What REALLY inspired you to lose weight?
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Just a bunch of things seem to have converged. I'm almost a nurse practitioner, my kids don't respect me, I'm turning 35 this year, I want to give myself the best possible chance of not getting lifestyle related diseases/conditions, I want to feel better about myself, I want to have more energy, I want to be a good example for my kids and get them eating better/being more active, I want to be a better everything (sister, wife, citizen, mother, etc), I have big dreams for my life that I won't be able to accomplish if I'm still lazy and overweight, I'm tired of starting then stopping, then starting again, and on and on.0
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Yes the yoyo thing, each new high weight was progressively higher. The clothes, the jeans being too tight, switching to wearing just leggings (and thinking that looked good- until I saw...) the PHOTOS! Ack! Being depressed and not caring about myself, but feeling bad for my boyfriend having to deal with me like that. And he kept loving me anyway. I decided that he deserves me better! Also scared of getting health problems... Very afraid I'll likely get diabetes. And wanting just at least ONE summer of my life where I can wear a bathing suit and not be too ashamed! One goal is to actually wear a bikini one day
not likely to happen this summer but maybe next? 0 -
A picture I saw of myself.. the one in my profile picture. It's me at a camp I worked at as a teen. I'm with my sister who is average/small. Seeing how huge I was next to her really did it for me.
I'm inspired by my kids, my BFF who has lost 80 something lbs, and how good I feel when I do this right.0 -
I've been physically pretty active for many years--I am at the gym 5-6 days weekly and ride bikes several days weekly (20+ mile rides) in all but winter weather. But I constantly struggle with weight gain. My high school class had our 50th reunion last summer and I hated the photos of myself that were posted in the candid shots. (I mean REALLY hated them!). But still I dinked around about doing anything about it. I have many relatives who are diabetic but My A1C is great. My blood pressure is generally 110/65. My cholesterol is low, my resting pulse is around 56, and wow, I even have most of my teeth, so physically I had no pressing reason to get serious about bringing the weight down. Then came Christmas and once again some pesky pictures pointed out that I was, well, overweight!
That's when I got serious. I turned 69 in January and made the decision that before I hit 70 I WAS going to lose the unflattering extra pounds and commit to not only doing plenty of aerobic activities but to begin a regular strengthening program as well.
Using MFP has really helped me see just how many unneeded calories I was consuming with a few chips here, some cookies there, an extra soda or two every day, a pinch of this and a bite (or 4) of that--whew--putting it all down in black and white ever day was an eye opener!
I have lost about 14 pounds and hope by the end of the year to part with another 15-20.
I still do indulge in snacks, but boy, knowing I'm going to have to list them at day's end has totally helped me to "just say no" to bunches of donuts and excess candy (now I eat a fun size Reeses instead of a full size candy bar), and in general stop the constant thoughtless munching.
My family is having a mini reunion this summer and I'm pretty confident that I might even look forward to being in the millions of photos that are bound to be taken!
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Just a bunch of things seem to have converged. I'm almost a nurse practitioner, my kids don't respect me, I'm turning 35 this year, I want to give myself the best possible chance of not getting lifestyle related diseases/conditions, I want to feel better about myself, I want to have more energy, I want to be a good example for my kids and get them eating better/being more active, I want to be a better everything (sister, wife, citizen, mother, etc), I have big dreams for my life that I won't be able to accomplish if I'm still lazy and overweight, I'm tired of starting then stopping, then starting again, and on and on.
First, you need to feel better about yourself. Forgive me if I'm stepping out of bounds, but you seem to be blaming lack of your kids' respect, lack of energy, laziness, and lack of motivation on being overweight, and that once you lose that weight, everything will magically fall into place. The problem is, that you don't KNOW that. What if you go through all the trouble of losing the weight and everything doesn't magically fall into place? It's commonly known as fear of failure. Don't put all your problems on being overweight. Put your problems of being overweight on being overweight. Because if you think everything is going to suddenly get better once you've lost how many pounds you want to lose, it's not going to happen, and you know it, which is probably why you are afraid to start losing. If you want to lose weight for YOU, then do it! Meanwhile, gain your children's respect, stop being lazy and unenergetic, and start being a good example. You can do this whether overweight or not. You can do this. And you know you can.0 -
I've been physically pretty active for many years--I am at the gym 5-6 days weekly and ride bikes several days weekly (20+ mile rides) in all but winter weather. But I constantly struggle with weight gain. My high school class had our 50th reunion last summer and I hated the photos of myself that were posted in the candid shots. (I mean REALLY hated them!). But still I dinked around about doing anything about it. I have many relatives who are diabetic but My A1C is great. My blood pressure is generally 110/65. My cholesterol is low, my resting pulse is around 56, and wow, I even have most of my teeth, so physically I had no pressing reason to get serious about bringing the weight down. Then came Christmas and once again some pesky pictures pointed out that I was, well, overweight!
That's when I got serious. I turned 69 in January and made the decision that before I hit 70 I WAS going to lose the unflattering extra pounds and commit to not only doing plenty of aerobic activities but to begin a regular strengthening program as well.
Using MFP has really helped me see just how many unneeded calories I was consuming with a few chips here, some cookies there, an extra soda or two every day, a pinch of this and a bite (or 4) of that--whew--putting it all down in black and white ever day was an eye opener!
I have lost about 14 pounds and hope by the end of the year to part with another 15-20.
I still do indulge in snacks, but boy, knowing I'm going to have to list them at day's end has totally helped me to "just say no" to bunches of donuts and excess candy (now I eat a fun size Reeses instead of a full size candy bar), and in general stop the constant thoughtless munching.
My family is having a mini reunion this summer and I'm pretty confident that I might even look forward to being in the millions of photos that are bound to be taken!
Woo hoo! You're doing great!0 -
The whole side of my mother's famiy is seriously obese. Healthy problems galore. I thoughy it was normal growing up to be bigger but once I hit my teens I started to feel very uncomfortable with my own body. It was a hard time for me.
Now that I'm out of school I find myself far more comfortable with my body, even with the curves. Unfortunately with the health problems I am seeing arise with my parents and the rest of my family I find that as comfortable as I am with my body that it's not a healthy body. I did MFP for sometime, lost a little bit of weight then I had gotten comfortable and let the weight come back on. I'm worried that like the rest of my family, I'm going to have children and gain even more weight.
I have to start somewhere and so I started back uo again, I'm going to try as hard as I did the first time but more when I can. I owe it to myself to see that I don't become another genetic statistic.0 -
For me, there were a combination of factors but it came down to being 37 and feeling/looking like I was a lot older. I decided that I either needed to do something to stop feeling and looking like garbage or shut up about it already. I'm still mad about the wasted years but I'm happy that I have good ones ahead of me.0
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srschaffer1 wrote: »The whole side of my mother's famiy is seriously obese. Healthy problems galore. I thoughy it was normal growing up to be bigger but once I hit my teens I started to feel very uncomfortable with my own body. It was a hard time for me.
Now that I'm out of school I find myself far more comfortable with my body, even with the curves. Unfortunately with the health problems I am seeing arise with my parents and the rest of my family I find that as comfortable as I am with my body that it's not a healthy body. I did MFP for sometime, lost a little bit of weight then I had gotten comfortable and let the weight come back on. I'm worried that like the rest of my family, I'm going to have children and gain even more weight.
I have to start somewhere and so I started back uo again, I'm going to try as hard as I did the first time but more when I can. I owe it to myself to see that I don't become another genetic statistic.
The problems with being overweight is now the number one health problem, more so than even smoking or other substance abuse. Congratulations on your decision to overcome this!0 -
For me, there were a combination of factors but it came down to being 37 and feeling/looking like I was a lot older. I decided that I either needed to do something to stop feeling and looking like garbage or shut up about it already. I'm still mad about the wasted years but I'm happy that I have good ones ahead of me.
I didn't have a weight problem until I quit smoking at age 51. Before, people always assumed I was a lot younger because I was a size four or six and only 5'2" tall. You have a LOT of good years ahead of you! At nearly 63, I dunno about that, but I'm going to make them count, hah!0 -
I got tired of going to the back of the rack or bottom on the pile for clothes.0
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Cardio4Cupcakes wrote: »I got tired of going to the back of the rack or bottom on the pile for clothes.
I didn't do that; kept buying "fat" and "fatter" clothes at Goodwill until I was looking like a homeless man with my big shirts and pants. Now, it's a lot of fun to go shopping in my closet, wearing clothes that are finally starting to fit me again!0 -
I got inspired when I was finally able to book my dream trip to New Zealand, which I've been saving money for over almost 10 years. So this is something I've been actively working toward for 1/3 of my life, and I don't want to let heaviness and resulting bad knees get in the way of exploring and experiencing it to the fullest!
I'm losing weight as part of my training to hike Tongariro Alpine Crossing, which is known as one of the best single-day hikes in the world, and is 12-15 miles (depending on your exact choice of side-trails) over rough and steep terrain-- Probably small beans for many people, but a big goal for someone sedentary and in bad shape!0 -
Two things for me. I kept disappointing my 4 year old daughter because I couldn't run around with her and play. Second thing was I visited my brother for first time in a year and we had a conversation where he told me how worried he was about me and how he didn't know how he would handle it if something happened to me.
I'm so glad you had that conversation with your brother, and wish you the best of luck. You'll get there.0 -
I had moved to a new town and all the women were such witches to me for no reason. I tried and tried and tried everything to try and make friends and nothing worked. The only difference I could think of was these people didn't know me before I had my baby and didn't know me when I wasn't overweight so I decided to try and loose weight to see if people would be more welcoming of me. And it worked! Unfortunately, people are extremely shallow and the only way for me to make friends was to loose weight.0
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This time round (I lost a load and then maintained for a couple of years but then got into one of those comfortable relationships and gained 40lbs) what really kicked my *kitten* was one of my friends calling me an 'unhealthy weight'.
We are both 5ft 3, and she has always been bigger than me, about a size 12/14. Then she went travelling, and returned having lost a lot of weight (size 8 now), and is very proud of herself (and she does look great). We were talking, and I was saying how I needed to start losing weight because it was creeping upwards and I was just sick of it. I told her I weighed 9 and a half stone (a healthy weight according to my BMI).
She just looked at me and said, 'well, I think between 8 and 9 stone is a healthy weight for our height'.
I went nuts. I didn't say anything, but stewed internally. Just because she is now skinnier than me doesn't give her the right to judge me, or anyone really, especially as I am a healthy weight. And it was just the way she said it so casually, considering she is supposed to be a friend.
So, whilst I'm not doing this for her, it was great motivation. And there is that little part of me that is looking forward to rubbing it in her face when I'm looking slim and fab again (just five pounds to go before I nudge under 9st!).0 -
Asher_Ethan wrote: »I had moved to a new town and all the women were such witches to me for no reason. I tried and tried and tried everything to try and make friends and nothing worked. The only difference I could think of was these people didn't know me before I had my baby and didn't know me when I wasn't overweight so I decided to try and loose weight to see if people would be more welcoming of me. And it worked! Unfortunately, people are extremely shallow and the only way for me to make friends was to loose weight.
I don't think that was the reason. Do you think perhaps that when you lost weight, you felt more confident in yourself and started listening to people instead of trying to be friends with them? I'm not saying that in a mean way. I moved to a different state just before my senior year, and didn't have many friends in my previous school. I decided not to even try to make friends in the new school, but surprise, I had more friends than ever. I stopped my "technique" of trying to impress everyone and instead listened to them. Made a HUGE difference!0 -
A few things really. The doctor had brought my weight up as my bmi was a little high and told me I needed to lose some weight, a couple of friends congratulating me on my "pregnancy" and most of all, as disgusting as it sounds (sorry!) the discomfort of curling up in bed at night or sitting down and having all those yucky flab rolls touching - so uncomfortable! I don't weigh a ridiculous amount at all really but it all goes on around my tummy / top of my legs so even a few pounds shows quite badly!0
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Toadstool_ wrote: »A few things really. The doctor had brought my weight up as my bmi was a little high and told me I needed to lose some weight, a couple of friends congratulating me on my "pregnancy" and most of all, as disgusting as it sounds (sorry!) the discomfort of curling up in bed at night or sitting down and having all those yucky flab rolls touching - so uncomfortable! I don't weigh a ridiculous amount at all really but it all goes on around my tummy / top of my legs so even a few pounds shows quite badly!
Ouch! I can identify! The only reason people knew I wasn't pregnant is because I'm too old, otherwise, I would have been congratulated as well.0 -
I have suffered from an eating disorder since I was 9 years old. I've gained and lost, gained and lost the same 40 pounds almost my entire life. Now I have a beautiful 4 year old little girl that deserves a healthy (mentally and physically) mommy. I'm learning to take control of my life and get to a happy weight in a healthy way. She is all of my motivation.0
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I first started to want to get in shape when I had a class on the 4th floor of a building, and I would always be super out of breath and had to sit down for a minute to catch my breath before walking in otherwise I'd feel awkward. Losing weight was mostly a happy side effect, but I had noticed I was steadily gaining and did not want to continue that trend. I'm happy to say I've lost about 20 pounds and am now ready to maintain a healthy weight.0
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Two reasons. The first is that I am getting married in about a year and half. I don't want to look back at all my pictures and cringe. I have a lot to loose. Like over 100 lbs. I know that I won't be at my goal weight by the time my wedding comes around. But if I am down a good amount by then, I will be so happy. Because I can look back at those pictures and be proud of the hard work that went into getting my weight down.
The second reason is my health. I don't have any major issues yet but if I keep on the way I am, I will. I want to have kids very soon and my weight will definitely be an issue. I want to be healthy for the family that I want to start.0 -
atypicalsmith wrote: »Asher_Ethan wrote: »I had moved to a new town and all the women were such witches to me for no reason. I tried and tried and tried everything to try and make friends and nothing worked. The only difference I could think of was these people didn't know me before I had my baby and didn't know me when I wasn't overweight so I decided to try and loose weight to see if people would be more welcoming of me. And it worked! Unfortunately, people are extremely shallow and the only way for me to make friends was to loose weight.
I don't think that was the reason. Do you think perhaps that when you lost weight, you felt more confident in yourself and started listening to people instead of trying to be friends with them? I'm not saying that in a mean way. I moved to a different state just before my senior year, and didn't have many friends in my previous school. I decided not to even try to make friends in the new school, but surprise, I had more friends than ever. I stopped my "technique" of trying to impress everyone and instead listened to them. Made a HUGE difference!
I'm still not even confident. I definitely have distorted body issues so it's definitely not because I have more confidence. I have always been more of a listening person and I make more fun of myself than try to impress people with myself. The only thing I can think that happened was that they started to like me when I wasn't overweight anymore.
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Great thread, very inspiring. Thanks for starting this conversation!
For me it was a combination of things over a period of a few years. It started about 4 years ago with my wife and a couple of close friends urging me to get a bicycle and start cycling with them. The friends were avid cyclists, the wife want to start riding. After several months I finally broke down and bought a road bike, motivated by them and the vague hope that I could maybe stave off some of the blood pressure and cholesterol problems my older brother (2 years older, but so similar most think we're twins when they meet us) was having. I was 41, 5'9" and about 235 lbs at the time. I knew I was fat, knew I was out of shape, and didn't like it but wasn't motivated enough to really work that hard and change things.
The bike is what started it though. For whatever reason, the bike and I just "clicked" and I was hooked. My first ride was 8 miles and left me exhausted. Mere months later, I was riding 3-4 days per week, going on meandering weekend rides of 20 and 30 miles and loving it. Riding more than my wife and even the friends that got me started. Over the next year I dropped down from 235 to about 210 just from riding bunches. Another friend got me hooked on mountain biking, so I added one of those to the mix. Eventually started racing the mountain bike some, got a time trial bike, and started racing that as well as just riding and training more. Then added a cyclocross bike to the stable with the intent of doing some cyclocross races.
Last summer I finally broke down and hired a cycling coach. At that point I'd been riding for about 3.5 years, and was generally around 205-210 without doing anything about the diet. Hiring the coach was the final "ah-ha" moment for me. I decided if I was serious enough to spend that kind of money and effort, I needed to be serious about the weight. That was early July of 2014. I started using MFP seriously (I'd been a member for a while, just hadn't really used it much) the day after I met my coach the first time. My weight was 209.
Here we are almost 10 months later, I'm weighing right around 172 lbs these days with about 10-12 lbs to go to hit my goal weight. I'm riding a lot, training hard, climbing well, and getting faster. I completed a road time trial race about 4 weeks ago and beat my previous personal best by almost 2 minutes over 10 miles. I finished a 3 hour mountain bike endurance race 2 weeks ago, and have a full schedule of road bike races straight through July, then Cyclocross season starts shortly after, which will keep me racing and training right through the fall. I love it and I'm completely hooked.
In addition to all that I feel and, according to many, look, younger than I have in years. I'm energetic, healthy, and I feel great. The rest of my family, including my brother still fights high blood pressure and cholesterol. I'm 45 years old now, my resting heart rate is in the low 40s, my blood pressure at my physical 2 weeks ago was perfect, my cholesterol and glucose numbers are great, and even my doctor is making the obligatory "you're half the man you used to be" jokes.
It has been a life-long journey and I wish I'd done this years ago, but I'm here now and I'm never planning to go back.
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You would think my Dad dying at 62 from Congestive Heart Failure would have inspired me to lose weight for good, or even my own cardiologist telling me that my heart can probably only effectively support maybe 130 - 140 pounds. You would think my heart going crazy in my chest randomly would have scared me into weight loss. Or maybe having to put my feet up for a full day or 2 to get the edema to go down after "doing too much" would have made me wise up.You would think that my hips, knees and feet hurting all the time would have given me the kick in the pants that I needed.
But, no....what actually did it is watching my mom's health deteriorate. She cannot get around well at all. For probably 20 years, she's had issues getting up off the floor. She's 70 and now she's having issues just rising from a normal chair. It scares the hell out of me. I started to struggle to stand up smoothly from a squatting position and it hit me. I'm turning into my mother. Her issues are going to be my own if I don't change now.
My husband has all these things he wants to do when we retire and instead of holding him back, I want to be by his side.
Maybe it was a combination of things, but in February I was hem-hawing about getting the Fitbit Charge HR and the Fitbit Aria scale. We were standing in Best Buy and I am saying it is $300 for the pair and thinking of all the things we probably really needed to spend that money on. My husband, who is the love of my life and best friend, said "it might just save your life". He tells me I'm priceless, worth way more than $300 & just generally being the best guy ever so we bought the pair.
Because of the price, and being cheap, I decided to use the scale every day so I get the most uses for the money. I weighed in at 300 pounds then (February 19th) and 263.7 this morning. I'm not stopping until I see 130. I will follow my doctor's guidance from there and possibly strive for 115. I love the fitbit and would suggest it for anyone who needs a nudge. It has literally been life changing.0 -
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I think living on my own inspired me. I didn't decide to try to lose weight until after I moved out of my mom's house. I had space for my workout equipment, could buy whatever workout programs I wanted and bought my own food. Then I found Sparkpeople and all that info on the website helped me realize that I could do it.
I've also never liked the way I looked in pictures.0 -
I had broken up with my boyfriend & he somehow told me something like "my new girlfriend can actually fit in my back seat"
and I was all "oh hellll no you didnt" so yea thats what really motivated me in to high gear that "fvck you im going to make you eat sh1t" . He saw me later after I had lost over 100 pounds and told me I am the most stunningly gorgeous women he has ever seen
Also though, you know all that deep self loathing and wanting to feel like myself again is what kept me going. The thought of ever feeling that utterly worthless again is what keeps me going still
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I'm so glad I could seeIAmTheGlue wrote: »You would think my Dad dying at 62 from Congestive Heart Failure would have inspired me to lose weight for good, or even my own cardiologist telling me that my heart can probably only effectively support maybe 130 - 140 pounds. You would think my heart going crazy in my chest randomly would have scared me into weight loss. Or maybe having to put my feet up for a full day or 2 to get the edema to go down after "doing too much" would have made me wise up.You would think that my hips, knees and feet hurting all the time would have given me the kick in the pants that I needed.
But, no....what actually did it is watching my mom's health deteriorate. She cannot get around well at all. For probably 20 years, she's had issues getting up off the floor. She's 70 and now she's having issues just rising from a normal chair. It scares the hell out of me. I started to struggle to stand up smoothly from a squatting position and it hit me. I'm turning into my mother. Her issues are going to be my own if I don't change now.
My husband has all these things he wants to do when we retire and instead of holding him back, I want to be by his side.
Maybe it was a combination of things, but in February I was hem-hawing about getting the Fitbit Charge HR and the Fitbit Aria scale. We were standing in Best Buy and I am saying it is $300 for the pair and thinking of all the things we probably really needed to spend that money on. My husband, who is the love of my life and best friend, said "it might just save your life". He tells me I'm priceless, worth way more than $300 & just generally being the best guy ever so we bought the pair.
Because of the price, and being cheap, I decided to use the scale every day so I get the most uses for the money. I weighed in at 300 pounds then (February 19th) and 263.7 this morning. I'm not stopping until I see 130. I will follow my doctor's guidance from there and possibly strive for 115. I love the fitbit and would suggest it for anyone who needs a nudge. It has literally been life changing.
This was a very great reason. My own mother jumped into gear when she started gaining a lot of weight then her mother died, her mother battled diabetes and the only reason this infection killed her was because of the diabetes. It was hard to watch such a strong woman lose herself but my mom has lost so much, she actually weighs less than me now, which is very inspriring because all of her siblings are bigger and have more health problems than her.0 -
I would like to say my motivation came from my wedding that is 4 short months away. But it didn't. I tried to make that my motivation, but it didn't work. I would also like to say having open heart surgery in December was motivation. And it kind of was. I've been looking back for the last 5 months thinking "I was lucky because mine was congenital, not health related." But the fact is - if I don't get and stay healthy, it could be health related in the future.
No. My motivation came purely from waking up one day and thinking "I feel awful." I had a binge the night before. Pizza, wings, fries, candy, wine. The works. It took two days before I could climb the stairs again without getting out of breath. It was that moment that made me go "seriously? You stuffed yourself to your eyeballs on junk and crap and now you can't even climb a flight of stairs." That was my motivation.0
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