No.

I'm not interested in pleasing men. It's not like anything you do will ever be enough for them anyway. I'm interested in pleasing me.

I think most people trying to lose weight do in part want to look better as a result. I guess we all define exactly what that means though, and for a lot of people, but not everyone, it includes feeling more attractive to potential romantic partners. But not everyone would define that as looking hot for boys.

I mostly agree with this and generally speaking, the majority of people find fit and healthy people attractive. But personally, I think it comes down to feeling comfortable in your own skin, no matter what size you are. I have what I call my "fighting weight" - I've been a curvy size 14 and felt fantastic then, and the men I dated agreed! But when I put on more weight and didn't like my own body very much, how could I expect others to? So my motivation is primarily to get back a body that I feel fantastic in, and as a part of that, I'll look forward to feeling comfortable dating again.

Doesn't everyone? and by opposite sex you could mean same sex for those so inclined!

I am happily married and mid 30's. It was not my primary reason for losing weight but hey, it's really awesome when someone "checks" me out these days! Isn't that completely normal? Sure it is healthier to be thin but you have to wonder if our society placed importance on women being big if we would all be here talking about how fat we could get :D

I totally want to feel sexy and to look good for me and for my husband and if other guys give me a second look, well, hey, that feels great too! So while it wasn't my main motivation, it's definitely one that's building as I get more fit and thinner.

yes, my weight is the main reason I held back from dating. That and not being able to find clothes that fit properly. Sure it's for my self esteem, but high self esteem is sexy.

sure people can say you are young and/or shallow, but let's face it, in today's world looks do matter. I look at really obese guys and it is a turn off... and if that guy has no plans, desire or isn't even trying to lose weight and get healthy then I don't think I would date him.

Yup! I want men to think I'm hot.

But, more importantly, I want to be happy w/ myself. I mean, there are men who were attracted to me at 230 pounds. That's not enough to keep me that big, though.

Thank you to all for your post I feel much better and I feel very supported :) I'm super glad that I am not alone.

Of course. That's not my main motivator, but I want to look great, hot and sexy to my husband. He's in Navy basic training, and I would LOVE it if when he'd got out, he sees me littler than he has in years and thinks I look gorgeous.He already tells me I am beautiful,but this time around I'll feel beautiful and that means a lot to me.

I think it's silly to lose weight to just please men. For one, you may potentially be shutting out men as some are attracted to larger women! :o

I know women of all sizes who have men flocking to them, and they all have one thing in common—confidence! The more confident you are in yourself, the more attractive you are regardless of how much you weigh. Not everyone is superficial the way we assume they are.

I also know women of all sizes who have trouble getting any dates. Generally they are unsure of themselves. If this happens at any size, losing weight will NOT fix that. You must learn to love yourself before someone else can love you.

In the end, beauty fades. What you look like at 20 will not necessarily be what you look like at 60. If you base your entire relationship on pretty faces, what will happen years later when the looks fade?

Sexychick I'm sorry about all the negative posts you've had. Personally it shouldn't matter to other people what your motivation is to lose weight as long as it's keeping you on the straight and narrow and motivating you to lose the weight.

I know exactly what you mean. I was dumped by 2 exes because of my weight. So one motivation is to show those 2 guys exactly what they've lost out on :) Of course my health is important to me, but i'm only 22 and lucky enough to have avoided health problems so far, so my main motivation is the way I look. I am doing this for me, to make myself feel better about myself, but I would like to look good to show those idiots what they're missing.

If it motivates you then its a very good, valid reason to lose weight. It shouldn't be written off as shallow.

You took the words right out of my mouth. If we expect looks and fitness, why shouldn't they? As horrible as it is, while I do want to show my exes exactly what they're missing now that I'm getting slimmer, they were both really into fitness (one is a physical fiitness instructor at erlstoke prison in the UK) I do understand why they dumped me, if thats what I'm attracted to, then I can't accuse them of being shallow when I put value on the same things (health and fitness)

Its not justn guys that like a slimmer woman, its society as a whole. I have lost out on so many jobs to slimmer, fitter women its unbelievable. My last interview at an Italian restaurant, was a group interview. There were some amazingly qualified people in the room who wouuld have been perfect, some of them were older, some were bigger, and the job went to the slimmest more attractive girl, even though (in my opinion, I could be wrong) she wasn't the most qualified.

Nope.

That's not even on my list of reasons, actually.

But, different strokes for different folks.

I'm quite unabashedly selfish about my journey. All of my reasons are about me.

You have to tread carefully with those type of men IMO. As a larger woman myself, I have met quite a few who are *feeders* and those are the type of guys you do not want to get involved with.

Well of course. There are creepy guys after women of all sizes, so we have to watch out, unfortunately.

I've had men attracted to me at 200 pounds and they've been attracted to me now at 157 pounds. My fiancee finds me attractive at any weight :)

I ended up 266lbs thanks to one of those men who likes 'bigger women' he was constantly buying me junk and making me feel like he wouldn't stick around or love me if I lost weight. Looking back, I can't believe I was such an idiot to be taken in by him, I'd never ever let that happen again. Men who value health and fitness are the only way forward for me now!