Why do you want to lose weight?
 

Of course I'd like to improve my health but hey, let's be real..I'm 22 so there's definitely a huge desire to look good.
Shorts, short dresses, bathing suits, tank tops and skinny jeans are amongst some of the things I can't wait to wear.

That's just a few things that help to push me to continue this journey but I'm also curious about others motivation.

So, why do you want to lose weight?

I want to lose weight so that I can borrow more than a scarf from my sister's closet!

Because I can.

Whereas once, not too long ago, I simply thought I could not.

I want to have a longer life. I'm just getting to the point in my life where I have the money to travel and I want to see the world well into my later years.

A great side benefit is knowing I look great and that my husband is proud to have me to show off to his friends ;)

Fitness, I want to be able to do so much more than I previously have. I live in a country that is full of mountains and have a fiance that loves hiking but we haven't in the past because I can't. It sucks knowing that I'm stopping him from doing stuff he loves.

I also want to be a sexy bride and I don't want to have fat wedding pictures.

Not only do I want to feel comfortable in whatever I wear but I've also been learning a lot about food, nutrition and most importantly my body and mind. I want to live a long healthy life and be there for my DH, my family and my future kids and grand-kids and grand-grand-kids for as long as possible. :)

For me it definitely started with the clothes! I'm 26 so I want to be able to "feel young", when I was out with friends I felt like I was always the odd one out because I couldn't keep up with them at all because I was so out of shape.

But I also never lost weight that way because I wanted quick fixes, and refused to change my eating habits. Now I feel like I want to be healthier, be stronger, be able to go on a hike with friends, go clubbing maybe?! and not feel winded after the first 20 mins lol

but I have to say seeing clothes I could possibly fit into are a HUGE motivator now!

Originally it was for health and because I felt(and looked) gross. Then after losing a little I realized how much I adored exercise and I wanted to be able to do more and go farther and for that to be possible, I'd have to lose more weight. Now that I'm at a decent size and in the normal bmi range it's half for vanity and half because I want to go even farther and faster with my exercise, and being smaller will help with that.

:D That would be amazing for me if I could borrow my sister's clothes - she's been skinny her entire life...but she's also 5'1 so I could lose 190 lbs and still not be able to fit in her clothes! But I also always thought that would be a great bonding experience.

I want to be happier and healthier, and I like that I'm eating for fuel now and not just to deal with emotional problems/triggers.

I want to be healthier, both in body and in mind. I don't want to be self conscious when I where a form-fitting top. And I want to be able to really be an athlete on my field hockey team, not just the girl who's a goalie because she can't run :)

Health and vanity...but who am I kidding? It's mostly vanity ;).

Definitely for health reasons.

And to look and feel normal.

My health was never an issue (or at least I never thought it was, I didn't have any actual problems and my bloodwork was always good, but I didn't realize how crappy I felt until I actually started to feel better). But I've been fat since I was 17. I feel like I've wasted the best part of my youth. I just want to feel "normal" for a little while.

I want to be healthy, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I also want to be very fit, I want to feel great about the way I look and feel, I want to be a hotter wifey :D and I want to be able to start having children with my husband and be able to have healthy pregnancies!

I'll feel better physically - I'll have less joint pain, more strength, energy, and flexibility.

I'll feel better emotionally - I'll look and feel more attractive, be able to wear nicer clothing, feel less self-conscious and have more confidence.

I'll feel more in control of my life.

Even 15 pounds in I am starting to feel some of these things!

My primary reason is health--I have Type II diabetes and high cholesterol--and I want those numbers to come down into a controlled range. When my eating was out of control, so was my blood work--even with medication. I know my blood sugar is getting better--I'm looking forward to the next set of labwork.

The second reason is energy--I already can tell a big difference being down 35 lbs. It's easier to do things--stairs, walking, getting up and down from the floor--even getting up to get a bever from the fridge.

The third reason (related to energy) is that we love to travel, and I want traveling to be easier. In Japan last summer, I was the 'slow one'--looking for an escalator instead of stairs, needing to rest. I hated that. (At my height, though, carrying a suitcase up and down stairs is always going to be hard.)

It also turns out (I hadn't thought about it, although it's obvious) that smaller sizes are physically smaller. Since I'm a big fan of packing light (one carry-on size suitcase is big enough for any length trip), having my clothes be smaller means I'll have more space to bring stuff home!

Vanity kicks in about now--I want to look better--but the health and energy is truly more important.

So my kid won't find me passed out in a coma again due to poorly managed health. She was three. It eats me alive that she witnessed something so traumatic at such a tender age, something that still haunts her. It will not happen again.

And...because I am really starting to enjoy my reflection in the mirror. I can be kinda cute sometimes. :lol:

Originally it was all pure vanity. Or I wanted my boyfriend at the time to have a hot girlfriend or I wanted to make him jealous after he was my ex. Or I wanted to attact a new guy. Even though I felt pretty mature at 24 I guess I wasn't if those were my motives. I eventually began to realize none of these reasons were good enough. I needed to do it because -I- wanted to FOR ME not for external reasons. I'd always fail if my reasons were vanity related.

Then I started learning more about nutrition and the benefits of exercise and my reasons started to change from pure vanity to wanting to be healthy and fit. And it's even evolved from there where I want my body AND mind to be healthy so I'm now working on the mental reasons why I eat and why I needed junk food and so much of it (Other than the obvious reason that it tasted good).

Another reason is I want to be a good role model. For my future children. For some of my family that struggles with keeping weight off. For some of my friends who gave up because they "couldn't do it". For my fiance who got a lapband but did not change his lifestyle one bit. He lost the weight and has kept it off for several years but I don't want to prolong my life only to lose him to a heart attack at 50 because he eats bacon/ice cream/chips/etc almost daily.

I still have vanity reasons but they aren't my only reasons. Vanity reason #1: I ordered my wedding dress in a size 16 instead of the 20 the store wanted me to buy. Sooo, that dress needs to fit! I also have fitness vanity reasons like I want to be that girl that you look at and know that she works hard for what she has. AND I want to be able to tell I'm pregnant when my fiance and I finally decide to start a family.

To be healthy- mind and body
To participate in my children's lives, not sit on the sidelines!

I want to be able to encourage others to get healthy
I want to do things I never have before such as rock climbing or jumping out of a plane!
I love rollercoasters and haven't been on one in over 10 years!
I want to look good in clothes (and without :lol:)

Unfortunately, I spent a good portion of my life feeling hopelessly fat and ugly, with the opinion that I was meant to be fat and that dieting simply wouldn't work for me. And all that time I was bitterly daydreaming about having a normal body, of not standing out as the fat chick, of being able to walk into a "regular" store to buy clothes.

I thought my health was fine. I could still get around ok, even if I was easily worn out. And I could still buy clothes, even if they weren't the most comfortable or flattering. What I didn't realize was that I should have been focusing on my health, regardless of my weight. I should have been eating more fruits & veggies, and less sugar & deep-fried crap. And I should have been doing everything I could to stay active.

Unbeknownst to me, I was an undiagnosed diabetic for over a decade! While my blood sugar numbers are normal now, the proof is in my old symptoms and the irreversible damage done to my eyes. One of my turning points was the realization that not even the plus sized fat chicks store had jeans big enough to fit me. I was frustrated, I was embarrassed, and it was really the first wake-up call to indicate how far I had let myself go. That was around the time I realized that it was a struggle to walk from one end of the room to the other!

It's been a long and winding road since, with many moments of triumphs and self-doubt as I spent a few years losing about 100 pounds. And when I started to backslide for the first time since, my health went downhill again and I found myself pregnant (surprise!). I miscarried shortly before the end of the first trimester, and vowed to be the healthiest person I could possibly be in hopes of being able to carry a baby full-term.

I've lost a significant amount since then and am pregnant again for the first time. I'm about 2 weeks short of completing the first trimester and am hoping everything will be ok. I feel a lot better than last time and have done everything I can to be healthy, so I'm hoping the odds will be more in my favor.

So I really did have to switch my priorities from vanity to health to make this work. Although I have to admit a small amount of vanity still plays a role.

Is it shallow to say that I want to enjoy my 20's looking good? I'm 24...I want to know what its like to be a hot young person lol. Of course, I also want to be healthy and in shape, and I know it will be easier to lose weight at my age now then 10 years from now. I want to be healthy and in shape before I start a family. I want to look cute in clothes, and I want a little self confidence!

For me, it started out being all about health. I was having daily hypoglycemic episodes, was in a lot of pain from arthritis, had limited mobility and over all, I just felt like what comes out of the south end of a north bound horse.

Now, I'm really enjoying the other benefits of losing weight. I'll never be a beauty queen but damn if I don't look a whole lot better, even with almost 50 pounds left to lose. I am most definitely enjoying clothes shopping again!

Another benefit that I didn't expect is the improvement in my mental health. I haz issues. I shan't go into a boring litany about that but I'm learning not to eat my feelings.

Aside from using nice clothes I want to be able to run around with my son I want to set a good example for him. I' ve also been having pain in my legs and I know it is due to my weight.

My primary reason was to be healthy, but as time went on, I started to realize it's becoming more about vanity. It's like, the more I lose weight, the more girly I want to be. I never knew I had such a low self-esteem because I'm usually a really happy person in general, but I'm realizing it more now. I wanna be able to wear cute clothes and be comfortable in them. I spend a lot of time looking at clothes online and hope that I may be able to wear those clothes one day and it's probably my biggest motivation right now. Health is still a huge concern for me so I'd say it's probably half health and half vanity at this point. But hey, whatever helps to keep the motivation going, ya know? It may seem like I don't need to lose a lot just based on my stats, but I have a smaller frame so all those pounds are just excess fat!

Fitness. I want to run faster. I'm not at all interested in a 7 hour marathon. I really want to get under 5.5 hours. I also want to do a triathlon. I want to be stronger. And if I look better as a side effect, then yay! I also need to protect my one kidney, and losing weight will help protect Lefty.

I want to wear sexy and short dresses, plain and simple :)

This too. I can't believe how much my mental health has improved. I didn't realize what a negative, dark place I was in or what for lack of a better word, beotch I was when I was at my heaviest and most unhappiest. I genuinely feel like I'm a better friend, daughter, sister and girlfriend now that I'm in a happier place.

This started out as a total health & fitness thing. My father was doing 300-mile bike races in his 70s. What would I be doing in my 70s if I continued along my current path?

Now that the health / lifestyle concerns are behind me, from this point on it's total vanity. I admit it.

Pretty much this! There is also that I am too poor to keeping buying plus sized clothes from the specialty stores.

What an awesome thread!
 

Hi there,

I love all of the reasons that everyone listed and I can identify with a lot of them.

I have a lot of reasons to lose weight, to reduce my advanced stage fatty liver (which CAN be reversed by weight loss), way :cool:, to go skiing with my family again, to not sweat so much and to not get so out of breath, and yeah, why of course, the vanity. :) ;)

My real reason now is that in late October is I will be seeing an elderly family member who I love dearly and this may be the last time that I see her. I am NOT losing the weight for her, I tried losing weight for other people many times and it didn't work, I actually gained weight back. I am losing it for MY own peace of mind that when I see her, I will be that I look good and present myself in a good way, so that when she dies, she has a great memory of me, not a memory of me as a chubby, overweight grown up girl. I want to feel that I have done something right for myself and in this case, that my family and I can reap the benefits. :cool: I already walk with a 'calm but confident' tone because I am starting to love and feel better about myself. I am making better food choices, so the key now, is for me to KEEP THIS UP AND OFF and NOT SABOTAGE MYSELF!!!

Thank you all for this. All of you rock, this site is awesome ;)

WE CAN DO THIS!!!

:carrot:

So my best friend would still be my best friend. He has his own addictions, and my addiction to food was affecting him. So, to keep a friendship of now 13 years alive, I changed. Now it's for me, health, look good, be sexy, and finally, and MOST importantly (lol):

WEAR A BIKINI!!!!

I have many reasons, but the main ones:
To be HEALTHY
To look good in clothing
To be able to trade/borrow clothes from my friends. Being able to fit into their jeans and arguing over who gets to wear them saturday night haha
To accomplish such a huge goal.

So I feel better about myself!
So I can get my confidence back!
So I can wear all sorts of fun summer clothes.
So I can have other things to obsess about.

I'm lucky that I don't have weight related health problems. But since gaining weight I've had pain in my knees, ankles and back. I went to the doctor about it and turns out it's due to my weight, which I kind of already figured. I want to be able to walk around without the pain. I hate requiring rests when going shopping etc. Another reason I want to lose weight is so I have more clothing options and so I don't have to buy clothes mostly online.

Because I can't use "just had a baby"as an excuse!!!
I want to be healthy and a proper role model to my girls :)

So people will stop telling me that I need to stop eating because I'm getting too fat (even though I have PCOS)

So that I can stop beating myself up over my appearance. My husband is fine with how I look but my low self-esteem makes it hard for me to accept any compliments and it upsets him that I feel that way.

to gain more confidence… it's always about feeling good on the outside.. And on the inside. Plus for health reasons too.

I'm sick and tired of being overweight.

I'm a martial artist, and I love it. I'll never give it up, but my weight really limits me. I have a drive to be stronger than most women and to become a better fighter, and I need to lose the weight to do it.

Of course, there is the healthy aspect. My parents are both overweight and have their own weight issues because of it. I don't want to end up like that.

But seriously, in the end, I'm sick of being fat. I'm sick of looking at clothing styles I'd love to wear, but can't. So it's time to fix it.

For health for sure I dont to get diabetis. But I also want to look good. Their are larger women who look good! But I am no one of them. I like the way I look when I am smaller. So I wanna get back to that smaller size.