What was the final straw?

[Miss Seaneen]

Hello girls and boys, I've been thinking about what's been keeping me on this. I have cheated, yep, but I find myself mostly focused on my goals and working to achieve them. A nice feeling. Still, I was thinking about the trigger that fired the shot- why I decided that enough was enough.

In my case, it was being diagnosed with PCOS and then asking to work in psychotherapy rather than meds for my illness. I had had enough of doctors needing to do things for me, and I'd had enough of being controlled by outside circumstances. I just wanted to wrench the control back in my direction, starting with my health.

So, when did the moment come that you decided that this was it, you'd had it? And how does it feel to take control?[/url]

[GotWadda]

When my BF told me I just didnt "do" it for him anymore because I need to lose my belly, even though he is about 70 lbs overweight himself.

[Ante_up]

I would have to say it was when I seen a picture of myself at my highest weight. I dont get my picture taken very often so it really was a shock :yikes for some reasone I didn't think I was that big till I seen the picture and the number on the scale.
Last year I started ""dieting"" and giving up then trying a diff one then giving up ect... and I ended up 18 pounds bigger then when I started to diet in the first place and now I have just made up my mind Enough Is Enough and I AM going to lose this weight and I AM going to keep it off ! :nod

[sallyseachange]

I do it for someone else who is special, more than for myself. You just get to the point where you know you must get yourself in gear and do your best with what nature gave you, for that other person. And in doing that... I help myself too. :icondance

[EmilyBee]

Lying in bed barely able to breath because of the amount of food I had eaten. Looking down and not being able to see my feet and not able to move around in bed because my back hurt so much. The decision was made in less than two minutes while I was lying there.

I must admit that I didn't start the next day, for a stat I wasn't prepared and so knew I would probably screw up. I didn't/don't want to mess up this attempt so I waited until I had all the relevant foods, had re-read my Atkins book, had registered here and asked a few questions and eaten a fair few of the forbidden carbs I know I would never have again. Then I was ready to go.

I haven't cheated once since I started (3rd January 2005), don't know how many days hat is but put it this way, I devoted less than three days to a Weight Watchers type diet. I think that says a lot of someone with no will power - in fact, I still have no will power, I just like this WOE

[ravenfan]

What did it for me was looking through my high school yearbook. Back then (12 years ago), I was about 110 lbs. I am very little (5'2), so I looked great at that weight. I also played three sports then and ate very little. I have let the weight creep on for years now, and it makes me sick to look at myself. My goal weight is 125, cause I know that 110 is just a little far beyond my reach.

[JESTER]

For me, it was losing my mother.

She was a wonderfully beautiful woman. At the ate of 53 she was hit with early onset Alzheimers, and in less than one year, she was gone. She ate healthily most of her life, and when she died, she was in perfect health, with nothing wrong - no high blood pressure, no cholesterol problems, no heart problems, nothing. It was her brain that was being destroyed.

I did alot of research about Alzhiemers, and about the risk factors, heredity, and all of that. One of the biggest risk factors was obesity. I made the decision right then, to change my life. I don't want to take any chances of getting this disease. I have cut out all sources of aluminum from my diet, and daily living, I take B vitamin supplements, and I am trying to lose this weight, exercise, and trying to live a healthy lifestyle.

I began to really appreciate life when I lost my mom . . . and you only have one shot at it . . . so I want to make it the best possible.

Jester

[Momma Yamo]

What did it for me...

Well, there were several things for me.

1) Saw a photo of myself and thought, yuck!
2) Walking around at the mall I got tired like within one section
3) This is gross but true: I had a hard time wiping my butt!!!! I couldn't reach!
4) Seeing my daughter's Victoria's Secret Catalogue and feeling depressed
5) My favorite clothes didn't fit anymore and I had NOTHING to wear to an important event.

Although there are a lot of things here, it took all of them to get me to the point where I thought, you know, I gotta lose some weight!

[stlsweeti]

It was also losing my precious mother last July that finally motivated me. EVERY member of my family and I mean every member, has died from heart disease. Diabetes also runs rampant in my family and she had that as well. She suffered for several years through three heart surgeries (she had SEVEN heart attacks!) She was only 63 when she passed away. I want to be here for my husband and children and I want to see my grandchildren. I don't want to be in and out of hospitals in a great deal of pain and basically bed ridden because my heart is failing. I pray that I can change this for myself and my children.

[cleochatra]

{{{everyone}}} Reading your stories of what brought you to where you are now makes me just want to squoosh each of you in a happyhug! I'm so glad you're sharing why you decided to give Atkins a chance! You're inspiring other people (me included)!

For me, it was being at 325 pounds at the rodeo (see my before picture. It was taken then). I was wearing a 4X MEN's shirt for my Cub Scout leader position (though I was big enough to be the Pack). I couldn't walk far, couldn't camp, couldn't feel that I was being valued or taken seriously as a person because I had no self control. I used humor to cover up my problems, always being the funny fat girl, but it really was masking my true problems. I want to be around for my children and I want to make a difference in my community. Both of those require me to have more energy and stamina! Without the restoration of health, energy and well-being, I'm still the fat lady at the Mesquite Rodeo wondering if the bulls in the arena made my butt look big.

[jessica129]

Just the sound of my weight depressed me. I got sick of being in denial about being overweight. I didn't feel good about myself and I had to go up a size in jeans. That was definetly the biggest thing that motivated me. I always said i'd go naked before I bought a bigger size pant.

Now i'm the smallest i've been since I was about 12 and i feel so much more confident. It's a great feeling.

[kardea]

for me it was several things. I have always been active and have always been overweight (since 16). Last spring I had some mojor changes happen in my life (good ones) but at the same time I had stopped walking for about two months. Within that time I started to have incrediably painful legs. Could barely walk or get up and down the stairs. I was 32. I started walking again. Frustrating because I could only go a fraction of what I used to.
Another thing is since I gained the last 20lbs I have an overactive bladder. I don't need to take meds to fix it I need to lose my stomach.
The real last straw was that I had gotten some fat on my inner thighs that really liked to stick together. Made me even more uncomfortable.
No matter what it takes it's coming off.
My dream is to eventually have my own dog sled team. I physically can't do that at this size.
I guess one more thing to. I want to go to a store and just buy clothes. Not go to the fat section where there is nothing I like. Jeans don't fit like they should when they have pleats in the front!. I am a jeans and t-shirt girl. I want to feel comfy in my skin again

[sunshine_gurly]

x

although i had started to realise myself that i had put on alot of weight i just didnt do anything about it and then when my bf told me i started to realise that i couldnt fit into a pair of jeans and a pair of black trousers i love to wear and they were tremendosly tight and so i thought thats it iv had enough and started this woe.

luckily my bf is still with me and loves me for me but it was him that finally pushed me to start this diet.

when i started going out with my bf i was only 145lbs and i crept up since being with him to 173lb ... it was shocking and cuz im a midget at 5'2 (no offence to anybody that height or smaller!) i looked really fat!

so there we have it .. lol and now i have lost 7lbs in the first two weeks of induction and this is my third week of induction. i am not going to weigh myself untill the end of the month now though ..! x

[shadewolf]

for me it was being in a bout of depression and some horrid black moods that started me onto the right track. i'd had a major setback with my new job because a manager screwed up and then because of that I got bumped into a different training class and had to wait 3 weeks for it to start. 3 weeks with no pay...and i was already stressed out of my mind because we are in debt and didn't have enough cash to get by. I thought, screw this. i'm tired of everyone else controlling how my and my family's life an livelihood is going. so i started with myself. i've always hated the fact that i'm overweight. i've been this way since i was about 8 or 10 years old. i don't remember what it is like to be a normal weight, but i do remember all the ridicule coming through my school years as i was the fat kid in class. i was tired of looking in the mirror and seeing a body i hate, knowing i'm not supposed to look like i did and wondering what i'd look like with all the fat gone. So, i let go of almost all the stress from work and most of the money stress, and started going to the gym. i tried to burn off as much of the negative mental energy as i could. now i've been doing it long enough to make the way of life a habit, and doing it consciously everyday. i am making sure i don't forget the mental space i used to function in so i never slide back to that. i always ignored my problems before, and let so much time slide by wasted just not living my life at all, and letting myself be pushed around from circumstance to circumstance and by people around me. i have finally learned (i hope) to see what i want and then pursue it and not let negative people divert me from my purpose. the other thing that really motivated me was developing a severe case of sleep apnea and having the doctor tell me i could die if i can't control my weight. that was a shock and certainly helped me find the motivtion to do this WOEFL.

[kathysue2]

For me, I just wanted to dance and play again!!! No more huffing up the stairs, no more elastic waistbands, no more fat-face pics..Im also short..5'2'' and its really noticeable on us short folks I think.

My family has the tendency as well. Moms side puts all the weight in the middle, and dads side are all built like Bluto! The men, including my oldest son and me, are built like v's. Only Im more like a V with a bubble :yikes

So Im ready to get where I havent been since a teen...the 120s. And I WILL!!