What was your "lightbulb" moment?
 

When you knew you had to lose weight and committed to a healthier lifestyle?

At my heaviest, I weighed 294 pounds, could hardly walk more than a few yards without getting out of breath, was extremely inactive, found it difficult to buy nice clothes that fit me and generally didn't take very good care of myself.

I seriously think I was in denial or something for a very long time that I had a problem though. I had no inclination to do anything to change my situation despite feeling so self-conscious and unhappy.

The change came about one day in a changing room in a plus size store. I was trying on a top and checking myself out in the mirror. I realised I looked as if I was heavily pregnant with triplets! I burst into tears. I didn't want to look that way, I wanted to wear nice clothes and look attractive, take care of my hair and skin, be healthy, feel alive, have energy! I wanted to feel like a normal person and stop comparing myself with others and finding myself lacking. Most of all, I wanted to stop using my weight as an excuse to hide behind for not having achieved various things in life.

I committed that very day to changing my lifestyle. I have a long way to go but so far, I have lost 75 pounds, I am an exercise fanatic, I look after my hair, skin, nails, wear make-up, am (usually) full of energy and feel so much happier. I have pursued other goals as well, rather than telling myself I can't because of my weight.

What flipped the switch for you?

it was just a random day when i woke up and deicded to stop hating the way i looked and felt. and the only way to do that was to change it. so i did...

I lost a lot of weight 02-04.
I gained 85% back 04-09.
I kept nearly starting back and got to one day when I logged in all the 'healthy, vegetarian' food I'd eaten that day. (I'm not vegetarian, it was just one of those days).
2,500 calories!!!! Hllfire!
I realized then just how much knowledge/awareness I'd lost, started calorie counting to 1500 the next day and have managed it fine since Feb 3rd.
I think the boost to the lightbulb came when after only a few pounds my shirts started fitting better.

Good luck with your journey!

For a long time I was dissatisfied with how I looked and felt. I got out of breath so easily, and knew I needed a change. I was just afraid to take the first step. It was a fear of failure, more than anything. I think the real "lightbulb" moment was when I went to work out for the first time, and realized I COULD do it, after all. It was all downhill from there.

When my "fat jeans" (size 18 stretch) got tight. I had zero energy and the only activity I wanted to do was to drive somewhere to eat out. GAH! I said enough is enough. I'm not buying another size up and I am not spending our entire paycheck (after bills) on eating out. I hated getting dressed to go out because nothing fit nicely and I didn't spend money on clothes because I refused to buy in larger sizes. I hated going shopping because I would always leave depressed that nothing fit me.

Now I look in the mirror and even though I still have a ways to go I don't shudder when I catch a profile of myself. I have accomplished a lot and clothes are starting to fit nicely. I can go into the womens section in a store and find something - and my tops are all size medium now! I'm not 100% satisfied of course, but it's a far cry from the crying in the dressing room I used to do.

For me it was when I realized that I had been depressed for 20 years but didn't know it . . . and realizing I wasn't depressed anymore. I felt great on the inside and I wanted to look great on the outside. I finally felt like I deserved all the good things in life, including taking care of myself because I am a wonderful person and I deserve to be healthy as well as happy. Now, 96 lbs later, I am beginning to look more on the outside like I feel on the inside. I can't wait to get rid of the rest of this weight. It's the most important thing in my life and, six months and one week into this lifestyle change, I am just as motivated and committed as I was on day one...

I'm like cakses, when my size 18's starting fitting uncomfortable I was like NO I am not going to get to a size 20! I say myself in pictures (the few I'd take) and I was just HUGE. I finally decided that's it, since then I've gone down from 230 to 213 and am a comfortable size 16. When the day comes and I hit a size 14 I'll probably dance around the house lol.

For me, it was several things hitting in the same week. I rushed to catch a train and found myself gasping for breath. I realized I was choosing my clothes based only on what I could squeeze myself into. I stepped on the scale (which I'd been avoiding for ages) and saw the highest number ever. It all added up to make me finally admit that I was unhealthy because I was so overweight.

One day at church I was walking to my SS room upstairs and I was so out of breath someone told me, you really should go to a dr about that cold. They were being nice because that is what is sounded like was chest congestion. However I did not have a cold I was just so fat and out of shape that I could not breath. For me it is not about a magic # but a feeling of being able to do more, the # is a wonderful addition though.LOL

I love reading threads like this. It's such an inspiration.

I haven't lost much weight yet, but I have made tons of changes from within that I know will result in weight loss soon. The biggest click I've ever had came last summer when my mom died of a heart attack. She was only 45 She had lost probably 80 lbs, I'm guessing when she was around 36 - 37. She was probably around 220 when she died. She ate bad foods (lots of fast food) and didn't exercise at all. She was also a really big drinker and partied hardy and those things had a big hand in her death. I live a much healthier lifestyle, but it is still a wakeup call to me to take better care of my health and lose the extra weight for good.

I've made a lot of changes regarding how I feel about myself on the inside. I'm determined that this time I am making permanent changes. Even if it takes longer than I'd like to lose weight, it's more important to me to change my habits so that I'm healthy for good.

Which time? There has been many like when I started breaking plastic lawn furniture,had to squeeze into a amusement park ride and hold my stomach in so the door would fit..
This time I had gone down about 30 pounds and last week noticed my clothes were getting tighter and I said no more I have to do this for myself and my family. I hate how I look and feel and need to find the new me.

Well last year when I joined this site and started really trying it was just me hitting an all time low. It was after my 25th birthday and then new years and I realized I was wasting my life away whining and complaining and not really changing anything.

But it didn't last for long and I fell off the wagon and ignored it all.

Then this time started when I went to the ER. I had been feeling sick for almost 2 weeks and it finally ended with me being in crazy pain. I went to the ER and my blood sugar was over 300. They told me I had diabetes and I knew then that no excuse was good enough, I had to change.

Well, I'd like to think it was people believing I was pregnant FIVE TIMES IN ONE YEAR. The first time or two I cried. By the 5th time I was ready to punch the person.

But it wasn't until I moved to Korea that I got serious about it. I would've LOVED to lose all 60 lbs while I'm here for a year and go back and shock the **** out of everyone... but right now I'm not losing at that pace so I'll just be happy to continue losing and whatever I'm at after 6 months when I head home will be good enough.

When I had to lie on the bed to button my jeans and hold my breath to tie my shoes.

Oh man joyra I know that feeling- in one year I was asked 3 times if I was pregnant! It was very devastating to me!

my light bulb moment came when I was so frustrated in a fitting room that I broke down and cried.

When I lost the first 20lbs the light bulb moment was realizing summer was coming and it would be yet another year where I'd be too self-concious to go swimming or wear shorts, and that I was halfway through university and never experienced all the fun that goes with it.

This January, my light bulb moment was realising I did absolutely no exercise at all, and was a couch potato! I started running on January 2nd and now I'm doing 6km runs!

One day I just stopped and thought, now is the time, I am ready to let go of all this extra weight. It was like something inside me changed and was ready.
Candace

This is exactly how I felt. I was just ready to not be fat anymore.

My time was when I had to buy my first sz 14 and and hit 200 on the scale. i didn't even weigh 200 with my highest pregnancy weights

For me it was a lot of little things. I knew that I was gaining weight. I didn't wear half my pants anymore because they were too tight. I kept trying to suck in my gut when I went out in public. One day I took a load of laundry upstairs and when I got to the top my heart was pounding and I was out of breath. "This is ridiculous," was what I thought. I decided to get off my lazy butt and get myself in shape for once.

My weight stabilized (and then actually went up a little) when my 3rd child was 2 months old. I bought a new pair of jeans at Old Navy's half price sale back in the fall and the 18s were so tight I could barely get into them. I was really depressed about my weight, I had been heavy since I was 20-21 (I'm in my mid-30s now) and felt like it was a losing battle. I saw a friend's weight loss ticker and was impressed, and though that hey, if she could do it then I could do it too. I PMd her and asked her about it, then signed up for WW online the next day.

Oh i've had a whole lot of "light bulb moments" in my yo yo dieting, the real light bulb stuff is when I lose in spurts, then I regain and need a two by four over my head... those two by fours and light bulb moments, they are the same right?

mine came when i saw a pic of me on christmas and i looked huge. I hated the way I felt about myself and decided to change. so i did.

Well, I've been trying to lose weight for what seems like most of my life. But I guess the real "oh my God" moment came last weekend. I want skiing and tried out the gear I bought this winter. And it hurt. Every single second on that hill was painful, I could only make it 50 yards before I'd have to stop and rest. (Last winter I was 25 pounds lighter) And it finally occurred to me- I am reaching a point where my weight will stop me from doing the things I love, and keep me from living the life I want to live and deserve to have. Losign weight is no longer an issue of appearances or sizes, but an issue of not wanting to give up on life before I'm 25.

Having to buy 3x tops and finally being ready to change my life and not just diet.

My "light bulb" moment was when I was in the VA Hospital getting a check up and I had two appontments that day and when I finished with one the doctor told me to just carry my medical files to my other appointment because it would be faster and while in transit I was in an elevator and I peeked into my medical files and there I saw my doctor's comment.

Patient is MORBIDLY OBESE .....

... and that's when it really hit me like a punch to the stomach. :(

Flatiron, Your is a lot like mine. I read some notes from a physical exam where the NP said I was a "pleasant, obese female."

Nothing like seeing it in black and white.

I thought, I am not "obese", but then I checked my BMI and I sure was. Took me a couple more years to figure out how to lose the weight and keep it off.

seeing the big 2-0-0 was the wake-up call for me. I got down to 170 unhealthily last summer but was sooo happy with the way I looked. I would pass myself in a mirror and have to stop and stare and look at my arms and look at my belly and I would just well up with happiness.
Then I stopped the unhealthy habits and gained back the weight, of course. I was miserable and depressed for awhile and when I finally climbed back on the scale I weighed 200. I couldn't stand the thought of losing all that progress and going back to being so unhappy with myself.
So i'm losing again.

For me it was when I realised just how close I was to weighing 300 pounds! I was in denial for so long that it never occured to me that I weighed more than most of the people on the Biggest Loser!

I had a few "OMG" moments; but I think the real kicker was when my five year old daughter asked me to play with her and my son (who was 2 at the time) and I started to play. We were running through the house and I got winded after about 5 minutes and my daughter kept asking me what hurt. It was ridiculously embarassing and I knew it was time to change.
Another time, my daughter was trying to understand the concept of growing up and she would say: Nate Nate is going to be big like Daddy when he grows up and I'm gonna be REALLY big just like you Mommy!
I started to cry...Now, when she wants to play, I have her do Walk Away the Pounds with me...she loves to exercise...lol

I'm sure I've had several but having an ECG at age 33 and sky high BP was sobering. After I started shedding the pounds people treated me differently, which was shocking as I'd only lost about 15-20 lbs at that point. Most importantly, after starting an exercise program and losing just a few lbs I felt so much better.

I think, when I feel good, that's when the light bulbs go off, "I feel so alive right now. Remember this."

Something about being in the 170's REALLY was like "OKAY SOMETHINGS GOTTA CHANGE"

None of my clothes were fitting, I was squeezing myself into stuff I had bought only months before that fit, and I guessed my weight around 160. So going home for Christmas when I was in university I weighed myself on our bathroom scale and was horrified to see a decade of numbers I hadn't seen before and also so shocked that I was nearly 15 pounds heavier than I thought I was.

I ate too much one night at my company's annual offsite meeting. I woke up in the middle of the night in a hotel room in Las Vegas with night sweats, chills and a nauseated feeling. I'd been diagnosed as very near diabetes a few weeks before & suddenly I imagined I would be going into diabetic coma. That also caused me to have what I now think was a panic attack. My heart felt like it would pound right out of my chest. I imagined getting very sick, in a place where I knew no one, and having to be hospitalized. And this would all be because of my weight & my eating habits. I finally fell asleep near dawn. By then, I had been scared into making some resolutions.

For some reason, I also remember one particular morning. I was driving through Old Greenwich on the way to work. I stopped in front of a school while the crossing guard let the kids go by. Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" came on the radio. I had liked the song well enough in a hum-along kind of way, but found myself really listening to the lyrics, which are quite inspirational. I found myself crying over the steering wheel. (Had my sunglasses on, which helped.) In retrospect, I also think of that as a moment when I dedicated myself to making a change.

Mine was when I saw pictures of myself at my friends wedding. I couldn't believe how huge I looked. I cried for a while and then decided that day to change....25 lbs gone since then.

I had sugar in my urine at my physical last summer. I had also lost a bit of weight while walking on vacation in Scotland, and wanted to keep it up.
Then near Hallowe'en, I wanted to get thru the season without more binges. I gave up the candy, and joined 3FC.
I have known for a while I was overweight, it took a lot for me to accept I had gotten to obese, and no end in sight. I could imagine getting bigger and bigger, and wanted to be able to imagine myself slimmer instead.
I still wasn't truly ready when I joined 3FC, but being here regularly gave me the strength to get moving and get losing.
So no real lightbulb moment, but more of a dawning for me.

my reasons
 

a few...

1. i have an 18 month old daughter and i don't want her to develop my bad habits and go through what i have gone through with my weight

2. had no insurance so i coudn't get my anti-depressants, and i knew exercize had the same effect so......

3. i was getting so tired and lethargic that i didn't want to get up and be a mother to my dd. it was because of all the fast food, sweets, and lack of exercize

4. tired of guys not noticing me

in that order :)

It was a series of things -
a) the size 12 jeans that I swore I'd never have to buy were wearing out because they were the ONLY pair of jeans I could zip - and I'd worn them for three years.
b) I weighed in 2 pounds heavier than I was 2 days before my son was born (that was a major holy-crap momemt)
c) not wanting to sit down to put on socks any more
d) realizing that I was making constant bad decisions about 2nd helpings (and 3rds)
e) I looked like a huge fat slug in what was actually a very pretty dress at my brother-in-law's wedding, because it was too tight
f) I didn't want to be one of those weak, unsteady elderly women - especially since I have a grandma who's 85 who could kick my butt if she wanted to, and just might be the perfect role model. :)

On the morning of Feb 9, 2009, I woke up and decided that the ONLY person in the whole world who could fix this is ... ME.