Today at my WW meeting the question was So what is your dream? People started talking about where they want to be and why.... One gal said she has lost 80 pounds and the reason was she had her three year old at McDonalds and he was in those play tubes when it was time to leave he wouldn't come out after much discussion she told him she would come and get him well much to her horror she got stuck in the tube. Numerous people had to pull her out. That was her turning point. Her dream is too never not be able to get her child.

For me I don't want my grandchildren to ever know a fat grandmother! Plus I want to be nice and healthy for them. I have two married daughters who are not even pregnant yet. But hey it will take me a while to get this weight off.

Hoping this will be motivating to all of us. What is your dream? You are the only one who can have your dream!!!!

Luflic, I like this thread idea- thanks for starting it.

I have many dreams, I guess, now that I think about it. But I have one that is the most important to me, and here it is:

I want my son to grow up with healthy eating habits, shunning fastfood and soda (you all know my crusade against High Fructose Corn Syrup, right?), leading an active and healthy lifestyle. I want to be the example of that healthy life for him. I do not want him to grow up with an overwieght and sedentary mother. I want him to know how important regular exercise is to maintaining good health, and to realize the importance of fueling his body with nutritious foods that give his body what it needs to be healthy.

I want him to grow up thinking that a good treat is a root beer float made with ff ice cream and diet A&W, or other more simple healthy options- an orange for dessert is wonderful! A handful of almonds is a nice treat. I want him to grow up with low fat chips, or ff pringles (how I love them...) and never to feel the need to eat the high fat variety of anything- why would he? If you like the low fat versions, why bother with the ones that are worse for you? I don't mean to sound like a health ****- of course we're all going to eat rich, delicious, high fat foods from time to time, but I never want that to be a normal thing for him like it was for me. My health suffered, his does not have to. I want him to like whole grains, and vegetables. And to recognise portion control.

Sure, I want to be thin because I'll feel better about myself and the way I look in my clothes, and I want to lose weight because I want to decrease my risk of diabetes and heart disease, but most of all, I want to raise my son to be a healthy boy who will continue to make healthy choices as an adult.

And what I've discovered is this: my child will sometimes do what I tell him to do, but he never fails to follow my examples. I want my examples to be the right ones.

*sob* I love that kid.

Well Lori these are admirable goals and dreams. As a mom I wanted the same for my daughters thank God neither of them have a weight problem I so wish I would have been serious about this years ago. I have wasted a lot of time. I am proud of you Lori!

Aw, luflic and Lori, those are wonderful goals! I wish I had children to think about, lol. But...well...my dreams are far more selfish at this point. I'd like to have confidence about walking anywhere for any length of time with my friends who don't have weight issues. I get very self conscious when I have to start huffing and puffing long before they do. I've already achieved one goal which was to help alleviate my shin splints--they're still there, but they only rear their ugly heads when under extreme conditions.

And really...I think the reason I'm still single is because I haven't quite reached that great self confidence level that is attractive to men. I'm getting there, though. Lately it's been because of how I feel about my own intelligence. But I think if I had that confidence in conjunction with confidence about how I look and feel, then I'd be a knock-out, lol. I recently realized that all these years of being single, I'd been lying to myself. I used to outright deny to my friends/family and myself that I'd like to date. In fact, I've gone so far as to say that I never want to get married or have children. While I've never really fantacized over my wedding like a lot of little girls, I've still always wanted to be married and have a family. And it hit me a couple of days ago just how much I want to be in a loving relationship.

So I guess that's my dream. Achieve confidence and be able to fall in love (which requires some amount of confidence, doesn't it?).

Thanks for starting this thread luflic! It's such a good idea! What about the rest of you ladies? What are you dreams?

Those are great dreams ladies!

I grew up in a rather strange household. One week my dad would date a vegetarian so we would be vegetarians. They'd break up and he'd be sad so he'd feed us icecream and watermelon for dinner. He'd do stuff like eat suckers in front of us b/c we couldn't do a pull up.

After he married my step mom (the second one, she's who I refer to as my mom, but I call her Peggy when I am talking to her). We went through no sugar phases, no fat phases, three years without packaged cereal ( we ate grits, corn meal mush and unflavored oatmeal), and lots of forced exercise. We walked 20 miles every weekend, biked 30 miles if we didn't walk and sometimes even if we did, every night my dad made my sister and I run a mile with him then after dinner we'd walk 3.5 miles as a family. Rain, shine, snow, etc. In the summer we spent about 6 hours a day at the local pool. When we moved and couldn't hike and walk we rode our bikes even more and my dad bought a strength training machine with a stair stepper attchment. At first we just had to set the stop watch and time ourselves as we did it. But my sister and I got so we would cheat and just let the clock run afterschool and tell him we did it. So he added a odometer to it (it was a low tech machine, pre digital readout). He'd check it every night. We each had to log so many steps. Never were we allowed to eat ANYTHING without permission. We were not allowed to drink milk, b/c milk was expensive and my mom needed it for her tea.

Needless to say I freaked out when I got out on my own. So my dream is to be normal. I want my kids to grow up in a house where food isn't used as punsihment or reward. Where emotional eating isn't engrained in them.

I want to be free of the thinking that food is bad, or that the idea of treating myself with something I was denied as a kid. To this day a big indulgence for me is corn flakes. During the no cereal days I got a box of cornflakes for my birthday. So it's a real comfort food for me.

I just want to be normal. Shop in the normal section of the store, exercise b/c it keeps me healthy not b/c I HAVE to. I want to feel confident in who I am and I want my kids, especially my daughter, to grow up with a good self image. I used to be less overweight and healthy. I just want to be average. I don't want to be a knockout or a hottie. But I'd like to be the average girl that my husband met and fell in love with. The one I thought was so enormously fat. I want to be ok with myself. I want my kids to see that I am. I want to have energy to play, and be healthy enough to see thier kids.

Of course you struggle Misty. This goes to show how careful we all need to be with our words. We need to be good role modesl!

Amanda you are in a good place. Sounds like you have your head on great girl. Mr. Right is probably around the corner.

You ladies have some great motivators there.

My dream, as it relates to WW, is to have more children. My Insulin Resistance and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome were just diagnosed in June... both of which are making it difficult for me to get pregnant. It took us three years to get pregnant with our daughter. She was born prematurely and I had a very rough pregnancy, complete with a hospital stay, hyperemesis for all seven months, and some doctor-ordered bedrest.... yet, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. After researching PCOS and IR, I realized that losing some weight will help control the symptoms of both, while also helping my body be in better shape to carry a child. So, I am hoping and praying that we will soon be blessed with more children.

I saw this thread and thought it was the usual, 'I want to be able to wear hip huggers' type thing I've seen on other weight loss sites but was surprised and moved by the depth of your posts. Please, may I join in?

About me:

• Age: 46
• Starting Weight: 160
• Current Weight: 156
• 10% Goal: 146
• Overall Goal: 130
• Occupation: SOHM
• Interests: Yoga (and the sutras), fiber crafts, reading, current events, writing

My dream is to be a more open and less tentative person. I was raised by a Southern woman to be diffident, self-deprecating and to believe the 'bad' things about me are shameful secrets that will cause people to shun me if they knew. I know this isn't therapy but I'd just like to be as self-confident as I can sometimes pretend. Phew. My weight adds to my shyness and humiliation because I feel...lesser, embarassed. But, as bad as that all reads, I'm a happy damned person - go figure! I love meeting new people and see the light in their eyes change when dowdy, pudgy me is more than they expected. I do like me a little but I'd like to love me more. Shoot, I could be dangerous at full wattage!

So, what say? Can I hang out with you guys?

Absolutely! Welcome to the group!

You are definatley welcome Outa!!! We'd love to have an inspiring and thoughtful perosn such asyourself. You will find a great group of ladies here!! I have beenso lucky to find them. They are what keep me here.

You bet you are welcome! We are sistas here! We come to vent, to encourage, and to support! Welcome.

Amy I will pray you get that next baby!!!

Thank you for the welcome!

Well, I saw this on the New Posts and just had to type a response. I'm just starting my quest for finding a job/career and I read that fat people make less than thin people. I'm not trying to be thin, because I do like the look of a lil meat on my bones. But, I want to be at a weight where someone cannot look at my size and automatically assume I can't do the job as well as a thin person. I don't need that third strike aganist me.

Admirable goal! Gods best to you! I am pretty sick of being the biggest gal in the room!

What wonderful responses! I love this group of women. And I too feel so lucky to be here. I've been thinking a lot about this question and, for some reason, am having a hard time answering it. But I'm still thinking about it!