What was the final straw that made you start your journey

Alia

Silver Member
I was wondering what was the final thing that made you realise you had to start a weight loss journey and make some huge changes in your life.

I’ve been overweight since being 2 years old so it’s nothing new to me. I’ve probably tried every diet plan, the advisable and the totally insane, plus I’ve gone through two major weight loss surgeries, both clearly unsuccessful.

Aside from my weight loss surgery my last serious weight loss journey was with SW about 6 years ago and I lost 6 stones in 3 months. (I say serious as I can’t count the number of times I’ve joined SW since then and lasted a couple of weeks only. In fact I’m ashamed to admit I’ve even joined a couple of times and not even gone back for the first weeks WI). I was so strict with myself that it clearly was n’t sustainable over a long period of time and when I came off the rails I came off big time and was unable to get back onto the plan and quickly gained the 6 stone I had lost along with many more. I hate to think of the number of stones I’ve lost and gained over the years – what a waste!

The final incident that happened with me that made me start this, my final journey was the most painful and one that I never would want to go through again or wish on any one else. At the end of February this year I was pregnant and suffered a miscarriage, my first one. Having got 6 beautiful children it was not something I ever thought would happen to me, I’d kind of convinced myself that I was immune to it. When I asked the midwife why it had happened she said that we would never know and it was just one of those things but my weight was most likely a factor. :cry::cry::cry: I spent a couple of days in denial but after lying in bed while my miscarriage completed I started thinking deeply about what had happened. After chatting to a friend about doing a weight loss programme together we started the SW plan on the 15th of March.

This is my final journey, it has to be!! I can’t carry on the way I was living; in fact I was not living, I was, and still am in constant pain day and night and having to survive on a cocktail of very strong painkillers on top of lots of other medication to. I only went out when I had to or when I went to buy more rubbish for me to eat. I could not play with my baby son and was miserable and grumpy with everyone. I want a life, I’ve got 6 children who I want to see grow and move on to have families of their own. This is my drive, my motivation – quite simply to be normal and do the things that ‘normal’ sized people do.

I will go off track, I will have gains and maintains but tomorrow is a new day and I have to get right back on track. I will complete this final journey but it will be a life long change, not something temporary, something that will allow me to live out the rest of my life in the comfort that I and my family deserve.

xxx
 
That's really sad about your miscarriage Alia, but there's nothing like your kids to bring it home to you how imperative it is to make a change.

I had a lot of 'final straws' over the years, but actually what did it in the end was walking out of the job I'd been in for 9 years. I literally couldn't take another minute and just left at the end of my shift one day, and .... it was OK. I had another job within a week, lost all the stress I'd been living with for years, felt miles better. It made me realise that if I could make a huge change for the better like that in one area of my life, even though it was a scary thing to do, then I could do it in other areas too.

I'm so glad I did it. I'm still in the job I love, and now I'm 10st lighter too! :)
 
The final straw for me...

This and other photos that day...

PO20090110_0000.jpg

In truth - i had known for a long time but kept putting it off - i wish i hadn't now. if i had known life would be this good - i'd have done something a lot sooner. but that doesn't matter now... I did it in the end.

100_1873.jpg - the same trousers - now.
 
When I was pregnant last year, both the MW and Dr who I saw through-out my pregnancy, along with the Consultant I had to see due to a previous medication condition, took EVERY opportunity to tell me how my weight was going to affect my pregnancy and my baby and implied I was a bad mother before I had even had my baby.

I was told I would DEFINITELY get Gestational Diabetes due to my BMI amongst other comments. Incidentially, I did not and had perfect BP throughout my pregnancy. Bar morning sickness, I sailed through it.

Whereas I should have enjoyed my MW appointments, it got to the point where they were upsetting my everytime I went there and cried on more than one occasion. I'm not stupid - I was well aware I was overweight but I didn't need their insults each time I went.

My own GP even said to me that "most normal people can't get pregnant as quickly as you did" (I was fortunate that I conceived in the first month of trying). My reply to her of "Am I not normal?!" was met with silence ...

Post labour, I swore to myself that I would lost weight before I had my next child so no-one will ever make me feel like they did.

I appear to have rambled on a little but it was so upsetting at the time. However, I intend to use their comments to encourage weight-loss :)
 
I have been miserable about my weight for years.. but i only have myself to blame. I moaned, but did nothing about it. After having my son in January 2009 I joined weight watchers, didnt go back after 4lb loss. I then joined slimming world in septmeber 2009, didnt go back after the 2nd week. i randomly weighed myself on a friends scales whilst using her bathroom and nearly fainted.. i was a size 10/12 and had then went upto a size 18 which i was for years... and there i was - stood at over 19st 7.5lbs and a size 24/26. I was disgusted that id done this to myself! That was it.. for me and my sons sake.. i joined Slimming world again on 20th April 2010.. and 10 weeks later i am now 28 and a half lbs lighter... and im determined to be that size 10/12 again!

and so the journey to a slimmer, healthier, happier me continues............
 
Mine, was realising I had only 2 pairs of jeans that I had left that I felt comfortable in. I'd not long forked out 70 EUR for a really nice pair from Debenhams and already they were too tight! :cry:


 
Only started SW last week (25th June) and my wake up call was overhearing one of my son's friends in the school playground asking my son when my baby was due! I was so embarrassed. Add that to the ever growing pile of clothes that I'm no longer able to wear, my dad recently being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and my 'i can eat whatever I like and never gain an ounce' super skinny sister telling me how worried my family are for my health - really the list of reasons is endless!
I am taking each day 1 at a time and trying to keep focused and hopefully I'll get the results I really want to achieve!!
 
My chidren! walking leaves me out of breath and gagging for air,couldn't run and started thinking about my future (my dads side of family are all big people) and none are happy! I was starting to think 'i'm only size 18 now but what in 2 years 4years 10years' so now my weights going don not up i'm still hving bad days but i cant go back
 
Ian you are a true inspiration to us all and I know that in a couple of years I'll be so proud to show my before and after photos - your a star and makes me realise that I can do and I will do it!

Wendi I have 6 children. When I was pregnant with my 1st I was big but no way near as big as I am now and don't actually recall being told anything about my weight although it was an awful pregnancy with extreme vomiting all the way through and ended up in an Emergency C-section, neither being related to my weight - infact the opposite, apparently despite my size and my size 9 feet I've got a tiny pelvis and could never give birth naturally and I have n't. My next two pregnancies were twin pregnancies and by the time I got to the end of the second one I was around 28 stone (only 9 months between the birth of the 4 babies). Again I had problems but nothing related to my weight although granted I'd have been much more mobile had I have not been the size of a baby (ok maybe toddler) elephant.

My last pregancy was horrendous - again morning sickness morning noon and night and at each scan I was made to feel like crap cause of the ' can't get a good picture due to your size' and so on, was told I'd deffinately get Diabetes, WRONG, was told I'd deffinately have high blood pressure, WRONG. I was told I was such a high risk pregnancy because of my size that there was no way they would let me go past 37 weeks, plus pressure on my scar after 3 previous sections. My son was born at 32 weeks weighing a very healthy 4 pounds 8 for his gestation and was only in the special care baby unit for 3 days and home in 11. I was pretty much treated like a second class citizen during the pregnancy but the birth was a whole different situation - despite being an emergency the staff were amazing, could n't have been nicer to me and restored my faith in the NHS. Well done for starting your journey and hope that your next pregancy is a much more enjoyable experience.
 
Ian I had to look twice to work out who you were in the photo!!you look fab(now).Its made such a difference to all of you.
My superficial reason was Fatbellygutbucket shouting`oi Lard A*se' to me in the garden while the neighbours were out.
 
Until I met my hubby, I was a nice size 14, and very happy with it. In fact, when I look back, I was convinced I was fat then! If only!

In the 15 years I've been with my hubby, I've put weight on and lost it, but since having my last son, I didn't manage to lose any. I joined two other slimming groups in the 5 years, even forcing myself to a weekly exercise group, thinking it was doing something. I've never been one to have a huge hang up about my size etc, but at Christmas, everything felt tight, I was buying size 22's and I was soooo out of breath doing anything. The final straw was a night out with old school friends and I couldn't disguise that fact that I looked fat and terrible in every photo!!

So I gave up the slimming group with the exercise class, and signed up to SW in January and not looked back. Almost 2 stone lighter, I feel fab! I think I look fab! I have more energy, love the cooking side and feel so much more confident! There's still a way to go, and sometimes I have blips, but that's life!
 
The turning point for me was 3.5 years ago, my then boyfriend was murdered, before he passed away he was in intensive care for 1 week, in that week I didnt leave his side, didnt eat, didnt want to see or speak to anyone apart from him, and in that week due to the stress I lost nearly a stone, it just fell off me, then leading up to his funeral (7 weeks after he died because it was a murder investigation) i continued to loose weight, then after he had been laid to rest and people started to get on with their lives again i just started to eat again, i mainly sat in on my own as I didnt want to bother people and i would eat excessively, and put around a stone on but then just one day i thought, hold on, stop, so i started WW and then went on to loose another 3 stone, then joined SW in December last year and have lost another stone plus a couple of lbs. My weight loss journey started in the most horrendous and awful circumstances, but coming through the other end, i realised how unhappy i was with my weight back then. I was always a slimjim up until i was around 18 and then started working in the city, going out for lunches, drinks in the evenings, then over the years battled with my weight, then that was the final turning point. Im now with an amazing and wonderful man who i feel so blessed that came into my life when he did, and im continuing to loose weight, and not going down the route of 'im happy so i'll eat' its the other way around! since we have been together he has gone up by 1 stone! ;-) but he looks good for it, as men tend too do! xxx
 
The turning point for me was 3.5 years ago, my then boyfriend was murdered, before he passed away he was in intensive care for 1 week, in that week I didnt leave his side, didnt eat, didnt want to see or speak to anyone apart from him, and in that week due to the stress I lost nearly a stone, it just fell off me, then leading up to his funeral (7 weeks after he died because it was a murder investigation) i continued to loose weight, then after he had been laid to rest and people started to get on with their lives again i just started to eat again, i mainly sat in on my own as I didnt want to bother people and i would eat excessively, and put around a stone on but then just one day i thought, hold on, stop, so i started WW and then went on to loose another 3 stone, then joined SW in December last year and have lost another stone plus a couple of lbs. My weight loss journey started in the most horrendous and awful circumstances, but coming through the other end, i realised how unhappy i was with my weight back then. I was always a slimjim up until i was around 18 and then started working in the city, going out for lunches, drinks in the evenings, then over the years battled with my weight, then that was the final turning point. Im now with an amazing and wonderful man who i feel so blessed that came into my life when he did, and im continuing to loose weight, and not going down the route of 'im happy so i'll eat' its the other way around! since we have been together he has gone up by 1 stone! ;-) but he looks good for it, as men tend too do! xxx

Omg you poor, poor thing. Thank you for telling us and letting us see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I can't imagine how you got through all of that (((hugs)))
 
Rrr thank you Claire, how lovely xx It was a very dark time but ive always been quite open and able to talk about things like that, I lost my brother when i was 13 and he was 14, so from a young age I sort of matured quickly when it comes to things like this. My family and friends where fantastic when I lost Lee, bless him, and they helped me through it, but at the end of the day, the way I see it is, Im here and I have a wonderful family and friends to keep going strong for. I still have my moments where im very down and sad and then that makes me want to eat, especially about my brother, i miss him and think of him every single day. My other half Jim, is brilliant, and was very understanding when we got together as he knew it would take time for me to relax and not think im cheating on Lee etc etc. The emotions you go through are certainly sent to try us xxx
 
Being told I can not be on the normal pill because I was at the time morbidly obese and also relfection's of myself I saw made me physically sick!
 
Rrr thank you Claire, how lovely xx It was a very dark time but ive always been quite open and able to talk about things like that, I lost my brother when i was 13 and he was 14, so from a young age I sort of matured quickly when it comes to things like this. My family and friends where fantastic when I lost Lee, bless him, and they helped me through it, but at the end of the day, the way I see it is, Im here and I have a wonderful family and friends to keep going strong for. I still have my moments where im very down and sad and then that makes me want to eat, especially about my brother, i miss him and think of him every single day. My other half Jim, is brilliant, and was very understanding when we got together as he knew it would take time for me to relax and not think im cheating on Lee etc etc. The emotions you go through are certainly sent to try us xxx

I think talking about things is definately the key. Bottling things up make things feel so much worse. My hubby is that way. He lost his mum when he was young and then his dad and grandad within a couple of years of each other, but I've alwaes made him talk about them, even more so now that we have kids.

I can understand you having down days sometimes and feel sad, it's only natural. Your other half sounds fab!
 
Rrr thank you Claire, how lovely xx It was a very dark time but ive always been quite open and able to talk about things like that, I lost my brother when i was 13 and he was 14, so from a young age I sort of matured quickly when it comes to things like this. My family and friends where fantastic when I lost Lee, bless him, and they helped me through it, but at the end of the day, the way I see it is, Im here and I have a wonderful family and friends to keep going strong for. I still have my moments where im very down and sad and then that makes me want to eat, especially about my brother, i miss him and think of him every single day. My other half Jim, is brilliant, and was very understanding when we got together as he knew it would take time for me to relax and not think im cheating on Lee etc etc. The emotions you go through are certainly sent to try us xxx

I think talking about things really help, and that bottling things up can make thing feel so much worse than they really are. My hubby lost his mum when he was 7, and then his dad and grandad within years of each other, and he used to bottle things up, through fear of upsetting others. So I've alwaes tried to make him talk about them, even moreso now we have the kids.

It's understandable and totally natural for you to have sad and down days, and it sounds like your other half is fab!
 
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