The biggest difference now is the INTERNET

Without 3FC, Pinterest and the vastness of information I do not think my fourth serious effort of losing weight would have been succesful or that it would have lasted so long.
Ok, this is partly true .
I think what is truly different this time is that I am getting older and wiser and I have (finally) come to the realization that I need to eat less, better and exercise to be thinner and fitter. It took me a while to see the obvious.

This time I realize I cannot retun to eating like I did prior to losing weight.

So I will always have to monitor my intake Forever! Amazing Realization my life will always require a tight rein on what I eat.

Always In the past would
get to my goal weight and eat like a normal person.

Can't go back to my youth and eat with wild abandon and never gain weight.

Being a Grown Up means having to tell my inner child No! I love you but you may not have.....XYZ! Really this is me looking out for you....you'll thank me ..when this doesn't go to your hips
Roo2

Kind of vain, but it was a wedding. I was asked to be my friend's maid of honor, and I did NOT want to be the obese bridesmaid in her wedding photos forever. Sadly, I dithered around until about 8 months before the wedding, but I did lose 50 pounds before her big day. Having 4 inches taken out of my bridesmaid dress felt pretty freaking fantastic.

I also told myself that quitting was not an option this time. Whether I was motivated or not, I was committed. So while I've been hovering around the same weight since AUGUST, I have NOT given up.

I have dieted twice in my life, the first time i kept it off for 8 years before i fell pregnant with my kid and then afterwards went into a MAJOR depresssion that caused me to bloat up. What was good was that i NEVER reached the weight of my first dieting. I kept myself way below that even though i managed to reach 170 which for my standards and life (i am 39 now) was TOO much. What caused me to diet first time was elevated blood sugar levels. What did it for me this time was the same reason.

So there is nothing different this time from the last.....pretty much the same thing happened. I am not a yoyo dieter anyway, so when i loose (the only time i lost before) i tend to keep it off........and at least not regain SO much....again

For me, it was a culmination of things.

I have been overweight, slightly, my entire life. When I was 18 and in my second year of college I got tired of it and buckled down and lost it. I got to 128, my lowest weight ever. I managed to maintain that loss, give or take a few pounds, until I got pregnant with my oldest at 20. I have now been either pregnant or breast feeding for seven years. Back to back full term pregnancies, and the traumatic death of my baby, got me to my high weight of just at 200.

About the same time I hit my high weight I, out of desperation, put my oldest on the Feingold program to try and treat his ADHD/ODD. It's a very clean way of eating, so over the next year I dropped 40lbs with little effort.

Then, in January it all seemed to click in my head. My daughter was 15 months old and people were regularly asking me when I was due. I was (am) extremely unhappy in my marriage and contemplating divorce, which led me to think of dating, and eventually having a man see me naked. That was a depressing thought. I went back to work in an extraordinarily physically demanding job and realized if I didn't do something to get in shape I was going to hurt myself.

So, I stewed about it for a couple of months and went over the different approaches I could take in my mind. I finally decided on a diet and decided on a workout DVD that is only six week program. I had never tried workout DVDs before, and lo and behold, I LIKE it! A lot!

I think that's the biggest thing that is different this time - consistently working out, and even looking forward to it!

It also seems to be a season for change in my life. Major realizations about the state of my marriage, being done with babies, a new job... The time was right. I am older and wiser and have infinitely more knowledge about nutrition and how my body works than I ever did in past attempts. I am certain that I will be successful in getting to my goal weight this time, and the love of exercise is here to stay.

One thing that is very different this time is that I just decided to stick to it no matter what and for however long it takes. I am so tired of losing the same 30-50 pounds every summer and then gaining it back over the holidays. This winter I didn't gain--I didn't lose a lot--but I didn't gain and wipe out my progress. So, that is a step in the right direction. 3FC has helped. This year when it got too cold to walk (my preferred exercise) I took up yoga and did several classes each week. It really helped with the seasonal affect/winter funk or whatever it is that makes me want to crawl up in a ball on the couch every January and hibernate until April.

Pain. And fear. The two big motivators that I've been missing (or ignoring) my whole obese life.

I've been IR since at least high school, and began putting on weight as soon as I hit puberty. By college I was over 200. When I was married at 27 I was 265 or so. Not only IR but PCOS, we found out, as we tried desperately to conceive. But even that wasn't enough to keep weight loss going. I've been on this board since forever, and I've never been below 250 in those years.

But now I have arthritic knees, and for a time could barely walk. I have been pre-Diabetic for the past few years (lost 40 pounds quickly after that diagnosis!). I have a friend who went through bariatric surgery, and I follow her meals on My Fitness Pal.

Finally it all clicked.

Pain. Pain from walking, losing mobility, not even 50 yet.

Fear. Pre-diabetic, well on my way to full-blown diabetes and all the side effects that can come from uncontrolled diabetes.

Hope. And lastly, hope. I saw what my post-surgery friend was eating, and said, "That's not too bad... 1200-1400 calories, mostly low-carb. If she can eat that, I can too. And I won't have to take all the extra supplements and worry about the size of my pouch and such."

So this year I am eating very low carb, like an unmedicated diabetic. And low calorie, like a post-surgery bariatric patient. Already, I've lost 15 pounds that I had regained in the past year.

For me it was more like a bunch of clicks as notches on a gear wound up.

Living with my husband, who grew up in a household with healthier eating habits and patterns than mine, let me see that there was a different relationship to be had with food.

Learning to cook, via culinary school, gave me the skills to prepare my own food and the exposure to real food that I was lacking (no vegetables don't have to come out of a can).

Getting pregnant and developing gestational diabetes let me know that my body was being seriously negatively affected by eating the wrong foods. It wasn't just about carrying around a few extra pounds.

Having my child made me have to be conscious of what foods I brought into my home and fed my family.

Realizing that exercise is like Prozac and accepting that you don't have to be a gym bunny to be 'allowed' to exercise (how much sense does that make?) lets me eat enough to be satisfied and still lose/maintain.

Finding 3fatchicks allowed me to realize how many of us struggle with wanting to make ourselves healthier and lose weight, regardless of our starting points. The endless personal stories and sharing of knowledge on this site has definitely been a deal breaker for me.

What finally made a difference this time is the fact that I am married now, and we both want at least two children in the future. I know at my current weight having a healthy pregnancy can be difficult, and I want to be as healthy as possible before my husband and I decide to begin making our little family. Also I want to be able to keep up with my husband during our workouts, he is in fantastic shape, and I also want to feel great about myself. Having been in the size 12 pants and dresses and hanging in the 180s, I know that is my happy weight range and size range. I felt the most confident, had the most energy, and was overall happy in that range.

That's such a winning attitude!!

Because this time, it's really and truly for me. I'm not doing it because I hate my body, it's because I love it and feel like I deserve better than this.

This time for me it is more the fact that I am doing it sustainably. I haven't cut out everything I like, and have discovered new things - such as cooking everything from scratch. Even though I don't have a lot of time I have found that cooking relaxes me, therefore it is my 'me' time where i can be creative, think and just have fun.

Thinkfit, do you mind if use your statement as a quote in my siggy?

--
Such great reasons! I find I can relate to so many of these.

This was kinda me too. There may have been a click though. I am not sure anymore. I know one of my biggest motivators was having to go bridesmaids dress shopping. I have never been a bridesmaid and am terrified/excited. The bride/other bridesmaids are all lovey and thin and were able to try on nearly every dress in the store, while I had 4 to choose from. I think I managed to stay pretty positive about the whole thing but that was a big eye opener for me. Those 3 way mirrors, all that light... I hadn't realized how far I had let myself go.

That was in October, come December I had been obsessing over the idea of finally doing this, like for real. I did a trial two weeks of calorie counting, to try to get in the swing of things so I could start full force, Jan 1st.

Then some coworkers decided to have a who could lose 20 lbs first challenge (totally won that BTW ). It was just the support/boost that I needed. It was great going to work and sitting at the lunch table with my friends who were comparing how healthy their lunches were. About a year ago one of our friends decided to cut out sugar completely. (she lost 20 lbs, just from that) Everyone, including me gave her a hard time, teasing with chocolates and donuts. It was a terrible thing to do and I still feel bad (and have apologized since!) Having that support at the lunch table was HUGE.

Then there is the internet (HERE!!) The things that I have learned in the last 4 months is unreal. Education goes a long way, I always read labels now. I cook almost every meal at home. I understand my body a little better. I no longer fear and loathe the gym (I might even be hooked on it)

Having some kind of support system is incredibly important. Be it here or in the real world, having someone to vent to, talk to get support from could easily make or break you

The biggest thing though that makes this time different is that I am actually trying. Hard. Not giving up, not letting one mistake throw me off track. This time is for real. No turning back

Wow, Silverfire. Good for you! And thank you for sharing such an inspiring post.