There are several things that happened that I would consider the "it" time.

* One of my students told me I looked pregnant
* My sister is getting married in May and I am the biggest brides maid and will be the maid of honor
* Only one pair of jeans fit
* We took family photos and I got a good up close look at myself
* Simple tasks like tying my shoes became not so simple.

I found some pictures of myself from a few years ago after my first successful weight loss.. it made me so mad how I had gotten to that point, but just let myself go.

This was a great question.

Mine really stems back... I've always felt uncomfortable about my weight and size, but as my two best friends were much bigger than me, I didn't see a reason to change really. Sure, I'm kind of big... but I could be worse!

Then I met my current boyfriend... online. We talked a lot, particularly through the phone, and he knew that I was quite short, but he didn't know about my weight. He joked and teased that I was probably under 100lbs and could be thrown or tossed around. I didn't have the heart to say he was far off, though I eventually had to share some photos with him.

It was that insecurity that he made me feel that forced me to get out there and work my butt off. I hiked every day that summer, and I have no idea how much I lost, but I know I was down to 140 at one point and my body was starting to look nice. Soon after, he hopped on a plane and came to see him. To my relief, I was accepted.

After that, I stopped. He accepted me, so I didn't need to continue.

Time passed, we moved in together, and I became depressed. We both laid in bed all day because the house is so small (my father lives here too) and one of the rooms was too occupied with junk to use. And my pants... were shrinking. I had to dance to get into them and suck in my gut to button them, and holy cow were they uncomfortable! That depressed me even worse, so as soon as I'd get home from school, I'd change into pajamas.

Then somehow, searching the internet I came across a site with before and after pictures. Legitimate before and after pictures. Oh my god! I had no idea that someone could actually *gasp* lose weight! Not only lose weight, but that they looked so good after doing it! Up to that point in my life, I guess I figured it was simply impossible. Seeing other people's success stories was enough to push me off my butt and get out there and shape up.

My "it" happened December 2008. I went into the hospital to have an ovarian cystectomy, which at the time was intended to be out-patient. I was supposed to go home that day. I was 341 lbs, making me a high risk surgery. So because of that I had tons of complications during the surgery that resulted in me actually being opened up. The kicker is that during that time, my heart rate dropped to 30 BPM. So the surgery had to be stopped so they could take care of my heart rate.

I was stunned when I heard about all this. At 30 years old, to almost die on the table because of symptoms that were preventable gave me the atomic smack in the face I needed. I thought I was untouchable because I was young. Age is NOT on your side in that case.

I'm still embarrassed that it took something that severe to wake me up. But I still have lots of good years left. It's not too late. Weight will not ruin my life again.

When I realized that "playing" with my toddler involved me sliding off the couch to the living room floor and trying to get her to run around me or go fetch toys to play with.

A couple of years ago I began a boring desk job, and was so bored, I did a lot of diet research. I was concerned about what all that sitting would do for my health. Weight loss was totally unsuccessful, but I learned a LOT.

This summer, I resumed running with a vigor like never before. I just enjoyed it and did it daily. I got my bike from my parents and started biking to work from time to time. I didn't even realise I'd lost weight until a friend mentionned it, so I matched it by controlling my diet and lost 15 pounds in total.

Come cold weather, I stopped, and packed on 10 pounds due to stress eating. I caught myself and am getting myself back on track. I have better winter fitness tools, this time.

When I first started to put on a few pounds, I would mention it to people and they'd roll their eyes, as if I were being ridiculous. But lately when I have expressed frustration with my weight, I would get silent agreement, and that was the first sign that I had to do something. My second wakeup call came when I was going through some old clothes in my closet to give away, and was shocked at how clothes that used to fit me just a couple of years ago are now hopelessly small. I've never lost weight before, only gained, so it felt like something that only other people seem to be able to do. But then I found this site and looked at the success stories, I was galvanized into action. I wanted to be that smiling, happy person wearing clothes from my closet I thought were "hopelessly small".

Mines was NYE. I went over to my friends house to celebrate...and the pictures that were tagged on FB, were not flattering. It was pretty much a "slap-to-face" wake up call. All i could think of of was my impending triple chin and how freaking unhealthy i looked.

On Jan 3rd...i decided that it was time i "undid" all of this...it might take all of 2010 and maybe even 2011...but I am determined to do this for myself.

i got so tired of looking at pictures of myself. when i was in high school i knew i wasnt thin or anything like that, but i felt pretty and i was confident in myself. than this semester it all changed. one day my boyfriend looked at me completely heartbroken and said- i hate the way you see yourself- and i realized i did too. and its been all uphill from there!

actually tonight is a big milestone. about 20 minutes ago i was videochatting with a friend of mine when i looked at myself and thought- i feel really pretty tonight! and then i looked again and *GASP!!!* MY DOUBLE CHINS GONE! ah i feel sososososos good i wanted to log on here right away and write it down!

i didnt realize working my butt off and not eating the food i used to love could feel so good!

for me it was around my birthday. my mother, grandmother, and i all have birthdays within weeks of each other and are 20 years apart. on my b-day i like to reflect on where i was last year, 5 yrs ago, and 10. then i think about the future. and i said to myself " i don't want to be this unhealthy when i'm my mother or g-ma's age. i want to be active and be able to go backpacking when i'm their ages- so i'm changing now.

This icon appeals to me for several reasons, actually. It's an artistic representation of the idea of men treating women like a peice of meat. As a young woman with feminist ideals, I find it intriguing. Food for thought. I also like it becasue I love human anatomy and it's interesting to think of a human being broken down into peices like an animal. Again, food for thought. But I have a million of these little pictures, so I'll probably be changing the icon a lot. When I get bored of this one, I'll pick a new one!

My day was when I pulled out the scale after my pants were too tight and this is pretty much the heaviest Ive ever been. I then looked in the mirror and saw that I have gained weight and u can really see it in my chipmunk cheeks, my stomache, and my butt lol I know tmi anywho... that day I lost all self confidence and self esteem and I decided it was time to drop some pounds so thats what Im doing. I know that is the only thing that is going to make me happy and make me feel good about myself.

For me, it was when I went to my younger cousin's 21st birthday party (I am only 24). I was with my MUCH older boyfriend (37) and I noticed him checking out all the younger, much smaller girls. I felt incredibly frumpy and uncomfortable. I mentioned to him how I wanted to look like that again. He rolled his eyes and said "welcome to the world of not looking the way you did when you were 18." I was in shock, that was only 6 years ago and I can look like that again. I will.

My get off your butt moment happened when I found out I was going to be an aunt. I did not want to be the boring fat aunt.

I have lost about 35lbs. I think the main contributer to that was I stopped eating out! I gave my self a limit I was only able to eat out 2 times a week. I also started going to the gym.

I had no "it" moment. I've been having "it" moments daily since delivering a beautiful baby boy nine years ago. My weight spiraled out of control for seemingly no reason after that packing on 70 lbs that first year. I finally discovered I had PCOS and have now been dealing with how best to fight my body. Hopefully I've finally figured it out!

Of course apparently "figuring it out" meant learning the phrase "calories in vs. calories out". Now I kick myself daily for not learning THAT a bit sooner...like in kindgergarten! Darn fad diets.

Last January I had to bump up from Misses sizes to Women's in order to find pants that fit me. I knew I was gaining weight, but somehow that still came as a shock to me. I was two months shy of turning 40 and thought if I had gained all this weight in my 30's, how much more was I going to gain in my 40's? That was my 'it' moment. I couldn't bear the thought of turning 40 weighing as much as I did and didn't want to go through another decade of life just getting bigger and bigger. That was my real motivation to start losing the weight.