So, when did you decide to be fitter?

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  Apr 21, 2008 12:44 AM GMT

  We all have that moment of epiphany in our lives that we realize: "Shit, I gotta do something!" It's that moment when we realized or decided to get off our ass and start moving and do something in order to take control of our health and fitness state.
  
  When I was in college, I was heavy. For a 5'9" frame, I was carrying 275 lbs. and it was bad. I was at work and we ordered dinner and I had ordered some cheesecake for desert. As I was eating it, I began to sweat. Yes, sweat. And someone took a picture as I was stuffing my face. I saw the picture and was horrified to see how big I was and that I was sweating while I was eating. I made the decision, I can't be this big anymore.
  
  So the next year, I worked my ass off, figuratively and literally, changing everything: my eating habits, my lifestyle, everything. And in that year time, I dropped about 100 lbs. A whole person! I was so much happier with myself and more accepting of my body, and developed more respect for myself. Now, I'm about 200 lbs., and I like where I am at the moment, but I want to decrease my bodyfat percentage while keeping the lean muscle mass I have.

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  Apr 21, 2008 12:45 AM GMT

  when the drag queen at the club turns u down..thats when u should start to get fitter...

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  Apr 21, 2008 12:50 AM GMT

  I decided to get in shape after about the 1,897,632nd time being told I need to eat something.

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  Apr 21, 2008 1:05 AM GMT

  When I was in the 11th grade, although I was decent in sports, I weighed barely 100 lbs. . . so I started working out and never stopped.

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  Apr 21, 2008 1:10 AM GMT

  For me it was the cliche of turning 40 that really got me serious. I figured it wasn't going to get any easier if I waited until 50.
  
  ...
  
  That and the fact that I couldn't get a date to save my life.
  
  K

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• Bunjamon
  
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  Apr 21, 2008 1:15 AM GMT

  I was always slim, did the swim team in high school, was good at PE, all that. Then from when I was 18 to almost 20 I had 3 spontaneous pmneumothoraces (lung collapses, more or less). And it's taken me a while to get back to the swimming shape I was in before, but now I'm doing strength training and I've never felt better!

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  Apr 21, 2008 1:23 AM GMT

  Freshman year of high school - I was so skinny I had to lean into the wind when walking to school. I was way too tall - way too skinny. I got into H20-Polo and as part of our workouts we lifted weights. I did everything the coaches told me to do and right away I started putting on weight and looking better. Got rid of my zits and started getting laid that year too! Thank you, coach!

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  Apr 21, 2008 1:33 AM GMT

  I really like hearing these. Keep them coming!

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• HndsmKansan
  
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  Apr 21, 2008 1:35 AM GMT

  For me it was really a college event. But I think it was about the time I finished law school I really got into serious training. I've loved it ever since.
  
  I think of it as improving oneself most definitely.

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  Apr 21, 2008 2:17 AM GMT

  I was always skinny and unathletic as a kid. One day my freshman year of college, a lesbian friend of mine picked me up and carried me up and down the halls of our dorm. I started working out the very next day.

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  Apr 21, 2008 2:26 AM GMT

  I remember wanting to get in better shape but there was always something holding me back (mostly lame excuses). Well, seeing my brother in a hospital bed changed things - it was the realization that life is shorter than you think. There weren't any more excuses worthy enough to prevent me from getting started and sticking to it.

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  Apr 21, 2008 2:59 AM GMT

  I was 19, and had just started my sophomore year in college.
  
  I wasn't all that happy with my body. I remember convincing myself that I didn't want to be unhappy and still skinny at age 25 and wishing "if only I had started when I was 20."
  
  I'm turning 24 next month and my body has made excellent progress over the past few years.

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  Apr 21, 2008 3:01 AM GMT

  I was skinny/in shape as a teen working on the farm, but an ACL tear shortly after my 17th b-day sidelined me to tractor work only for almost 3 months. (And no insurance meant to treatment of the condition at a dr's office!) So from 17-20, I got fat. I hid it well, but I had saggy man tits, a buddha belly, etc.
  
  A couple of months after my 21st b-day, I was in NY visiting family and we went to a lake beach. I went shirtless. Photos were taken that I didn't know about. I saw said photos about a month later and was embarrassed. Plus, my dad was going through some high blood pressure and cholesterol problems at the time, which scared me. I saw a future I didn't want.
  
  I started running and lifting shortly thereafter. Yoga, pilates, and more followed through the years. Now I cannot imagine my life without fitness, movement and exercise endorphins. I hope I never have to.

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  Apr 21, 2008 3:02 AM GMT

  I realized that if I hadn't gained any weight in college, nor in 2 years of grad school, it just wasn't going to happen unless I started consciously working on it. At least, not until my metabolism slowed down, and then it would have been the wrong type of weight gain. There's a limit to how often you can be told you're too skinny before it really starts to grate on you. At times I can get frustrated by how much longer it takes me to make progress than most guys, and the boredom of lifting weights. I'll even stop for a couple of weeks, but the changes I've managed to make (and the roughly 20 pounds I've gained) are enough to get me back into the grind.

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  Apr 21, 2008 3:22 AM GMT

  I'm with everyone who mentioned how annoying it get to be told you need to eat something.
  
  That and I wanted to have a body I could be proud to show off.

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  Apr 21, 2008 3:27 AM GMT

  I was 46 and saw something on the Internet about caloric restriction. It's supposed to extend one's life, but I decided to try it because I had been interested in non-weight loss diets (rejuvelac, wheatgrass, raw food, etc.) for some time. It was pretty easy to do because I was hooked on a really healthy breakfast.
  
  Anyway, after two months or so, I was at a date's house and asked to use his scale (I didn't have one) and almost sh*t when I saw 162 (I had been about 195).
  
  People told me I looked gaunt (which kind of scared me because I had had the experience of together with this hot guy and then saw him a few years later after he had dropped some weight and he wasn't (to me, of course) hot any more). But going back into 32" waist pants trumped everything else.
  
  Then, I started working out seriously because one has to with caloric restriction, or one can have heart trouble. I really got into it, but then I moved down here in July and haven't even joined a gym yet.
  
  I still manage to score intimacy with reasonably hot and intelligent guys (who help me improve my Spanish (as in, "I'm co-o-o-ming!!), so I feel OK about my bod, though being a tallish gringo helps.
  
  Sorry if this is more info than you wanted.

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  Apr 21, 2008 3:30 AM GMT

  When my niece came to visit and they took the picture of us at Discovery Cove and I realized I didn't like how I looked back in August 2006.
  From that point on I focused on two things being more efficient at work and working less hours and using the time saved by not working to work out and get fit.
  It took 4 -5 weeks to pull it together but I did it and still do it today.

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  Apr 21, 2008 3:48 AM GMT

  I don't think about it as when did I decide to be fitter...but more like when did I finally get the time, the money, the courage, and the access to various facilities necessary to get fit.
  
  For me this happened in my later college years, with a car, money, and more time used wisely to dedicate myself to reaching my fitness goals at the gym.
  
  Being strong and fit is something I have always wanted growing up as the weakling with overweight diabetic and hypertensive parents and observing media portrayals of the ideal male physique.

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  Apr 21, 2008 8:23 AM GMT

  Last year. Went through a few months abortive attempts to exercise.
  
  Still unable to access proper facilities but doing well as it is.
  
  Always been thin, growing up asthmatic I was never exposed to sports much. Am trying to change that to feel better about myself and stop worrying about how I look like to other people.

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• GQjock
  
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  Apr 21, 2008 10:29 AM GMT

  I was 14 and was heavier than I am now ...
  and people started calling me fat
  
  within a year I'd lost 30 lbs (not all in a good healthy way though)
  and started working out
  
  and have not looked back since

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  Apr 21, 2008 11:00 AM GMT

  I started two weeks ago! Lol! All coz I started to see my belly turning into a tyre!

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  Apr 21, 2008 11:12 AM GMT

  I was always health-conscious and played sports in high school and in college, but I didn't start seriously working out regularly until I graduated from college.
  
  

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  Apr 21, 2008 11:47 AM GMT

  I'd always been skinny. 6' tall, and 67kg. I was in third year University when a friend asked me to come to the gym with him, so I did. He was trying to lose weight, I was trying to put it on. We were both very committed, but neither of us was very successful for a long time.
  
  I'm 78kg now and am enjoying how nice clothes look on a fitter body. He died of a brain aneurysm last year. I know he'd appreciate it when I say, "I win."

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  Apr 21, 2008 12:47 PM GMT

  makeumyne saidHe died of a brain aneurysm last year. I know he'd appreciate it when I say, "I win."

  
  Sorry to hear that though I know he's smiling down on you saying, "At least here, I can eat all I want!" HA!
  Anyway, I decided to get fit when I was 11. I was quite chubby with glasses, even! I drank lots of orange juice (powdered ones), ate just a cup of white rice 2 times a day in my meals and played a lot outdoors (never been in real sports, though). I did this 'til I was 13.
  And does anyone of you remember JAZZEXERCISES videos? That was my guilty pleasure watching and following on betamax in the afternoons after school from 1984 to 87. Weekends, especially!

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  Apr 21, 2008 12:49 PM GMT

  I can go one step further:
  
  Richard Simmons!
  
  shuddddder....

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