Hopefully, after I lose the weight I will graduate with my Bachelors in Business Management. I always tried to put off the weight loss until I was finished my Bachelors. I blamed the stress, inactivity, and weight gain on school. I'll graduate in December and I think a new body will be the perfect reward!

ye bet ^^

I feel so strong in that armor, almost invincible. I miss that feeling :)

Finishing your degree while feeling good about your body will give you such a complete package - you will be able to enjoy to graduation without being distracted by how you perceive yourself to appear to others -- I'm so glad you are tackling this now and not waiting until after you finish school!!

Revisiting Reasons Why I Want to Lose Weight
 

I am bumping this thread -- it's good to revisit the reasons for change regularly.

More reasons to lose continue to come to mind too.... for me, another good reason to stay OP is to get past the reluctance to get out among people to do stuff and live life... I have been hiding out feeding my misery for more than 8 months now. Though I am down 20 lbs from my all time high, per my home scale, I don't seem to be ready to dress up a bit and go dance. And I love to dance.

Dancing can contribute lots of good to my quality of life - the people who regularly come to the studio are really fun, nice people. Just two minutes of dancing seems to really zap stress for me -- the aggravations of my workday melt away and disappear, and smile comes to my face and won't quit.

I guess, aside from staying OP, my other goal needs to be to get out of the house and burst thru the barrier that keeps me hiding out.

After I lose weight I will...

Wear crop tops and bikinis

Be less self conscious dancing because there won't be any jiggle!

Take up running. It's the one thing I never seemed able to do in gym class, and without the extra weight I am hoping that it'll make it a bit easier. I don't want to be the chubby girl that my gym teachers assumed was unmotivated and lazy (which I never was, but it's something that stuck throughout my life).

Take more pictures and like how I look in them.

Keep my weight off.

... not hesitate to go places where I will see people who haven't seen me in a long time. I have NOT gone to weddings, funerals, and other events where I will see people who knew me long ago...

I also want to get a professional photo made with my husband and maybe make a Christmas card with it.

Buy cuter clothes.

I hear ya! The photo is a great incentive -- it will mean a lot more than just a selfie....


Emmcakes:
Well Emmcakes.... I can't quite imagine me in crop tops or bikinis anymore, but I am right with ya on 'keep my weight off'! We owe it to ourselves after going thru the hardwork to lose it, to take care to keep it off. That's what really matters.

[QUOTE Keep my weight off.[/QUOTE]

I think this is at the top of my list. Along with the feeling comfortable having photos taken with me in them.

Feel sexy!
Run and not have my feet hurt.
Enjoy shopping for clothes.
Be a happy and healthy mom and role model for my kids!

One of my goals was fitting in the airplane seat without having to 1-get a belt extender and 2 if the armrest was down fit, We'll belt fit yesterday with room to spare. I think I smiled the whole ride because of that. I actually sat by my husband without my son in between for extra room too....great feeling :carrot:

I will be able to walk between the rows of desks in class without having to ask the kids to scoot out of the way (so humiliating).

I would say how awesome its going to be to not be the fat teacher...except that even at my goal weight I'll still be the biggest teacher they see in the day.

I hear ya on this one too -- I have not had to have a belt extension on an airplance yet , mainly because I rarely get on a plane these days - business travel has pretty much disappeared from my job duties for the past several years.

But I have had a similar experience -- two of my dining room chairs have arms - the ones that sit at the ends of the table, vs those that are intended for the long sides of the table. Over Memorial Day holiday we had house guests and I served all our meals in the dining room (as opposed to the smaller breakfast room table). I barely could wedge my wide bottom into the arm chair at my end of the table! Big wake up call... a new all time high when it comes to hip size -- I had never experienced that problem before.

To compound the problem - I found I could not wedge into the outside chairs on the patio at all, either -- they were even narrower than the dining room arm chairs. I need to add this to my list.... being able to sit comfortably in my DR and patio arm chairs.

Thanks for sharing Sgrealtor! I am so glad you have experienced the improved airplane ride, and I appreciate that your sharing it has given another meaningful addition to my list!

Reviewing reasons why I want to lose weight
 

Today I am reviewing my list of reasons that I posted here. I feel sort of hungry today... but no cheats, cause I really do want to be able to fasten my dance shoes and breathe at the same time!

Instead I am setting some reachable mini goals to help myself focus on manageable legs of my journey.

And, at the same time I am bumping the thread for the benefit of some of our IP'ers who are lamenting bumps in the journey and might find it useful to revisit reasons why they embarked on this path.

So much of what y'all said.
-not get winded going up stairs
-balancing my blood sugar
-having my joints hurt less
-feeling more comfortable in my skin
-standing in the front row of pictures without cringing when I see them

I read so much about accepting where I am with my weight (everything, really) and I'm trying. But the truth is, I am embarrassed by my appearance, and I'd like to not feel that anymore. I know that it's not all about the weight, but it's not not about the weight either.

What a great thread!

:) After I lose weight, I will try my hardest to maintain the loss..... that will be a challenge to say the least. After all, if I had learned my lessons the way I should have, I wouldn't be having to do this again. This time I'm really paying attention, and educating myself. First time on IP. Weight loss back in 2002 on WW. I obviously didn't learn anything. Now when I've tried WW, I can't lose five pounds a month. I'm so glad I found IP, and I'm glad I found this forum......:D

I'm working on a few of these things right now.

After I lose weight I will be able to: be in photos and not feel ugly, feel comfortable in my own body, make being healthy a lifestyle, go into any career I want with confidence, be more open to people and not hide away, be honest with myself about my weight, body, and food I eat, remember how life was when I was 300lbs and remind myself it's not somewhere I want to be again.......to name a few.