Calling all fatties or EX-fatties

Member

First, nobody get their feelings hurt cuz I'm a fatty myself.

Another thread got me thinking of the "turning point" at which most people just say "I have had enough"..."this sh!t has got to stop".

I have two friends that have dropped an ENORMOUS amount of weight. One of them has lost 60 lbs and one has lost 100 LBS.

I was duck hunting with the guy who lost a hundred last week and I asked him.."So what was the final straw?" He said he was putting on a new shirt he had purchased..a 3x by the way...and sat down only to pop a button in the front. The guy was 6'1" and 320 lbs. He sad he just started to cry...ripped the shirt off and decided then and there that enough was enough. 12 months later he's 220 and sittin at 10% body fat.

For me...my turning point was not that drastic.

I had been looking through some old pics from 6-12 years ago and thought "Damn...I've gained some weight. Then a couple of weeks ago while looking around the net...I found a BMI calculator...punched in my stats...6'1"...232 lbs...Holy Moly! I. AM. OBESE. Obese...obese...the word just kept going through my head. I played high school baseball..ran cross country for Chists' sake! I even played a little college ball. How in heck can I be...obese?

That was my turning point...I will never have that feeling again. So I went and hired a professional trainer (competitive bodybuilder) and a chick with a Masters in nutrition. I told myself...I WILL RUN A 5K BY MAY AND I WILL COMPLETE A SPRINT-TRI BY JAN 05'.

No turning back..... Twisted Evil

Flailing Homosapiens

For me it was being dignosed with Type II diabetes. If I did not lose weight and get it under control, I would die. Slowly. Watching my body parts fall off until I went blind.

NO F-ing WAY!

Member

More vainity that anything for me. The largest men's waist-size pants you can buy at a department store are 44 inches. I went to get a pair of slacks, and they were too tight.

I was going to have to go the "Big and Tall" store. I decided this was nothing short of obscene--for me at 38 to be this fat. And once I got past the self pity, I realized I was a heart attack just waiting for the day, and how could I do that to my family? That what I actually engaged in was a form of suicide. I ate for comfort, pure and simple.

So I lost some weight, but knew if I wanted to keep it off I need some exercise. This "jogging" thing seemed easy enough--just go buy some cheap shoes, get out the cotton shorts and tshirt and out the door you go.

Deciding to "jog" a 5K on a pure whim, looking back, saved my life. I was about to bag this whole "jogging" thing and I have no doubts I would have gone back to 240 lbs (on a 5 foot 8 inch frame) in no time. The entire aspect of racing, and seeing people just like me doing it, captured my spirit and imagination.

Member

Couple of things all at once. A not very flattering picture, shortness of breath, high cholesterol, a show on the health channel (the Health Challenge), and a pair of size 36 waist pants that were almost impossible to button. I have two kids, my dad past at age 48, I was 10. I want to be around for my grandchildren.

On april 7, 2002 I ran 2.25 miles in 25 minutes. 1 year, 8 months, 45 lbs, 6 waistsizes, 4 marathons, 60 cholesterol points, and many miles later, that same loop takes me 14+ minutes to finish.

I will never let my health down like that again. I have a lot to live for.

AZhat

Definitely it's the self image thing for me.

Not being able to take a picture with your children because you don't like how you look for the picture was it for me. Or the fact that I was 2 clothing sizes up was a terrible notion as well.

After I had my son in 2001, I carried extra weight for months. I look back and there are no pictures of me taken with him (except for the first days he was born). I avoided cameras at all cost. A good friend did take a picture of me and the kids right before we moved from SC. I saw it and my eyes were Shocked

. I have somehow "misplaced" that picture at the bottom of a drawer somewhere. Anyway, it's a sad thing if you won't pose for a few pictures with you kids.

It's amazing what 30 extra pounds can do to your self esteem if you've never carried around extra weight. I know that I was depressed and unhappy beyond belief.

I'm glad to be back to my normal size. I make an effort each and every day to eat right/exercise. I don't want to get back to that weight again and will strive to stay where I'm at. I try not to compare or get frustrated that I am not as thin or small as some of the girls I see at the gym. I try to take pride in how I look and the work I've done.

It will be my 1 year anniversary January 20th that I got this under control again.

Member

I'm not sure exactly what triggered it, I just one day decided this. was. not. me. I was alway's an athletic kid played a lot of sports and stayed active. Never once in my teenaged life did I have to think about my weight. As I grew closer to my mid 20's I'd gain a few lbs each year so it really didn't seem like such a big deal until one day BAM! My size 13 jean's I'd bought to be baggy were kinda tight. I was on a mission right then and there. Really my diet was the worst. I ate just because it was there. After I started eating like a normal person I dropped 30 lbs and then I decided to exercise and dropped another 5lbs. Now I've been back to my old self for 3 years now, and have found it to be pretty easy to remain so.

Member

Hipster Doofus

Simply wanted to lose the weight. I started running July of last year figuring to get myself in shape for nordic skiing. At the same time I also changed my eating habits - more how much and the timing rather than a lot of changes in foods. Come Labor Day of that year, I decided to make running my main activity.

I've lost about 70 lbs, and still have a little more to go. The difference in how I feel is like night and day. My first 5K was run in 33:11 - and the last one I did in :24:35, which means I've cut that first time by 25%. I don't know whether I can take it to the next level (physically, anyway). But if I cannot, I'm very happy where I am. No regrets whatsoever.

The Movie Geek

I started running again so i wouldn't have to get to that point where i would be disgusted with myself. It was the realization that i had no exercise in my life, that my pants stopped fitting me and i would have to get yet another size larger, and i bought a pair of khaki shorts two summers ago...they fit fine and were a little loose. This past summer i couldn't even get the ends of the waist band to touch, let alone close tightly. I was pushing towards 200 pounds (i'm not that tall), and i didn't like where i was heading. It's been a combination of me running and my gf pushing me, and while i'm slowly improving, i'm heading in the right direction.

Member

A few years ago my Mom sent us pictures from Christmas and I was in shocked how huge I looked. Not just in one picture, but all of them. I knew I had gained some weight (the constant need to buy bigger clothes was a clue), but never felt I was "that" heavy.

Like many of you, I'd always been athletic and then wound up having a series of surgeries and spending my time on the couch for a year or more. Once I saw the pictures, I began to watch what I ate, then once cleared, began working out. Fifty pounds later, I began to run (again).

Member

Breaking up with my ex started it for me. 20 lbs came off pretty quickly due to stress. (Losing a loved one after 5+ years is a pretty good appetitte supressant.)

I discovered I liked the way I looked. The next 30 lbs came off due to much better diet and excercise.

Member

Full length mirror at a hotel did it for me. Before that, I was only using the bathroom mirror, and up close at that, so I was not seeing the "full" me. Once I saw how I looked in the full mirror, I realized that my pants had not been "shrinking" in the laundry and that I had to lose some weight. I ate fairly healthy already, so exercise was the way to go. Running was the mose efficient way to burn calories that I could find, so I started "jogging" in August 2001 and don't mind the full length mirrors quite so much anymore.

Member

The winter of 2000/2001 I got pneumonia. I had a lung capacity test and the prescreening included questions about physical activity. I didn't realize until right then that I wasn't doing ANYTHING. I decided right then that once I got better I would do something physical, anything. I'm the athlete out of my siblings so I was shocked at myself.

I'm still heavy. I have the exercise part down pat (I sincerely love running, lifting and whatever). Unfortunately I'm an emotional eater; that's not yet under control.

Member

My freshman year of college. I didn't continue to play collegiate soccer, and did way too much partying (then there were the late-night Fluffer Nutter sandies w/roomie). It was the end of the semester and I was back home for break. My mom took me shopping for clothes and I couldn't fit into size 3/4. I walked out of the store with size 8s jeans and large sweaters. I weighed about 135 (which was heavy for me--being 5' tall).

Oops, posted before I finished. Actually, I wasn't going to finish. Anyway, over break I started to exercise and eat better. When I returned, my friends could not believe how much weight I had lost, and so quickly. It was then that I started ro run (this was 1992).

Pyromaniac

190 lbs on my 5'10" frame was just too much - especially since most of it was centered in my gut. Started running again 14 yrs ago with a little weight lifting mixed in. Got to a low of 157 lbs but am now a healthy 164-167 lbs with the increase in weight training.

Calling all fatties or EX-fatties

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