I re-joined program on May 31. But was I really ready to do this for myself?
No I wasn't. Today I was facilitating a class on cerumen management. One of my old professors from college said he didn't recognize me. He said oh Amy you used to be so thin. Your eyes and cheek bones are the same but wow you were so tiny then. He said this in front of fellow colleages I was 113 to be exact. Maintained that for quite a long time. I high tailed my butt right back into the center!

I have been trying to lose the weight on my own over the past few years - only to put more weight on. Christmas I was looking at photographs and realized how big I had gotten. I no longer recognized myself. I would have to say that was the last aha moment.

I think that mine was probably when I was laying on my side in bed and I could feel the fat on my back touching my big butt! TMI...sorry...but true!

Mine was almost a year ago while visiting the doctor to get some allergy medicine.

I've been big for a while.. Thanks to asthma I was a tubby kid who couldn't run across the front yard without wheezing. Once we moved to New Mexico, I was able to breath and exercise. Thus I thinned out considerably. In high school I played football and put some weight back on accordingly. Then I hit college and it all went to ****.. I lived on campus, joined a fraternity AND played rugby.. The three combined meant a lot of crappy food and a lot of beer..

Since then it's just added on year by year, little by little..

Then last year at the doctor's office, I tipped the scale at 300 and just about crapped kittens. I knew I needed to lose weight, but it didn't really hit home until then, just how unhealthy I had become.

Crapped kittens, Dan?! I never heard that saying before!

Well, I usually use the "s" word instead of "crapped", but it all ends up meaning the same thing..

Feel free to use the expression at your discretion...

Thanks Dan, I believe I will use that one Too FUNNY!

Not sure what my aha moment was. I'll have to think on that one

This is a fun thread! Mine was at work when I was very self conscious about my pants being to tight. I only had one pair that I used to wear all the time. As they were getting tighter I felt I needed to explain that I had put my pants in the dryer and they had shrunk. Once I thought about it I realized it was not the dryer shrinking my pants (as it was not the 1st time they had been washed) it was the expansion of my butt that was making them to tight. Since the reason I only had one pair was because I refused to buy a larger size I had to do something. Called LA that day, joined and haven't looked back!
KimS

I couldn't shop in the plus size department at stores anymore. Only for some things. A lot of the 24s were too tight! Only the bigger-sized ones fit. Or those w/lycra. I had put on 100lbs at my job over the course of 8 years. I was unhappy there. I knew I had to make myself better all around. I knew 2006 was going to be the year that I changed my life. I just wasn't ready for it in January. In 2006 I left a very stressful job that made me unhappy, I got a job at a wonderful company, I lost 60+lbs, I decided to follow my dreams and go to culinary school. It was a year of big changes, and I wasn't sad to see it go.

Mine was when I came home after finishing my 2nd year exams for law school. Over the past 2 years I had gained back the 40lbs I had lost in undegrad plus 20! I had put on 10 more lbs during the 3 week exam period. I was so bloated I was wearing stretchy pants and bigger tshirts at every opportunity.

My eating was literally out of control. When I came home to visit my family, my grandma literally had to take a plate of meat away from me at the dinner table bc I would not stop picking at the food. Later that week I called her and she suggested trying a weight loss program. I'd never heard my grandma express concern for me in my entire life, she was always so proud. To hear actual worry in her voice literally woke me up. She told me she'd be willing to give me $ to start the program and wanted me to start right away. I did! She's been my biggest cheerleader ever since! I'd been waiting for that a-ha! moment for along time. I'd never really understood what people where talking about it when they would refer to it, but it was literally like lighting a fire under me....and not a moment too soon! I can't wait to be healthy at my graduation in May.

What's so odd for me is that this time around there wasn't an aha! moment. I have had several over my life that got me started, but I always gave up. This time my aunt was looking at weight loss surgery. She has also fought with weight issues her whole life. As a last ditch effort she decided to give LA a try before seriously considering surgery. She signed up & called me & my mom later that night wanting us to join her as they were having a really good special. We went together the next day & signed up & have never looked back.

This is the most successful I have been at losing weight in years & I find it odd that it didn't take a special moment to wake me up or any special reason. I wasn't even dieting at the time. I always thought to be successful something would have to happen to get me serious, but who knew, you can lose weight without a major reason! (other than health & looks of course).

Great stories everyone!! Very inspirational!!

We went for family pictures last Christmas and I didn't recognize the fat woman sitting with my husband and kids. I really hated, and hate now to look at that picture. Immediately I told my DH I wanted to use some 'extra' money we had for a weight loss program, although I had always scoffed at them before. I always said it was a matter of changing habits, and calories eaten vs calories burned. I had a colleague at work who had lost 100lbs on LAWL in a year, and I thought...hmm...maybe there's something to this. I did so well my first few months, and I'm sticking to it until the rest of this weight is gone, even though it's a lot slower now.

This is a great thread, and my first post.

I've always been heavy, but pretty active, so even at 180-190 I was pretty healthy. I could jog 3 miles a few times a week, etc.

Well, my weight started to sneak up and I pretty much ignored it hoping it would go away. The closet started to shrink everything, sweatshirts become a great summer look. I really just stopped looking in the mirror. This was at about 240.

My aha moment actually happened almost two years ago. Me fiance & I went to a beautiful B&B on the north shore in MN. We wanted to go hiking. I thought, "well, that's not problem, I'm still in pretty good shape." Boy was I wrong. After the first little hill I had a rude awakening, after that there were flights and flights of stairs to get down to this beatiful gorge. I did make it, but I was so ashamed in what I had let myself become. I think I cried most of the way back up those stairs, and I'm not a cry'er!!!

It still took a bit of time after my aha utill I took the plunge and did a LAWL plan that my friend had been on. Then I had a little setback, (no discipline), and gained most of the weight back over about nine months.

Now I'm back on the plan and am doing great. I actually did the stairs at work two at a time without thinking about it the other day!! I'm on my 10th week and have just passed the 30lb mark. I will be getting married in less than three months, so that's great motivation for me right now.

My moment was the day I had to wear my husband's jeans because none of my pants fit and I refused to buy a bigger size!!!!
Nanette