I'm someone who has wanted to lose weight my entire life. I've tried time and time again. I've noticed that the only times I've been successful were when something *clicked* for me. For some reason, I then stuck to my diet plan.

This time there has been no click, but I had been getting heavier and heavier, my leg was hurting (I'm only in my 20s!), and overall, I felt uncomfortable and constrained by the extra lbs. So there was no click, but the unhappiness of being at this weight combined with being excluded from activities I want to do comfortably (skydiving, horseback riding, bike riding) have prompted me to try again.

What has been the deciding factor for you? How did you go from saying "I want to lose weight" to actually losing weight?

Your profile picture is so cute!

Honestly, this time around, I got scared.

Scary medical diagnosis, linked to my weight, made me sad and embarrassed.

Within a month, after seeing 3 oncologists for their opinion in treatment, I was on a medically supervised diet and never looked back.

I'm sad it took something so drastic and scary to change me but I guarantee you it's the last time I am doing this. Our weight controls so much in our life whether we see it or not.

I felt good enough living large, I didn't know the damage I was doing internally. Now I feel great and am still losing. I can't believe I didn't do this sooner!!! I have a whole new outlook on life and definitely got the "click"!

Good luck in your weightloss mission, it's so hard to lose weight. But it's harder to be heavier I learned.

This was different for me in many ways. I thought to myself "I'm 24 years old. I've been complaining about my weight since I was about 18. I've lived in sadness for "x" amount of years when I can do something about it" I went online and found workouts, motivational quotes, pictures, anything to get me going. And I've stuck with it. Sometimes I fall off the wagon with being a little lazy at the gym or eating that cookie I shouldn't be eating, but I work 10x harder the next day. I'm only human. The scale says I lost 15 pounds, but I still feel I have a long way to go and instead of giving up and getting frustrated, I've taken it and used it as motivation and now know it won't come tomorrow. I'm excited to think of how I will look 3-4-5 months from now.

I lost it and kept it off, made permanent changes to how I eat and move and stopped thinking of life in terms of calories. The only hangups I maintain are (A) posting here constantly and (B) weighing daily and avoiding high sodium foods because I hate retaining water and seeing it in numbers

I just realized this wasn't a temporary weight gain for me. I've gained weight the past 6 years, 5 lbs, 10 lbs...up to the 45 lbs overweight that I am now. I just don't know who this person is and I want to feel like me again. I love my family so much and after 3 fights with cancer, I don't want heart disease or a stroke to cut my life short. I am doing this long term, this is not a diet for me and I want to be healthy again while fitting in single digit pants.

My story is similar to elvislover's.

I have a family history of diabetes on both sides. My mom is suffering from renal failure. Even knowing I was strongly predisposed to getting diabetes (and possibly chronic kidney disease, heart disease, etc.) was not enough for me to take charge of my health.

It wasn't until I was officially diagnosed with diabetes earlier this year that I got scared enough to do something about it. I kick myself every day for not having started this earlier. I know losing weight wouldn't have guaranteed me not getting diabetes but it would have helped.

At some point I just reached a critical mass, no pun intended, of feeling crappy, looking crappy, knowing that I'd die young of a heart attack, or worse, that I'd survive a massive stroke and be a burden to people, and just made the changes necessary to change my life.

There doesn't need to be a click. There can just as easily be a simple acknowledgment that it's time to do something and then you just start to do it.

Whether you're 20 or 40 or 75, the extra weight affects your ability to live your life, and I don't for a minute believe the people who claim it doesn't. Even if all it does is scare you a little, then that little bit is too much.

I hated looking fat in photos. I hated going into a store, and being lucky to find one thing that fit. I hated being embarrassed to have people see me, and hiding out at home. I hated knowing I was sabotaging my job potential by looking so frumpy.

What's different in the way I am dealing with it? I put my weight loss, and now maintenance, absolutely first. I was not "gentle" with myself--I did what needed to be done, and didn't let myself make excuses. I have a plan, and I stick to it. I eat the exact same way for maintenance that I ate for weight loss. If I'm eating out, I plan ahead. I make up for any extra calories at the very next meal. I work out six days a week, no matter how busy I am. If something is going to have to give, I choose something else. Because at the end of the day, I'm in the skin I want to be in, and that has paid off so much. And I finally recognize that the only other option is to regain the weight. (And my all-time high weight is almost 70 pounds more than what I weigh now.)

I had a lot of health problems when I was pregnant. I realized I need to take better care of myself so I can take care of my kid, and possibly get pregnant again at some point.

I was overweight since 2002 after my pregnancy. I let it go that long...and I was miserable with myself. 30p of it was lost in 2007 after a period of extreme stress and then the last five years I have been hanging on to an extra 15-20p. I finally *snapped* last year now that I am pushing 40 and decided I am done. I wanted to wear a bikini again and that's that.

I'm never looking back. It is such a relief to wear clothes now and not feel a muffin top fighting to get out of my pants or my uppers arms being squeezed to death by long sleeve shirts. Never again.

3FC has helped me so much.

I finally decided, that "normal" for me is NOT normal. If I were to continue on the path of what I thought was normal, I would have diabetes, high blood pressure, blood clots and so on.

At a trip to the grocery store, I decided, that I did not want to be a number of the people I saw. Many of them younger than me and with more health problems than Playboy magazine has issues!

My "normal" now is! I have to track my food, workout on a regular basis, and now and then indulge, always being mindful, to be back on track the next meal/day!

A few things did it for me. First of all, I realized I'm too embarrassed to put up a photo of myself on facebook, lol. Stupid, I know, but that did play into my decision to lose weight. Also, I want to be in more photos with my family. I have very few photos of myself with my parents (who are both gone now) and I want my son to have photos of the two of us together. I also want to be more active. There are so many things I want to do - paddleboarding, hiking, tennis, etc. The last big motivator was that I was reading a copy of a note from a doctors visit and it said "obese". Now, I'm not dumb - I know I'm obese. But seeing it written out in black and white really bothered me. The next day I signed up for WW.

I am sick of losing and gaining weight! It took me so long to lose ten pounds-- I started in October-- and now I gained back about five in the last seven weeks by binging and eating McDonald's. It isn't worth the yo-yo-ing anymore. I have crossed the line between my pants being comfortable and uncomfortable. Many pants I have to leave them unbuttoned. I have also crossed the line for having a muffin-top AGAIN.

I have a closet of beautiful clothes that I am unable to wear because of my shape. I know that my body will continue to change as I get older, but I have some beautiful skirts, pants and shirts that I want to wear NOW!

It is so frustrating that I keep going through this every year. I give myself props for continuing to try to lose when I gain, though.

This time, I consider starting again (as of yesterday) to not be a beginning, persay, but getting back on track to a real and true lifestyle change that began in October. I took some time off, but I believe that this is a permanent choice. Making better choices and smaller portions will never stop or be done. I commit to doing it as part of my whole

I remember watching "I used to be Fat" on MTV and thought, "Wow, if I don't do anything now, I'm gonna keep gaining and gaining." So the next following week, I started WW and working out.

As I was losing and got under 200 and counting, I knew this would be the "last" time because I really did change my lifestyle, not just go on a diet to lose then go back to old habits. I did fall off the WW bandwagon a couple of times by forgetting/lazily track my food/beverage intakes but I mostly maintained (within 5-10lbs) for a year, that was another confirmation that I knew I had changed for the better.

I actually tried.

I've hated my body for a very long time, but aside from a half hearted attempt at weight watchers online (at the behest of my aunt, who paid for it) and some sporadic swimming a few years back, I never put the effort in. I'd lie to myself about how much/what I was eating... swear I couldn't handle exercise... etc.

What made me make the attempt? Combination of things: A vacation with friends last July that had me swollen, stiff and completely unable to keep up; 2 weddings, one for a family member and one for a friend from high school (and the fact we've been out of high school for ten years), and finally just the realization that I had wasted an entire DECADE of my life being fat.