For me, it's because # ONE, I feel absolutely TERRIBLE when I am overweight. I really do. I also want to LOOK better, but I'm realistic enough to know that at my advanced age, I can only look but so good...I'm never going to frolic around the beach in a bikini again, although I'd like to look fit and slim in a one-piece suit for sure. Then there's the health issue. If, as we age, we just let ourselves go...don't exercise or eat right, then we really will age quicker and become sedentery and limited in our ability to do stuff.

That's it for me...

Ella

I remember how great I felt my senior year of high school, the slimmest I ever was, when I didn't have to feel self-conscious. I had this silky black top, very clingy, that I used to wear, and it looked great on me...I want to be able to wear that top again without seeing rolls on the sides.

Also cause my dad has agreed to pay for my boob reduction surgery once I hit goal weight, and I am SICK to death of hauling around my humongous boobage.

Well, frankly, I just want to like who I am.

I realised that I like a lot of things about myself, but I HATE being overweight SO much that I hate myself, despite being talented, intelligent, educated, and funny.

I AM going to enjoy buying clothes out of 'normal' stores; I am going to LOVE riding a horse again; I am going to dance in shows without getting out of breath... but mostly, I am going to LIKE MYSELF.

Oh, and not end up diabetic, on oxygen and with heart problems - like my beloved Dad, who I am built JUST LIKE.

Heather

Thanks for that!

Well, let's see:

My aunt passed at around 40 years old due to complications from diabetes-namely not keeping her weight under control, which led to heart failure from the stress on her body from being overweight with too high blood sugar levels.

I had just had my first baby when she passed, and I was a gestational diabetic-very high risk for a future of diabetes. It was my main motivation to lose my weight after Jasmine was born. (I gain a lot of weight with each baby, have big babies, and had to go through it again after baby #2-now I am doing it for the LAST time after baby #3.)

The clothes, the confidence, and all that is a nice side effect...but mainly my health and trying to keep diabetes away, and being alive for my children and grandchildren is my main motivation.

I think for me it is more for self confidence. I want to be able to walk into a room and not feel like I am the biggest person in the room. I want to be able to get out and walk, and run and feel good about who I am.

I've been overweight since the 3rd grade. So I would like to prove to myself that my body can be a normal weight and stay that way.

My other reasons are pretty vain. I want to look good and feel sexy. That is more important to me than any food or any "pain" from exercising.

okay...i'm not going to lie about it...I'm tired of looking and feeling fat. I know how to take good facial pics. I have the angle thing down pat!!! but When you get to the body, there is just nothing I can really do about making me look less wide. I look like a hippo in pictures. I can't stand it!!!! I want to be in pictures with my kids but I don't want to have two of them standing in front of me, side by side, and you can still see me on either side of them. Okay, maybe i'm not that wide anymore, but i certainly feel it.

And of course, there's the health thing. Since excersizing lately, I feel like I can walk up more steps and not get winded as quickly. I also want to be able to go to the park with my kids and have the energy to play frisbee and battmitten.....

I want to look good in clothes. I am tired of having to wear shirts that cover the pooch of my stomach. I want to be able to wear short shirts, or even dress shirts tucked in without my belly sticking out almost as far as my boobs.

Then there is the sex thing. I am pretty comfortable about being naked with my boyfriend, but don't expect me to get up naked and walk around the room. But I hope to one day in the next 12 months!!!!

Any other reasons??? Well, of course, don't we really all deep down want our men to be able to have that private smirk that they have a hot woman!!! I know I would like my boyfriend to think that. Of course, we all know that looks fade in time, but for just a little while, I'd like my man to know...he has a HOT woman. And I want to be a hot woman. I was a size 3 when I was in high school. The year I graduated, I finally felt like maybe I really was attractive. I want to feel that again. But at a better, safer weight.

Anyways, those are some of the reasons I want to lose weight!!

I have read all this posts and they were also my thougts. I have to say that I have nevere felt tin as far as I can remebmer, not even as a child. I was slim but did not feel like that and got chubby soon. Every moving, every emotional destress and I got bigger and bigger.

Now I realised that half of my life is gone and I wolud like to be more fit in my old days. Stupid but as it is.

I have a baby with a heart defect which has been fixed but I figure that if I am healthy and his dad is healthy than its more likely that he'll grow up without being obese. (Luckily his dad was a skinny kid so he has that going for him). I figure he already has so much to deal with and I want to be a good inspiration. Plus I want the energy to play with him. Lastly I'd like to be less embarrassed in pictures. He is 15 months old and I can count on one hand the number of pictures of me with him.

I would be able to fit in to clothes I like. I want to wear clothes without worrying about how big my thighs/waist/arms are in comparison to my girlfriends. i REALLY just want to be able to get the clothes I want without thinking about whether I'll look fat in it.

I don't want to be called big anymore. I dont want to hear anybody else saying: gained a little bit of weight eh?

All of my life I've been overweight, and something finally clicked. I'm having some strange health problems that are currently unexplained, and one thought that has come up is diabetes. If I have diabetes then I'll need to do something about it, and if I don't I don't want to head that direction. It's just something I have to do.

And I think I'd have alot more self-confidence if I did. There's just something about being able to accept yourself for who you are, and I just can't right now.

I want to feel better just doing everyday things.
I am 19 years old and I don't want to spend my entire youth being fat.
I want to wear cute little shirts and dresses.
I want to walk into a party and feel comfortable.
I'm tired of being the "comfortable" friend.

I want better- period. Whatever there is good in life... I want more of it. lots and lots more.

Well I wish I could take the high road here and say my #1 reason for losing weight is for my health but that's not entirely true. I'm probably going to come accross as shallow when I say this but my #1 reason for wanting to lose weight is to simply look better and to feel better about my body. I'm tired of being the "big girl," I'm tired of not being able to shop in certain stores or having to root through racks hoping I'll come up with an XL, I'm tired of being too horrified to wear a bathing suit, I'm just tired of not liking myself!

It also partially has to do with my love life, which I also mentioned in my blog. I have a very close friend whom I've had a crush on for years and he's made it clear that he likes me as more than a friend too...so great, he likes me the way I am, but that doesn't help my own insecurities! I don't feel worthy of him and that's a terrible feeling, and whether anything happens between us or not I know I'll feel the same stupid emotions about the next guy and the next one too. Many here have mentioned it's the new outlook on life and confidence that can allow one to find a boyfriend or husband (note: I am definitely not looking for a husband right now!) and I want that new outlook on life, I want the confidence, I want to be comfortable with my body!

As far as the health goes there are health benefits I'm looking forward to as well, like not being so sore and tired at the end of the day, not having such painful knees and having more energy to do all of the active things that my friends do like hiking, swimming, etc. etc. and simply having a HEALTHY BODY!

I, ultimately, am the same. I am doing it so I look better. I am also doing it for health reasons, but ultimately it is to look and feel better about myself.

I have always lacked confidence, and I feel, when the weight has gone I will be more positive to everything, including life, and feel more confortable being myself instead of prefering to be the 'quiet one in the corner'.