What was your turning point?

I knew I had put on weight(2 and a half stone) but I was in complete denial that food was the problem and kept saying that there was a medical issue (there was not and I knew it) or it was coil (again not the problem) my wake up call started at Christmas wheni ordered a baggy fit jumper and it wasn't baggy at all . My 2nd one was a few weeks later when I went out for a meal for a friends birthday and I saw the photos and just cried. I didn't look like me joined slimming world that week
 
Isn't it interesting how different it is for everybody!
Health scares/pressures on your body are always worrying- i've got a bad knee from an accident a few years ago and I'm sure excess weight won't help, but it's annoying how it limits exercise too! My partners dad has diabetes, steadily getting worse (Started off controlling with diet, then pills, now he injects) and he still hasn't done a thing about the sh*t he eats all the time. It makes me so angry to think he's throwing his life away and the rest of the family will have to cope. You'd think it'd be a real wake up call.
It's great to have motivation to lose weight for something- to conceive, for a special occasion or just to improve health and wellbeing all round!
I think it's nice to have an online community to share these things with too- I don't go to group (this village is TOO small!) so I find it keeps me on track!
I agree that it's no big deal to fall off the wagon once in a while- we are only human and you've got to have a life too- the important thing is to jump straight back on it!!
Rosie x
 
Mine was when i went to put on my "fat day skirt" a long boho swishy thing that was a bit big and summery (girls, you know the one!), and I couldn't get it past my thighs! This was after losing weight down to a size 10 (the skirt was a 16) and then moving in the my OH, I realized I'd put a bit back on, but never that much! It was the most I've ever weighed, because even before I shrunk to a size 10 it was still my fat day skirt!
X
 
My mum came to visit from South Africa last summer. I hadn't seen her for over two years and for part of her visit we planned a whirlwind sightseeing tour of London. We bought a deal that meant we got free entry to a lot of the sights but we had to visit all our sights within three consecutive days or lose out on the bargain. So we did three mad days of rushing around London, which included climbing the stairs to the top of St Paul's. I loved having mum with me and spending the time with her but I was exhausted and my feet were so painful I was relieved when our three days was up, I wished for days to rest in between. Mum, at 70, was thoroughly enjoying herself and kept coming up with new places to visit and I just wished she would stop, not because I wasn't enjoying the sights, but because I was so exhausted. I was embarrassed that I could barely keep up with my MOTHER!

Another part of her visit was a special birthday dinner to celebrate her 70th and the whole family got dressed up smart and I couldn't find anything that fit and was pretty. I ended up wearing work clothes of basic trousers and a smartish blouse. I felt disappointed that I looked dressed for the office rather than my mum's special big seven oh.

During the visit she met my sis-in-law for the first time, who had at the time lost over 3 stone on SW, and it came about that sis took out her fat photo to show my mum. My mum gaped at the before and after and I too was stunned at the difference (somehow I knew she had lost weight but perhaps when you see someone regularly the dramatic change is not so dramatic but gradual enough to get used to over time) and I was suddenly inspired to join SW. I enjoyed the rest of mum's visit and the week she left I attended my first SW group. Haven't looked back, and oh how I wish we could afford for mum to visit again and we could take in some more sights!
 
Photographs taken at my auntie birthday do in October. Couldn't believe how large I looked! Decided then had to do something about my weight.
 
I saw myself in a mirror in the airport, and for the first time couldn't see anything even remotely attractive about how I looked...clothes showed bumps everywhere, face was round, no cheekbones, double chin, you name it, I had it!
 
I could have had many wake up calls....I had lost weight and become fit (even doing a triathlon) then I met my now husband.....and then we met and we got comfortable, I stopped going to the gym because I wanted to spend the time with him and we ate a lot of take aways, drank lots and became lazy. The weight piled on. I was aware my hormones were out of kilter and this would be helped by losing weight. I didn't change my behaviour. I knew we wanted to do IVF and we could do it free if I lost weight, I still didn't change, there were a few half hearted attempts but nothing sustained.

We had a wedding and again I continued to gain. We had holidays and each holiday I had to buy new clothes in a bigger size. I had to buy a mans ski jacket because they didn't do a ladies big enough. The aching in my knees had returned and STILL I didn't chose to lose weight. I went abroad with a colleague and realised I was very close to asking for a seat belt extension....still no weight loss. I developed planta fasciitis in my feet (really painful), it's weight related. Walking was painful.

Then christmas......I went to my inlaws and was starting to watch what I ate, I'd already cut down alcohol. I went in their gym on Boxing Day and when I came out I could barely walk, the planta fasciitis was so bad and all of a sudden I realised that at 38 I was an old infirm woman, I was terrified of the pain I was going to be in in January on our skiing holiday (with again more new kit in a bigger size).

I joined SW 30th December, a Monday, followed it until Saturday when we went skiing. I made a decision to optimise as much as I could when on holiday but if I wanted something I would have it, and just ski another run. I came back 4lb lighter! When we returned we went to the clinic for the results of the IVF tests, they weren't good and my weight is a big concern (but one of a few) affecting our chances. This spurred me on for a few weeks and I cried that I had let everyone down because of my weight, but looking at this in a sober light, my weight is only one part of the puzzle.

We have now decided not to pursue the IVF route. We won't adopt (we are too old to get a young child), but we have a wonderful family, of former step children who we still have relationships with. We are happy and I am now focussing on losing weight for me, for my self esteem and to be pleased with photos once more. As a treat for my40th we are booked to go to whistler in Canada for two weeks skiing in January 2015. I want to be fit and trim for that trip....2 weeks of skiing will be hell if I'm not fit enough. So far I have lost a stone, if I continue at my rate of 1lb average a week I will lose another 3 stone before that trip. I have started running (nhs c25k programme). Best if all I am starting to feel better about myself and I am LOVING the food we are eating.


Good luck everyone x
 
I'd been wanting to loose weight for years but wasn't in the right mind frame, i have a lot going on in my life, my 2 sons with autism and adhd being my main priority which meant i'd stopped taking care of myself and managed to climb from a size 12/14 to a 20/22. One son is finally settled at school and the other is in nursery 2-3 times a week and starts school next year, i've been on anti depressants for 18 months and finally felt i could concentrate on myself for the first time in 7 years, so i spoke to the doctor who referred me to slimming world and i haven't looked back since, i've had 3 weigh in's so far and im finding it easy to fit into my life and my confidence is starting to return xxx
 
I think for me, it was a combinations of factors:

I got friend-zoned for the umpteenth time.
In the past, I used to be upfront about how I felt about people but kept being knocked back for various reasons (including my appearance).
Because of this, my confidence with guys has been almost non-existent.

A lot of my friends really enjoy going clothes shopping together but I can't because the majority of the High-Street barely caters to my size if at all and generally the stuff they have in the larger sizes is horribly frumpy and shopping trips to anywhere other than the usual places normally upset me, I used to go to the bathrooms and cry because there was nothing there in my size which would really frustrate me.

I love going to concerts but I cannot stand still for more than 10 mins without getting a really bad backache so I have to find seated tickets.

After speaking to a woman I used to work with and the fact she lost 3st. on SW, I decided that this was the year that I would tackle my weight head-on and sort it out.
 
I think for me, it was a combinations of factors: I got friend-zoned for the umpteenth time. In the past, I used to be upfront about how I felt about people but kept being knocked back for various reasons (including my appearance). Because of this, my confidence with guys has been almost non-existent. A lot of my friends really enjoy going clothes shopping together but I can't because the majority of the High-Street barely caters to my size if at all and generally the stuff they have in the larger sizes is horribly frumpy and shopping trips to anywhere other than the usual places normally upset me, I used to go to the bathrooms and cry because there was nothing there in my size which would really frustrate me. I love going to concerts but I cannot stand still for more than 10 mins without getting a really bad backache so I have to find seated tickets. After speaking to a woman I used to work with and the fact she lost 3st. on SW, I decided that this was the year that I would tackle my weight head-on and sort it out.

What is friend zoned?
 
My daughter. I had intended dropping the weight after her birth in 2011 and just never did it but shes now 2 1/2 and shes active and wanting to do things and it isn't that I can't do them, for my weight I am quite active but I'm afraid to do things. I'm afraid to sit on the swings at the park in case they can't hold me, I'm afraid to go in the indoor play areas again in case they can't support me...neither my husband nor daughter have been abroad and despite my fear of flying I do want to give them both that experience but I'm afraid of not fitting in the seat and having to ask for an extension. Eventually all these things built up and I decided I was tired of making excuses and I didn't want my daughter to miss out on anything and I didn't want to miss out on being a mum. I watch my very slim and athletic husband playing with my daughter and it makes me sad she is defo a daddies girls and I can't help but wonder if my lack of ability to join in with her is apart of that reason. And a close second is I want more kids...I was 18st when I fell pregnant with my daughter and the whole experience was horrific and the nhs treated me like I was something they'd stepped in all because of my weight and I said I wouldn't go through that again and I'm ready for another baby so gotta slim down so I can gain some baby weight lol. I just want to be the best mum I can be.
 
Realising after Christmas that as well as being 'fat and 30' and passing 40 and still being fat,that I'm going to be 50 in October and spent the last 30 years on a diet, being WW ,SW or Atkins all with varying degrees of success ( my fault not the diets!). My son will be 5 on my 50th birthday and I want him to have a slim mum.When I think back to when my first son was born nearly 28 years ago I only had half a stone to go now it's three! Being stuck at home with a precschool child does nothing for your weight! I run 5.25 miles 3 times a week so I'm not unfit but I would love to get back into my suze 12 jeans again! My next SW group is on 1st April so it seems the perfect time to rejoin (yet again!)
Good luck everyone! Sal
 
I decided to take up running last July and I'm not keen on diets because of the awful stats about weight gain so I've been concentrating on the reasons behind my overeating and avoiding diet clubs in spite of my size.

Anyway, I managed to do a c25k programming and could run 5k in 48 minutes but at 18st it was hard and slow! I lost a bit of weight with running but I want to run faster. So after my November 5k I joined sw at the v end of the month.

2st down I'm getting faster and preparing for a 10k in may.
 
For me it was the realisation that i might NEVER become a mum and have my long awaited for family...having been overweight in varying degrees most of my adult life (ashamed to say at my heaviest i was 28st, am now 23st so managed to keep that 5 stone off), and having wanted a baby for so many years, getting older(now just turned 41) and realising that time is running out fast i am facing up to my weight problem once and for all. I am hoping for a miracle baby (been to see a fertility specialist and told nothing wrong with either of us) so if i can get this last bit of weight off i may just get my long awaited for baby, if not i would love to adopt a child. Just started this week Slimming World and am determined this is it for me. Also i want to be healthy enough to be a good mum if I'm lucky enough to become one!
 
I decided to take up running last July and I'm not keen on diets because of the awful stats about weight gain so I've been concentrating on the reasons behind my overeating and avoiding diet clubs in spite of my size. Anyway, I managed to do a c25k programming and could run 5k in 48 minutes but at 18st it was hard and slow! I lost a bit of weight with running but I want to run faster. So after my November 5k I joined sw at the v end of the month. 2st down I'm getting faster and preparing for a 10k in may.

Wow! I have found running at 16 st hard enough. This is very inspirational, thank you
 
Thanks, I think my running started as more like a shuffle/jog but I'm now 15.8 and I think I'm running now. My legs have amazing muscles. I keep looking at them in the bath unable to recognise them! And my bum's got much smaller.

I'm convinced it's changed my shape.
 
After having 2 strokes & being told by your doctor that if you continue as your were, you would be dead in 6 months was good enough to kick me into gear! I thank him whenever I go to the doctors, which is very rare now.....
 
I'd love to be able to run and have entered my very first 5k Race for Life (although I will be walking it!) but I'd still love to be able to run it one day...
 
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