Mine was running into a former coach/father figure a few days ago. He gave me one look and said plainly "You've gotten fat, kid." I mean of course I knew that but to have somebody I really respect be so blunt about it kind of jolted me. Decided to start eating better with the next meal.

I was never super skinny but I used to be healthy. My wake up call has been finding out my husband looks at beautiful women online before coming to bed with me. He has never said a word but once I realized he was only keeping up appearances and was no longer attracted to me I realized I needed to do something about it. Now I keep a picture of a Victoria secret model he likes on my phone to look at every time I get the urge to eat.

The exact same thing happened to me. A friend and I hit a plus size store and she was pouring through the racks with all sorts of stuff to try on. I sheepishly found myself reaching for their largest size and when I realized that even that wouldn't fit, I excused myself so I could run off to one of the anchors and cry in the restroom. I too had been wearing stretchy clothes and was shocked that I couldn't get away with wearing jeans in the same size.

I also began to realize exactly how unhealthy I had become. I was constantly in and out of the emergency room over asthma attacks, I had trouble standing in one place (my feet absolutely killed me), and I could barely walk from one end of my living room to the other.

* * *

My other major shock was the miscarriage I had in early 2012, which happened at the end of my only major regain in the past decade. A lot of stress hit me all at once, prompting me to gain about 30 pounds in the span of just two months. I was utterly exhausted and scared. My body was so out of whack from the lack of taking care of myself that I found I could no longer bend over far enough to unlock the dog kennels. The miscarriage itself was the all-time low; I don't know if it had anything to do with my health or not, but I vowed at that point that I would take care of myself no matter what. I didn't have a choice unless I wanted to spin further out of control and reach my high weight again, and I also wanted to have a chance to have a healthy, full-term pregnancy.

I've currently lost a total of 153 pounds (although I still have a ways to go!), I'm in the middle of the C25K program, and have am blessed with a beautiful baby boy that turns four months old next week. :)

I had many of those wake up calls in the past, moments of tremendous unhappiness about my appearance, feeling disgusted with myself, feeling humongous, feeling out of shape. I started working out and watching what I ate and gave it up a few weeks into it.

My last wake up call was, however, COMPLETELY different! It was seeing my husband shedding all of his extra pounds after getting a gastric sleeve. This is going to sound horrible, but we got family pictures taken and it dawned on me that now *I* was the fat one of the relationship. And I did not like it one bit! And seeing that he was looking super hot standing next to me, I felt like I needed to keep up with my husband and do it for me and for him, just like he had gone through his surgery for himself and for me and our daughters.

It is a weird wake up call. I just got tired of the life I used to have, and having my husband's support since he can eat so little and only healthy stuff now, I said to myself "it's now or never!" And here I am. :) I would not go back in a million years.

It was definitely a lot of final moments and realizations that added up at once. I've been overweight my entire life but it was a while before it all fell into place.

- Finally seeing 300 on the scale after hovering at 298 forever. That only lasted a few days because I got right to it afterwards. I stopped a few times during my weight loss, but maintained my loss within 1-2 pounds every time and was just happier to be away from 300.

- My mom getting sick. I realized if I wanted my family to get healthy, setting an example might encourage them to do the same. My sister has lost over 50 pounds and my mom has lost 35+ since starting with us in January.

- Not wanting to waste more time. My teen years were miserable and I realized that I didn't want to waste all of my twenties too.

- I was finally starting to feel unhealthy with back pain, fatigue, etc... it all went away after losing the first 30 pounds, but it was scary to feel so unhealthy, and finally feel the consequences of carrying so much weight.

Several situations still make me relive the shame and embarrassment due to my excessive weight. Most humiliating (not only for myself but my children) being asked to exit a ride at an amusement park because I couldn't secure the safety harness. I shutter at the looks of sadness & confusion on my children's faces. Not fitting into some lawn chairs at backyard BBQs- embarrassing! And finally photographs taken at gatherings! Why does my mirror and a camera lens vary so drastically?????? Even after all these self esteem blowing situations..... I still haven't been able to find something to keep me accountable. This is where I hope this site inspires, motivates & challenges me.

In response to Slimseeker and others who've mentioned pictures, I notice I tend to not look to closely at current photos. Like I'll glance at them to be sure I don't look totally hideous then try to forget it. But recently I viewed older pictures from several years ago and I ached for how thin and fit I looked then (at 140-145)! When those pictures were taken I thought I needed to lose more weight and found things to be critical of but seeing them now I want to cry because I'm so much heavier now :(.

nostoneunturned definitely work on your breath, so important, when I exercise I try and breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth for about 5 breaths every so often, it helps me take deeper breaths. I am a terrible shallow breather when exercising, not getting oxygen to my muscles, this technique has helped me a lot.

Also with regards to stress and not sleeping, or being able to get to sleep, same technique is used in Take10 to get started meditating, about 5 deep breaths, in through the nose out through the mouth, concentrating on your breathing can help take the focus off whatever is stressing you so you can get that much needed sleep.

Best of luck to you!

My last wake up call was one mentioned above, DH determined to lose weight to get off Cpap, which he has, it motivated me to believe I could get healthier, too, and I have, which is what keeps me going now :D

Oh, my other thought which you might not like, is to do those stairs for exercise some other times when it's not so busy and you're not thinking about holding up anyone.

Also, I have so had that moment looking at photos when I thought I was fat and so wasn't!

Best to you :sunny:

very uncomfortable
 

As my middle gets rounder it causes pressure on my rib cage and knees. I just feel bad and I want to feel good again. :shrug:

My wake-up call was a few moments in time. A old job I would have to climb up few flights of stairs. By the time I was to the top I was gasping for air. I told myself that I was just out of shaped but I wasn't really THAT big and there's skinny people that are out of shape as well. Yep, I tried to make excuses for it to feel better about it. But in the back of my mind it did bother me. Then one day when jean shopping I went up a size, again. I realized every time I went shopping (which was once a year at least, I hate shopping) I would go up at least one size. This with the whole stair thing stayed in the back of my mind. Then my mother's wedding. I was the maid of honor, in a strapless dress. I saw the pictures. Up until then I avoided pictures and manage to do it well. But when you are part of a wedding party there is no avoiding it. One picture after another I had to face the fact that I was indeed overweight. I tried to accept it but just couldn't. I felt horrible about myself and ate for comfort. One day about a year later I was sitting in the living room, watching TV, feeling bad about my weight, wishing I could do something about it. That's when it hit me. Why am I just sitting here eating out of sadness and boredom when I lived out in the country and there was plenty of beautiful sites to see? I tossed the food in the frig and threw on a pair of shoes. I didn't make it to far but I kept doing it each day and every day I would get further and further and feeling great about it. I started wanting to eat better which only made me feel better. And the weight felt like it was just falling off.

Finding out I was diabetic and having blood pressure of 210/110 is what my wake up call was. I went to the doc a couple of weeks ago and my bp was 120/62! thanks to medicine, diet, and exercise :)

My wake up call had been when I discovered I could possibly have developed Osteo-Arthritis on my left knee at 230 lbs last year! After that, I did diet and exercise for a little bit and lost 20 lbs but then I lost the motivation and regained all the weight I lost. Being a self-conscious person who wants to look good, the 2nd wake-up call came this year when a friend of mine repeatedly commented, "You're fat! You're fat!". I found this insulting because a casual friend telling this to you is no way like a beloved family member insisting to you! So I decided I could not waste away my life in bothersome weight and kickstarted my weight loss journey!

Mine happened after a depressing life event. Three years ago I found out I was adopted, which was a shock. I quickly found my birth mom and everything was wonderful for a while. Over the past year or so, we have been fighting over things like the fact that she won't tell me who my father was. Since I don't know half of my medical history, I felt that was important to know. That and other issues led to me cutting of contact with her. So I was sitting around my house, very depressed, wanting to just sleep all day, and feeling horrible. I had aches and pains everwhere. My adoptive cousin told me that I should join a gym, that it would make me feel better and be a positive thing. Since I was at my highest weight of 221, I agreed, and here I am.

Mary, that is so sad that it took this long for you to learn you were adopted. Most kids are told as soon as they are old enough to understand. You can't make your mother tell you who your father is, but you can work on handling the trauma of all this. The exercising will help relive stress, as well as being healthy for your body. Keep going, you can do it!

My family is all skinny, except me. So I was always the disappointment in that area. Mom, who is a nurse, constantly warned me I'd be as big as a house one day if I didn't stop eating unhealthy foods, or that I would die of a heart attack one day etc. I didn't believe her and I just ignored her because the rest of society outside of my family condones unhealthy foods in schools etc. And my weight was gained over a very long period of time: middle school, high school, and college. I never believed I would hit 200lbs one day because I was gaining weight so slowly.

But then I went for a routine doctor's appointment in September and he asked me if I knew how much I currently weighed. I said no I don't, I haven't stepped on a scale in years. He told me I weighed 216lbs and recommended I lose weight. I basically told him I couldn't give two craps because I have no health problems. But it did bother me, even if I was too proud to admit it out loud. I'd always sworn 200lbs would never happen and yet here I was at 216lbs. So I went home, got on the internet, and started my own research into how to lose weight. I knew I hated exercise so I needed to discover a method I didn't hate: calorie restriction.

Slowly over the many months as I researched further online and was inspired by my continuing success of dropping lbs all by myself thru diet alone, I did start to incorporate things like exercise and veganism in January. I just knew I wanted to lose weight and be normal again. I didn't know how much I would learn and how I far I would actually take it.

Plus, my doctor has no idea as of yet! *cackles evilly* Once I'm at a weight I'm satisfied with, I'm going to make a normal appointment and go back and see if they notice anything on their charts. haha, "umm...your numbers are drastically different than last time." says the nurse in bewildered confusion. is what I want to hear!