What's one moment that made you realize you needed to lose weight?

It's dumb, but one that will always stick with me was my grandfather's wife telling me if I constantly suck in my stomach I will look better, and the muscles will tighten so I won't look so pot-bellied.
I think I was 8. Needless to say it messed with my head.

As an adult it was seeing the scale almost make it to 300. I was always between 120-150, got off some meds, then BAM. I had no idea how bad it was until I saw the scale that day.

It's sick, but I think I remember every point:

1. when I was six, my teacher told me to stand behind a line so we could start dodgeball. I stood behind it, and a nasty older girl told me "she meant your gut too!". Don't be too mad at her: I found out later that that nasty girl was actually getting severely abused at home. When she was 17 she had a baby and it was immediately taken away from her. She's been in and out of jail a few times.

2. Speaking with my friends about general weight gain. A typically skinny-from -birth girl said "The second your fat hangs over your jeans, you should realize you're obese". I had always had lovehandles, and at that point I had a muffin top. That girl put on about 60lbs in college.

3. My neighbour was talking on the phone around me, and she was describing me to her son in hopes of setting us up. she said "Now she's a big girl, but she's absolutely beautiful. Yeah.. No no, she's big. Oh okay, I was just thinking.." She and her son ended up on heroin.

and from myself: I often have a double chin in pictures, or if my belly starts to "sag", or I get a crease underneith it. When my thighs touch again (I don't have mall legs, just huge hips, so my legs are EXTRA big)

Flea, I love the humorous way you describe how the karma bus took care of the people who made derogatory comments about your size. Thanks for the chuckle.

F.

Oh God there are many...

Once I was rejected from donating blood because my pulse was too high.

Once I didn't fit on a theme park ride.

My biggest fear traveling internationally was the airline losing my luggage- it's hard enough to buy plus size clothes around here!

Needing the "large" blood pressure cuff

Having to switch go-carts with a friend because the seatbelt was too short on mine

Having to order the largest size the designer made of my wedding dress (and THANK GOD they went just that high- street size 22, wedding dress size 26!)

Telling my husband I didn't want to go on the helicopter ride in Hawaii- what I didn't say was that it's because we'd have to pay extra for me being overweight (he is normal size)

Not being able to rent wetsuits when traveling

Not buying a certain car only because my butt didn't fit in the seat very well!

I was always an overweight kid so there wasn't really a moment from when I was really young that made me realize damn I'm fat. And even though I had 'dieted' pre-High School one of the bigger aha moments was starting grade 9 and having to get school uniforms. My kilt was a size 22.

I just woke up one day and was sick and tired of being fat...

i've been fat all my life... so, yeah, i guess i know from the scale and what people (parents included) say and ask me to lose weight since i was in high school...

Hmmm, I've had a lot of moments but the one that stands out the most is when a lady at my daughters soccer practice offered me her seat because of my "condition". She thought I was pregnant.

I've been heavy for years, but it really hit me in two spots:

When I looked at my wedding photos, and discovered I hated them all (despite the excellent photographer) because I was bloated in every one.

When I bought new clothes only to realize that, even in the correct size, nothing looked good on me. The tops were 3X and I think the jeans were very tight size 22, maybe size 24.

Even thought I'd been heavier than average for years, those moments brought home that I'd gone from acceptably overweight to truly obese.

I was about 5 and a 6 year old girl said to me "you're fat!".

However, I was born fat. 10 lbs and 3 oz babies were nearly unheard of in the 70's. I look at my baby picture and for some reason 90% of the pics are of me having a bottle or some type of toddler food. Mom said she had to give me baby cereal at 2 weeks because formula was not satisfying me. Oy!

I remember once when I was a little girl that Mom took me and my older sister shopping for new dresses. Then Mom cried because I was a size 6x, the fat girl's size.

I remember having a lead part in the fourth grade play, and pretending I didn't know what dress size I wore when the teacher asked if I had anything suitable for a princess.

Any photo from junior high on.

Wearing a size 10 ring in high school! I'm still obese but currently wear a size 7, to give you an idea.

Only able to browse through the plus size sections in junior high and beyond . . . so much ugly fun in the 80's-90's. But not being able to buy much anyway and having to share most clothes with my mother.

My mom once freaking out after realizing we'd accidentally bought me a maternity shirt since it was cute and fit well (I was 12 years old). She ripped out the tag and warned me not to tell anyone.

Crying because the only suitable dress that I could fit into for my junior high graduation was the one I'd wore earlier that year to my brother's funeral.

Not fitting on a theme park ride.

Attempting to squeeze through a very small aisle of a store, when an innocent little kid loudly points out to her mother, "Mommy, that lady's fat!" When I looked over in their direction, the mother gave the kid a harsh shushing and was careful to direct her eyes away from me.

Realizing that not even the plus sized shop had jeans big enough to fit me.

- When the inside thigh part of my jeans started to wear out because of all the rubbing together

- When I had to suck in my stomach so that the seat belt on an airplane would fit me... a little fatter and that one wouldn't have fit me at all.

- When I started seeing my double chin in every single photo, no matter how much I tried to hide it

I too have been fat ALL my life. I remember my gym teacher making fun of me because I couldn't climb a rope or do the pommel horse, etc... All the kids laughed and I used to be sick on gym days. Unfortunately I guess my mom didn't realize just how bad it was for me and kept sending me. Oh well there are so many more times in school over the years.
Now in my 50's I no longer care what anyone thinks but myself. I am doing it this time for me.

@Flea - Wow, I actually feel a little bad for those people!

For me it wasn't so much a single, distinct moment, but rather a series of events:

Seeing how big I had gotten when looking at current photographs, or searching for pants in a size 16, for example.

There was one time, before I got pregnant, when I was walking around my apartment without a shirt on. DH looked at me and asked if the cat had scratched me.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Right there" (as he pointed to my tummy).

*look down*

"Oh, no, those are just my stretch marks."

- When I ripped the seam of my pants bending over, and couldn't find one single pair in my closet that still fit

- Playing with my 3 year old granddaughter, and she could out run me

- Realizing that maybe the reason my knees hurt so badly going up stairs is because of all the weight they had to support