Besides weight loss and the number on the scale, what is the biggest thing that keeps you motivated?

I'm taking a short break from the scale because I noticed I was getting too emotionally attached to it. Weighing myself several times each day, feeling down when I didn't see a drop each day, etc. There are so many factors that go into the number on the scale, like bloating and time of the month, that sometimes I like to take a step back and find other things that keep me motivated so that I don't get frustrated.

For me, the biggest ones are the distance that I can walk and the number of stairs that I can climb without needing to take a break.

When I was at my heaviest, I couldn't walk up a full flight of stairs without stopping. I would have to take a minute halfway up, lean against the wall, and catch my breath. I'd always get to the top red-faced and sweaty. Now my office is on the second floor and I go up and down the stairs 10-12 times every day without any problem.

I also couldn't walk more than a block without needing to rest back when I was 405 lbs. I was visiting my mom in the hospital when she had heart trouble and found out she had been moved to a different wing and wondered if I'd be able to make it down all of those long hallways. I had to stop and sit on a bench several times before making it to her room. I felt like I was almost ready to be the one in the hospital. And just a couple months ago, I finished a 5K walk without any trouble or needing to rest! I try to walk at least a mile every day.

Those are just a couple of things I use to keep myself motivated. Even if I have a week where the scale just isn't budging, I can grab my sneakers and immediately see how much I've improved and remind myself why it's worth it to keep trying.

How about you? What's your biggest motivation?

I keep some mini-goal clothes hanging on my closet door. They are just one size down so it's not an overwhelming, impossible goal. But it's enough that I am *this close* to wearing them to keep me on plan and exercising. I try them on about once every 3 weeks and then dance like a maniac when they can be put into the every day rotation. Then I pick something new to hang. I have already had clothes that were goals, became wearable, and gone to the donation bin. Now THAT is motivation.

MapleLeaf - your goals are pretty much mine. I was fairly active even at my highest weight, but I still had to worry about whether or not _____ [whatever fairly normal activity was planned] would be too much for me. I like to garden, and took care of my garden and yard myself.

In the mid-2000s I went on a trip to Scotland and Ireland. Before I went I started walking again, but the trip was still tough. Climbing up and down the royal mile in Edinburgh, et cetera. Most days I needed to take 800 mg of Ibuprofen to make it to dinner, I was so sore. Still, I loved it and started saying 'yes' to trips again, and would focus on getting in shape for each one. Though in-shape for me meant getting from 370 to 330 or 340.

I did much better on subsequent trips to Europe - I was more fit and felt well and it felt good to feel that well. I think we walked 10 miles around Tallinn, Estonia one day, and I felt good enough at day's end to go exploring in a different direction from the folks I was traveling with who wanted to sit down for a beer. (Well, I joined them for a beer, they were having the second!)

Last year, we had a trip planned to Peru. Not Europe - Peru. From the high altitude Andes to the Amazonian basin, with two days at Machu Picchu. I was really nervous before the trip and really wanted to lose weight before we went. I did manage to lose ten pounds. I also got back on the treadmill and was exercising enough that I was once again in my 'I can walk around the city all day and take some Ibuprofen when my feet start to hurt' 'good' shape.

Peru was AMAZING. I did better with the altitude than I'd imagined. I was okay-ish in the Amazon, though sadly I skipped a hike and canoe trip to see the giant river otters because the trail was six inches of mud and required wellies and I knew, I KNEW that I would not fit into the wellies.

I did manage a canopy walk on rope bridges 12 stories up in the Amazon, scared to death that I was too heavy for them, or that I wouldn't be able to make it up the bridges, et cetera. The chairs in the dining room at the camp in the Amazon were too small for me, though, and I was keenly scared that I was going to break them.

Machu Picchu was amazing. You cannot really appreciate how amazing even from the pictures, until you've stood there to get the sweep of the jungle-covered mountains, steeply sloping down toward the Urubumba River so many hundreds of feet below, the agricultural terraces carved out of the sides of what would seem to be virtually uninhabitable mountains, covered in vegetation below the city, rising to those that the archaeologists have reclaimed from the jungle there.

It is really impressive, too, because it is just a 2-3 hour train ride upriver from the rather arid, spare Sacred Valley, which has a look like the high sierra of California, I suppose - spare lines, lush vegetation but only near the river, mountains, some snowcapped, all around. And suddenly jungle: at 8000 feet of elevation. Amazing!

Anyway, Machu Picchu was brilliant, but physically very challenging for me. It is entirely up and down, constantly, these uneven, often quite high steps. I'm short, I have a bit of a fear of heights, and I weighed 320 lbs. Half the steps were at least as high as my knees, so it was constant work to drag myself up them. My traveling companions and our guide were great. They offered me hands to steady myself (I should've had a walking stick, little did I know) when I needed it. Once, on this huge set of stairs leading three stories down that totally freaked me out, my brother came and walked right in front of me so I couldn't see all the way down.

(Oh, also: my room in our hotel was on the fourth floor, aka the fifth floor, and there was no elevator! So after all that!)

I want to see more of the world: places like Peru, preferably before all my immunizations wear off (HAH!) and really enjoy them. I don't want to be a burden to the folks I'm traveling with. So, that is really my motivation, travel.

But like you, the smaller physical touchstones are important to me, too! I had a similar thing when my dad was in the hospital having his spleen removed, and his hospital room was SO FAR from the parking lot that it was exhausting to go back and forth. I don't think I'd have that problem anymore.

Same thing as you and ElvisLover, MapleLeaf -- I want to be able to do things. For years my entire focus was on career working in an executive position that was high stress, long hours, and required putting off doing other things until retirement. Well now that I'm retired, I find that all those years resulted in being in horrible shape as well as having steadily gained weight each year. Now I want to be able to get out and go, and I realized that I was going to have to start putting the same emphasis on me that I used to put on my job.

I bought an RV 3 years ago and love going on trips in it. But, I still can't walk very far and want to be able to get out, hike the trails, and really be able to experience life.

As horrible as it sounds... My coworker... and staying a step ahead of her (even though she is way smaller)

She is my mean girl... She makes me cry and is horrible to me... We started our programs the same time seperately (yet oddly the exact same program)... so shrinking, and not having bad days... Essentially competing with her is oddly motivating... Even if she doenst know we are competing...

I cant change how she treats me, but i can keep her from beating me in this and giving her something else to be snide about... Which is great, cause i tend to snack and make bad food choices at work, but she unknowingly keeps me on track, and keeps me walking my lunch time laps lol

I think being able to love/like myself again is the biggest one. That's working already.

And actually being able to live long enough to draw down on the pension I have been so busy paying into all of these years. I won't make it much past fifty unless I lose some weight.

My motivations are feeling physically strong, reducing pain and inflammation of arthritis and cheaper clothing.

I want to be light enough to be able to ride a horse (haven't been on one in more than 13 years, which makes me sad because I used to love riding), to climb the three flights of stairs to my office without getting out of breath, to be able to do activities without having to stop and think whether I'll be physically able. Plus, looking nice in regular sized clothes would be nice- I'd love to design and make my own clothes but it feels so...pointless at the moment, plus I'd use twice as much fabric at the moment so it's a bit costly!

Thanks for asking! I realize I should have made this list a long time ago. Here are my top 10.

1. Lengthening my life, I hope, and improving the quality of my 50s and 60s.
2. Perhaps getting off diabetes and blood pressure meds.
3. Being able to keep up with my fit friends when walking (and still be able to talk).
4. Someday being able to go for a jog.
5. Looking good in order to go back on a very competitive job market.
6. Clothes, tights, shoes.
7. Not feeling awkward in the seats at the hairdresser, dentist, waiting rooms.
8. Going for a long hiking trip in the UP in August, and feeling up for hiking every day.
9. Not having to think about seating needs above all when I buy a new car.
10. I would love to teach at my college's study abroad campus in England, but I've never applied because I don't think I could stand an international flight.

Simply put? I really just want to be able to keep up! My body gets tired long before my mind does, I wanna do stuff!

I think this is PERFECTLY put and along the same lines as what others are saying too.

I want to do stuff too! I want to travel and go to museums and concerts and visit my family and dance and go on a roller coaster again. I want to actually feel good while doing these things instead of huffing and puffing my way through life, trying to slink into the background.

My biggest goal is to get lose weight so that I can actually walk again without having to sit down after 7-8 minutes because my knees and back hurt. Now to be fair to myself, I didn't have a problem doing anything until I physically caused myself an injury--but recovering is so much harder because of my weight and I'm convinced that it is why my knees are as bad as they are. That is my motivation for losing weight and staying on track.

Oh--and I want to have s e x with my boyfriend again. I can't really DO much because I can't move right because of the injuries which is not conducive to me wanting to be intimate or him. How attractive is it when I'm saying "Ow, ow, ow!" instead of "Oh, oh, oh!"

And I want my clothes to fit better and to be able to take my little long dogs for walks.

And that isn't even taking into account that I want to go to Hawaii in 3 years--how the heck will I be able to enjoy that beautiful state if I can't walk around? Or any of the other traveling I would love to do...

Sorry if I made anyone blush before.

Mine are all so vain, but I'll be honest anyway.

Sex is a huge motivator for me; actually, feeling that I am DESIRABLE is. I'm way too hung up on body shame for mind blowing sex.

I've been out of high school for ten years come June, and I will be seeing most of the grad class at my SIL's wedding. I don't want them to see me over 300 pounds. The wedding in general too. I'm a bridesmaid and even at a 100 pound loss I barely fit the biggest dress I can get. My cousin gets married a month later and I would like to wow my extended family.

Mostly though? I blew my 20's. I missed out on so much. All because I couldn't control my eating. I'm too close to 30 to blow another decade.

My father died of a sudden heart attack at age 42. He didn't have a lot of weight problems, but smoked and drank too much. My whole life I have always expected to die young, and I really didn't care. Not because I was depressed, really, but it was hard to find enthusiasm for life when you are fat and uncomfortable all the time.

Now that I am thinner I actually see a future. I can see myself retiring and growing old with my husband and going on wild adventures and just enjoying life.

Plus I look pretty good - not great, but good - in a bikini and I am LOVING the attention that I get

Well, after spending three days in the hospital for a fib -- which still isn't fixed -- my reason for doing this has either changed or been enhanced. I want to be around long enough to be able to tell everyone I lost all this weight!