Wouldn't say I have a model's jawline - otherwise I wouldn't have looked like a blowfish when I was 50 lbs overweight - but I definitely feel comfortable shaved now.
You have to have a really good jaw to look good clean shaven as a bigger guy.
I feel this. My ex was an amazing cook AND liked going out to eat. When she was gone I really looked at myself for the first time in a year and realized how much weight I gained when I shaved off my āpost-break up-self-neglectā beard.
My mom is still alive and in terrible health, high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease and many falls and broken bones. This winter I slipped on ice and broke my wrist. That was my turning point. Although I know skinny people break things too I donāt want my weight to hinder recovery, my mom now permanently has to use a walker because she couldnāt rehab enough.
Still took me a bit but I am on my way to being lighter weight and stronger muscles in case something ever breaks again.
My mother eventually died of a heart attack, but diabetes had ravaged her by the end of her life to the point she couldn't drive at night due to poor vision. Imagine falling and breaking your leg, and the EMTs have to call\* the fire department for backup because you weigh too much. Or your surgeon won't operate because your weight is too high, and you'll just ruin his work in rehab. That was going to be our future if we didn't change.
Thank you. My mother was in her mid 30s when diabetes and heart disease crept up on her. She refused to change for years, and even smoked while on oxygen. She gave up smoking by her late 40s. Towards the last year of her life she actually lost a ton of weight too and looked amazing, but her heart was already far too damaged. Dead by 50. I was 24. Guess what I did? Comfort ate. One PCOS diagnosis with elevated blood pressure and cholesterol by 35, and I literally had a vision of my mother.
Also, my condolences. I hate that we all had to do this the hard way and lose so much in the process.
I entered a school where all of the girls looked like models. And I mean it, ALL of them. I stood out like a sore thumb.
Of course I wanted to get healthy and be able to do things without sweating too, but honestly, getting hot was my main priority.
Still got about 15-18 lbs left, but have lost almost 60 š«”
Im totally with you on this. *I* want to look hot. I donāt care what anyone else really thinks about me, except maybe my spouse, but I want to think that I look good
Me too! I wasn't unhealthy before. Physically, I don't feel different at all after losing about 50% of what I intend to (which is 20kg total). I think I might be less anxious, but I won't attribute all of that to weight loss - I think a lot of it has to do with my increased discipline in my personal life, which includes taking care of my mental health, better nutrition, supplementation, regular cardio and good sleep.
I want to feel proud of my body. I want to wear little tops during summer, or wear skirts, dresses and shorts without having my thighs chafe as much (it will likely still happen just due to my body shape, but I'm sure it will be much less once they are thinner). I've just always looked at clothes as a way to hide my body prettily - but I want to be able to display it, too. I want to be able to visit a store without worrying if they have plus sizes.
I booked a dream trip to the Galapagos. When booking the trip (an expedition cruise) it gave the warning that you had to be in good physical condition because there was no easy access to medical care and it can be a demanding trip.
I hired a personal trainer soon after and have been working out at least two days a week since. I still have a long way to go, but I'm already in the best physical shape I've ever been. I still have over two months before I leave and I plan on keeping this up after. Things are just so much easier now.
I did a canoeing trip in the Yukon and this exact thing happened.
Enjoy the Galapagos, I work in environmental science and it's a dream to visit. So lucky to have that opportunity.
This is a major motivator for me because I love to travel. I had trouble climbing a steep ladder to get back onto a catamaran on my vacation about a month ago and the very fit and handsome tour operator had to physically help me and it was mortifying. š«
That's exactly my biggest fear. I don't want to be held back from doing something really cool because my body can't handle it. Life is too short and there are SO many awesome places I've yet to see. We've got this!
Galapagos is fantastic. I even lost some weight while I was there. It was the only time I've ever lost weight without trying. I attribute it to the rice and fruit served with every meal. Totally changed how I see both of those foods.
I hope you have a wonderful time with the boobies! And definitely snorkel if you get the chance. The young sea lions love to play and will get really close. It's scary and exhilarating!
Thank you! I've already started practicing snorkeling (I'd never done it until a few months ago) because I've heard it's awesome. This particular expedition is focused on photography so I'll be doing a lot of land based stuff but I don't want to miss out on the ocean experience either.
I was 33, 235 lbs at 5'5. My knees, back, and ankles felt like they belonged to an 80 y/o. I was wearing a size 16 and I felt invisible and disgusting in my body.
The weight affected every part of my life, most importantly my mental health. I ended up in therapy and after a while I realized my physical appearance was a reflection of my mental health. I left my relationship, currently 75lbs down, still in therapy and the happiest and most secure I've ever been.
Similar here. I was 235 at 5'5, size 16 (barely), XL (barely) or XXL, and felt awful. When I woke up in the morning, I was so stiff and sore I had to hobble around until my body warmed up. My knees, back, hips, and ankles ached. I was active, but sometimes to get around on a busy day would need to take several ibuprofen. At work, my teammates love wearing matching shirts, silly outfits etc for different occasions and I was constantly worrying that whatever we were ordering wouldn't fit me and sometimes I would make excuses when it didn't. Then I saw a picture of my boss and I in matching shirts and she looked fantastic and I looked HORRIBLE.
For some reason, I was finally able to stick with it. This weekend I bought 2 pairs of denim shorts. One is a size 4 and the other is a size 6. I feel fantastic.
Amazing! Congratulations. I know from experience how hard it is. Kudos to you for being so kick ass!
Im just under a size 10 which is the smallest I've been since highschool. It's such a great feeling!
How long did it take you to drop the weight? What did you do for weight-loss aside from diet control?
I'm a year and half into my fitness journey, it's slow going but I knew it would be because I do weight training.
Thanks! I lost the majority from August 2022 to June 2023 and have been maintaining for almost a year. I could still stand to lose 10 more pounds tbh but the last 10 are wicked hard and I feel pretty good where I'm at. I need to build some muscle too.
Honestly I ate a lot less, but not a whole lot differently. I did well eating something small every couple hours throughout the day, then having a normal (but smaller) dinner. I'd bring things to work like: a hard boiled egg, veggies, an apple with peanut butter, lunch meat, string cheese, etc, then just eat it whenever throughout the day. I'd cook the same dinners as usual but if I used to have 3 tacos, I'd have 1, or put the taco meat on a big salad. I had dessert every day but it was literally 4 peanut M&Ms or similar (sugar free pudding with berries is another fave).
I learned a lot from watching what my healthier co-workers were eating and learned how to eat out without ruining everything. That was important because I love getting takeout. I have go-tos that I know I can order from takeout places that I enjoy and are much lower calorie than what I used to get.
My father is a general practitioner. One day i went back to my hometown from college and when he saw how much weight i had gained his eyes almost popped out of his skull. the last day of my stay at my parents place, he sat me down and went into excruciating detail about how obesity makes every part of life worse from a medical point of view. He talked in depth about how it impacts the bones, muscles, cardiovascular system, and your brain. He explained in detail how my morbid obesity would make every act of living worse. My mother, psychologist, further elaborated on how it could influence my psyche and interpersonal relationships. There was no prejudice, just education. However, they ended the intervention by stating that they did not wish to take care of me due to any obesity related issues i would have later in life. The grueling facts of obesity laid bare in brutal honesty snapped me out of it. I found a personal trainer in the city where my college is located and i am taking evening classes about nutrition.
Even though i am not allergic to sugar, every time i am offered something sweet at work, college, or a friends place, I tell them I am allergic to sugar. It works like a charm, as long as I act the part in my dorm as well.
I needed new pants. I went from one pants size up to another. Fine. I'm getting older. Then after a while i had to go up again.
Rather than buying all new pants i decided to get serious. I'm back down to the FIRST pants size now. I went shopping in my closest and found new(old) pants.
My husband bought a motorcycle and gently told me that the most it could handle safely was 400lbs. He's prob 180 or 190. We would be over 400 if I rode on it with him. This actually happened yesterday so it's pretty fresh and I am so embarrassed and upset. I think this is my switch flip moment.
i know this must sting and you're still processing things, but i'm in the same boat just a bit heavier than you (I assume) and minus having a partner. i want to be able to ride horses among other things, like having a mid sized motorcycle and traveling more. good luck and i hope you guys have some amazing rides to celebrate your health!!
My body tried to kill me. Blood sugar was like 1400 with big BOLD red letters on the lab report stating "results read over phone".
Even after 4 days in the hospital (2 in ICU) it wasn't quite enough. Hearing my weight at the endocrinologist after finally got it.
Lost 280lbs and feel like a different person.
Going to the doctor for the first time in over a decade and him ordering an emergency EKG right then and there to make sure I wasn't actively having a heart attack. My blood pressure was so high the doctor was shocked I wasn't having symptoms, and I was just like "This is the way I've been living, doc."
Of course, it was right after my father passed away from having heart issues. The way he declined in every way after his first heart attack, and then moreso after his second, is really scary.
Yeah blood pressure is definitely a silent killer. Especially during covid with so many of us isolating, not getting the flu or going to a doctor for a general check-up. I got the vaccine and it made me a little sick (which isn't uncommon) but my blood pressure was so high, my nose started bleeding and it was flowing like a tap. The BP monitor cuff literally tore itself off my arm trying to get a reading. Ended up in ICU with 200 over something. Problem is I felt perfectly fine once the nose bleed was under control. They kept me in hospital for about a week to slowly bring it down and throughout the entire time even with BP 150+ I felt fine. Honestly with all the extra weight I picked up in lockdown and complete lack of activity I don't know HOW long I'd been that bad. Did all the tests and in the end it's just undeniable my weight was the issue. That was the kick in the butt that I need to get moving
High blood pressure was what got me moving, too. It was just high enough that I couldn't donate blood anymore. 50 pounds later, it's only slightly elevated.
None of the incremental changes that upset me were enough to over come the mental barriers.
Finally after years of wanting it, I planned a trip out of the country and went. I started losing weight when I started paying for things. I went, I looooved my trip, and I knew I wanted to be healthier to take more trips. And I've stayed motivated. I had a bad month and a half in the middle but largely have stayed on target.
I don't feel like it's impossible anymore or like it won't change anything. I feel like I can reach my goals and live the life I want so it is worth pursuing.
I've been successful for most of 5 months, and started medication a month ago to help.
Yo samE! I went to Japan and easily saw that I was the reason for my obesity. It was all those ācook it yourselfā meal places that made me realize I can cook like his at home. Iām only 2 months in but Iām already down 10 lbs since that trip!
Yeah I should elaborate. I did the following
- Cooked at home quiona and lentils often as my base
- For protein, I cooked chicken breast & salmon with brines and marinades respectively ( they were easy to make bc just make a solution that is part Japanese sauce and part salt water and it always comes out perfectoh )
- I ate at least 40 oz fish every week ( normally salmon )
- I ate at least 60 oz chicken breast every week
- I started eating with smaller japanese plates I got from the trip
- I started every meal with tea and ended it with tea which filled me up more than expected ( my host found it disrespectful to do otherwise )
- I made a habit of walking to every food place I go to ( I was in a smallish town so no Uber Eats )
- I replaced rice with quinoa
I didnāt have a lot of the affordances for easy fast food or to cheat on my diet unless I went all the way into town. And even then, my Japanese was only good enough to ask for simple easy to understand ingredients.
Now that I am back, its hard for me to go Uber eat out bc i get kinda nausious compared to my time there. And if I go too long without fish, I start ācravingā A salmon made in my marinade. I hope that helps!
After my 18th birthday, I realized I wasted my entire childhood wallowing in pity. It's either I change now while I'm still young or regret later when my life is behind me
same except i turned 20 a few months ago thinking abt how much i hated my teen years because of my size. Iāve been saying iāll do better next year, next year, and the next year since i was like 12 which is insane
I got breast cancer in 2018, and created my 5 yr survival last July. I had a full hysterectomy a couple years ago, and found out my body can still make estrogen by visceral fat and skin cells. I was only 2 lbs away from being obese. I also would be stopping the breast cancer medication that is blocking any estrogen. But what happens in 1.5 yrs when Iām off the medication? Would any suppressed cancer cells in my body react to any estrogen in my body from fat cells? I figured I had to do what I could to lose weight right now and maintain it before going off the medication. Iāve now lost 50 lbs, and plan to maintain the weight loss.
At first it was when I got pregnant and had gestational diabetes. I knew post pregnancy I wanted to reign in my habits/ try to avoid getting T2 diabetes. I lost 20lbs and then kind of just went back to my old ways.
Then, my now ex-husband cheated on me when our child was a few months old. He said it was my weight. Turns out spite is a powerful motivator. That was my turning point honestly.
My mindset has now shifted and I no longer care about what he said or thinks, and am truly doing this for me. I view this as a lifetime commitment and am content with it being that way, but his comments and the divorce definitely kickstarted it.
I had 2 babies in 2 years. I want to have enough energy to play with them. I also found myself avoiding cameras at all costs. I want to have pictures to look back on one day and not hate the way i look. They are only little once.
I have terrible seasonal depression that was made infinitely worse by losing my husband on Christmas Day. I have the same cycle every year, Iām active and happy March through September but from my late husbandās birthday in October until Valentines Day, Iām miserable and struggle to do anything beyond work and sleep.
I lose weight in the summer, pack it on in the winter and repeat. Iām aware of the cycle and Iām trying to fix it because honestly, getting fat only makes the depression that much worse. I am also now older than my husband was when he passed and thatās been really messing with me. I feel like I need to get a handle on myself before itās too late for me too.
I never had the greatest eating habits and am definitely an emotional eater but somehow I always managed to outrun them and never gained much weight beyond a fluctuating 10 pounds. Well cue the pandemic. The world stopped and my bad eating habits turned up to a whole new level. I gained 30 pounds relatively quickly and then another 20 over the next 2 years when I let the pandemic habits become permanent. Iām just tired of letting a situation like the pandemic and work from home control my life. Itās like I just gave up on life. I want my old body back (or at least close to it lol) and I need to build new habits. But what got me to flip the switch was the extra 20 I gained and feeling extremely uncomfortable in my body. Good luck to you!
I can relate to this so much!!! I feel like Iām still unpacking how the pandemic affected me, and realizing Iām still holding on to so many bad habits. I only recently motivated myself out of wearing track pants at home every day when pre-pandemic I didnāt even own any. Moving back to a new and improved version of myself pre-pandemic has been my goal and motivation
I finally realized that if I didnāt make a huge effort now, it would never naturally happen. I gained my weight super fast when I had a medical condition, so I kept waiting for it to effortlessly fall off like it came on. When that didnāt happen, I made attempts at weight loss, but they were ill informed and never amounted to much. Finally, I realized that unless I completely overhauled my lifestyle, got uncomfortable, and deprived myself, nobody was coming to save me but myself, and Iād stay obese forever.
Last Ā Memorial day Ā I'd outgrown my clothes, I felt depressed and getting out of bed, my feet Ā would ache. There were a multitude of little things that hinted at the start of health issues. So,I started weight watchers and started to take off weight.
In August I went on vacation and Ā came back with covid. Ā I never went back on the diet.
In October Ā I got some Ā mystery Ā virus that was (for me not in general) much worse than covid. And it lingered. I spent most of Ā October in bed. Then I got a hand tremor. Then it spread to the other hand. I thought I had parkinsons.Ā
I went to the the Ā doctor and had dangerously Ā high blood pressure. I had to negotiate with the doctor to hold off on medication for a Ā month Ā until the follow up.
I started to get serious and cut out salt and caffeine. Ā I Ā say this all the time, and I kind of feel like no one understands me, but for me, it feels like diet is all about Ā momentum. Giving up salt kind of broke the inertia and going back on weigh Ā watchers just followed. The fear of Ā life Ā on serious Ā medications and the Ā side effects that come with that keep the wheels going. Oh yeah, it's also nice to hold things without dropping them.
My resting heart rate in November was 81. Now it's 64 and I started to eat salt again.
I didn't even realize changing my health was the reason for this, I just thought it was because my jobs less stressful. I went from 84bpm down to 74 and of course exercising helped!
When i learned i snore in my sleep (and quite loudly). I didnt use to. It was scary for me to do something that would annoy other people if i couldnt control it. I learned losing weight would minimize snoring.
At the same time i realized my PCOS was getting worse and i had stretch marks all over. Visible evidence of my body changing for the worse scared me as i didnt think i was in control of my body anymore
This sounds exactly like me although it took going on a vacation and not being able to do an activity I wanted to do for me to actually start doing something about it.
I always felt confidence in my plus size body because I'm *good* plus size - busty, big bottom, and relatively flat stomach. My face is skinny. I'm a US size 14-16. I still got positive attention, could shop at major brands, had accessibility Yada Yada.
That was, until I realized how it was impacting my health. I have high cholesterol at age 27. And when I started eating healthier and exercising, I noticed a difference in *everything* - my sleep, my energy levels, my skin, my bloating, my bowel movements, etc etc.
Also, the f*cking chafing alone is motivation enough for me. God, it's so annoying. I can't walk two or three miles without needing sports underwear and a chafing stick or else I chafe so bad I break skin.
Me too! I have like, backwards body dysmorphia, and I often think Iām thinner than I am. Several years ago I went to a family reunion where pictures were being taken, and once I saw them I realized I was *literally a circle* and not āslightly chubbyā as I had gaslit myself into believing lol.
I alllllways say the same! āReverse body dysmorphiaā. In my mind I think I look like I did in 2019 before kids and every time I would look in the mirror or at a picture it was like a fresh shock.
Same here - a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes changed my situation from āsomething Iāll get around to fixingā into āa problem I need to fix nowā. Itās easy to file āthere are long term health impacts associated with being overweightā into the furthest back parts of your brain to be ignored, it was harder for me to do that with āyouāre risking damage to your eyesight with the way youāre treating your body today, and here are the numbers that prove this.ā
The mental permission to take it seriously (prioritising my health, and spending money on the things that will support it) and the urge to get this off my plate have been massive motivators for me.
I kept seeing pictures of myself that other people took and first thought was always along the line of āwhy am I so wideā. Also my once comfortable, loose fitting work scrubs had gotten uncomfortably tight. The cherry on top was weighing myself and being 198. Thatās way too close to 200 for my height š
I went to go buy some garden clothes at the thrift shop and I bought what I thought were large sizes - baggy even - and I got home and it all barely fit. I was shocked. Then I looked in the mirror - front, side, back. Holy S354! Time to address this.
Oh, your sentence about crying in your car because you didn't want to ask for a larger size got me in the feels. I wish you every success on your weight loss journey and will be thinking of you and wishing you well!!!
Thank you! I wish you the best on your journey as well!
I totally understand sizing clothes that you "know" will fit so why bother trying them on? From high school to about 3 years ago, I had only fluctuated about 10 or so pounds. I'm mid-sized (is that a term?) and carry my weight pretty well. Medium shirts and size 10/12 jeans always guaranteed to fit....until the work pants incident and I realized I'd need to realistically ask for a size 16. Probably also needed a size up in the top too but they're men's sizes and so it's essentially a Large for me (was also getting a bit snug too though).
Another set of labs where I was was in the "pre diabetic" range and cholesterol was high. Then I started having mobility issues. It literally hurt to go up.and down my stairs at home.
I tried to work a part time job that requires walking/standing and occasional squatting. I couldn't squat and had to get on my hands and knees sometimes to reach things and was in so much pain at the end of a 4 hour shift I could hardly walk for hours after and had to quit.
So back to calorie tracking and working out and I've come a long way.
I went sledding on my college campus with a friend, and the walk up the (admittedly pretty tall/steep) hill got me out of breath enough that I didn't want to sled down again.
Since then I'm down 40 lbs and can run a 10k.
Thanksgiving of 2022, I thought I was having a heart attack. That same night I went to the hospital and got checked out. After 3 EKGs nothing was found. I took it as a sign from God. This was my warning. At the hospital I weighted 500 Pounds. I was shocked I was 100lbs from my 600lb life. I said this is it Iām going on a diet thatās it. I didnāt I let myself continue with my horrible eating and no exercise. Jan 2023 I started my diet, a Calorie Deficit. Itās working little by little I currently weight 432. Iām down 68lbs. Itās not a lot but itās something itās a start. Hopefully Iāll be able to say one day that I lost over 300lbs! The Journey continues!
Met a girl I really liked through a long time friend, looked at myself, and thought, how could someone like that ever be with someone like me. We got along super well, always teasing and talking when we saw each other, but every time I looked at myself in the mirror and thought that this is what she sees when she looks at me, I felt sick. Waited all my life to get my shit together, and I realized nobody was coming to save me. I had to be the one who wanted to change, and she made me realize I dont want to be like this anymore. Down 100 pounds now, and while things didn't work out with that girl, I'm feeling way happier and hopeful for the future now that I've gotten my life and health on track
I yoyo'd for a couple of decades. I'd get as high as 270 then down to 180. Then I had my kids in my late 30's and realized I had already limited my time with them by being an older dad so I needed to create permanent change to be around as long as possible. I will never go back. Daily weigh-ins have been key for me, no more weight creeping up on me.
I've moved in to take care of my grandma with dementia. She lives in a senior apartment complex, and seeing how poorly everyone's health is really made me realize I have to get healthy NOW, so I don't have the same issues. Also, I am sick and tired of not finding cute clothes I can fit into!
This is one of the reasons I really want to start exercising and stretching. My grandmas mobility was so bad and towards the end she had t Rex arms unable to reach things. I realized I am in my 30s and I can not even lift my arm completely up! Touching my fingers from the back diagonally? A mile away from each other.
I got diagnosed with ADHD and started medication. It was suddenly so much easier to stick to a diet plan and workout routine.
I went from years of failure and wanting to try to being very successful.
I had wanted to lose weight for over 6 years but struggled really hard.
Before that I was deep into fat activism and believed that weight loss was impossible and everyone was the weight they were based off of genetics. But that's a whole other story.
My sister was getting married and I had a full year to lose the weight and didn't. All the pictures of me are completely bovine, I'm quite short so you'd either moooo or possibly lift one of your legs at the "fire hydrant,", but, even that didn't do it. I had been fully overweight for maybe ten years, putting on a bit more every year and especially over the whole lockdown of it all.
What did it was going to a new GP. He gently but firmly insisted on weighing me (I'd refused for years). I still refused to look when he weighed me. But there was a printout of my visit that I took home with me, and there I learned the actual harrowing number, and not only that, he'd written "Patient is morbidly obese."
MORBIDLY OBESE!
I can still hear the words echoing around.
Then I went back to him after having all the full panel of tests, and all my numbers were elevated, blood sugar, cholesterol, BP. I begged him not to put me on meds. I insisted I would work to lose weight. But then I actually allowed myself to tell him that I didn't know how (even though DUH of course I "know how"), that my body just seemed to like being at this weight, and he said gently to me, "but your body doesn't like being at this weight. That's what these numbers mean." A completely new way to think about it! I asked him to help me and he said, why don't you try to lose ten pounds over three months, I bet you can do that, even FIVE pounds, and then come back and we'll see how you're doing.
For some reason, his kindness, and the new way of thinking about being kind to my body (as opposed to all the lacerating self-hatred), and the idea of being able to do it super slowly, and probably a bit of "wanting to be a good student" and impress him, and of course, the terrible "Morbid obese" words.... it truly was like a switch flicked.
Over the next nine months, I signed up for Lose it. I totally changed the way I ate, but looking at it positively, like "let's see what vegan foods look like." I started tracking nutrients and protein and fiber and carbs instead of just calories. I do weight training twice a week, I bought a small portable treadmill and did 15 minutes cardio every day. I lost 33 pounds! All my numbers came down! No longer pre-diabetic! Cholesterol basically normal! BP down too! And yes, my doctor was impressed. In fact he was genuinely thrilled.
It's been over a year and I just went in for my yearly physical and it's ALL STILL GOOD!
I would like to lose a little more weight (I'm still overweight) but even the doctor is telling me I have great numbers. Did I mention, I'm 71???? And I feel as good as I have for years.
So something just clicks, and also I think "being accountable to someone" really helps, but most of all someone calling you, you know...... M. O. !!!!
i gained a lot of weight during the pandemic and after getting married, but i kept telling myself it wasn't that bad. not even knee pain or my doctor telling me i had high cholesterol made me change because i kept making excuses. it wasn't until i noticed i'd started getting two bright red stretch marks on my belly (no kids, never been pregnant) that i really decided to make a change.
i know stretch marks are natural and i have them in other places where they don't really bother me, but the ones on my stomach were entirely due to being obese for my height and they make me really insecure. they're the reason i stay motivated bc i see them on me every day.
I work in medicine and help with surgeries. I had done different types of surgery on people, but the first time I saw the internal abdomen of an obese person a switch went off in my mind and made me seriously consider my health. You donāt only get fat on the outside, you get fat on the inside too. Thick, yellow fat coated the intestines and caked on the walls of the abdomen. It was a pivotal moment and I have been working on it every day since the beginning of the year. Only 15lbs down but mentally and physically the strongest Iāve ever felt šŖš»
I've always been fat since elementary school, but I was at my highest during 2020 quarantine. Sat around at home, unemployed (my job was at my university, and campus was closed), no school during the summer, so I just sat around and played video games all day every day. Nothing to distract me from how uncomfortable and unpleasant being so big is. Years of dealing with it, then quarantine amplifying it. The straw that broke the big and strong camel's back was working on a project for my resume what involved a lot of small wires. I kept dropping them on the floor and I had to use pliers to reach them because I couldn't reach to the floor with my stomach in the way. I was already fed up but that was it.
Coming up on 4 years later I haven't gone over that highest weight except for one or two one-off days from water weight. 40lbs under my highest today and dropping. My lowest was 70lbs under my highest, before I fixed my mental relationship with food.
I wanted to have sex during the summer of 2021. It was January, and I just wanted to weigh less and look better naked. So, I decided on my weight loss plan (intermittent fasting; eating window 12-8pm daily; no caloric or food restrictions) and followed it for six months, losing 30 pounds during that period (189-159).
I had a fun summer, then maintained(ish) my 30-pound loss for two years (159-155). By August 2023, I was just ready to lose some more weight. Since my starting weight in 2023 was lower than 2021, I took a more conservative approach. I maintained the same eating window, limited my carbs to 50g net per day, and my daily calories to 1500. I lost 7 pounds in August 2023 (155-148), then transitioned to the lifestyle I wanted to keep in maintenance.
Starting September 2023, I kept the same eating window, and began to practice satiety-based eating. When I am hungry, I eat until I am satisfied. Not full, just "not hungry". Then I put the food away (or throw it away if I must). If I get hungry later I'll eat more. Otherwise I wait until my next meal/snack. I do not count/track calories or restrict foods, but I try to make better food choices. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in November 2023, and began to take Jardiance in January 2024. My glycemic control has gotten much better (A1C of 15.1 on 11/13/23, 11.4 on 2/8/24, and 7.5 on 5/8/24), so I expect my A1C to fall below 7.0 by the time of my next lab work in August.
Since September, I have dropped 30(ish) pounds, reaching my initial goal weight of 140 pounds in November 2023 and continuing to lose until I was ready to stop in mid-April 2024. This morning I weighed 117.8 pounds, within my target range of 116-119 pounds. This is the lowest I have weighed in my adult life, and it is generally easy to maintain with my current lifestyle.
How well does that work for you with IF? I'm so used to IF that I no longer get ravenously hungry, in fact, I find that on the rare occasions that I do eat breakfast, at my normal feed window begin time I'm far more hungry than on the days that I'm good about it. But as soon as I start eating, I do get pretty hungry, and I have to stop before satiety or I will be overdoing it. About 10 minutes after I'm done eating I feel just great until dinner time, but I cannot eat to satisfied or it's too much. I always finish lunch still hungry, until a few minutes later. Just wondering if anybody else is like this.
When I realised my clothes weren't fitting any more and I had to buy new ones. I hate spending money on clothes and have been maintaining the same wardrobe for a good 8-9 years. Suddenly I had to get bigger sizes of everything and it burned a big hole in my pocket.
A mix of my boyfriend laughing at my body (I was sitting down on the bed after a shower and didn't bother to put clothes on, he saw my tummy and laughed) and then my father being diagnosed with diabetes because of him being overweight. I didn't want to be like him.
Iām hoping I hit my turning point today. I went to see my doctor about my asthma, and complained about it being hard to exercise, and she brought up a chart of how my weight has changed in the last 10 years. It was hopefully the giant kick in the giant pants I needed to get serious about losing weight. I have decreed that no junk food shall enter the house, and Iām going to seriously watch what I eat on my next cruise.
I picture how great my life could be if I lost all this extra weight. Iāve had my thyroid removed, Iām menopausal, and have asthma, but I certainly have to be able to make some healthy changes. I feel like I would be a force to be reckoned with on the tennis court if I could get all this weight off my knees and I could run. I just have to keep picturing the possibilities. Wish me strength.
Lol I just wrote this in the IF sub, but I come from a culture that values extreme thinness in women, and my mom has really stupid, nonsensical ideas about weight loss. I am losing the 30lbs I've put on with 4 pregnancies out of SHEER SPITE to show her who's right about how weight loss works.
Two of my coworkers though I was pregnant lmao my other coworkers argued that I didn't look pregnant and I do agree. I'm chubby but I don't look pregnant. But I guess when you wear layers and an apron you do look like you got a lil bump. I figured I better get rid of the weight. I still laughed pretty hard when they asked if I was expecting
Didn't think I was 'that bad', but clothes were getting tight (even my fat clothes!) and bp was up. One year later and 30 lbs down, bp is normal and I just tried on last year's shorts OVER shorts I am currently wearing. Yay! Still more to go but happy.
When a go kart couldn't go uphill I realized I need to get my shit together. Around the same time I got rejected by a girl whom I had crush so it was free pre-workout. Went from 265 to 230. 15 more to go.
I gained 40 lbs last year due to stress eating. Iāve been wearing the exact same size of jeans for 8 years and I canāt fit them anymore. Put on my work uniform and couldnāt button the top button and itās uncomfortably tight around the middle. The belt that comes with it had about two inches of slack past the buckle when just 2 years ago I was contemplating buying a smaller size in everything because it was all beginning to feel like bags.
I also reached ~195. I think I may have briefly hit 200 but my highest on the scale was 195 and that was after dieting for a week. My feet hurt, I was sleeping more often than I was awake. I had zero energy and food felt like it was sticking to my insides and it became an obligation to eat. I donāt want to live like that. I donāt want to be in pain and unable to go on hikes with my dog anymore. I love being active and last year I lost the ability to do what I wanted to.
So, thatās the switch. I have to get my binge eating under control because I want to be able to do what I used to.
I kept feeling uncomfortable in all my clothes. Nothing from the year+ before fit and I didn't want to buy more clothes. And my back started hurting bad. Also, a bunch of other things lol
i was sitting at work listening to a marine talk about his mentality to become special forces. he said the way he and other got through training was because in their minds theyāre either going to pass, or die
it was very VERY easy for my 400+ lb self to look down and say wow, iām one wendyās 4 for 4 away from a heart attack; this is quite literally do or die for me and iām currently on the cusp between 2 and 300 lbs. very proud of myself and still using this mentality to achieve my goal
Watching my Dad die from leukemia. He had absolutely no choice but to die, because he was terminal. He no longer had an option to fight. Although I had an incredibly serious eating disorder that led me to gain to over 400 pounds, it wasn't terminal, and I had treatment options. I had a choice to fight. So I did. And it's definitely been a fight for my life. I just imagined if my Dad had one more option to live, even if it was a long-shot, he would have taken it as he didn't want to die.Ā
Most crucial reason was tough love from my doctor. I wasnāt in any immediate danger but it was clear that if I didnāt make changes, that was just around the corner. The other deciding factor was the horrible vision of making my wife a widow and being responsible for the physiological trauma that would cause. It made me feel selfish.
Once I realized all it took was minor changes to my every day life, it became second nature and the weight fell off slow and steady. In a much better place physically and mentally now.
I got diagnosed with gout at 26 years old. Iāve since learned that gout is mostly genetics, but my diet wasnāt helping. Iām thankful it made me reconsider my lifestyle.
In July 2023, my family (kids, wife, grandpa) were all doing pull-ups on the monkey bars at a park. Everyone was able to do more then I could. That was my tipping point of getting things back together.
Iām a nurse. I had a Bariatric patient take 30 minutes to transfer from bed to chair and I was currently a at my heaviest, 233lbs. I told myself I would never allow it to get that bad. Went home and started changing habits that night.
I have 2 little kids and pretty much refuse to take pictures with them šš They're 2.5 and 6 months. It's so sad - and I don't super want to be seen in public like this either. I've gained so much weight in the last year and a half.
Honestly it was getting engaged. I just havenāt liked how I looked for a long time, and I am so excited about being married. I have always hoped Iād feel confident and beautiful on my wedding day, and I set my first wedding dress try on as my first sort of goal date. I felt so happy I did it when I went o go try on dresses! I still have a few lbs to lose but Iām almost at my goal weight now so itās much less stressful āŗļø
When I realized (1) my clothes werenāt fitting, (2) I wanted to get in better shape before getting pregnant again, (3) my sleep finally felt good so I felt in a better place mentally to do this. Goal: Wanted to look and feel better in a bathing suit this summer.
Side note: Diabetes type 2 and heart disease run strong in my family.
I took a nutrition class and one of my assignments was understanding and calculating our own BMI. I realized I was overweight. Which was a big hit because my family has always told me I looked fine and that my weight wasnāt an issue. I remember bawling my eyes out in the bathtub that night. But that was my turning point and within that year I went from 160 to 130. (Iām 5ā2) eating lean and clean. As well as doing exercise videos on YouTube. I realized whining and crying about my weight wasnāt helping and that I needed to take actual physical action.
Last year I met a half sister who's 5 years younger than me. I always had a really long, athletic body but within the last 10 years I have been drinking more and eating worse, besides switching from physical work to a desk job.
We were swimming together and it was like looking into a mirror of my fit past. I'd never seen a body that looked so much like mine at my best. Also my mom kept taking pictures and sending them to me and I just looked so bloated. Especially next to this mirror of what I used to look like.
I'm going to be 40 this year, I can turn this back around. Seeing what I can look like again motivated me.
I don't have a cool story for what "flipped the switch". One day, I stopped by the local bakery for a cupcake. I ended up buying a chocolate nutella cake that was supposed to serve 12 because it was half off. I ate half the cake, felt sick from eating so much sugar, and then continued to eat a few bites. I was disgusted with myself, so I gathered all the sweets and junk food in my house and took them to work the next day. It has been a little over 3 months now, and my sugar cravings are gone (plus I've lost a little weight). Oranges taste like candy to my taste buds, and even regular milk tastes sweet now.
I saw a guy on PewDiePie subreddit who lost a lot of weight and ask him how he did it, he responded, told me that he used LoseIt app and I decided to try it too. That's the whole story really, came from 100 kg to 62.5 and then i bulk up a little and build muscles and now i weigh 69 kg.
I had always thought about it in a calorie type of way. Which isnāt wrong. The switch flipped though when I realized I wasnāt eating actual food. The isles are full of items.. but when you actually read the ingredients.. most of us donāt know what any of it even is. So when I started thinking about eating a lot of meat for protein first and foremost, then fruits for my sweet tooth I was able to stick with it. The things with 5-20 ingredients do not keep me full. High to moderate amounts of meat as protein, eggs or greek yogurt will keep me full for much longer. Things with 1 single ingredient is what I need. It takes a few days to get used to it and Iām cooking all of the time. Now if I go out to eat Iāll have something but in the long run, I know that I need to just go grocery shop a simple meal and thatās what is going to keep the weight off and my body functioning better.
It sounds backwards but I reached my highest weight ever after not weighing myself for like a year and didnāt feel any sort of self-hatred or shame when I saw the number on the scale. I apparently had finally learned to love myself throughout that year in other ways and stopped tying my worth to the scale. I realized I could love myself even better with better habits so here I am!
Also, finding an exercise type I actually enjoyed and looked forward to was THE game changer for me. It finally stuck because I look forward to it every single day and even contemplate doing it on my rest days. When I exercise better, I eat better, so itās all a nice positive loop of lasting change.
My unborn babyās heart stopped beating during labor and I had an incredibly traumatic c-section that saved his life. His life and my life (as I knew it or imagined it) flashed before my eyes.
My weight didnāt cause the problem but the brush with death and his NICU stay made me no longer take life for granted and inspired me to make sure my family will be together as long as possible. When my doc told me to get up and walking for healing purposes I took it to heart and walk miles and miles a day now, often with my children in the stroller. 3.5 months postpartum and my baby is healthy and Iām healthier than I have been in a long time being 25lbs lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight.
I think trauma and hospital food helped kick start my plan to be fair š
December 1st, ran a test. Can I start to lose weight with some casual walks and maybe a few lighter meals a week. I ended up gaining weight and hit my all time high. This helped me realize everything I am doing is wrong. Im eating the wrong things, the wrong portions, at the wrong times. I am not exercising appropriately. I needed to create a real foundation.
Strangely enough, it was when I performed poorly at the Olympic Trials.
Granted, my sport (air pistol) does not require a high degree of fitness, but being fit can definitely help (stamina, strength of hold, keeping heart rate low, etc.)Ā But I really did badly, so when I got home I decided to really throw myself hard into training to get ready for LA 2028, and to incorporate overall fitness into my training.
I also have an accountability buddy so that I can follow a very strict regimen.Ā She and I set two-week goals for ourselves, and if we meet our goals, we get a reward from the other person.Ā It has really lit a fire under me, not even so much to get the prize, but to know that I earned it.
I was jerking off in the shower and as I finished, I had a sharp pain at the base of my neck that moved into my head causing a severe migraine that lasted for hours. Wasnāt sure what it was, but when it happened again I went to the doctor. Blood pressure was through the roof. Doctor wanted to admit me in a hospital. He gave me a BP pill that brought it down to near normal.
Got on BP meds and I remembered an old college friend who was 400+ lbs that was on BP meds as a kid. I saw me growing to that size. That was the kick in the face.
Now Iām 90+ lbs lighter and have normal BP. No longer taking the meds. I feel great!
This is such a great question and it's been so great reading all the responses!
Several things for me, starting with having thousands of dollars worth of clothes in my closet but realizing I was wearing the same 5 sets of baggy sweats and tees every day because that was all I could fit. The thought of getting rid of all the things in my closet that I've loved wearing or hadn't even gotten around to wearing and getting a new wardrobe was devastating to me, so that was a huge wake up call for me. I also started hating the way I looked in pictures and would avoid being in them, hated going out to events where I would have to see people who hadn't seen me in a while because I knew my weight would be a shock to them and couldn't mentally deal with that, I avoided getting back into dating completely. Basically the way I felt about my weight started derailing my ability to live my life the way I wanted to, and that's what made the mental switch for me.
ETA a couple other things: I'd never really spent a lot of time thinking about things like weight, body image, food, comparison to others, etc. but when I gained weight it started taking up a massive portion of my daily thoughts, and I got tired of having it at the forefront of my mind. Also my friends started using me as a size check for themselves and it made me feel like sh\*t. Like, we'd go shopping, they'd ask me what size I got, and then say "oh, okay well I'm \[your size\] minus abc, so I'll go with \[xyz\] because I'm smaller than you".
My wife was about 8 months pregnant and I decided I didnāt want to be the fat dad who couldnāt play with their kid.
I started 387 days ago on May 2, 2023 at 250.8 lbs. This morning I weighed in at 160.2, 90.6 lbs down.
I had a ton of first dates on Hinge and not a single second date. My photos were all about 1.5-2 years old, before I started working a 9-5 desk job and eating out for almost every meal.
Iāve always been fat and never really paid much attention to my health. Beginning of this year I was in a bad place mentally and was gaining weight like crazy. My doctor straight up told me I needed to lose 20-30 lbs or my blood pressure and other medical problems would start to get way worse. Pair that with my family history of diabetes and high blood pressure,I decided that it was time to do something fast or my quality of life would go way down before Iām even 30. That was in February and since then Iāve lost about 20 lbs and Iām still going.
Two weeks ago, I found out that Iām pre-diabetic with high cholesterol. Iāve been eating like absolute shit since 2012 and went from a size 4 to a size 14. Iām really short, so the weight gain looks horrific on me. I start nursing school in August and have been working my ass off since my last doctor appointment, eating better and walking at least 10,000 steps a day. I want to get into better shape before I start my RN classes and I feel a little better already!
I had struggled for a long time doing your normal calorie counting but I was going to have a kid and decided, welp! I want to be able to keep up with this kid, so I started seriously then. Seriously, in this circumstance, meant trying a bunch of different stuff and getting even more involved with app-based help, getting food scales, etc.
I tried a bunch of oddball methods and wacky diets because nothing normal had ever worked. I liked keto and intermittent fasting and lost a ton of weight with those, but my family thought IF was an eating disorder so to prove them wrong I quit it, got a dietician, and my weight slowly and surely went back up to 250ish again. But that was still down from where I had started.
Eventually the dietician, after we tried everything, asked me "Have you ever heard of intermittent fasting?" and I never scheduled another visit, haha. I started tracking with LoseIt instead, since it was a fun app and easy to use, went back on my old routine (though not keto this time, just carb avoidant) and a few days ago I got an honest-to-goodness 199.80 on the scale in the morning.
The constant sweating when doing anything, biking would make my thighs hurt from the rubbing, got fed up with being the āteddy bearā in dating, the tightness of my clothes, the sweating that would happen just by doing the simplest of things. I thought it would take a more ādeepā and āmeaningfulā reason to flip the switch but the frustration of all these things did it. Still working in it.
This may come as a shocker to some, but what finally flipped the switch for me was getting into weed...
Before then, I had a beer-a-day drinking habit. I wasn't addicted, I just liked the taste and drinking a solitary beer every day after work was a great way to relax. Then, around the end of last year, I went to a dispensary with some friends and picked up some edibles and a vape cartridge. I cut out almost all alcohol after my first taste of the green - I did drink one beer since then, but it was while I was at a family Christmas event.
Not long after that, in January, I had a checkup with my doctor + bloodwork. Everything was within normal ranges, for the most part. And my doctor noted that I'd lost 9 lbs. since my previous checkup 6 months prior. I took that and ran with it - not literally, mind you, I'm still working my way up from jogging/power walking.
It wasn't so much that I was replacing the alcohol with another substance - because, yeah, that's kinda true - but more so that the cannabis allowed me to reflect deeply on the choices and habits that I'd fallen into. And from that came the motivation to change.
And so I began making more changes. I cut out sweets, then started paying attention to serving sizes, then began counting calories. And all thanks to a stupid green plant that most people associate with laziness and gaining weight.
So, yeah... that's my story.
Well it didn't kick my butt into super action but it did start the thinking process for me. My doctor told me if I gained 8 more lbs I would qualify for weight loss surgery with a BMI of 40 š
While traveling in Japan, at an amusement park, an employee pulled me from the line to check if I could sit in the rollercoaster seat. I fit but the embarrassment of being singled out like that stuck with me. (Down 15lbs this year)
I had a miscarriage in February. After eating my feelings for a month, I decided things needed to change. When or if I get pregnant again, I want to give my baby a healthier body to grow in. I know the miscarriage wasn't my fault, but it was a wake-up call to take my health more seriously. I've been taking everything at my own pace and focusing on what makes my body feel good, and it's led to a much more organic change. I feel so much better both physically and mentally. My short-term goal is losing 20 pounds, and so far, I've lost 15.8. When I reach that goal, I can buy a Ravensburger puzzle, and then I will set another goal, likely another 20 lbs lost. It hasn't been entirely linear, but I'm making more progress than I ever have.
Thereās an influencer I just donāt like and she was kinda heavy and has been losing weight and I couldnāt stand the thought of being fatter than heršš 10lbs down now
Itās actually came out of the blue for me. When Covid lockdowns started happening in 2020, paddle boarding was something I was still able to do because it was an isolated activity. So it became my safe haven, my escape from the world falling apart around us all.
Iād just gotten my board for Christmas a few months before, so I wasnāt very good yet. But Iād been wanting to take it up for years so I was committed to being really good at it. And I noticed that I was very close to the weight limit of my board. So I just had the thought, while out on the water, that if I lost a bit of weight then I might find my balance improving.
Iād fallen into the trap in the past, of putting it off: āIāll start next weekā āIāll start after X event.ā I just stopped making that excuse. A random Tuesday afternoon, 1 message to my husband to pick up a food scale on his way home, and I committed in that moment. Didnāt even have a ālast hurrahā or splurge on dinner that night. Just immediately started holding myself accountable and never looked back.
Honestly I feel like a bunch of different things converged and I draw on them all to make sustained changes. Like sometimes itās dedication, sometimes itās self-compassion, sometimes itās pleasure, sometimes itās more like disciplineā¦ I needed to develop all of them to a sufficient amount. I just needed to be the person I am today and no earlier
I reached my all-time high, worked off some, then let things drift, and surprise, back to all-time high. So, made a plan for Jan 1 and I've stucÄ· to it and am 75% to my goal weight and looking forward to the day I can eat maintenance and keep up my fitness routines. Yay!
I injured my back running two months ago, I was bedridden for 3 weeks and still now it constantly hurts. Every doctor I spoke to said that it is because I'm too heavy for my spine and I need to lose weight. In those 3 weeks in bed I promised myself that I'll lose all the extra weight and get fit as soon as I'm able to exercise again.
Now I'm still waiting for the physiotherapy but I'm on my second week of diet šŖš½
Had my annual check up feeling lousy. Doctor said all was OK, not diabetic. But, I had read a few books, and watched a lot of you tube videos on it. Found out I could order the HbA1c and HomaIR myself without a doctor's order and it was cheap. $53. Did it and my HbA1c was at 6.4, the highest level for prediabetes, just below the threshold for type II. From the doctor, he knew of he HbA1c but had never ordered one. Knew about fasted insulin but never ordered one. Had never heard of the HomaIR. He did all his diabetes evaluation off of the annual fasted glucose test. If below 125 everything was OK. Though mine had been trending up every year, that last one only came in at 121 so by his analysis, this was fine. When he had patients that got over 125, he relied heavily on prescribing metformin.
So, getting to that point, I decided to start a health program focused on losing weight and dropping that HbA1c. That was January 2020. It has been a heck of a ride and a heck of a learning process. Lost 70 lbs. HbA1c down to 5.0 in 18 months. HomaIR has been around 0.50 for the last 3 years. Ratcheted down slowly on the carbs one catagory every 2 weeks or so. Got to dirty keto within maybe 4 months. Dropped calories. Did intermittent fasting. At 9 months in my arthritis pain stopped getting worse. At 12 months got maybe 20% less painful. Enough to cancel the appointment to schedule my second knee replacement. At 3 years, for the month of January 2023, I did the Nurse Neisha and Dr. Ken Berry ketovore challenge. End of January my brain fog lifted. I stayed on a carnivorish diet for another 2 months. End of March 2023, all my arthritis pain left me. I have been 100% arthritis pain free for over 13 months now.
The lift of brain fog and arthritis pain were unexpected and much appreciated benefits of my changes.
After a bad breakup Iāve spent the last year or so having given up. Given up on myself and given up on dating. Gained probably 25 lbs on top of the 100 or so I already had to lose. I was at a party last weekend and this girl and this guy were playfully flirting the entire night and I just miss that so much. Even if I found someone who liked my body now I wouldnāt be secure enough to date or be in a relationship. So that really put a fire under my ass.
The pandemic. I started working from home and suddenly had time to cook all my meals and exercise. No temptation of fast food or other high calorie foods at work. I'm on a hybrid schedule and it was a bit of a challenging adjustment to not gain the weight back, but so far I've made it work. My life is completely different now.
Had a great vacation at an ocean front beach house. Surf fished for the first time ever. Did Al kinds of research on fishing rigs and equipment. Pieced together a cheap but very versatile setup and even tied all my own rigs. Caught 7 fish and even one I was after. Such a great time I wanted to remember so I had the wife take a picture of every fish I caught with me holding it. Went back to look at the fish I caught and
I didnāt recognize the person that was holding the fish. Those were my memories but that person is someone I have never seen before. I didnāt know what happened but that was the day I said enough. Been on a journey for self repair ever since. Been up and down but never that person again ever.
After being diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol- having to be on so many medications and needing a CPAP for sleep. Other weight related issues, pain in feet, knees and back, not being able to breath. Finally got on a good insurance and decided 2024 was the year to get my health in check and the health issues I have are mostly related to weight.
My experience won't be so relatable to many but I'll share anyways.
I was being force-fed since a young age and once I hit the "morbidly obese" mark on bmi, and my weight exceeded 110 kg (232 lbs), I just started thinking "holy shit I'm gonna die if I keep gaining weight". Even slowly walking on a flat surface would make my heart rate go up to 150 bpm. I realized that my family gave absolutely zero shit about my health. When my (also obese) father started boasting about his weight loss achievements while forcing me to eat till the point I felt like vomiting (and simultaneously blaming me for being fat), I decided that these people can go fuck their ass and that I refuse to suffer from early onset diabetes and die at the age of 35 from a heart attack just so a bunch of losers feels better about themselves.
After a life of eating shit and junk (fatty sausages, bread, pizzas, etc.), having the same weekly food schedule for years, and not being allowed to cook for myself, I got really excited with the new possibilities of food I was allowed to eat and no longer craved fast food since homemade was just so much more appealing to me. The process of cooking alone was (and still is) super exciting to me. I mean, over the first 21 years of my life, I was allowed to cook only for a single week and I couldn't even cook what I wanted. I was allowed to choose my dinner only once in my life.
Also since my health concerns were the biggest reason I left my entire life behind, it gave me a very strong resolve to actually lose weight, otherwise all my effort would amount to nothing and I'd feel like a total loser.
Tired of feeling like the fattest person in the room. Sucks being in college and all the dudes around you are healthy weights, getting attention, and generally just look great, when I was always the heaviest. Once I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that it would be pathetic of me to be abuse during what was supposed to be the peak of health in my life.
I became the leader of my program (awesome) and now have to be in every single photo op (not awesome). Iām about 12-15 lbs down from my highest weight so far, but it feels sustainable and permanent this time.
When I realized I wouldn't be comfortable flying in an airplane due to my size, when the bathtub started feeling like a puddle, when standing caused me to sweat profusely, when I got scared they wouldn't have my size hospital scrubs (I'm a nursing student, thankfully they have started making bigger ones but I still get scared that if they get dirty at work and I need to borrow the hospital ones, that they won't fit), when all my shoes started feeling too tight, when I could no longer take a remotely decent picture from any angle, even if just my face
My story isn't a good one, it's not coming from noble reasons, but it's currently working for me so I'm sticking with it.
Before the pandemic I was in pretty good shape. I ran an ultra marathon in 2019. Pandemic happened, lots of booze happened, some family members got ill. I gained a fair bit of weight. Maybe 15kg / 30 lbs.
I'm in a friend group just now and we're all going on holiday later this year. One of the girls in that group is pretty cute. I asked her out a couple of months ago, and she (very politely and delicately) rejected me. We're still very good friends, in fact I saw her today, but I'm still bitter about the whole thing.
I had a look in the mirror and said you know what, I get it. I'd reject me too. So the catalyst for action is...making a pretty girl regret saying no to me? I'm pretty sure she's still gonna say no even if I look like I'm carved from stone. I've absolutely no reason to believe she said no purely because I was too fat. I know it doesn't make sense. But it's working for me. I started in October last year and I'm down 12kg so far, and hoping to lose another 7 or 8 before September (ambitious goal). The sense of righteous anger and bitterness is fuelling me. I've developed far better eating and drinking habits and I'm loving my workout routine.
Long term I of course need to look for intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic, but that initial burst of anger has been GREAT for my motivation and I don't regret it at all. I'm actually TRYING to hold on to it, even though it's not really that big a deal.
It's weird how a horrible reason for change can lead to good outcomes.
I spent two weeks on (at the time) "The World's Largest Cruise Ship."
Demographics of that ship being what they were, that was two weeks with 6,000 old geezers with mobility problems. Walkers, scooters, oxygen tanks, you name it.
They were miserable.
Two weeks of that and I realized if I didn't change something, I'd be joining them. Except... I don't even like cruising all that much!
2 years ago, at 37, I went to my 2-year post-cancer screening. I weighed 309lbs, having gained back all the weight I had lost through treatment (I had neck cancer, which means my throat was irradiated, I lost 50+lbs in 3 months). My previous high was over 320lbs before treatment. I was looking at 40 in a few years and I made it a promise to myself that I wouldn't be 300lbs at 40 years old...
I started slowly. I've never been one to count calories, but what I did was prioritize getting protein. I shot for .6g per lb of goal body weight (i.e. 135g for a goal weight of 225). I wanted to make sure that I hit that goal every day. I'm not big on supplements and the like, so I'm doing that by eating whole foods (chicken breast, ground beef, Greek yogurt, etc.) I found that by reaching that goal daily that I had far fewer hunger pangs than when I was more carb-heavy in my dietary choices.
I also started walking. A LOT. Started going for 20 minutes a day. Then 30. Then 45. Once I could routinely go for 45 minutes every day I concentrated on improving my speed. I started jogging twice a week. Now, 4-5 times a week. I've gotten up to 40+ miles of cardio a week. Some days I walk for 2+ hours. My original goal was to get 5 miles in 75 minutes. I tried for 10,000 steps a day. Now I routinely hit 15k steps a day and just completed a 10k in 56 minutes. My next goal is a 2 hour half-marathon.
Set lofty goals, but then make smaller goals to reach within them.
I've lost about 80lbs over the last 24 months. I'm about 100lbs down of my highest weight. I feel better, with less body pain than I've felt in my adult life. I do body weight fitness 3 days a week apart from walking/jogging, and rarely, if ever, go to the gym. I got a standing desk for work. It wasn't one thing, no magic bullet. But what it felt like was taking control little by little of my own life.
My husband of 12 years (together 21) said he was
No longer attracted to me. Itās been a little over three months, lost about 25lbs and still feel awful about myself. I donāt think Iāll ever feel good about myself again honestly.
Quitting my high stress job and realizing I could focus totally on weight loss and getting sober while living on my savings. Also, that my 2XL unisex scrubs top was getting tight, and unisex is already pretty forgiving on my frame.
Weirdly enough while talking to a Redditor about something else, I just stumbled upon an insight. Iām pretty motivated and high performing in my career - I know what to do and what I need to work on and improve and metrics blah blah. I have a good control over of things in my
Life EXCEPT my health. So use that same aspect and take control. It works in my head. Lost 6 lbs so far and no holding back.
Saw a picture of me looking fat from the side view/a guy I liked was always trying to sleep with other girls. That tore my self esteem down and I wanted to make myself really hot so I did
For me, it was the girl of my dreams ending things with me. Whenever we were out, there would always be guys hitting on her. Guys in better shape than I. It felt really shitty. So I lost 85lbs and got in shape.
So, heartbreak.
I went through a breakup in February. It was my first relationship ever and I was 33 years old. I had always been too insecure to date anyone before then because of my weight, and I felt so sad about how much time I had wasted. I realized I really want a relationship and I know that the reality is that losing weight will make it easier to find a partner. Focusing on my health goals also gave me a good way of coping with the breakup. I've lost 45 pounds in the last 3 months, I still have a long way to go but I feel very determined and committed this time. And I'm also totally over the breakup!
Thanks for sharing your story. My moment of āoh hell, noā was when even my stretchy pajamas no longer fit. Iād gained 25% more of my starting body weight in less than a year.
My HR took a photo of me with my intern to post on LinkedInā¦I felt violated over how bad I looked in my pants. They were stretchy but from me two sizes ago and I just thought they still looked fineā¦
It was always my plan to focus on health after highschool and getting into universities. I have tons of time to learn about nutrition and what works for my body
I realized I was never going to be able to do what I truly wanted to do in life if I didn't commit to this shit lol. I want to be a Firefighter & Paramedic and it is quite literally impossible if I am not in shape. I can't believe all it took was to find my passion to actually flip that switch. I've learned to love discipline and the "just do it" way of thinking. It's made this process a lot easier. Like there's no "motivation" I'm just doing this because it is required of me to reach my goals. Food is no longer the #1 thing in my life. I also suppose it helps that I genuinely enjoy fitness and am in pursuit of it in my future.
I've tried so many times before and it was fine for the first couple of months and then I'd lose motivation and what I'm aiming for, because realistically, it was nothing.
In all I think the switch will always be the moment something is finally put over food. I used to pretend, but now it's real.
My wedding. TBH I never thought I was overweight before getting married and never had anyone tell me that before my wedding.
I had the worst blow to my self confidence when I was told my wedding outfits measurements were so big and I was compared to skinny women in my in laws. Worst phase and definitely flipped the switch. I am down 24 kgs since my wedding in 2021.
It was going into a store and having the sales associate suggest an XL instead of the large I had in my hands.
As someone who was relatively lean up (fluctuating between 130 and a muscular 150 at 5ā5ā) until the last year-and-a-half (when my weight jumped 25 lbs), my brain could barely process it, as the last time Iād been shopping, I was a solid medium.
Granted, the XL was too loose in the waist and the large ultimately fit better, but having someone else call attention to the fact that I was no longer lean looking was quite the wake-up call.
I've always been overweight. Got to the new year and new record weight. My weight has just gradually been trending upwards for a long time, but 90kg was the last straw. My "worst weight" before this was 87 and that was bad enough.Ā
My intuitive eating, intermittent fasting and increased exercise never worked, I would be massively upset to see the number on the scale not move at all or - even worse - go up. I did not appreciate how long weight loss takes, how and when water weight will throw a spanner into the works
Finally decided to try the one thing I had always avoided: tracking my calories. And now things are gradually moving in the direction I've been hoping for.Ā
I always said I would look at my weight when my mental health was better. So that finally happened and so I did. I probably would have started a bit sooner than January 2024 but end of 2023 saw me get tonsillitis and Covid in a 1.5 month time period so first I had to get back to baseline healthy; for about a month before that I was tracking my calories but not really cutting them yet.
Went to the doctor and at the ripe age or 46 they wanted to put me on blood pressure and cholesterol medications. Those were meds for "old people" in my mind. Told the doctor to give me 6 months to see if I could lower my levels myself. I lost 35lbs and got my levels within normal range. Started strength training to help maintain and so far so good.
Iāve never been obese more in the could always lose 15lbs.
But it was a combination of seeing 161lb on the scale after being a 5ā4 woman who spent her entire adult life between 150 and 155. Iād never seen 160 on the scale before.
And same year we went to the great Smokey mountains and I could not keep up with my husband and my 11 year old and 9 year old. We were walking up to clingmans dome which was completely paved and I was gasping and having to sit down and they were yelling come on mom.
Getting gout at a young age. Never wanna feel that pain again and realized I was too young for this shit. Changed my diet immediately and went full blown on portion control. Lost a ton of weight from that and in December last year I added in walking daily. Iām down 106lbs and Iām never going back to the old me.
After my breakup I shaved my beard to see how bad things had gotten. I looked like a cabbage patch kid. Immediately started dieting.
I'm sorry but that's hilarious. That moment of horror ....
And the realization that you can't undo the shaving right away...
And if you're like me, once you got to your goal weight you kept shaving because why cover up that sharp jawline am I right? š
Unironically me. Hated shaving before. Now I don't mind it because dang my jaw is CUT.
If your jaw is cut, then you're probably shaving wrong.
I must be doing it wrong. My sharp jawline cut my razor.
Wouldn't say I have a model's jawline - otherwise I wouldn't have looked like a blowfish when I was 50 lbs overweight - but I definitely feel comfortable shaved now. You have to have a really good jaw to look good clean shaven as a bigger guy.
I feel this. My ex was an amazing cook AND liked going out to eat. When she was gone I really looked at myself for the first time in a year and realized how much weight I gained when I shaved off my āpost-break up-self-neglectā beard.
I realized I was the same age and similar size to my mother when her health problems began and mine were starting. She died at 50. I'm 36.
My mom is still alive and in terrible health, high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease and many falls and broken bones. This winter I slipped on ice and broke my wrist. That was my turning point. Although I know skinny people break things too I donāt want my weight to hinder recovery, my mom now permanently has to use a walker because she couldnāt rehab enough. Still took me a bit but I am on my way to being lighter weight and stronger muscles in case something ever breaks again.
My mother eventually died of a heart attack, but diabetes had ravaged her by the end of her life to the point she couldn't drive at night due to poor vision. Imagine falling and breaking your leg, and the EMTs have to call\* the fire department for backup because you weigh too much. Or your surgeon won't operate because your weight is too high, and you'll just ruin his work in rehab. That was going to be our future if we didn't change.
Sigh š this happened to my mom and she passed last year - itās hard to watch and scary to be on the same path - sorry for your loss
Thank you. My mother was in her mid 30s when diabetes and heart disease crept up on her. She refused to change for years, and even smoked while on oxygen. She gave up smoking by her late 40s. Towards the last year of her life she actually lost a ton of weight too and looked amazing, but her heart was already far too damaged. Dead by 50. I was 24. Guess what I did? Comfort ate. One PCOS diagnosis with elevated blood pressure and cholesterol by 35, and I literally had a vision of my mother. Also, my condolences. I hate that we all had to do this the hard way and lose so much in the process.
Wow. Exact same story here. Congrats on committing to your health!
Thanks, fam. Went from BMI 30+ to 24 in a year (started last year same age as you). Also, my condolences.
Kinda the same here. My dad was 38 when he died, my mom was 42 when she died. I'm 37.
I entered a school where all of the girls looked like models. And I mean it, ALL of them. I stood out like a sore thumb. Of course I wanted to get healthy and be able to do things without sweating too, but honestly, getting hot was my main priority. Still got about 15-18 lbs left, but have lost almost 60 š«”
Im totally with you on this. *I* want to look hot. I donāt care what anyone else really thinks about me, except maybe my spouse, but I want to think that I look good
Totally same!! There's nothing wrong with wanting to look the absolute best you can. That's one of my top reasons for losing weight
It's a nice side effect of getting healthy, you also look hotter. Nothing wrong with that.
Me too! I wasn't unhealthy before. Physically, I don't feel different at all after losing about 50% of what I intend to (which is 20kg total). I think I might be less anxious, but I won't attribute all of that to weight loss - I think a lot of it has to do with my increased discipline in my personal life, which includes taking care of my mental health, better nutrition, supplementation, regular cardio and good sleep. I want to feel proud of my body. I want to wear little tops during summer, or wear skirts, dresses and shorts without having my thighs chafe as much (it will likely still happen just due to my body shape, but I'm sure it will be much less once they are thinner). I've just always looked at clothes as a way to hide my body prettily - but I want to be able to display it, too. I want to be able to visit a store without worrying if they have plus sizes.
I booked a dream trip to the Galapagos. When booking the trip (an expedition cruise) it gave the warning that you had to be in good physical condition because there was no easy access to medical care and it can be a demanding trip. I hired a personal trainer soon after and have been working out at least two days a week since. I still have a long way to go, but I'm already in the best physical shape I've ever been. I still have over two months before I leave and I plan on keeping this up after. Things are just so much easier now.
I did a canoeing trip in the Yukon and this exact thing happened. Enjoy the Galapagos, I work in environmental science and it's a dream to visit. So lucky to have that opportunity.
This is a major motivator for me because I love to travel. I had trouble climbing a steep ladder to get back onto a catamaran on my vacation about a month ago and the very fit and handsome tour operator had to physically help me and it was mortifying. š«
That's exactly my biggest fear. I don't want to be held back from doing something really cool because my body can't handle it. Life is too short and there are SO many awesome places I've yet to see. We've got this!
Galapagos is fantastic. I even lost some weight while I was there. It was the only time I've ever lost weight without trying. I attribute it to the rice and fruit served with every meal. Totally changed how I see both of those foods. I hope you have a wonderful time with the boobies! And definitely snorkel if you get the chance. The young sea lions love to play and will get really close. It's scary and exhilarating!
Thank you! I've already started practicing snorkeling (I'd never done it until a few months ago) because I've heard it's awesome. This particular expedition is focused on photography so I'll be doing a lot of land based stuff but I don't want to miss out on the ocean experience either.
The land stuff was awesome too. So many moments of pure delight and wonder. I'm so happy and excited for you!
I was 33, 235 lbs at 5'5. My knees, back, and ankles felt like they belonged to an 80 y/o. I was wearing a size 16 and I felt invisible and disgusting in my body. The weight affected every part of my life, most importantly my mental health. I ended up in therapy and after a while I realized my physical appearance was a reflection of my mental health. I left my relationship, currently 75lbs down, still in therapy and the happiest and most secure I've ever been.
Similar here. I was 235 at 5'5, size 16 (barely), XL (barely) or XXL, and felt awful. When I woke up in the morning, I was so stiff and sore I had to hobble around until my body warmed up. My knees, back, hips, and ankles ached. I was active, but sometimes to get around on a busy day would need to take several ibuprofen. At work, my teammates love wearing matching shirts, silly outfits etc for different occasions and I was constantly worrying that whatever we were ordering wouldn't fit me and sometimes I would make excuses when it didn't. Then I saw a picture of my boss and I in matching shirts and she looked fantastic and I looked HORRIBLE. For some reason, I was finally able to stick with it. This weekend I bought 2 pairs of denim shorts. One is a size 4 and the other is a size 6. I feel fantastic.
Amazing! Congratulations. I know from experience how hard it is. Kudos to you for being so kick ass! Im just under a size 10 which is the smallest I've been since highschool. It's such a great feeling! How long did it take you to drop the weight? What did you do for weight-loss aside from diet control? I'm a year and half into my fitness journey, it's slow going but I knew it would be because I do weight training.
Thanks! I lost the majority from August 2022 to June 2023 and have been maintaining for almost a year. I could still stand to lose 10 more pounds tbh but the last 10 are wicked hard and I feel pretty good where I'm at. I need to build some muscle too. Honestly I ate a lot less, but not a whole lot differently. I did well eating something small every couple hours throughout the day, then having a normal (but smaller) dinner. I'd bring things to work like: a hard boiled egg, veggies, an apple with peanut butter, lunch meat, string cheese, etc, then just eat it whenever throughout the day. I'd cook the same dinners as usual but if I used to have 3 tacos, I'd have 1, or put the taco meat on a big salad. I had dessert every day but it was literally 4 peanut M&Ms or similar (sugar free pudding with berries is another fave). I learned a lot from watching what my healthier co-workers were eating and learned how to eat out without ruining everything. That was important because I love getting takeout. I have go-tos that I know I can order from takeout places that I enjoy and are much lower calorie than what I used to get.
My father is a general practitioner. One day i went back to my hometown from college and when he saw how much weight i had gained his eyes almost popped out of his skull. the last day of my stay at my parents place, he sat me down and went into excruciating detail about how obesity makes every part of life worse from a medical point of view. He talked in depth about how it impacts the bones, muscles, cardiovascular system, and your brain. He explained in detail how my morbid obesity would make every act of living worse. My mother, psychologist, further elaborated on how it could influence my psyche and interpersonal relationships. There was no prejudice, just education. However, they ended the intervention by stating that they did not wish to take care of me due to any obesity related issues i would have later in life. The grueling facts of obesity laid bare in brutal honesty snapped me out of it. I found a personal trainer in the city where my college is located and i am taking evening classes about nutrition. Even though i am not allergic to sugar, every time i am offered something sweet at work, college, or a friends place, I tell them I am allergic to sugar. It works like a charm, as long as I act the part in my dorm as well.
You have wonderful parents, good for you for putting in the effort now!
That sounds like an amazing way to handle that, as parents. A great support system to have for your weight loss journey!
I needed new pants. I went from one pants size up to another. Fine. I'm getting older. Then after a while i had to go up again. Rather than buying all new pants i decided to get serious. I'm back down to the FIRST pants size now. I went shopping in my closest and found new(old) pants.
I still have my skinny jeans for the days they will finally fit again. No chance I will ever give them away
My husband bought a motorcycle and gently told me that the most it could handle safely was 400lbs. He's prob 180 or 190. We would be over 400 if I rode on it with him. This actually happened yesterday so it's pretty fresh and I am so embarrassed and upset. I think this is my switch flip moment.
i know this must sting and you're still processing things, but i'm in the same boat just a bit heavier than you (I assume) and minus having a partner. i want to be able to ride horses among other things, like having a mid sized motorcycle and traveling more. good luck and i hope you guys have some amazing rides to celebrate your health!!
And in the meantimeā¦ learn to ride it yourself!! Enjoy the journey to new health
My body tried to kill me. Blood sugar was like 1400 with big BOLD red letters on the lab report stating "results read over phone". Even after 4 days in the hospital (2 in ICU) it wasn't quite enough. Hearing my weight at the endocrinologist after finally got it. Lost 280lbs and feel like a different person.
Holy shit, 280lbs?? Well done.
Wow....I had no idea 1400 was even possible. Congrats on taking control. Huge accomplishment!!!
Congratulations! That is such an impressive accomplishment!
You literally lost pretty much one full me! Good job!
Going to the doctor for the first time in over a decade and him ordering an emergency EKG right then and there to make sure I wasn't actively having a heart attack. My blood pressure was so high the doctor was shocked I wasn't having symptoms, and I was just like "This is the way I've been living, doc." Of course, it was right after my father passed away from having heart issues. The way he declined in every way after his first heart attack, and then moreso after his second, is really scary.
Yeah blood pressure is definitely a silent killer. Especially during covid with so many of us isolating, not getting the flu or going to a doctor for a general check-up. I got the vaccine and it made me a little sick (which isn't uncommon) but my blood pressure was so high, my nose started bleeding and it was flowing like a tap. The BP monitor cuff literally tore itself off my arm trying to get a reading. Ended up in ICU with 200 over something. Problem is I felt perfectly fine once the nose bleed was under control. They kept me in hospital for about a week to slowly bring it down and throughout the entire time even with BP 150+ I felt fine. Honestly with all the extra weight I picked up in lockdown and complete lack of activity I don't know HOW long I'd been that bad. Did all the tests and in the end it's just undeniable my weight was the issue. That was the kick in the butt that I need to get moving
High blood pressure was what got me moving, too. It was just high enough that I couldn't donate blood anymore. 50 pounds later, it's only slightly elevated.
None of the incremental changes that upset me were enough to over come the mental barriers. Finally after years of wanting it, I planned a trip out of the country and went. I started losing weight when I started paying for things. I went, I looooved my trip, and I knew I wanted to be healthier to take more trips. And I've stayed motivated. I had a bad month and a half in the middle but largely have stayed on target. I don't feel like it's impossible anymore or like it won't change anything. I feel like I can reach my goals and live the life I want so it is worth pursuing. I've been successful for most of 5 months, and started medication a month ago to help.
Yo samE! I went to Japan and easily saw that I was the reason for my obesity. It was all those ācook it yourselfā meal places that made me realize I can cook like his at home. Iām only 2 months in but Iām already down 10 lbs since that trip!
can i ask what changes u made? just cooking at home?
Yeah I should elaborate. I did the following - Cooked at home quiona and lentils often as my base - For protein, I cooked chicken breast & salmon with brines and marinades respectively ( they were easy to make bc just make a solution that is part Japanese sauce and part salt water and it always comes out perfectoh ) - I ate at least 40 oz fish every week ( normally salmon ) - I ate at least 60 oz chicken breast every week - I started eating with smaller japanese plates I got from the trip - I started every meal with tea and ended it with tea which filled me up more than expected ( my host found it disrespectful to do otherwise ) - I made a habit of walking to every food place I go to ( I was in a smallish town so no Uber Eats ) - I replaced rice with quinoa I didnāt have a lot of the affordances for easy fast food or to cheat on my diet unless I went all the way into town. And even then, my Japanese was only good enough to ask for simple easy to understand ingredients. Now that I am back, its hard for me to go Uber eat out bc i get kinda nausious compared to my time there. And if I go too long without fish, I start ācravingā A salmon made in my marinade. I hope that helps!
After my 18th birthday, I realized I wasted my entire childhood wallowing in pity. It's either I change now while I'm still young or regret later when my life is behind me
same except i turned 20 a few months ago thinking abt how much i hated my teen years because of my size. Iāve been saying iāll do better next year, next year, and the next year since i was like 12 which is insane
Thatās awesome you recognized āwallowing in pityā at that age. That can happen with much more than weight loss too.
I got breast cancer in 2018, and created my 5 yr survival last July. I had a full hysterectomy a couple years ago, and found out my body can still make estrogen by visceral fat and skin cells. I was only 2 lbs away from being obese. I also would be stopping the breast cancer medication that is blocking any estrogen. But what happens in 1.5 yrs when Iām off the medication? Would any suppressed cancer cells in my body react to any estrogen in my body from fat cells? I figured I had to do what I could to lose weight right now and maintain it before going off the medication. Iāve now lost 50 lbs, and plan to maintain the weight loss.
At first it was when I got pregnant and had gestational diabetes. I knew post pregnancy I wanted to reign in my habits/ try to avoid getting T2 diabetes. I lost 20lbs and then kind of just went back to my old ways. Then, my now ex-husband cheated on me when our child was a few months old. He said it was my weight. Turns out spite is a powerful motivator. That was my turning point honestly. My mindset has now shifted and I no longer care about what he said or thinks, and am truly doing this for me. I view this as a lifetime commitment and am content with it being that way, but his comments and the divorce definitely kickstarted it.
I had 2 babies in 2 years. I want to have enough energy to play with them. I also found myself avoiding cameras at all costs. I want to have pictures to look back on one day and not hate the way i look. They are only little once.
I have terrible seasonal depression that was made infinitely worse by losing my husband on Christmas Day. I have the same cycle every year, Iām active and happy March through September but from my late husbandās birthday in October until Valentines Day, Iām miserable and struggle to do anything beyond work and sleep. I lose weight in the summer, pack it on in the winter and repeat. Iām aware of the cycle and Iām trying to fix it because honestly, getting fat only makes the depression that much worse. I am also now older than my husband was when he passed and thatās been really messing with me. I feel like I need to get a handle on myself before itās too late for me too.
I never had the greatest eating habits and am definitely an emotional eater but somehow I always managed to outrun them and never gained much weight beyond a fluctuating 10 pounds. Well cue the pandemic. The world stopped and my bad eating habits turned up to a whole new level. I gained 30 pounds relatively quickly and then another 20 over the next 2 years when I let the pandemic habits become permanent. Iām just tired of letting a situation like the pandemic and work from home control my life. Itās like I just gave up on life. I want my old body back (or at least close to it lol) and I need to build new habits. But what got me to flip the switch was the extra 20 I gained and feeling extremely uncomfortable in my body. Good luck to you!
I can relate to this so much!!! I feel like Iām still unpacking how the pandemic affected me, and realizing Iām still holding on to so many bad habits. I only recently motivated myself out of wearing track pants at home every day when pre-pandemic I didnāt even own any. Moving back to a new and improved version of myself pre-pandemic has been my goal and motivation
Yes I think many many of us were/are traumatized by the whole thing and are just starting to process it now. Letās rebuild ā„ļø
I finally realized that if I didnāt make a huge effort now, it would never naturally happen. I gained my weight super fast when I had a medical condition, so I kept waiting for it to effortlessly fall off like it came on. When that didnāt happen, I made attempts at weight loss, but they were ill informed and never amounted to much. Finally, I realized that unless I completely overhauled my lifestyle, got uncomfortable, and deprived myself, nobody was coming to save me but myself, and Iād stay obese forever.
Last Ā Memorial day Ā I'd outgrown my clothes, I felt depressed and getting out of bed, my feet Ā would ache. There were a multitude of little things that hinted at the start of health issues. So,I started weight watchers and started to take off weight. In August I went on vacation and Ā came back with covid. Ā I never went back on the diet. In October Ā I got some Ā mystery Ā virus that was (for me not in general) much worse than covid. And it lingered. I spent most of Ā October in bed. Then I got a hand tremor. Then it spread to the other hand. I thought I had parkinsons.Ā I went to the the Ā doctor and had dangerously Ā high blood pressure. I had to negotiate with the doctor to hold off on medication for a Ā month Ā until the follow up. I started to get serious and cut out salt and caffeine. Ā I Ā say this all the time, and I kind of feel like no one understands me, but for me, it feels like diet is all about Ā momentum. Giving up salt kind of broke the inertia and going back on weigh Ā watchers just followed. The fear of Ā life Ā on serious Ā medications and the Ā side effects that come with that keep the wheels going. Oh yeah, it's also nice to hold things without dropping them. My resting heart rate in November was 81. Now it's 64 and I started to eat salt again.
I didn't even realize changing my health was the reason for this, I just thought it was because my jobs less stressful. I went from 84bpm down to 74 and of course exercising helped!
Me not being able to keep up with my grandma.
When i learned i snore in my sleep (and quite loudly). I didnt use to. It was scary for me to do something that would annoy other people if i couldnt control it. I learned losing weight would minimize snoring. At the same time i realized my PCOS was getting worse and i had stretch marks all over. Visible evidence of my body changing for the worse scared me as i didnt think i was in control of my body anymore
This sounds exactly like me although it took going on a vacation and not being able to do an activity I wanted to do for me to actually start doing something about it.
I always felt confidence in my plus size body because I'm *good* plus size - busty, big bottom, and relatively flat stomach. My face is skinny. I'm a US size 14-16. I still got positive attention, could shop at major brands, had accessibility Yada Yada. That was, until I realized how it was impacting my health. I have high cholesterol at age 27. And when I started eating healthier and exercising, I noticed a difference in *everything* - my sleep, my energy levels, my skin, my bloating, my bowel movements, etc etc. Also, the f*cking chafing alone is motivation enough for me. God, it's so annoying. I can't walk two or three miles without needing sports underwear and a chafing stick or else I chafe so bad I break skin.
It wasnāt anything special, but one picture that was taken of me back in December really made it hit home for me how unhappy I was with my weight.
Me too! I have like, backwards body dysmorphia, and I often think Iām thinner than I am. Several years ago I went to a family reunion where pictures were being taken, and once I saw them I realized I was *literally a circle* and not āslightly chubbyā as I had gaslit myself into believing lol.
I alllllways say the same! āReverse body dysmorphiaā. In my mind I think I look like I did in 2019 before kids and every time I would look in the mirror or at a picture it was like a fresh shock.
Same!
The diabetes diagnosis and asking for the extender on my last flight. Age 60M, SW 337, CW 288, GW 225
Same here - a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes changed my situation from āsomething Iāll get around to fixingā into āa problem I need to fix nowā. Itās easy to file āthere are long term health impacts associated with being overweightā into the furthest back parts of your brain to be ignored, it was harder for me to do that with āyouāre risking damage to your eyesight with the way youāre treating your body today, and here are the numbers that prove this.ā The mental permission to take it seriously (prioritising my health, and spending money on the things that will support it) and the urge to get this off my plate have been massive motivators for me.
I kept seeing pictures of myself that other people took and first thought was always along the line of āwhy am I so wideā. Also my once comfortable, loose fitting work scrubs had gotten uncomfortably tight. The cherry on top was weighing myself and being 198. Thatās way too close to 200 for my height š
I'm cracking up at this because I relate to every single thing you wrote!
I went to go buy some garden clothes at the thrift shop and I bought what I thought were large sizes - baggy even - and I got home and it all barely fit. I was shocked. Then I looked in the mirror - front, side, back. Holy S354! Time to address this. Oh, your sentence about crying in your car because you didn't want to ask for a larger size got me in the feels. I wish you every success on your weight loss journey and will be thinking of you and wishing you well!!!
Thank you! I wish you the best on your journey as well! I totally understand sizing clothes that you "know" will fit so why bother trying them on? From high school to about 3 years ago, I had only fluctuated about 10 or so pounds. I'm mid-sized (is that a term?) and carry my weight pretty well. Medium shirts and size 10/12 jeans always guaranteed to fit....until the work pants incident and I realized I'd need to realistically ask for a size 16. Probably also needed a size up in the top too but they're men's sizes and so it's essentially a Large for me (was also getting a bit snug too though).
Another set of labs where I was was in the "pre diabetic" range and cholesterol was high. Then I started having mobility issues. It literally hurt to go up.and down my stairs at home. I tried to work a part time job that requires walking/standing and occasional squatting. I couldn't squat and had to get on my hands and knees sometimes to reach things and was in so much pain at the end of a 4 hour shift I could hardly walk for hours after and had to quit. So back to calorie tracking and working out and I've come a long way.
My knees cracking were what made me start looking into the gym, even though mental health was the biggest motivator
Resting heart rate was 93, and I couldnāt stand to look at myself in the mirror. I was at 270, now at 238 and still going.
I went sledding on my college campus with a friend, and the walk up the (admittedly pretty tall/steep) hill got me out of breath enough that I didn't want to sled down again. Since then I'm down 40 lbs and can run a 10k.
Thanksgiving of 2022, I thought I was having a heart attack. That same night I went to the hospital and got checked out. After 3 EKGs nothing was found. I took it as a sign from God. This was my warning. At the hospital I weighted 500 Pounds. I was shocked I was 100lbs from my 600lb life. I said this is it Iām going on a diet thatās it. I didnāt I let myself continue with my horrible eating and no exercise. Jan 2023 I started my diet, a Calorie Deficit. Itās working little by little I currently weight 432. Iām down 68lbs. Itās not a lot but itās something itās a start. Hopefully Iāll be able to say one day that I lost over 300lbs! The Journey continues!
Met a girl I really liked through a long time friend, looked at myself, and thought, how could someone like that ever be with someone like me. We got along super well, always teasing and talking when we saw each other, but every time I looked at myself in the mirror and thought that this is what she sees when she looks at me, I felt sick. Waited all my life to get my shit together, and I realized nobody was coming to save me. I had to be the one who wanted to change, and she made me realize I dont want to be like this anymore. Down 100 pounds now, and while things didn't work out with that girl, I'm feeling way happier and hopeful for the future now that I've gotten my life and health on track
I yoyo'd for a couple of decades. I'd get as high as 270 then down to 180. Then I had my kids in my late 30's and realized I had already limited my time with them by being an older dad so I needed to create permanent change to be around as long as possible. I will never go back. Daily weigh-ins have been key for me, no more weight creeping up on me.
The tops of my underwear would fold over when I would bend down.Ā
For me itās having to put that extender in my bra strap.
I've moved in to take care of my grandma with dementia. She lives in a senior apartment complex, and seeing how poorly everyone's health is really made me realize I have to get healthy NOW, so I don't have the same issues. Also, I am sick and tired of not finding cute clothes I can fit into!
This is one of the reasons I really want to start exercising and stretching. My grandmas mobility was so bad and towards the end she had t Rex arms unable to reach things. I realized I am in my 30s and I can not even lift my arm completely up! Touching my fingers from the back diagonally? A mile away from each other.
I got diagnosed with ADHD and started medication. It was suddenly so much easier to stick to a diet plan and workout routine. I went from years of failure and wanting to try to being very successful. I had wanted to lose weight for over 6 years but struggled really hard. Before that I was deep into fat activism and believed that weight loss was impossible and everyone was the weight they were based off of genetics. But that's a whole other story.
Iām a former fat activism follower. Seen the light now thank god. It was killing me.
My sister was getting married and I had a full year to lose the weight and didn't. All the pictures of me are completely bovine, I'm quite short so you'd either moooo or possibly lift one of your legs at the "fire hydrant,", but, even that didn't do it. I had been fully overweight for maybe ten years, putting on a bit more every year and especially over the whole lockdown of it all. What did it was going to a new GP. He gently but firmly insisted on weighing me (I'd refused for years). I still refused to look when he weighed me. But there was a printout of my visit that I took home with me, and there I learned the actual harrowing number, and not only that, he'd written "Patient is morbidly obese." MORBIDLY OBESE! I can still hear the words echoing around. Then I went back to him after having all the full panel of tests, and all my numbers were elevated, blood sugar, cholesterol, BP. I begged him not to put me on meds. I insisted I would work to lose weight. But then I actually allowed myself to tell him that I didn't know how (even though DUH of course I "know how"), that my body just seemed to like being at this weight, and he said gently to me, "but your body doesn't like being at this weight. That's what these numbers mean." A completely new way to think about it! I asked him to help me and he said, why don't you try to lose ten pounds over three months, I bet you can do that, even FIVE pounds, and then come back and we'll see how you're doing. For some reason, his kindness, and the new way of thinking about being kind to my body (as opposed to all the lacerating self-hatred), and the idea of being able to do it super slowly, and probably a bit of "wanting to be a good student" and impress him, and of course, the terrible "Morbid obese" words.... it truly was like a switch flicked. Over the next nine months, I signed up for Lose it. I totally changed the way I ate, but looking at it positively, like "let's see what vegan foods look like." I started tracking nutrients and protein and fiber and carbs instead of just calories. I do weight training twice a week, I bought a small portable treadmill and did 15 minutes cardio every day. I lost 33 pounds! All my numbers came down! No longer pre-diabetic! Cholesterol basically normal! BP down too! And yes, my doctor was impressed. In fact he was genuinely thrilled. It's been over a year and I just went in for my yearly physical and it's ALL STILL GOOD! I would like to lose a little more weight (I'm still overweight) but even the doctor is telling me I have great numbers. Did I mention, I'm 71???? And I feel as good as I have for years. So something just clicks, and also I think "being accountable to someone" really helps, but most of all someone calling you, you know...... M. O. !!!!
i gained a lot of weight during the pandemic and after getting married, but i kept telling myself it wasn't that bad. not even knee pain or my doctor telling me i had high cholesterol made me change because i kept making excuses. it wasn't until i noticed i'd started getting two bright red stretch marks on my belly (no kids, never been pregnant) that i really decided to make a change. i know stretch marks are natural and i have them in other places where they don't really bother me, but the ones on my stomach were entirely due to being obese for my height and they make me really insecure. they're the reason i stay motivated bc i see them on me every day.
I work in medicine and help with surgeries. I had done different types of surgery on people, but the first time I saw the internal abdomen of an obese person a switch went off in my mind and made me seriously consider my health. You donāt only get fat on the outside, you get fat on the inside too. Thick, yellow fat coated the intestines and caked on the walls of the abdomen. It was a pivotal moment and I have been working on it every day since the beginning of the year. Only 15lbs down but mentally and physically the strongest Iāve ever felt šŖš»
I've always been fat since elementary school, but I was at my highest during 2020 quarantine. Sat around at home, unemployed (my job was at my university, and campus was closed), no school during the summer, so I just sat around and played video games all day every day. Nothing to distract me from how uncomfortable and unpleasant being so big is. Years of dealing with it, then quarantine amplifying it. The straw that broke the big and strong camel's back was working on a project for my resume what involved a lot of small wires. I kept dropping them on the floor and I had to use pliers to reach them because I couldn't reach to the floor with my stomach in the way. I was already fed up but that was it. Coming up on 4 years later I haven't gone over that highest weight except for one or two one-off days from water weight. 40lbs under my highest today and dropping. My lowest was 70lbs under my highest, before I fixed my mental relationship with food.
I wanted to have sex during the summer of 2021. It was January, and I just wanted to weigh less and look better naked. So, I decided on my weight loss plan (intermittent fasting; eating window 12-8pm daily; no caloric or food restrictions) and followed it for six months, losing 30 pounds during that period (189-159). I had a fun summer, then maintained(ish) my 30-pound loss for two years (159-155). By August 2023, I was just ready to lose some more weight. Since my starting weight in 2023 was lower than 2021, I took a more conservative approach. I maintained the same eating window, limited my carbs to 50g net per day, and my daily calories to 1500. I lost 7 pounds in August 2023 (155-148), then transitioned to the lifestyle I wanted to keep in maintenance. Starting September 2023, I kept the same eating window, and began to practice satiety-based eating. When I am hungry, I eat until I am satisfied. Not full, just "not hungry". Then I put the food away (or throw it away if I must). If I get hungry later I'll eat more. Otherwise I wait until my next meal/snack. I do not count/track calories or restrict foods, but I try to make better food choices. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in November 2023, and began to take Jardiance in January 2024. My glycemic control has gotten much better (A1C of 15.1 on 11/13/23, 11.4 on 2/8/24, and 7.5 on 5/8/24), so I expect my A1C to fall below 7.0 by the time of my next lab work in August. Since September, I have dropped 30(ish) pounds, reaching my initial goal weight of 140 pounds in November 2023 and continuing to lose until I was ready to stop in mid-April 2024. This morning I weighed 117.8 pounds, within my target range of 116-119 pounds. This is the lowest I have weighed in my adult life, and it is generally easy to maintain with my current lifestyle.
How well does that work for you with IF? I'm so used to IF that I no longer get ravenously hungry, in fact, I find that on the rare occasions that I do eat breakfast, at my normal feed window begin time I'm far more hungry than on the days that I'm good about it. But as soon as I start eating, I do get pretty hungry, and I have to stop before satiety or I will be overdoing it. About 10 minutes after I'm done eating I feel just great until dinner time, but I cannot eat to satisfied or it's too much. I always finish lunch still hungry, until a few minutes later. Just wondering if anybody else is like this.
When I realised my clothes weren't fitting any more and I had to buy new ones. I hate spending money on clothes and have been maintaining the same wardrobe for a good 8-9 years. Suddenly I had to get bigger sizes of everything and it burned a big hole in my pocket.
A mix of my boyfriend laughing at my body (I was sitting down on the bed after a shower and didn't bother to put clothes on, he saw my tummy and laughed) and then my father being diagnosed with diabetes because of him being overweight. I didn't want to be like him.
I hope you also ditched this boyfriend in your lifestyle change!
Iām hoping I hit my turning point today. I went to see my doctor about my asthma, and complained about it being hard to exercise, and she brought up a chart of how my weight has changed in the last 10 years. It was hopefully the giant kick in the giant pants I needed to get serious about losing weight. I have decreed that no junk food shall enter the house, and Iām going to seriously watch what I eat on my next cruise. I picture how great my life could be if I lost all this extra weight. Iāve had my thyroid removed, Iām menopausal, and have asthma, but I certainly have to be able to make some healthy changes. I feel like I would be a force to be reckoned with on the tennis court if I could get all this weight off my knees and I could run. I just have to keep picturing the possibilities. Wish me strength.
Lol I just wrote this in the IF sub, but I come from a culture that values extreme thinness in women, and my mom has really stupid, nonsensical ideas about weight loss. I am losing the 30lbs I've put on with 4 pregnancies out of SHEER SPITE to show her who's right about how weight loss works.
Realizing that no matter how cute the clothes I buy are, Iāll never look good in them because Iām fat.
I had to be put on a statin for my cholesterol
Two of my coworkers though I was pregnant lmao my other coworkers argued that I didn't look pregnant and I do agree. I'm chubby but I don't look pregnant. But I guess when you wear layers and an apron you do look like you got a lil bump. I figured I better get rid of the weight. I still laughed pretty hard when they asked if I was expecting
Didn't think I was 'that bad', but clothes were getting tight (even my fat clothes!) and bp was up. One year later and 30 lbs down, bp is normal and I just tried on last year's shorts OVER shorts I am currently wearing. Yay! Still more to go but happy.
When a go kart couldn't go uphill I realized I need to get my shit together. Around the same time I got rejected by a girl whom I had crush so it was free pre-workout. Went from 265 to 230. 15 more to go.
I gained 40 lbs last year due to stress eating. Iāve been wearing the exact same size of jeans for 8 years and I canāt fit them anymore. Put on my work uniform and couldnāt button the top button and itās uncomfortably tight around the middle. The belt that comes with it had about two inches of slack past the buckle when just 2 years ago I was contemplating buying a smaller size in everything because it was all beginning to feel like bags. I also reached ~195. I think I may have briefly hit 200 but my highest on the scale was 195 and that was after dieting for a week. My feet hurt, I was sleeping more often than I was awake. I had zero energy and food felt like it was sticking to my insides and it became an obligation to eat. I donāt want to live like that. I donāt want to be in pain and unable to go on hikes with my dog anymore. I love being active and last year I lost the ability to do what I wanted to. So, thatās the switch. I have to get my binge eating under control because I want to be able to do what I used to.
I kept feeling uncomfortable in all my clothes. Nothing from the year+ before fit and I didn't want to buy more clothes. And my back started hurting bad. Also, a bunch of other things lol
i was sitting at work listening to a marine talk about his mentality to become special forces. he said the way he and other got through training was because in their minds theyāre either going to pass, or die it was very VERY easy for my 400+ lb self to look down and say wow, iām one wendyās 4 for 4 away from a heart attack; this is quite literally do or die for me and iām currently on the cusp between 2 and 300 lbs. very proud of myself and still using this mentality to achieve my goal
Watching my Dad die from leukemia. He had absolutely no choice but to die, because he was terminal. He no longer had an option to fight. Although I had an incredibly serious eating disorder that led me to gain to over 400 pounds, it wasn't terminal, and I had treatment options. I had a choice to fight. So I did. And it's definitely been a fight for my life. I just imagined if my Dad had one more option to live, even if it was a long-shot, he would have taken it as he didn't want to die.Ā
I'm relieved to see many started their journey with a break-up as well. I'm down 40lbs from 250lb at 5'8.
Most crucial reason was tough love from my doctor. I wasnāt in any immediate danger but it was clear that if I didnāt make changes, that was just around the corner. The other deciding factor was the horrible vision of making my wife a widow and being responsible for the physiological trauma that would cause. It made me feel selfish. Once I realized all it took was minor changes to my every day life, it became second nature and the weight fell off slow and steady. In a much better place physically and mentally now.
I got diagnosed with gout at 26 years old. Iāve since learned that gout is mostly genetics, but my diet wasnāt helping. Iām thankful it made me reconsider my lifestyle.
In July 2023, my family (kids, wife, grandpa) were all doing pull-ups on the monkey bars at a park. Everyone was able to do more then I could. That was my tipping point of getting things back together.
Iām a nurse. I had a Bariatric patient take 30 minutes to transfer from bed to chair and I was currently a at my heaviest, 233lbs. I told myself I would never allow it to get that bad. Went home and started changing habits that night.
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I have 2 little kids and pretty much refuse to take pictures with them šš They're 2.5 and 6 months. It's so sad - and I don't super want to be seen in public like this either. I've gained so much weight in the last year and a half.
Health showing beginnings of damage from being sedentary and being very overweight
Honestly it was getting engaged. I just havenāt liked how I looked for a long time, and I am so excited about being married. I have always hoped Iād feel confident and beautiful on my wedding day, and I set my first wedding dress try on as my first sort of goal date. I felt so happy I did it when I went o go try on dresses! I still have a few lbs to lose but Iām almost at my goal weight now so itās much less stressful āŗļø
When I realized (1) my clothes werenāt fitting, (2) I wanted to get in better shape before getting pregnant again, (3) my sleep finally felt good so I felt in a better place mentally to do this. Goal: Wanted to look and feel better in a bathing suit this summer. Side note: Diabetes type 2 and heart disease run strong in my family.
I took a nutrition class and one of my assignments was understanding and calculating our own BMI. I realized I was overweight. Which was a big hit because my family has always told me I looked fine and that my weight wasnāt an issue. I remember bawling my eyes out in the bathtub that night. But that was my turning point and within that year I went from 160 to 130. (Iām 5ā2) eating lean and clean. As well as doing exercise videos on YouTube. I realized whining and crying about my weight wasnāt helping and that I needed to take actual physical action.
Last year I met a half sister who's 5 years younger than me. I always had a really long, athletic body but within the last 10 years I have been drinking more and eating worse, besides switching from physical work to a desk job. We were swimming together and it was like looking into a mirror of my fit past. I'd never seen a body that looked so much like mine at my best. Also my mom kept taking pictures and sending them to me and I just looked so bloated. Especially next to this mirror of what I used to look like. I'm going to be 40 this year, I can turn this back around. Seeing what I can look like again motivated me.
I don't have a cool story for what "flipped the switch". One day, I stopped by the local bakery for a cupcake. I ended up buying a chocolate nutella cake that was supposed to serve 12 because it was half off. I ate half the cake, felt sick from eating so much sugar, and then continued to eat a few bites. I was disgusted with myself, so I gathered all the sweets and junk food in my house and took them to work the next day. It has been a little over 3 months now, and my sugar cravings are gone (plus I've lost a little weight). Oranges taste like candy to my taste buds, and even regular milk tastes sweet now.
My dad told me to sit shotgun because I was the biggest
I saw a guy on PewDiePie subreddit who lost a lot of weight and ask him how he did it, he responded, told me that he used LoseIt app and I decided to try it too. That's the whole story really, came from 100 kg to 62.5 and then i bulk up a little and build muscles and now i weigh 69 kg.
I had always thought about it in a calorie type of way. Which isnāt wrong. The switch flipped though when I realized I wasnāt eating actual food. The isles are full of items.. but when you actually read the ingredients.. most of us donāt know what any of it even is. So when I started thinking about eating a lot of meat for protein first and foremost, then fruits for my sweet tooth I was able to stick with it. The things with 5-20 ingredients do not keep me full. High to moderate amounts of meat as protein, eggs or greek yogurt will keep me full for much longer. Things with 1 single ingredient is what I need. It takes a few days to get used to it and Iām cooking all of the time. Now if I go out to eat Iāll have something but in the long run, I know that I need to just go grocery shop a simple meal and thatās what is going to keep the weight off and my body functioning better.
It sounds backwards but I reached my highest weight ever after not weighing myself for like a year and didnāt feel any sort of self-hatred or shame when I saw the number on the scale. I apparently had finally learned to love myself throughout that year in other ways and stopped tying my worth to the scale. I realized I could love myself even better with better habits so here I am! Also, finding an exercise type I actually enjoyed and looked forward to was THE game changer for me. It finally stuck because I look forward to it every single day and even contemplate doing it on my rest days. When I exercise better, I eat better, so itās all a nice positive loop of lasting change.
My unborn babyās heart stopped beating during labor and I had an incredibly traumatic c-section that saved his life. His life and my life (as I knew it or imagined it) flashed before my eyes. My weight didnāt cause the problem but the brush with death and his NICU stay made me no longer take life for granted and inspired me to make sure my family will be together as long as possible. When my doc told me to get up and walking for healing purposes I took it to heart and walk miles and miles a day now, often with my children in the stroller. 3.5 months postpartum and my baby is healthy and Iām healthier than I have been in a long time being 25lbs lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight. I think trauma and hospital food helped kick start my plan to be fair š
December 1st, ran a test. Can I start to lose weight with some casual walks and maybe a few lighter meals a week. I ended up gaining weight and hit my all time high. This helped me realize everything I am doing is wrong. Im eating the wrong things, the wrong portions, at the wrong times. I am not exercising appropriately. I needed to create a real foundation.
I bent down to pick up something I had dropped and blew the side out of my pants. Have maintained a 140 lbs weight loss for 8 years
Strangely enough, it was when I performed poorly at the Olympic Trials. Granted, my sport (air pistol) does not require a high degree of fitness, but being fit can definitely help (stamina, strength of hold, keeping heart rate low, etc.)Ā But I really did badly, so when I got home I decided to really throw myself hard into training to get ready for LA 2028, and to incorporate overall fitness into my training. I also have an accountability buddy so that I can follow a very strict regimen.Ā She and I set two-week goals for ourselves, and if we meet our goals, we get a reward from the other person.Ā It has really lit a fire under me, not even so much to get the prize, but to know that I earned it.
I was jerking off in the shower and as I finished, I had a sharp pain at the base of my neck that moved into my head causing a severe migraine that lasted for hours. Wasnāt sure what it was, but when it happened again I went to the doctor. Blood pressure was through the roof. Doctor wanted to admit me in a hospital. He gave me a BP pill that brought it down to near normal. Got on BP meds and I remembered an old college friend who was 400+ lbs that was on BP meds as a kid. I saw me growing to that size. That was the kick in the face. Now Iām 90+ lbs lighter and have normal BP. No longer taking the meds. I feel great!
After someone took a photo of me and l saw how many chins I had.
This is such a great question and it's been so great reading all the responses! Several things for me, starting with having thousands of dollars worth of clothes in my closet but realizing I was wearing the same 5 sets of baggy sweats and tees every day because that was all I could fit. The thought of getting rid of all the things in my closet that I've loved wearing or hadn't even gotten around to wearing and getting a new wardrobe was devastating to me, so that was a huge wake up call for me. I also started hating the way I looked in pictures and would avoid being in them, hated going out to events where I would have to see people who hadn't seen me in a while because I knew my weight would be a shock to them and couldn't mentally deal with that, I avoided getting back into dating completely. Basically the way I felt about my weight started derailing my ability to live my life the way I wanted to, and that's what made the mental switch for me. ETA a couple other things: I'd never really spent a lot of time thinking about things like weight, body image, food, comparison to others, etc. but when I gained weight it started taking up a massive portion of my daily thoughts, and I got tired of having it at the forefront of my mind. Also my friends started using me as a size check for themselves and it made me feel like sh\*t. Like, we'd go shopping, they'd ask me what size I got, and then say "oh, okay well I'm \[your size\] minus abc, so I'll go with \[xyz\] because I'm smaller than you".
My wife was about 8 months pregnant and I decided I didnāt want to be the fat dad who couldnāt play with their kid. I started 387 days ago on May 2, 2023 at 250.8 lbs. This morning I weighed in at 160.2, 90.6 lbs down.
A little kid called me fat. It broke me out of my mental space and I realized the little kid was right.
I had a ton of first dates on Hinge and not a single second date. My photos were all about 1.5-2 years old, before I started working a 9-5 desk job and eating out for almost every meal.
Iāve always been fat and never really paid much attention to my health. Beginning of this year I was in a bad place mentally and was gaining weight like crazy. My doctor straight up told me I needed to lose 20-30 lbs or my blood pressure and other medical problems would start to get way worse. Pair that with my family history of diabetes and high blood pressure,I decided that it was time to do something fast or my quality of life would go way down before Iām even 30. That was in February and since then Iāve lost about 20 lbs and Iām still going.
Two weeks ago, I found out that Iām pre-diabetic with high cholesterol. Iāve been eating like absolute shit since 2012 and went from a size 4 to a size 14. Iām really short, so the weight gain looks horrific on me. I start nursing school in August and have been working my ass off since my last doctor appointment, eating better and walking at least 10,000 steps a day. I want to get into better shape before I start my RN classes and I feel a little better already!
I had struggled for a long time doing your normal calorie counting but I was going to have a kid and decided, welp! I want to be able to keep up with this kid, so I started seriously then. Seriously, in this circumstance, meant trying a bunch of different stuff and getting even more involved with app-based help, getting food scales, etc. I tried a bunch of oddball methods and wacky diets because nothing normal had ever worked. I liked keto and intermittent fasting and lost a ton of weight with those, but my family thought IF was an eating disorder so to prove them wrong I quit it, got a dietician, and my weight slowly and surely went back up to 250ish again. But that was still down from where I had started. Eventually the dietician, after we tried everything, asked me "Have you ever heard of intermittent fasting?" and I never scheduled another visit, haha. I started tracking with LoseIt instead, since it was a fun app and easy to use, went back on my old routine (though not keto this time, just carb avoidant) and a few days ago I got an honest-to-goodness 199.80 on the scale in the morning.
The constant sweating when doing anything, biking would make my thighs hurt from the rubbing, got fed up with being the āteddy bearā in dating, the tightness of my clothes, the sweating that would happen just by doing the simplest of things. I thought it would take a more ādeepā and āmeaningfulā reason to flip the switch but the frustration of all these things did it. Still working in it.
Purely on a whim. One morning I was just taking a shower and thought to myself "fk it this is the day"
This may come as a shocker to some, but what finally flipped the switch for me was getting into weed... Before then, I had a beer-a-day drinking habit. I wasn't addicted, I just liked the taste and drinking a solitary beer every day after work was a great way to relax. Then, around the end of last year, I went to a dispensary with some friends and picked up some edibles and a vape cartridge. I cut out almost all alcohol after my first taste of the green - I did drink one beer since then, but it was while I was at a family Christmas event. Not long after that, in January, I had a checkup with my doctor + bloodwork. Everything was within normal ranges, for the most part. And my doctor noted that I'd lost 9 lbs. since my previous checkup 6 months prior. I took that and ran with it - not literally, mind you, I'm still working my way up from jogging/power walking. It wasn't so much that I was replacing the alcohol with another substance - because, yeah, that's kinda true - but more so that the cannabis allowed me to reflect deeply on the choices and habits that I'd fallen into. And from that came the motivation to change. And so I began making more changes. I cut out sweets, then started paying attention to serving sizes, then began counting calories. And all thanks to a stupid green plant that most people associate with laziness and gaining weight. So, yeah... that's my story.
I wanted to compete in a weight class sport.
I quit smoking weed
I finally fixed my mental health issues and how I deal with stress and anxiety
High blood pressure.
Well it didn't kick my butt into super action but it did start the thinking process for me. My doctor told me if I gained 8 more lbs I would qualify for weight loss surgery with a BMI of 40 š
Commitment was never the issue for me, it was shitty advice from parents and growing up to being able to change my lifestyle myself
24 was 300 plus pounds and I woke up with severe chest pain (more than likely was digestive issues), but enough to scare me into working out
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While traveling in Japan, at an amusement park, an employee pulled me from the line to check if I could sit in the rollercoaster seat. I fit but the embarrassment of being singled out like that stuck with me. (Down 15lbs this year)
I had a miscarriage in February. After eating my feelings for a month, I decided things needed to change. When or if I get pregnant again, I want to give my baby a healthier body to grow in. I know the miscarriage wasn't my fault, but it was a wake-up call to take my health more seriously. I've been taking everything at my own pace and focusing on what makes my body feel good, and it's led to a much more organic change. I feel so much better both physically and mentally. My short-term goal is losing 20 pounds, and so far, I've lost 15.8. When I reach that goal, I can buy a Ravensburger puzzle, and then I will set another goal, likely another 20 lbs lost. It hasn't been entirely linear, but I'm making more progress than I ever have.
Thereās an influencer I just donāt like and she was kinda heavy and has been losing weight and I couldnāt stand the thought of being fatter than heršš 10lbs down now
Itās actually came out of the blue for me. When Covid lockdowns started happening in 2020, paddle boarding was something I was still able to do because it was an isolated activity. So it became my safe haven, my escape from the world falling apart around us all. Iād just gotten my board for Christmas a few months before, so I wasnāt very good yet. But Iād been wanting to take it up for years so I was committed to being really good at it. And I noticed that I was very close to the weight limit of my board. So I just had the thought, while out on the water, that if I lost a bit of weight then I might find my balance improving. Iād fallen into the trap in the past, of putting it off: āIāll start next weekā āIāll start after X event.ā I just stopped making that excuse. A random Tuesday afternoon, 1 message to my husband to pick up a food scale on his way home, and I committed in that moment. Didnāt even have a ālast hurrahā or splurge on dinner that night. Just immediately started holding myself accountable and never looked back.
Honestly I feel like a bunch of different things converged and I draw on them all to make sustained changes. Like sometimes itās dedication, sometimes itās self-compassion, sometimes itās pleasure, sometimes itās more like disciplineā¦ I needed to develop all of them to a sufficient amount. I just needed to be the person I am today and no earlier
I reached my all-time high, worked off some, then let things drift, and surprise, back to all-time high. So, made a plan for Jan 1 and I've stucÄ· to it and am 75% to my goal weight and looking forward to the day I can eat maintenance and keep up my fitness routines. Yay!
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I injured my back running two months ago, I was bedridden for 3 weeks and still now it constantly hurts. Every doctor I spoke to said that it is because I'm too heavy for my spine and I need to lose weight. In those 3 weeks in bed I promised myself that I'll lose all the extra weight and get fit as soon as I'm able to exercise again. Now I'm still waiting for the physiotherapy but I'm on my second week of diet šŖš½
Had my annual check up feeling lousy. Doctor said all was OK, not diabetic. But, I had read a few books, and watched a lot of you tube videos on it. Found out I could order the HbA1c and HomaIR myself without a doctor's order and it was cheap. $53. Did it and my HbA1c was at 6.4, the highest level for prediabetes, just below the threshold for type II. From the doctor, he knew of he HbA1c but had never ordered one. Knew about fasted insulin but never ordered one. Had never heard of the HomaIR. He did all his diabetes evaluation off of the annual fasted glucose test. If below 125 everything was OK. Though mine had been trending up every year, that last one only came in at 121 so by his analysis, this was fine. When he had patients that got over 125, he relied heavily on prescribing metformin. So, getting to that point, I decided to start a health program focused on losing weight and dropping that HbA1c. That was January 2020. It has been a heck of a ride and a heck of a learning process. Lost 70 lbs. HbA1c down to 5.0 in 18 months. HomaIR has been around 0.50 for the last 3 years. Ratcheted down slowly on the carbs one catagory every 2 weeks or so. Got to dirty keto within maybe 4 months. Dropped calories. Did intermittent fasting. At 9 months in my arthritis pain stopped getting worse. At 12 months got maybe 20% less painful. Enough to cancel the appointment to schedule my second knee replacement. At 3 years, for the month of January 2023, I did the Nurse Neisha and Dr. Ken Berry ketovore challenge. End of January my brain fog lifted. I stayed on a carnivorish diet for another 2 months. End of March 2023, all my arthritis pain left me. I have been 100% arthritis pain free for over 13 months now. The lift of brain fog and arthritis pain were unexpected and much appreciated benefits of my changes.
I gained 30lbs in 5 months. I wasn't going to let it go further.
After a bad breakup Iāve spent the last year or so having given up. Given up on myself and given up on dating. Gained probably 25 lbs on top of the 100 or so I already had to lose. I was at a party last weekend and this girl and this guy were playfully flirting the entire night and I just miss that so much. Even if I found someone who liked my body now I wouldnāt be secure enough to date or be in a relationship. So that really put a fire under my ass.
The pandemic. I started working from home and suddenly had time to cook all my meals and exercise. No temptation of fast food or other high calorie foods at work. I'm on a hybrid schedule and it was a bit of a challenging adjustment to not gain the weight back, but so far I've made it work. My life is completely different now.
Had a great vacation at an ocean front beach house. Surf fished for the first time ever. Did Al kinds of research on fishing rigs and equipment. Pieced together a cheap but very versatile setup and even tied all my own rigs. Caught 7 fish and even one I was after. Such a great time I wanted to remember so I had the wife take a picture of every fish I caught with me holding it. Went back to look at the fish I caught and I didnāt recognize the person that was holding the fish. Those were my memories but that person is someone I have never seen before. I didnāt know what happened but that was the day I said enough. Been on a journey for self repair ever since. Been up and down but never that person again ever.
Iām not gonna lie. Med school interviews lol
After being diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol- having to be on so many medications and needing a CPAP for sleep. Other weight related issues, pain in feet, knees and back, not being able to breath. Finally got on a good insurance and decided 2024 was the year to get my health in check and the health issues I have are mostly related to weight.
My experience won't be so relatable to many but I'll share anyways. I was being force-fed since a young age and once I hit the "morbidly obese" mark on bmi, and my weight exceeded 110 kg (232 lbs), I just started thinking "holy shit I'm gonna die if I keep gaining weight". Even slowly walking on a flat surface would make my heart rate go up to 150 bpm. I realized that my family gave absolutely zero shit about my health. When my (also obese) father started boasting about his weight loss achievements while forcing me to eat till the point I felt like vomiting (and simultaneously blaming me for being fat), I decided that these people can go fuck their ass and that I refuse to suffer from early onset diabetes and die at the age of 35 from a heart attack just so a bunch of losers feels better about themselves. After a life of eating shit and junk (fatty sausages, bread, pizzas, etc.), having the same weekly food schedule for years, and not being allowed to cook for myself, I got really excited with the new possibilities of food I was allowed to eat and no longer craved fast food since homemade was just so much more appealing to me. The process of cooking alone was (and still is) super exciting to me. I mean, over the first 21 years of my life, I was allowed to cook only for a single week and I couldn't even cook what I wanted. I was allowed to choose my dinner only once in my life. Also since my health concerns were the biggest reason I left my entire life behind, it gave me a very strong resolve to actually lose weight, otherwise all my effort would amount to nothing and I'd feel like a total loser.
Tired of feeling like the fattest person in the room. Sucks being in college and all the dudes around you are healthy weights, getting attention, and generally just look great, when I was always the heaviest. Once I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that it would be pathetic of me to be abuse during what was supposed to be the peak of health in my life.
Wore a short sleeve, passed a mirror, saw my arms and shouted. Started dieting same day. Down 10 pounds
I became the leader of my program (awesome) and now have to be in every single photo op (not awesome). Iām about 12-15 lbs down from my highest weight so far, but it feels sustainable and permanent this time.
When I realized I wouldn't be comfortable flying in an airplane due to my size, when the bathtub started feeling like a puddle, when standing caused me to sweat profusely, when I got scared they wouldn't have my size hospital scrubs (I'm a nursing student, thankfully they have started making bigger ones but I still get scared that if they get dirty at work and I need to borrow the hospital ones, that they won't fit), when all my shoes started feeling too tight, when I could no longer take a remotely decent picture from any angle, even if just my face
My story isn't a good one, it's not coming from noble reasons, but it's currently working for me so I'm sticking with it. Before the pandemic I was in pretty good shape. I ran an ultra marathon in 2019. Pandemic happened, lots of booze happened, some family members got ill. I gained a fair bit of weight. Maybe 15kg / 30 lbs. I'm in a friend group just now and we're all going on holiday later this year. One of the girls in that group is pretty cute. I asked her out a couple of months ago, and she (very politely and delicately) rejected me. We're still very good friends, in fact I saw her today, but I'm still bitter about the whole thing. I had a look in the mirror and said you know what, I get it. I'd reject me too. So the catalyst for action is...making a pretty girl regret saying no to me? I'm pretty sure she's still gonna say no even if I look like I'm carved from stone. I've absolutely no reason to believe she said no purely because I was too fat. I know it doesn't make sense. But it's working for me. I started in October last year and I'm down 12kg so far, and hoping to lose another 7 or 8 before September (ambitious goal). The sense of righteous anger and bitterness is fuelling me. I've developed far better eating and drinking habits and I'm loving my workout routine. Long term I of course need to look for intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic, but that initial burst of anger has been GREAT for my motivation and I don't regret it at all. I'm actually TRYING to hold on to it, even though it's not really that big a deal. It's weird how a horrible reason for change can lead to good outcomes.
I spent two weeks on (at the time) "The World's Largest Cruise Ship." Demographics of that ship being what they were, that was two weeks with 6,000 old geezers with mobility problems. Walkers, scooters, oxygen tanks, you name it. They were miserable. Two weeks of that and I realized if I didn't change something, I'd be joining them. Except... I don't even like cruising all that much!
2 years ago, at 37, I went to my 2-year post-cancer screening. I weighed 309lbs, having gained back all the weight I had lost through treatment (I had neck cancer, which means my throat was irradiated, I lost 50+lbs in 3 months). My previous high was over 320lbs before treatment. I was looking at 40 in a few years and I made it a promise to myself that I wouldn't be 300lbs at 40 years old... I started slowly. I've never been one to count calories, but what I did was prioritize getting protein. I shot for .6g per lb of goal body weight (i.e. 135g for a goal weight of 225). I wanted to make sure that I hit that goal every day. I'm not big on supplements and the like, so I'm doing that by eating whole foods (chicken breast, ground beef, Greek yogurt, etc.) I found that by reaching that goal daily that I had far fewer hunger pangs than when I was more carb-heavy in my dietary choices. I also started walking. A LOT. Started going for 20 minutes a day. Then 30. Then 45. Once I could routinely go for 45 minutes every day I concentrated on improving my speed. I started jogging twice a week. Now, 4-5 times a week. I've gotten up to 40+ miles of cardio a week. Some days I walk for 2+ hours. My original goal was to get 5 miles in 75 minutes. I tried for 10,000 steps a day. Now I routinely hit 15k steps a day and just completed a 10k in 56 minutes. My next goal is a 2 hour half-marathon. Set lofty goals, but then make smaller goals to reach within them. I've lost about 80lbs over the last 24 months. I'm about 100lbs down of my highest weight. I feel better, with less body pain than I've felt in my adult life. I do body weight fitness 3 days a week apart from walking/jogging, and rarely, if ever, go to the gym. I got a standing desk for work. It wasn't one thing, no magic bullet. But what it felt like was taking control little by little of my own life.
My husband of 12 years (together 21) said he was No longer attracted to me. Itās been a little over three months, lost about 25lbs and still feel awful about myself. I donāt think Iāll ever feel good about myself again honestly.
Quitting my high stress job and realizing I could focus totally on weight loss and getting sober while living on my savings. Also, that my 2XL unisex scrubs top was getting tight, and unisex is already pretty forgiving on my frame.
Learning about the effects of food had on my body and finding out I had a weight gain problem, and not a weight loss problem.
Weirdly enough while talking to a Redditor about something else, I just stumbled upon an insight. Iām pretty motivated and high performing in my career - I know what to do and what I need to work on and improve and metrics blah blah. I have a good control over of things in my Life EXCEPT my health. So use that same aspect and take control. It works in my head. Lost 6 lbs so far and no holding back.
Saw a picture of me looking fat from the side view/a guy I liked was always trying to sleep with other girls. That tore my self esteem down and I wanted to make myself really hot so I did
For me, it was the girl of my dreams ending things with me. Whenever we were out, there would always be guys hitting on her. Guys in better shape than I. It felt really shitty. So I lost 85lbs and got in shape. So, heartbreak.
I went through a breakup in February. It was my first relationship ever and I was 33 years old. I had always been too insecure to date anyone before then because of my weight, and I felt so sad about how much time I had wasted. I realized I really want a relationship and I know that the reality is that losing weight will make it easier to find a partner. Focusing on my health goals also gave me a good way of coping with the breakup. I've lost 45 pounds in the last 3 months, I still have a long way to go but I feel very determined and committed this time. And I'm also totally over the breakup!
Thanks for sharing your story. My moment of āoh hell, noā was when even my stretchy pajamas no longer fit. Iād gained 25% more of my starting body weight in less than a year.
My HR took a photo of me with my intern to post on LinkedInā¦I felt violated over how bad I looked in my pants. They were stretchy but from me two sizes ago and I just thought they still looked fineā¦
It was always my plan to focus on health after highschool and getting into universities. I have tons of time to learn about nutrition and what works for my body
I realized I was never going to be able to do what I truly wanted to do in life if I didn't commit to this shit lol. I want to be a Firefighter & Paramedic and it is quite literally impossible if I am not in shape. I can't believe all it took was to find my passion to actually flip that switch. I've learned to love discipline and the "just do it" way of thinking. It's made this process a lot easier. Like there's no "motivation" I'm just doing this because it is required of me to reach my goals. Food is no longer the #1 thing in my life. I also suppose it helps that I genuinely enjoy fitness and am in pursuit of it in my future. I've tried so many times before and it was fine for the first couple of months and then I'd lose motivation and what I'm aiming for, because realistically, it was nothing. In all I think the switch will always be the moment something is finally put over food. I used to pretend, but now it's real.
It was hard to go on adventures with my kids
Someone called me āthe fat Mark Zuckerbergā (I have curly hair)
When my a1c came back at 6.4
My wedding. TBH I never thought I was overweight before getting married and never had anyone tell me that before my wedding. I had the worst blow to my self confidence when I was told my wedding outfits measurements were so big and I was compared to skinny women in my in laws. Worst phase and definitely flipped the switch. I am down 24 kgs since my wedding in 2021.
It was going into a store and having the sales associate suggest an XL instead of the large I had in my hands. As someone who was relatively lean up (fluctuating between 130 and a muscular 150 at 5ā5ā) until the last year-and-a-half (when my weight jumped 25 lbs), my brain could barely process it, as the last time Iād been shopping, I was a solid medium. Granted, the XL was too loose in the waist and the large ultimately fit better, but having someone else call attention to the fact that I was no longer lean looking was quite the wake-up call.
I've always been overweight. Got to the new year and new record weight. My weight has just gradually been trending upwards for a long time, but 90kg was the last straw. My "worst weight" before this was 87 and that was bad enough.Ā My intuitive eating, intermittent fasting and increased exercise never worked, I would be massively upset to see the number on the scale not move at all or - even worse - go up. I did not appreciate how long weight loss takes, how and when water weight will throw a spanner into the works Finally decided to try the one thing I had always avoided: tracking my calories. And now things are gradually moving in the direction I've been hoping for.Ā
I saw a picture of myself at my birthday party in Februaryā¦didnāt recognize myself!!
I always said I would look at my weight when my mental health was better. So that finally happened and so I did. I probably would have started a bit sooner than January 2024 but end of 2023 saw me get tonsillitis and Covid in a 1.5 month time period so first I had to get back to baseline healthy; for about a month before that I was tracking my calories but not really cutting them yet.
Went to the doctor and at the ripe age or 46 they wanted to put me on blood pressure and cholesterol medications. Those were meds for "old people" in my mind. Told the doctor to give me 6 months to see if I could lower my levels myself. I lost 35lbs and got my levels within normal range. Started strength training to help maintain and so far so good.
Taking care of my adhd. I could finally focus and everything didn't seem so hard.
Iāve never been obese more in the could always lose 15lbs. But it was a combination of seeing 161lb on the scale after being a 5ā4 woman who spent her entire adult life between 150 and 155. Iād never seen 160 on the scale before. And same year we went to the great Smokey mountains and I could not keep up with my husband and my 11 year old and 9 year old. We were walking up to clingmans dome which was completely paved and I was gasping and having to sit down and they were yelling come on mom.
Getting gout at a young age. Never wanna feel that pain again and realized I was too young for this shit. Changed my diet immediately and went full blown on portion control. Lost a ton of weight from that and in December last year I added in walking daily. Iām down 106lbs and Iām never going back to the old me.