and kept it off. She looked fabulous and I was bigger than ever, after a lifetime of yo-yo dieting. I hated clothes shopping. I was determined not to be a size 16 or 18, and had to shop forever to find 14s that would fit me. I hated going places because I hated how I looked and never had anything cute to wear. Also, my sister-in-law found out she was pre-diabetic and I could see the same thing happening to me. She had lost 30 pounds and I figured if she could do it, I could do it. She has since gained back the weight and then some but I'm still going strong.

Pam

Three things:

1. It was December 2003 was 264lbs and I would supposed to go to Italy for 5 months beginning August 2004. I did NOT want to be the 264lb American and I knew that no matter how much fun I was having or how beautiful everything is there, I would ONLY and ALWAYS feel like the big, fat 264lb American...

2. I went to buy clothes at Lane Bryant one day in, I think, November 2003 and - OH MY GOD - I tried on a size 24 blouse and... IT DIDN'T FIT. I was approaching a size 26/28. To me, THAT was my scary-size... one more size and I couldn't shop at Lane Bryant anymore. THEN what would I do?

3. My (at the time, size 10-12-ish) friend and I bought matching long skirts (one size fits all, and it DID fit me) at this street fair downtown. We both LOVED the skirt - it was so cool looking. She looked *GREAT* in it. *I* looked like a fat gypsy. I stared at that skirt, hanging on the hanger in my closet, cursing myself for being so fat.

I have been up and down so many times. But it had been over 2 years since I really cared at all about what I ate...I had given up. My skinny husband had no understanding of how difficult it is to loose weight.

The local radio station was having a contest...a Biggest Loser type of thing. called "The Fit Club", they picked 4 contestants, I had to write an essay of 100 words or less why I wanted to join The Fit Club. The prize was a $500 mall gift card. I wrote the essay...The hardest part was keeping it under 100 words.

On January 6, my father in law passed away. On January 7, I was rummaging through my closet for funeral clothes that fit and the phone rang...it was the dj from the radio station...I had been choosen as a contestant. I got a 6 month gym membership, and nutritional counseling, and the support of my dj buddy.

I was exstatic, I was going to make the most of this shot. But first the doctors appointment to get medical approval...I was mortified I weighed 300.2 pounds. i knew this was nearly literally do or die!!! Then I had a dicussion with hubby. I said he had two choices he could support me with words of encouragement and kind compliments...or he could sit down, shut up and enjoy the ride. I would be driving to the gym daily...that gym was 30 miles from home. Since then I have joined a local one...it was cheaper than going to my "Free Gym" with the price of gas.

Fit Club last 6 weeks, I started out doing Flat Belly Diet. A good plan, but the website was kind of flat, and too much "I can't..." talk on the boards, not much encouragement. I read an article in People magazine about women who met in an online diet support group. The article listed a few different online diet support groups. A few days later I decided to check them out....3FC was the only name I could remember.

I read a few goal stories...but Glory's stuck with me. I actually read it 3 times back to back...I read it to hubby and said, "That will be ME one day!!" I think he actually kind of understood weight loss, weight control is not a natural thing for some people, like it is for him and I couldn't just "diet" for a short period of time...I had to do this for life. I ordered Super Foods RX. The six week Fit Club ended. It was based on percent of body fat lost. Well I had lost 18.4 pounds in those 6 weeks but only abut 1.4% body fat. I was not the grand prize winner. But I truly believe I gained something much greater than a $500 gift card!!

I began this journey on Jan 21 with the start of The Fit Club, today I am 56 pounds lighter. I feel remarkable!!! I do not focus on what I can't eat...I strive to eat the foods I should eat. I do not allow myself a weekly "cheat meal" like Glory did...I am not sure I have enough control to do that....not yet anyhow. If I want a treat I work it into my plan. I plan ahead....for everything. I try to find menu and nutrition information online before dining out. I buy many things in bulk and divide them into portion size servings and freeze or refridgerate the small portion so I have grab and go meals and snacks.

I don't think of myself as being on a diet....I see myself as making wise healthy food choices and incorporating a healthy level of physical activity in my life.

Sorry the post got so long.

A hill in Lisbon. I had to keep stopping to catch my breath and my daughters were terrified that I was having a heart attack in a country where none of us spoke the language. I would like to go back now and kick that hill's butt!

Last month I was trying to get dressed for an event. I tried on one after another after another of my "dress-up" clothes and I looked like heck in all of them, that is, the ones I could actually get onto to my body either up over my hips or down over my chest. I looked in the mirror and came to the conclusion I'm fat. Excuses like menopause and being over 50 didn't fly with me that evening. I decided to do something about it and the journey began.

When I saw 250 on the scale, I realized "Hey - I am half way to 500 pounds - and only 1/4 of the way to half a ton."
I was disgusted about how I looked. I hated shopping at Lane Bryant.

I couldn't ignore it anymore.

I knew I had gained weight, but I think I was in a bit of denial about how much weight I had gained. I was sitting at work one day, and I had on a sweater vest with a blouse underneath. The blouse wouldn't stay buttoned, and it wasn't just one button that kept popping, it was like 3 or 4 of them! Luckily, I had on the vest on top, so no one could tell, but what if I hadn't? At that point, I knew I had to lose some weight or I would be replacing my whole wardrobe. When I lost weight back in 2005, I got rid of all my old clothes and bought a whole closet full of new ones. I didn't have to replace them again with size 18/20s instead of 14/16s!

I went on WW May 10th, and started South Beach this week.

Ars, the scenario you described about not being able to find anything to wear happens to me quite frequently. My friends are always like "why is it taking you so long to get ready"? And I just tell them that I can't find anything to wear. Maybe I look fat in everything because I am fat!?