When did your weight loss journey begin? Was it in a single moment? Or had you been thinking about it for awhile?

Did you stumble into the journey? Or did you make a very concerted decision?

Do you remember what that decision felt like?

What would have happened if you didn't make that decision?

I started in October, I just woke up one day and realized that if I didn't do something I'd be 300lbs in the blink of an eye. That epiphany scared me enough to take action. My first step was a visit to the dr.

My eight month old daughter has been the biggest motivation for me. I need to be fit enough to keep up with her (especially during the upcoming toddler years!) and I want to be a good health role model. I never want her to have to deal with obesity as a child or an adult. I need to teach her healthy habits from a young age, and I'd better practice what I preach!

I started this journey for the finally time on November 1, 2011. I woke up and looked at 298.6 on the scale on October 31st and said to myself there is no way I will let myself get over 300 pounds.

It has been a battle I lost down to 242.8 last July and regained 13.6 (256.4) pounds by the end of the year. I am now back on track and losing again and very happy with my progress - It is slow and steady but it is working for me.

I had a couple of reasons, one was the fact that I was close to having gained 20 pounds since November and knew that the path I was going was only going to make it harder on my health.

The other was my boyfriend of going on 5 years and I want to take the next step soon and I don't want to look horrible in engagement photos/wedding dresses.

A very important reason for me is I really want children and want to set a good example for them. I never want them to know me as the big girl who eats a million calories of fast food a day.

Another recent factor too has been my love for adorable clothes that never come in my size.

I saw a picture of myself at Easter 2011 and I almost didn't recognize myself. I bought a scale and was horrified to see how close to 300 I was.

I won't get into all the details again as I have on several threads but I got a rough wake up call!

I didn't even know my weight for so many years but obviously the clothes kept getting bigger and bigger. Wearing a black shirt and black capris doesn't hide you are a big person if they are a 26 pants and 3x shirt. I think I told myself the brand ran small...wonder how many more lies I told myself!

I am dealing with some personal female issues and my doctor told me that weightloss surgery should be my plan after I am done with those. I freaked out to my DH when we left her office, like, I don't want any more surgery than I need to! I don't like needles, pain, all of that. So I emailed her nurse asking about a weightloss program that is medically supervised with a doctor/nurse/nutrition team to help me. She gave me the medical go ahead and here I am, almost 100lbs down! All it took was some food guidance and exercise. Obviously it's harder than that but in reality, it's the easiest thing I have ever done and why didn't I do this 10 years ago? I hated that surgery was the only option offered to me, I must have seemed like a hopeless case. My doctor practically did cartwheels the last time I saw her and I was only down 50 then! Wait til she sees me next week!

199 is my mini HUGE goal; I never thought I'd live long enough to see 199. Once I hit that and pick myself up off the floor from passing out from shock, I will decide how much more I want to do. But I will literally look like a skinny minnie at 199 compared to myself the last many years.

Making this decision is the best thing that ever happened to me. I literally thank God every day for giving me the program and the strength and resources to accomplish what I have. It was nothing less than divine intervention that is saving me from my weightgain literally killing my body.

My weight loss journey began in Jan of 2010 and I weighed at LEAST 275 lbs ( I could have weighed 5lb or more than that, but was officially weighed at the doctor after I had been very sick the week before). I had set out to lose the extra weight as soon as my doctor said I was cleared to exercise after having dealt with health issues that left me stagnant for almost two years. I saw one final picture taken of myself at that weight when we were celebrating a birthday in my family and it clicked that I actually looked like the weight I was at. I never wanted to see that depression in my eyes and the weight (no pun intended) on my shoulders.

I reached 189 pounds (April 2011) before I decided I was very comfortable where I was. I still exercised and ate properly, but then I let a lot of the things going on put myself on the back burner, I ended up gaining weight all the way back up to 235 within the next year and a half.

I rededicated myself to getting to my goal once and for all this past October after my husband and I were married and since December I have been working to get all of this right as a lifestyle change. Now I will not stop because I realize no matter how crazy things get, I am in charge of my health and well being, and also since I cook, I am in charge of helping my husband as well!

These are what I wrote down a while back.

I will feel better physically.
I'll be able to get up and down off the floor more easily.
I will be able to wear a smaller size.
I will be much happier when I look in the mirror.
I will be in better health.
My pieces & parts (back, knee, foot, shoulder, etc) & those pains will improve.
I won't be embarrassed to eat around other people.
I will feel that I have really accomplished something important.
I will feel less self conscious when I perform.
I will do more things.
I will feel more in control of this aspect of my life.
My lab numbers will be in a normal range.
I can avoid becoming a diabetic.
I will have food sanity which I have wanted for a long time.
I will be able to look at myself in a photograph and smile.
I will be more active with my grandkids..

I have started this journey many times.

I re-started in April of 2011. I basically saw pictures of myself on a road trip, and hated what I looked like. On that same road trip, I had to get on a plane. The seatbelt was about an inch too short. it was super mortifying for me, and from then on I've been on this journey.

I was 160 at the beginning of last year and wanted so badly to lose weight but didnt want it enough to really do anything about it. In November a friend of mine was getting a mommy makeover and that motivated me to not want to be the big friend. I guess that pushed me enough to start again at 152. I also had seen a doctor lwho told me I was on the path to diabetes. In October I found out most of my estranged fathers family had diabetes. I was tired of letting my weight affect my moods, causing me depression. My knees hurt so bad when walking up the stairs, my back was constantly knotted and in pain just changing the trash bag caused a shock in my lower back. I started making conscious decisions about food. When I had gotten to 146 it motivated me to push harder. I also hated it that simply because I was heavier than my big sis people thought I was older. Her cocky ness about it bothered me too. I have to say there were health reasons involves in my decision but vanity was definitely a factor.

After a very unsuccessful weight loss in 1997 where I lost 50 pounds in 6 months, but gained back all of it plus added 40 pounds to it in a couple years, I said I would never, ever diet again.

I still yo-yoed quite a bit, but by natural fluctuations, never by anything intentional.

My highest was 275 in 2001 where I was for about a year, then I got to 235, up to 265, down to 225, up to 265 and then down to 255 where I stayed for a year which ended in 2010.

I didn't want to go to a doctor as I didn't want to hear what they had to say. I "knew" I wasn't in good condition and so I avoided the doctor for years and years. It's only when I had nonstop, all day headaches for 3 months that I finally decided I needed to go in.

I found out my blood pressure was sky high (and I had never had BP issues before). Then after blood work was done, I learned my blood sugars were sky high - all of them. My cholesterol was high and my thyroid was very low.

I was just shy of turning 40 years old and I was falling apart. I had a 5 year old son on the autism spectrum and and a 14 year old. If I didn't get myself together, my young son was going to grow up motherless. My father died at the age of 42 of a heart attack and he never had a weight problem. So, what was I doing????

So, I first got everything regulated. It seems my thyroid was the root of all evil. I started eating right and exercising and all my levels came down quickly and they only medication I needed was thyroid medicine. Everything else was fine.

I finally had energy and I kind of woke up. I realized this time would be different, that I wouldn't regain everything plus more because I had learned so much about my body and I now knew where the other path would lead me and I don't want to go there.

Sure, I'll have some yo-yoing forever - I'm human, but I'll never just "let go" and not care like I used to. I deserve more than that. My family deserves more than that.

In some ways, I've been on this journey for over 30 years now. I don't think I've even had a time or more than a year, 2 at most, where I wasn't doing something to try to lose weight. Unfortunately, I never stick with it long enough to see it through, or even to keep off what I've lost. Almost 2 years ago (May 2011), I started a new plan that I really thought was going to do it. And I had a great run for 6 months, and lost about 65 lbs.

But then I hit the holiday season and kept having reasons why it was ok to keep taking a break. I kept saying I'd get right back on track after the new year, but soon enough, I had stopped logging in here, stopped getting on the scale, stopped watching what and how much I ate. I started pretending I didn't notice that my clothes were no longer fitting and that the ones I did wear were really too tight. I ignored it when my son played on the Wii Fit and said "Mom it wants to know why you haven't been playing." I forgot the promises I made to him and to myself about how I was going to be a fit and active and healthy mom.

I managed to do all of that for a year and suddenly, instead of it being New Years 2012 and my deadline to get back on track, it was New Years 2013. And I knew that I couldn't have another year like that without gaining a whole lot more weight and doing who knows what to my health.

I logged back into 3fc, claiming I was "getting ready" but still giving myself excuses of things that were going on, food already purchased that needed to be eaten. But it only took a few more days before I saw that was a slippery slope and I needed to take action NOW (well, then - over 3 weeks at this point.)

I've been doing a lot of reading, here and elsewhere, to try to figure out why I stopped and how to make sure it doesn't happen again. I hope and believe that each failed attempt has taught me something and that I have all the tools I need to make it a reality this time.

I have always been active. In 2009 I started working out and got down to 135 lbs. My then boyfriend told me I looked like a crackhead (notice I said EX)and his family members asked if I was ill. I was. It turned out I was exercising and losing weight but I had also developed Celiac disease and was losing blood, so much so that the doctor called me at work and told me to go directly to the emergency room. Based on my blood levels I told her, the triage nurse thought the doctor must be crazy. She took my blood and sure enough, the doctor was correct and they didn't know how I was still walking around. I was admitted to the hospital immediately. Fast Forward and after many tests I get the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. I start watching my diet but with Celiac at that time there was not a lot of options for foods. *I don't understand people who go gluten free by choice* EVERYTHING had gluten, EVERYTHING! I was so hungry I would eat anything in large quantities just to feel full.

I was completely gluten free for 2 years. In that time I gained 50 pounds but I was afraid to lose weight. I stayed active but my brain had linked losing weight to being ill. In October of 2011 I ran/walked a 5K with a friend. All during my "training" I didn't lose a pound. At that time I didn't realize that I was holding on to the pounds in fear of falling ill. After the race I felt accomplished. I did it! Then the race photos were released and I saw how bad I looked. I looked so heavy I was embarrassed. It was at that time that I remembers calorie counting. Yes, remembered. It's like I had the tools ( Apps, equipment, DVD's) but for some reason I blocked them all out. I started gradually and didn't tell anyone. I use my lose it! app religiously and I even purchased a Nike Fuel Band to keep track of my activity for each day. The best part is finding this forum where people talk open and honestly about their methods of weightloss, their struggles, joys and fears. I have lost 40 pounds and as long as I remember to keep track of my eating I think I will be successful.

I started an official diet in October. My hubby and I want to start a family and my Dr. won't support the idea, or my family, until I drop about 50 lbs. I want to lose around 100 overall. I was recently diagnosed with type II diabetes, hence the weight loss need. (getting tired of being asked why I have to lose weight to get pregnant by co-workers and extended family. I don't really, as everything in that department is clockwork. I'm just not in my 20's anymore and I want my pregnancy to be as healthy as possible and starting out obese and gaining baby weight is just not acceptable to me.)

I'm a yo-yo dieter, but this time, I'm 100 times more serious. I want a baby so badly it's literally all I think about. My husband refuses to try until we are both healthier so he's really keeping me on track.

Secondary reason?

Hey, I want to enjoy the heck out of the process of getting pregnant LOL.