Why do you want to lose weight/get fit?

MamaBear5445

Curious as to what everyone else's reasons are!

Mine are:
-my mama pouch is bothering me and would like to lose that
-family member was diagnosed pre-diabetic, I do not want that
-family genetics has a predisposition to arthritis, would like to increase knee muscles and increase flexibility ahead of time to prevent issues of being able to walk in the future

What about YOU?

AnnPT77

I had an immediate trigger for weight loss (though it was a long time incubating!). My doctor was increasingly urging me to take a statin for high cholesterol, and I didn't want to do it. Statins have a reputation for cognitive consequences, and I thought I'd already given up enough cognitive bandwidth to chemotherapy. I tried "eating better", tried some supplements, was already athletically active (even though obese), and none of that had improved the cholesterol, so I finally committed to losing some weight.

Developing gallbladder adenomyomatosis sealed the deal. That's not the more common stones or sludge, but a thickening of the gallbladder walls (that was suddenly causing me chronic heartburn, and it can mask gallbladder cancer on scans). When they took it out, the pathology report said it was an ugly, cholesterolized thing with actual holes in it. No tumors, luckily. But scary.

Longer run, as I was losing, I began looking around me and realizing that friends/relatives around my age (+/- ten years, so 40s-60s then mostly) tended to fall into one of two groups: Active and not very overweight people with pretty good quality of life, and overweight/obese inactive people who were already experiencing degraded quality of life.

What I mean by "quality of life": Ability to do one's own life chores (yard work, heavy cleaning) oneself vs. rely on (or hire) others; to enjoy activities that involved a lot of walking or stairs (like art fairs, music festivals, stadium events); to eat/drink a full range of tasty things without worrying about aggravating health conditions or having a bad reaction with prescription drugs; having more discretionary income (vs. spending on medical co-pays and service workers); etc.

It became obvious to me that I wanted to have the life that my active, healthy-weight associates had, and that (class 1 obese) I was slipping into the negative consequences of the alternative approach (despite being quite active).

I didn't predict a number of other positive things along the way that improved with weight loss, but they happened. (For anyone wondering what, I'll refer to this thread: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1275030/whats-your-most-recent-nsv).

ninerbuff

It's been a big part of my life since 19 and up to now I am SO GLAD that I continued with it and made it a profession. I can do things that many men 30 years old cannot do physically, I have no health issues and am very fit to do just about anything I want to do. That changes your outlook on life because I look forward to physical challenges like hiking, climbing, running, playing sports etc.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

scoutmom1981

My son is a scout and I am involved with his troop. We are planning to attend a high adventure came in the Florida Keys. SeaBase sounds like an amazing adventure that I can share with my kiddo. There are very strict requirements in order to attend any High Adventure Bases. I want to loose more than what is required so that I get the most out of it. I am 33 lbs now and have another 68 to loose before I hit my personal goal; only 27 before I meet the SeaBase requirements. It is a 2 year prep that includes a lot of swimming and hiking to build endurance. I will have no problems meeting my goals as long as I also stick to the diet plan. Spending a week living on a sailboat and tagging sharks and growing coral is so worth it!