When I read your question, something immediately popped in my mind. My reasons to be healthy are added below.
In the present, I want to play on the floor and in the yard with them. I want to be able to confidently carry them. I want to be able to take them places and know that if they get away from me, I can run and catch them.
In the future, I want to be at their birthday parties, their high school graduations, their weddings, and hold their babies. I want them to know me, not just see pictures of me because I am no longer around.
To be healthy and look and feel hot! I've never been particularly 'in shape' but always a bit overweight (and EXTREMELY overweight for about 5 years). I'm ready to be done with that and spend a lifetime in a healthy, proud place.
What is your recent getting healthy, weight loss goal(s)?
To lose 30 more pounds and have a toned body.
What prompted you to get healthier and/or lose weight?
From 2004-2009, I steadily gained 80-90 pounds while in a really unhealthy place mentally and relationship-wise. Pretty much simultaneously with my realization that I needed to get out of that unhealthy mental place, I came to terms with my body and healthy habits. A switch just turned on and I decided it was time to take control of my body. I got out of that unhealthy relationship and have never felt so healthy and happy.
What is your favorite exercise or activity?
Turbo kickboxing at the gym. I don't LIKE running, but I do love the feeling after I've pushed myself on a good run on the treadmill or outside.
What is your favorite healthy snack or treat?
Some "healthy" mini frozen treat (frozen yogurt, skinny cow, weightwatchers, etc.)
What support do you have outside of 3FC to help you achieve your goals?
My boyfriend is wonderful and supportive, my family, work (we created an 'exercise lottery.') You get to put a card with your name on it for every hour you work out. A name is drawn at our weekly meeting and whoever's name is drawn wins a lottery ticket. So, it's a chance for a chance to win...but the pride of winning is great, too.
Has anyone ever made fun of you or said things to you about your weight/size?
My ex-boyfriend used to call me Tubby. I thought it was cute back then, but looking back, I was just rationalizing. My family commented a lot when I gained weight.
What is one of the fun things you've done even though you were overweight?
Ran a 10k Mud Run. 6.2 miles interspersed with mud-based obstacles (forging through a muddy river, running through big mud puddles, climbing mud walls, going under ropes and through ditches of mud, etc.) I ran it with a team of friends and it was so fun and great! Plus, I ran 6.2 miles!
Why are you trying to be healthy or lose weight? As I get older, it seems to be harder to manage my blood pressure and cholesterol. I do not want to take prescriptions to do so, would rather manage with a good diet and exercise. Losing some weight is a fantastic bonus.
What is your recent getting healthy, weight loss goal(s)? Right now, the important thing is getting blood pressure and cholesterol down. A side goal would be to weigh around 150 and fit into a size 10 or 12 clothing.
What prompted you to get healthier and/or lose weight? See first response.
What is your favorite exercise or activity? Things I do regularly include walking and yoga. I also like hiking and bike riding. Would like to add some strength-training moves like push-ups, squats, lunges, etc.
What is your favorite healthy snack or treat? Too many to name! I eat all day long ... things like almonds, raw veggies, fruits, very dark chocolate, greek yogurt.
What support do you have outside of 3FC to help you achieve your goals? My husband has been fantastic now that it's more about health than just weight loss. For me, however, it has to come from within.
Has anyone ever made fun of you or said things to you about your weight/size? No, although some family members called me "thunder thighs" in high school. My thighs were large (I was a runner, they were strong), but that made me feel fat. Boy, I wish I was that fat now!!
What is one of the fun things you've done even though you were overweight?
The only fun thing I have not done due to my weight is wear my bathing suit at a company camp-out in front of my co-workers. I just couldn't do it. Otherwise, I don't let my size stop me from doing anything.
I'm getting older, and I want to improve the quality of my life.
What is your recent getting healthy, weight loss goal(s)?
To lose the weight I gained in my new job, to get back down to 237 (and forge on until to even further numbers below that!)
What prompted you to get healthier and/or lose weight?
I started to have health problems related to my weight, and one health problem I don't think (don't know, really, may have had some relation) to my size. I realized I had to turn the situation around.
What is your favorite exercise or activity?
I love walking/hiking and swimming.
What is your favorite healthy snack or treat?
I'm not especially a picky eater. I love spinach and white peaches, blueberries
What support do you have outside of 3FC to help you achieve your goals?
my bf helps, I have a counselor I talk to about it, I've worked with a personal trainer in the past.
Has anyone ever made fun of you or said things to you about your weight/size?
yes, many times, I grew up heavy; but I have to say, yesterday a neighbor woman commented on my weight loss and happily that's what's in my head right now
What is one of the fun things you've done even though you were overweight?
I've always gone on rides, to amusement parks; I swim (not all that often); I go on trips. I think I feel self conscious going to restaurants by myself, but not with other people.
Why are you trying to be healthy or lose weight?
- Because my family has a history of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks and just general bad health and I don't want that. We also have cancer running in the family so if I do get it, I want to be healthy enough to fight it off. An aunt of mine died of cancer at the age of 40 because she was too overweight and unhealthy for her body to accept the cancer drugs, so I don't want that to happen to me. And, also, I'm tremendously vain and like being thin
What is your recent getting healthy, weight loss goal(s)?
- I want to get down to 133 pounds AND I want to get my bum into a UK size 8 pair of jeans. Also want to get my BMI down to 20, it's at 22 and my doctor has said if I can get it right down to 20 I can safely say I'm off the risk list for diabetes. I think I might end up being a little underweight for my height but hey, I can live with that.
What prompted you to get healthier and/or lose weight?
- Mainly the family health issues but I wasn't happy, I hated being fat and was generally miserable. And I just wanted to sort my life out. Losing weight was a huge step in that direction. It's changed me for the better. I was always the fat insecure one that would go shopping with her skinny friends and long for the clothes they were trying on, now I'm the one trying on those clothes. It's great to be able to walk into any shop and pick up a size 10 and KNOW it will fit me, instead of having to worry if that shop will stock my size.
What is your favorite exercise or activity?
- Spinning. I go twice a week. It would be three times but the gym doesn't run one of the classes I usually go to in the summer months.
What is your favorite healthy snack or treat?
- Kallo rice puffs. They're just... nom nom nom. I have them for breakfast quite a lot as that's what they're meant for. Basically they've replaced super-unhealthy Sugar Puffs as my favourite nibble.
What support do you have outside of 3FC to help you achieve your goals?
- My mum (she's on a weightloss crusade too), my personal trainer and my 'internet daughter' Flamethrower.
Has anyone ever made fun of you or said things to you about your weight/size?
- Constantly. And people wonder why I left high school with no friends. But strangely, now people think I'm too thin. Huh. Just because you can see I have a waist now doesn't make me too thin and no, I'm not anorexic. My fat is just redistributing itself around my body (currently all clustered around my belly).
What is one of the fun things you've done even though you were overweight?
- Ooo, tough one. Probably beach riding. I loved that, I had an amazing, beautiful horse called Flint that was far too big for me but he was the only one at the riding centre that could carry my weight xD Good grief.
First I just want to say thank you for all your responses. Just reading these responses is so motivational! It really helps to see that I'm not the only one trying to change my lifestyle and be healthier. Thank you very much my friends!
Why are you trying to be healthy or lose weight?
It’s something I’ve always wanted to achieve. I want to be healthy so I can live a long happy life and be a fit mom. I also want to get fit so when my husband and I renew our wedding vows in Hawaii I can look my best and hike one of the mountains while I’m there. It’s a really big dream of mine!
What is your recent getting healthy, weight loss goal(s)?
It may be an extremely slow process for me but I still have a goal to lose 42.4 pounds by my birthday in March next year.
But to help my goal not look so big I want to focus on getting down to 176.4 by September 6th. I’m 6 pounds away and started out weighing 187 pounds at the end of June so I’ve lost 4.6 pounds so far. I’m happily on my way
What prompted you to get healthier and/or lose weight?
(Warning-my response is long sorry)
I recently was reading an old journal of mine and it reminded me of where I’ve come from. I don’t share this with very many people, I guess for the simple fact that it’s in the past, very personal, and things have changed since this happened, but I’d like to share it because in a big way it shaped my weight issues and the way I’ve thought about my body.
It’s hard to write about, but starting when I was 12 my Dad started calling me names like fat, elephant, Tubitha, and multiple times a day I heard degrading things that really hurt my feelings and really negatively impacted the way I looked at my body. The worst part is looking back I was never as big as those words made me feel. Actually, I wasn’t even big back then, but by 13 I was convinced that I was overweight, unattractive, and needed to go on a diet. I would try to eat healthy, and I’m proud of my attempts back then, but my family’s diet was not healthy and the majority of the food that was in our home was not healthy. It was kind of a no win situation for me as a teenager.
Thankfully that is the past and I’ve been able to talk to my Dad about how hurtful his words were and he has since apologized on numerous occasions. I’ve forgiven him. I know that in his heart he was trying to help me to be healthy though it was obviously the wrong way to go about this.
So reading about all the pain I went through it made me realize that I want to be healthy for life. I not only want to lose weight, but I want to be healthy physically, mentally, spiritually, and everything in-between. Life is too short and I don’t want an unhealthy lifestyle to make it even shorter.
What is your favorite exercise or activity?
I love to swim, lift weights, hiking, biking, boxing, playing the Wii, or just anything that gets my heart pounding while not killing my knees.
What is your favorite healthy snack or treat?
I love frozen yogurt and dark chocolate as a treat, but one of my favorite healthy snacks is salsa.
What support do you have outside of 3FC to help you achieve your goals?
My husband and my family are supportive of my goals, but in a lot of ways since no one is dieting or trying to lose weight with me at the moment I feel like a lone ranger. I’m really glad to have my friends here at 3FC! I’ve come to realize how important it is to have support while losing weight and getting healthy!
Has anyone ever made fun of you or said things to you about your weight/size?
Besides my dad my brothers & people at school at times. I'm afraid I've heard a lot of snide remarks about my weight even though I was maybe 15 pounds overweight at the time. Where I grew up looks were really important.
What is one of the fun things you've done even though you were overweight?
I've never let my being overweight stop me from doing the things I wanted to. I have to say some fun things have been going to Disneyland, hiking, swimming, and running.
Thank you again for all your responses!
My reasons to be healthy???
Thank you so much!
