Wakeup Call

Everyone who begins a diet and exercise program has a wakeup call, right? Some moment where you realize just how out of control you have gotten, how awful you look, how unhappy you are with your life. My wakeup call was when a friend posted this picture on Facebook:

That is me, on the far right, wearing a dress that I thought was particularly flattering. This was taken at the end of August last year, at a friend's birthday celebration, and I remember having a fabulous time the entire night. Indeed, there are other photos of that night that have me at a different angle, where I don't look so huge and bloated and uncomfortable. And those are the pictures that, in the past, I would try and focus on. But, this picture illustrates just how overweight and uncomfortable I had become. Looking at this picture, I don't remember a fun night spent with friends - I remember how out of place I look, how miserable. Shortly after this was posted, I started going to the gym. About a month after I had started at the gym, I started keeping track of my calories with SparkPeople.

I don't really know why it was this picture that was the trigger for me - there have certainly been bad pictures of me in the past. But it was.