[jdoggmartin]

What is the main thing that made you lose weight? A doctor? Yourself? A rude comment? Family members? Etc...

For me, it's myself. I just got sick and tired of being overweight. I want to be thinner. I want to be more attractive. I want to be able to go to the beach and feel comfortable. Wow... I just realized I sound really vain!! But, it's the truth... Health factors definitely take a back seat to the physical aspects for me. Sad, but true. Fortunately, good health comes along with the physical changes!!

Jina

[Southern Butterfly]

Losing weight has always been about looks for me. This time, I'm thinking more about my health. Heart problems run on both sides of my family. Both sides of my immediate family also have cases of type 2 diabetes. While I'm still looking forward to having a nice body, the main reason I've adopted this healthy lifestyle is because I don't want bad habits that I have now to catch up with me later.

I also want to be a good role model for the younger generations including my nephews and one day my own children. I don't want them to think an unhealthy lifestyle or the cycle of yo-yo dieting is the way to go. When I become a school teacher, I don't want to teach health and say do so and so yet not be the example.

[lmaxin]

(1) Looks... I got tired of looking and feeling like crap. I also got tired of seeing myself in photographs and thinking, "Am I really THAT big?"

(2) Health... I had high blood pressure and heart problems run in my family.

(3) Husband... my husband tries very hard to be a healthy eater, and he is faithful with his workouts. I figured if he can do it, why can't I?

[Jen24]

I can't possibly pick just one "main thing"....so I won't! I will say that when I was in high school & lost weight, appearance was my *only* motivation.
Now, it's different....yeah, I love feeling better about myself, looking better, wearing cute clothes, etc....but my health plays a big role now too. I'm wanting to have children in a few years, and that factors in huge! I also was approaching 25, and started to realize that I can't just take my health for granted...because I'll eventually lose my good health if I stayed on that same road.

Another big kick in the pants that I got, was going to my sister's college graduation this past spring. She looked *so* good, and since we have virtually the same body type, etc, I felt really bad knowing I could look like her if I'd make the right choices! She's not "skinny" but is a very nice-looking size 12/14 and takes good care of herself. From that visit, I got to thinking about weight loss a lot and eventually got motivated to do it.

[sunseeker_ak]

I would have to say largely for apperance. But not so much just to look good, but to feel good about myself again and know that I have worked hard to get healthy. When you take care of yourself people notice, but I guess they also notice when you let yourself go- anyways. Confidence and self-esteem are such big factors for me in this journey and I can't wait to be me again. Health issues are also looming in the back of my mind, my family seems to have an abundance of weight related problems so I'm gonna try to avoid them by getting healthy again.

[Lekker]

For me there are a few things that are fueling my current motivation to lose weight.

1 - I'm starting to realize that I can't take health for granted. So far I've been very lucky (knock on wood), but that can't last forever, especially if I'm not trying at all to stay healthy! And getting older (yikes!)

2 - Another big thing for me is to be in better shape to play sports with other people so that I'm not always the weak link - the one that runs out of stamina first. It's starting to irritate me that I'm not able to play as well as I want to or feel that I should be able to. And being top-heavy really screws up my balance for skating or just playing sports that require running!

3 - It would be nice to look better, to feel more confident in certain clothes, bathing suits etc. This is not my top reason at the current moment because I feel that I have a long way to go before I get to what I perceive as a more 'normal' size, but there are some love-handles and then some that I would more than willingly give up to make clothes look just that much better on me!