Today my boyfriend and I were talking about the vacations that we want to take in 2012. And then he brought up the C word.....Cabo.

Last July me, him and my family went to Cabo San Lucas and stayed at a GORGEOUS resort and had a wonderful time. But behind all the laughs, margaritas and tacos, I was miserable. I HATED having to be in a bathing suit all the time, I hated walking down Lover's beach wanting to hide my stomach, I hated jet skiing with my boyfriend and praying he didnt get too close to see the rolls that plague my stomach when I sat, and I especially hated avoiding the beachside bars where all of the other 19 year olds were at dancing on stage in bikinis. I hated so many things I felt it inhibited my ability to let loose, be confident and have fun! So on the plane ride back, while nursing a tremendous hangover, I decided it was time to take care of myself so that next Cabo trip I won't have to worry about all these things that held me back.

Of course, that was two months ago and I have since fell off the wagon due to school/stress/overall laziness, but him reminding me that we are going back to Cabo Summer of 2012 really set off a deep determinination to acheive the better and more confident Leslie that I know is inside me. So my question to all of you is, when did you know? When did you know it was finally time to do something and discover the better you?

TBH it sounds weird but .....I've known for a while I was just in denial then one day I woke up and it just clicked. Ive lost nearly 70 lbs since.

That's a great story, whatup. I hope you reach your goal (which sounds really motivating!)

My weight has gone up and down (or down and up) a lot; mostly because of an illness this last time. The first time I successfully lost weight in a healthy way, I had to gain it all back. ugh. I honestly didn't think about it. I was really depressed this last year, drinking a ton, and just piled more on without a thought. I never really looked at myself in the mirror, and didn't care. But I decided that I'd start taking care of myself again. First thing I had to do was look in the mirror. Over the months I realized, that beyond depression and whatnot, I wasn't happy with my looks. I whined about it a few times to my friend, but one day I just said, "That's it. I'm tired of this. I'm just going to do something about it." He was like, "Wow that's amazing." And it kind of was. haha That was in January. I've been at it since. It has really slowed now, but I'm sticking to it...

I'm with SMSDreamer... though it was precipitated by a trip to the doctor, I wasn't hearing anything I hadn't heard before... high blood pressure, not diabetic yet, but getting there, etc, etc, etc. But it wasn't anything new to me. I just plain got tired of it. I remember thinking "I can't effing do this anymore." It was a build up of many years of walling myself off from people and situations and being uncomfortable with myself, but pretending not to be. I finally realized that I hated it. So, I stopped. I've lost 78 pounds since and, even more importantly, totally changed the way I eat and exercise and relate to people. It can be done!

I had a friend who was a guy, who i was very infatuated with but who never did and never will like me as more than a friend. I hung out with him so much and even though other girls said bad stuff about my weight i always still felt okay because they were only saying it because they were jealous that he hung out with me all the time and not them. I remember feeling really happy that when we went to the movies and stuff, it looked like i was the type of girl who could get an attractive guy (even though we never remotely had anything more than friendship, random strangers didnt have to know that). I hid behind him because he made me feel like no one had a right to judge me. Sure i was fat, but clearly i wasn't alone.
My breaking moment was when he and i started working out together and even though i was losing weight, he still wasn't interested in me. It made me realize that i couldn't hide behind him forever. i may have given other people the appearance that fat-girl me could and did have this attractive boyfriend, but it was just a lie.
I was never going to reach out and meet new people (especially new boys) if i continued to hide behind him and use him as my confidence shield. Fat or skinny he was never going to fill the void that i was looking to have filled. so i had to give it up, and find confidence on my own. I was insecure about my weight, so in order to be confident and have the self esteem to meet people, and not hide behind my fake-boyfriend, i started losing weight.
He and i are no longer friends anymore, and now my weight loss is 50/50 health and vanity, instead of 100 vanity like when i started out. I got the chance to meet the guy of my dreams and marry him. Dang am i glad that my fake-boyfriend wasn't attracted to me, regardless of my weight

I was in denial about how heavy I actually was for a long time. I would avoid scales, and in the end I avoided the tape measure too.

I wanted to get a breast reduction, I felt that my boobs were huge and I wanted to get rid of them. I went to the doctor and there were certain criteria you have to meet, and one of them was be under a BMI of 25, meaning you had to be at a healthy weight. When he weighed me, my BMI was 30.8. At the time I didn't know what that meant, so I just lived in blissful ignorance of not wanting to know.

It's funny, but watching the US Biggest Loser made me want to lose weight, and it made me want to face my scale phobia. I weighed myself, worked out my BMI again and then I realised I was obese. I also realised for a long time I was subconciously sucking in my stomach, so when I looked in the mirror, I took a deep breath - released it - turned to the side and looked in the mirror. My boobs weren't massive compared to the rest of me (something I thought was true) - I WAS MASSIVE TOO!

Since then I thought that. is. IT. I've been unhappy with my weight since I was 14, I've always been overweight, it's time to do something. I found this site, started running and never looked back =)

I'm the same way. I was in denial for so long and it literally just clicked onc day!!

It's funny, I didn't really have something that "clicked." There were times when I thought "maybe I should lose some weight" but I exercised all the time so I felt fine. My weight didn't stop me from doing anything; I had a significant other (who proposed last month!); I was finishing up a great education and I had wonderful friends. I never had a problem moving around or keeping up with my thinner peers.

I ate healthy, but I knew I just ate too much of it. I didn't really like how I felt after meals--lethargic and stuffed. I thought that maybe I should eat less and those problems might go away.

I tried it for a while and I loved that I didn't feel so bad after my meals. There was an upside...the weight practically fell off! My first twenty pounds just flew right off! I stalled there for a while and decided to calorie count and see if it would help me shed more...and as you can see by my ticker it did.

It clicked that I needed to finally get off the couch when my boyfriend broke up with me in March of 2010, for various reasons.

I was devastated and depressed but I knew what I had to do. I was definitely in denial about how big I had actually gotten.

I started probably not in a very healthy way as I now realize, but at least I started, and from then many things in my life changed, my bf and I got back together and recently moved back in together to a much nicer place and I am now 10 million times as happy as I used to be.

My whole outlook on life has changed by the changes I have made and seen in myself. I didn't believe I could actually do until I started doing it and seeing what I could accomplish. I know that besides being happy with how I look and the clothes I can wear and being comfortable around people and not thinking that I am the "fat one" in the crowd, I am also healthy and active and I would never want to go back to where I was 18 months ago.

Last year I was diagnosed with PCOS, and my doctor suggested that I started to do daily exercise as a way to handling my wonky hormones. Over a year I only lost 5kg (11 pounds) from just walking for 50 minutes a day. In my head I was losing a lot more, and so I didn't make any adjustments to my eating. I carry my weight well, I'm average height, but I have hips and boobs, and generally people think that I'm around 10kgs lighter than I actually am. Thing is though, I am that 10kg heavier, and on one of my walks, I attempted to jog and hurt my leg.
Then, when my dad was having a look at my leg, he not so nicely made a point of referring to the cellulite on my calves. He didn't mean to be nasty or anything, but it reminded me that at 20, I was going to spend another spring and summer in 3/4 pants, avoiding the beach because I was uncomfortable about how I looked.
So, the next day, I got on the internet, found this site, and cut out all of the junk and excess food out of my diet.
I've known for ages that I'm overweight - for all of high school and even going back to primary school - but something clicked a month ago. Suddenly, it was less about punishing myself by restricting what I ate, to my choosing not to eat those things.

I was 11 when I was first on a diet.

It's been a struggle ever since. Either because my parents put me on one, or I put myself on one, it being too strict, too lenient, or just wasn't right... but I'm 18 now... and lower than I've been in years. I must be doing something right this time.

But yeah... I never had any sort of moment... sad as it may sound, I don't even remember a time where a diet WASN'T a part of my life in one way or another. I mean... I had a great childhood... but my weight perpetually played a part, or something.