We all want to get in shape and have the body we want, but what does having your own ideal body mean to you? For me, it's about the air force which leads to opening doors in my life. Tell me about your reasons. We all have to keep in mind our reasons for why we are on this weight loss journey because when we don't feel like working out or that chocolate cake is looking a lot better than that apple, our what motivates us can help us make the right choices. Sometimes I write down all my reasons and keep it in my food diary.

Being healthy and fit enough to play/run/keep up with my kids. Being healthy so that I'm around for my kids and husband for a long time.

ETA: Also, being confident enough to participate in life instead of worrying about physical limitations or feeling bad about how I look.

I went sledding with my kids at Christmas... I couldn't have done it 60 pounds ago.

I feel some self confidence again... at least enough to get out of the house a bit and try to make some friends.

I think I will gain enough self confidence to re-enter the workforce. I'd really like to do that.

I love men approaching me and trying to talk to me. That has started to happen and hadn't happened in YEARS!

Wearing red bras under a white shirt and feeling good about it....

My reason from the beginning was always to become healthier and happier with myself. I was miserable at my heaviest weight and I vowed to change.

Now, with about 35 pounds left to go until I am at my *ideal* weight, my reason has taken on another aspect. My husband and I would like to start a family sometime later this year, so the weight goal I have at 165-170 pounds is not only for my health, but for the health of any future children.

I think I've spent enough years hanging out on the couch, there is a whole world out there to explore, even in my own backyard, so to speak, that I have not been experiencing enough!

I want to take my daughter horseback riding, ice skating, sledding, on long fall walks in the park, canoeing, bike riding, I want to do the Cold Turkey run at her school next Thanksgiving day. The next time I go to Disney, I want to skip through those parks instead of hobble. I want to be able to go on ALL the waterslides at the water park we get season passes for in the summer. I want to, in general, wake up in the morning on a day off and just wonder what adventure I might feel like taking on that day!

I have already begun this more active lifestyle, but I am still limited by my size and fitness level. Not for long, though. I'll be 40 in February, am not getting any younger, and want to LIVE whatever years I have left -- and hopefully increase those years in the process!

I have early onset Parkinson's Disease. Diagnosed at 35 while my family was still quite young. After hearing the diagnosis and sitting in Doctor's offices full of very sick, old people who could barely move, the depression sat down next to me and would not leave.

I decided that since I had an old person's disease that I would just sit around, feel sorry for myself, eat to make my misery less (or so I thought), and wait to die.

Fast forward 12 years. My lovely son came home from the Marines. He talked me into going for a walk at the park. While there, he asked when was the last time I had run? I was a runner before the diagnosis. Ran every day. After the diagnosis...nothing. He got me to run that day. It opened something up in me. It was as if the sun had not been shining, and suddenly was again.

I didn't run far that day, but it pushed me to try a little every day with eating and exercise and here I am today. What all of this means to me is something I can't really put into words. It is a reawakening and the beginning of a new life.

Health! I want to feel great! I want to be healthy! I don't want to be sick!

It means busting through what has never been accomplished in my life. It means I can, I can, I can do what ever I choose fo anything that is achievable for my age.

To love me and my mind

It's going to help me show my kids that your circumstance does not have to dictate your life forever. With hard work, you can change it.

for me it means having a body that is healthy enough to carry a baby in a few years. That is my main motivation!