whats your motivation?
 

I have been thinking about this all day today...What is your motivation for losing weight?

Every time that i think i don't want to hop on the elliptical or pick up the weights i think about DH. I want to be the confident girl that is happy going out with his friends without feeling like the "fat one". I know he loves me as much now with the weight as he did then but i want to be that girl again. I also think about my 2 little boys and how they deserve to have a mom that can play outside with them without getting tired or winded. I want to be the mom that can play tag for an hour and still have enough energy to get through the rest of the day. I so want to be able to throw on a tee shirt and jeans and go, but i cant...i stress about everything and how it looks bad because it doesn't fit.

So whats your motivation? Kids..significant other...health..that red dress thats currently 4 sizes too small...all??

The first and foremost reason I finally "decided" to lose the weight was for my health. I was terrified that I was setting myself up for some dreaded completely avoidable diseases by having all the increased weight on me. There are no gurarantees in life, at any weight, but knowing that I have given myself the very best shot at avoiding some of those diseases is very comforting to me and was a big motivator for me and will continue to be.

I was also sick and tired of lacking energy, stamina and strength. Of being somewhat depressed, lethargic, unproductive and just downright unhappy.
I was sick and tired of having a poor selection of overpriced clothing to choose from. I just hated, absolutely HATED how I was forced to dress. I felt so inadequate and terribly unfeminine.
I was sick and tired of dreading social event after social event.
I was sick and tired of fearing "seats" and "chairs". Of not fitting iinto them and if I did, well then breaking them.
I was scared to pieces of not being around for my daughters (that would go under the health category, I suppose).

The added weight was affecting me in every single aspect of my life. My quality of life was very poor. I simply got tired of settling for second best, when first best was within my reach.



And that is really just the tip of the iceberg.

great thread!
more than anything else, my motivation is my health.
at 250lbs I didn't "look" that heavy, but I felt it, and many of my poor choices were starting to catch up to me - high cholesterol, bad skin, i just had this general look of poor health all around me. depression, constant yeast infections, the list goes on. i got sick ALL the time. colds, the flu, i was constantly in a state of poor immune health - and i didn't really even realize it.

I started losing weight because I could not mentally bear the thought of actually purchasing clothing in the next size up. I was wearing 20s, but definitely should have been wearing 22s.
After I dropped 50lbs, I settled for quite awhile and was starting to get comfortable, but I was definitely still not the vision of health i knew I could be.
along my journey, I've discovered that most of my problems stemmed from depression and that i'm an emotional eater. As soon as I started working on that, weight started dropping again... and the most recent 20lbs i've dropped have made all the difference in the world.
I feel better about myself, and that motivates me - if i feel this great NOW, how awesome will I feel at 150 when I can really show off all the muscle i've worked so hard to build up? I'm thinking pretty darn good.
The fact that my rear end is starting to look good in anything i wear is pretty motivating, too. If it looks this good at a size 10, how great is it going to look in an 8? or a 6? lol!!! :D

that itzy bitzy tiny weenie yellow polka dot bikini:D

I first started this year by saying to myself things like: "Do I want to eat a cookie or do I want to have babies?" "Do I want to eat Cheesy dip or do I want to have babies?" (My DH and I are hoping to give it a try in October) :preg:
Every time I ask myself that question - I always get the same answer! :lol:
There are so many things that can go wrong during a pregnancy that I have no control over - Why wouldn't I do something to fix this one thing I CAN control.

But things have changed a little for me - I am actually ENJOYING cooking healthy recipes, trying new foods, joining a running group, feeling healthy, feeling good about myself... etc. There are jsut TOO MANY reason to lose weight and be healthy... and almost NO reason not to. Sometimes it seems hard, and I think it would be easier not to worry about it - but how would it be easier? I would have to worry about health problems, I would continue to worry about fitting into clothes, I would continue to feel like crap...
:soap:
Ok... I am done now!!! :blah:

I want to look hot and be healthy. Plain and Simple.

Congrats on the weight loss!!! Thats so great! I can't wait to be in a size 10 again!!

HAHA thats a good one too!!

OOh good luck!! I love babies..lol

I am finding that i actually like cooking healthy too and to my surprise, my kids like the food!!

My biggest motivator right now is that I don't like the way that I look, so I want to look and feel better.

ooh jillybean720 i think those are great motivation!!!!

I have a lot of overall motivations, but lately what has been a HUGE motivator for me is looking good in my clothes.

This last week I went to a baby shower for a friend and I wore a cute springy skirt and a clingy silk sweater and I looked GOOD. Even in the photos of me that were taken ... for the first time I looked at pictures of me and didn't want to turn away and pretend it was someone else.

The outfit above I bought in a size 12. I just bought a new pair of jeans in size 12. I bought two misses tops in large (not womens 2x). I bought a pair of brown slacks in 12.

I haven't worn a 12 since I was in college.

So right now to be able to put on an item of clothing in a size I never thought I'd wear again and to look at myself in the mirror and say "hey, I look good" ...

That right there is my biggest motivator any time I feel like falling off the wagon.

.

Amen!!! LOL

27 lbs down is awesome!!!

:dancer::dancer::dancer::dancer::dancer::dancer:

woo hoo for you!!!!

:dancer::dancer::dancer::dancer::dancer::dancer:

thanks!! it's so WEIRD sometimes. I haven't been a 10 since high school (and i'm still slightly larger than i was then but my measurements are almost the same, i know some of the fact that i'm a 10 is vanity sizing, but i really don't mind:D )
sometimes when i'm at a store trying on clothes, i feel like some kind of liar when i'm handing clothes over to the girl in the dressing room. a lot of the time i'm giving back clothes because i like to SHOP but i don't like to spend money, and it's fun trying on clothes and seeing what fits. i don't buy something unless it's a really good deal or i look like a supermodel in it (so i don't buy much, lol!)
but when i hand over those 10s and 12s and sometimes 8s (!!!)
I feel like the girl who is taking the clothes is looking at them, and looking at me, and wondering what i was thinking taking those sizes in.. like i couldn't possibly fit into them. it's all in the back of my head whenever i shop, just like how i automatically go to the plus size section even though nothing fits me there anymore. however, the rational part of me remembers that they're working in a busy shop and probably not really looking at what i took in anyhow, except to make sure it's all still there.
anyhow, to keep this on topic - going clothes shopping and seeing the sizes go down (and buying my first medium shirts in 10 years!!) is a BIG motivator!

These are all excellent ideas! I can't wait until I can buy a size Medium anything! I want to go clothes shopping to see if I could wear a size down in jeans, but I'm reluctant to do so yet. I fear that the next size down won't fit yet, and then I'll be disappointed. And I know myself well enough to know what disappointment does to my motivation, so therefore I will steer clear for another month or so.

My motivation:
-- I want to feel strong. I don't so much desire to feel skinny or thin, but i want to feel strong. I want to be able to say YES when my friends invite me on a particularly gruelling hike or mountain bike ride. I want to be able to run for 10 miles and feel great afterwards. I don't want to have to worry "Well, they invited me, and I want to go, but they're all in better shape than I am, so I'll be the slowest and it'll be embarrassing..."

-- I want to feel cute! I can't remember the last time I felt cute. Maybe I never felt cute! But I know it's possible for me to feel that way, and I want to! I want to wear sundresses and sandals and toe-nail polish to Rockies games! I want to wear a bathing suit at my apartment without feeling like I have to hold my gut in! I want to wear form-fitting t-shirts and feel comfortable.

-- I want to be confident. I want to feel less self-conscious. I know it probably isn't healthy for me to base my self-worth/self-esteem on my size/weight. But I also know that after being overweight most of my life, I am just happier and more confident when I'm smaller. Right or wrong.

wow karmuz thats motivating me..lol I cant wait till i can go into a store and confidently try on clothes (and not come home and cry) hehe

I want to feel better physically...have more stamina, feel stronger.

I want to ward off/prevent/improve/diminish any conditions that come with aging that weight exacerbates. And I don't want to create any conditions from weight or too many bad eating choices. I'm 42 and in good health. Now's the time to do it while I still can.

I want to wear pants that fit a little better on me. Big butt and wide hips make for gap at the waist.

Speaking of big butt, I want to be a little less self-conscious of it. I'll never totally ignore it but the smaller it gets the less I'll think about it, lol. :p

If I didn't do something, the weight would have continued to creep on. I wasn't totally blind...well, maybe half blind. I mean, I could see that I was getting bigger but not so big (in my perception) that I needed to worry about it. You know how sometimes it's like a switch goes on in your brain and that's when you know you have to do it, you can do it, you will do it? My switch came in late 2006 with a combination of seeing a couple of co-workers lose weight, seeing a photo of myself at Christmas and passing the 200 pound mark. Somehow those things happening around the same time finally made me say enough is enough.

And there is an element of vanity, of course. I'm not obsessed about my appearance but it's nice if someone compliments me on it...unless it's in a creepy, unwanted context, but that's a whole other issue. :p

I miss just the feeling of being THIN, the confidence, the energy, the health. But I have a little boy, I need to be a role model for. And I'm an older mom, I lost a father to cancer, reality has hit that we don't live forever and I want a long happy life for my boy. AND finally my MOODS. I am a moody person, so long as I'm exercising and eating right I'm a much nicer person to be around. When I'm feeling fat my self esteem and moods seem to really go down. I think a lot of it is chemistry and blood sugar, the stuff that makes me fat makes me moody!

Thats what happened to me!! I don't think i realized how big i was until i saw a picture at the in laws house from Christmas and i was shocked..i knew then that i had to do something!

RIGHT!!!! DH said that same thing to me yesterday..lol He said that he was amazed at how much nicer i am when i have a good exercise day..lol

My motivation is a lot of things...My hubby,my kids....window shopping is a good motivation,just going to the mall and scouring the itsy bitsy clothes that I can't get into,that really makes me want to lose weight and in the same way the plus size section is a real motivator, I don't know about any body else, but after my first child 9 years ago is when I realized that I went into plus size,and it was and still is embarrassing for me,I'm always afraid of someone I know seeing me shop in the plus size section,I always look around to see if anybody is watching me shop. It's just so embarrassing....I love to shop,but not in public at all,unless it's shoes or something not related to clothes..One day though I'll be out of the plus size and it will be a long awaited farewell..and I'll feel like my DH, DD,and DS can be proud to be seen with me..