LOL Electro, I remember my undergrad college weight gains too -- declaring myself the four-time victim of freshman fifteen, sophomore sixteen, junior jigglies & senior seventeen (let alone grad school greasiness), all leading up to my own shocker moment (posted earlier in this thread). Well, I'm bent on reversing all of that now!

October I went with my sorority sisters to our annual Fright Fest trip. We went on this roller coaster and I had finally convinced my "big sister" to go on and not to worry, I'd be holding her hand the entire time. We get on the ride and wow, if the seat belt was just an inch longer (or I was an inch smaller), it would have fit. So I had to "fake a freakout" infront of my already-terrifed sister so they would let me off the ride. I had to lie, I couldn't go "oops too fat!" and hop off.

Over the summer I was working as a cashier at Kohl's and this woman in her 30s came to my register with tons of clothes.. as I was scanning her items she looked at me and with a smile said "Oh! When are you due?"... I was mortified.. I just kinda stared at her for a minute.. and was like "I'm not...".. she went on to say she was sorry but she kind of made it worse.. lol.. She had so many items that I had to deal with her standing there while I was scanning them all >_< some of the things she said after that were "I was SURE".. and "Oh my god dont develop a complex or anything".. I cant believe she would be SURE I was pregnant lol.. I'm 5'8 and was 185 at the time.. >_> That and when I saw 190 on my scale and realized that it's only 10 pounds away from 200

Mine's a lot like yours Rab...I knew I was gaining for awhile but I didn't think it was that bad. I was bartending one day and I had on one of those tank tops with the empire waist (I thought they were covering the tummy roll well) A semi-regular customer came in that hadn't been in awhile and said "Oh my gosh! I haven't seen you in forever, are you pregnant?". I about fell over. I went home and weighed myself...which I try not to do....and I was pushing 170. I haven't weighed over 155 my entire life. Don't you just love people??

Well the final shocker happened last weekend when I finally got the nerve to buy a scale...that brought me back to this site.

But the what got me working out again was last summer when I took a camping trip with a bunch of my friends. To get to the beach you had to hike 3 miles up a mountain and back down. I used to love hiking but this time I was huffing and puffing 10 minutes in. I hadn't realized how out of shape I had let myself become. It was so embarrasing - one of my friends had to carry my backpack and everyone had to keep waiting for me to catch up. That next week I re-joined the gym.

i went out to eat at A&W with my kids and my mother in law. Cheeseburger with bacon, onion rings and a large coke. I just finished eating and stood up to get a cloth to wipe my kids faces and a guy sitting next to us started talking to us
Him: "Ohhh your kids are so cute"
Me: "Thank you"
Him: "Oh how old are they?"
Me: "3 years old and 11 months old"
Him: "Oh wow, your brave having number three already!"
Me: "Pardon me?"
Him: points down to stomach "Having number three, BRAVE!"
Me: "Ummmm nope, just the two"
Him: "Oh"

I was so embarassed. I started driving home and had to pull over on the side of the road because I couldn't see through my tears. I kept hearing my 3 year old asking me why I was so sad. It was horrible. I was 179 lbs, 5'7, size 18 pants, XL shirts.

I've been trying for a while to lose weight, ever since I got depressed and gained a whole bunch. I remember while I was gaining my weight, that I would be around 195 lbs, and I would say to myself "No! I WON'T go over 200 lbs!!!" Then, I'd go over 200 lbs, and say to myself, "215 is IT, I will NOT go over 215"

It went on and on like that until I got to 234 lbs, my boyfriend left me (for non-weight related reasons) and I felt so sick to my stomach that I just couldn't eat.

That basically jump started my weight loss, I lost about 10 lbs in a week from not eating, and even though I knew that it wasn't REAL weight lost... it still felt good to see that lower number on the scale and I decided that I had nothing left to lose and to just give it a try, so I did... and here I am.

(BTW... I've got my lovely boyfriend back )

i posted a million years ago, i said i wanted to stop and start over , eat right , be active, be healthy finally. and ive done nothing but gain more and more since i posted this. i feel like im constatly on the verge of crying about how i feel and look.

...I'm very, very glad that I have never had someone ask me if I'm preggers. For their sake, not mine. Because anyone who said that kind of thing to me would be DEAD MEAT. Not in the "slap across the face" sort of way, the "jump on them and pound their head against the floor" kind of way. Speaking as someone who has had an unwanted pregnancy at one point, I think someone reminding me of it again would just spark off a blind rage.

It's fascinating to read about all the things that triggered us in our own ways. The "I'll never pass that point!" moments, and the cruel comments, and the objectivity of the camera...well. Here's hoping those "OMG!" moments give us lasting motivation!

Hey FreegeeGirl,
This bit right now, the decision to really go for it is the hardest part. It is so easy to think, well I'm already overweight so I may as well keep eating xxx etc etc, yeah that is easy, but it'll mean more weight to lose when you do get the motivation to lose it.

Keep your chin up, decide when and how you are going to start and stick to it. Its natural to be overwhelmed by the journey ahead, but as soon as you commit to really going for it, and as soon as those pounds start to fall away, you'll be so glad you did!

I had always been slim, then went travelling, partying, studying in Italy (um, pizza, hello!?)...
Arrived in the UK after 6-8 months away, had put on about over 45lbs in that short space of time (!!) and somehow with having so much fun I'd hardly noticed...
THEN I went shopping for some work clothes, having been running around in elastic waisted skirts etc for months, and discovered I had to go into the plus sized areas of stores!

But, what I want to say is... it took couple of weeks or so after that for it to sink in enough and for me to get off my (much larger) butt and do something about it... those weeks I was so upset, I just kept eating like crazy because confronting the truth about my weight hurt a lot and eating was how I dealt with it. That happens.

Finally dragged myself (full of fear) down to my local weight watchers meeting and was so surprised that i wasn't even the biggest there!
Lost really well, especially first stone (14lbs, in first 4 weeks!) but have to admit that as soon as i could fit into clothes in 'normal' stores it's been harder to stay on track! But that is because I'd gotten to a place where I didn't hate myself and my body. Working on it still though (some years later, but oh so happy!).

I hope you can go for it... Yeah so you're body will see the benefits, but more than that you'll be happy and feel good about yourself and more in control!
So much luck.

My moment was last February, almost a year to the date. We had taken a family trip to Walt Disney World and I was a gluttenous hog. I ate anything and everything.. buffets, funnel cakes at the parks, doughnuts back at the room.. it was terrible. When I got back I was so disgusted with myself. I was just shy of 180 pounds which is alot to carry around on my 5'2 frame. I was huffing and puffing going up stairs and forget about clothes shopping. Whenever I'd go out with my friends or out in public in general I always felt like people were judging me, especially when I went out to eat. My then 5 year old son would come up and grab my belly.. he even sang a little song "Big Belly, Fat Belly, I love my mama's belly". I couldn't get mad at him though.. it was an honest observation.. lol. Anyway.. those were a few of my shocker moments when I knew I had to get serious about my health. I'm only 28 and this is the only body I'll ever have.. might as well take care of it!

Triggers are interesting...I have to work with my food triggers this week

An ex of mine, certainly lacking in tact, told me I looked pregnant once....I was about 130 lbs and wearing an empire waist shirt, so it puffed out. It sent me on a crash diet.

Wow. Tactless indeed! That's actually why I've never worn empire waist shirts/dresses/etc. I hope you smacked him for it!

im at 182!!!! im so excited , its not much but its something. i wanted this thread to keep on going i love reading everyones storys . i feel like were all in this together!!!!!!!!!!! LETS ROCK & ROLL