what got you motivated to lose weight?

mommyofanangelboy

hi everyone!
I've been feeling down and discouraged. I need to lose 20-30 pounds. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but when you are 5'2'' it makes a huge difference! I started off buying some working out clothes online. I'm hoping that it'll help motivate me seeing how I hardly have any clothes that fit me since having my son 8 months ago and it makes me feel self conscious having few comfortable clothes.

What motivated you to lose weight?

LizzClo

What motivated me was also not having any nice clothes that fit, couldn't really afford to buy clothes, but had boxes of nice clothes that used to fit. Also feeling like the fat one in my group of friends helped too. I started a lifestyle and exercise change about 9 months after having my little one. Once I actually put my mind to it the weight started coming off and I started to fit back into those nicer clothes. One of my best NSV was fitting back into my leather jacket. Even now when I have a bad day I feel better just wearing that leather jacket.

harrypotter22

ooh i had a lot of reasons
mainly not looking nice in my clothes, being so out of breath while walking/riding my bike i couldn't do more than 20 minutes, pains in my legs from the stress (jk i was only 160 i don't think that happened XD), feeling reallly self concious and wanting to just be happy and content.
being confident mainly though and feeling nice in my clothes.

RiverRun61

Too many reasons to list - but top of the pile are: 1) tired of the self-hatred and 2) tired of being uncomfortable and 3) tired of having to think about how I look. (Thankfully, I'm in good health.)

Deedle7544

I knew I needed and sort of half attempted, but then my BF had a health scare and lost 40 pounds, making him weigh less then me! Plus, we are both over 50, and we want to be healthy together. So I am very serious about it now. When I get frustrated, he motivates me.

mommyofanangelboy

I know what you mean! my husband weighs less than me at the moment & it makes me feel less like a woman (if that makes sense?) I just feel too manly being heavier. :indifferent: but I know I will get back to a healthy weight at some point. How long did it take any of you's to lose the first 5 pounds?

Unknown

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discoveredamber

I saw some old pictures of me and realised how big I had gotten. It was a wake up call.

GertrudeHorse

I decided i was tired of having to use a forklift to leave the house.

Did you not get enough attention as a child? Or is there some other reason you're writing unfunny and irritating troll comments in every thread?

thatonegirlwiththestuff

Pinterest fitness section.

2Bhealthier2

Like most people I have many reasons but in order here they are:

1. Health reasons-my dad, and 2 brothers are diabetics. My dad has kidney failure, congestive heart failure, nerve issues, eye sight loss and other things. I don't want to go down that road and I don't want my boys to have to watch me suffer because I didn't take care of myself.
2. Tired of wearing Women's clothing.
3. Weighed more then my hubby (don't anymore ) and
4. Trouble hiking with my family, out of breath, red in the face and slow.

There are other reasons but these were the main.

Sinisterly

Hahahaha.. Very tempted to post the story, but I fear I might get moderated on if I do!
Let's just say....

I didn't enjoy dancing when stuff "jiggled" XD

jennifries227

My motivation for exercising is eating more... My motivation for losing weight? I got sick for three straight months, and I don't want that to ever happen again. I just remember that, and suddenly that cheesecake doesn't look as tasty. My boyfriend is also losing weight, so keeping up with him is also great motivation.

freemystery

I store weight in just one section of my body- basically everything below my navel and above my knees seemed to balloon. And yet everywhere else I was the same size! It was kind of funny if it wasn't so horrible to deal with.

It's literally like having tyre around you. Luckily first place on = last place off and it's still a relatively early intervention with only 30lbs to lose. It means I have less margin for error but I'm looking forward to having clothes fit me again!

nicolemviolette

My main reason, honestly, was that MOST of my boyfriend's exes were all tiny. And I was a little more on the chunky side in some spots. My other reasons were that I had a whole bunch of new bikinis that I couldnt wear because I didnt feel confident in them, but what really kept me motivated when I thought about sitting on my butt all day was the quote "picture yourself a year from now." And it reallllyyy motivated me to keep going with my workouts every day!

ldnmaggie

Sooo many but heres a few
1) Not being able to walk up the stairs without being out of breath
2) My back being so sore from all the excess weight.
3) Self confidence...... Fed up of hating myself
4) Nice clothes....
5) Don't want to be the "fat friend" anymore

mynamealex

1. inner feeling
2. living healthier
3. self esteem

and just stop entering junk to my body

dortilolma

My primary motivator is that I'm getting married in the summer and I am bigger than I'm comfortable with.
My clothes were also getting tighter and I had been slowly gaining for a year or so.

coolblondenerd

I've never looked big but a couple of years ago, I was skinny fat. That means that you're thin and your BMI is in check, but your body fat percentage is actually quite high. I was eating so much crap, never exercising, but everyone would tell me I had a great figure so I though I was fine, even though I hated what I saw in the mirror. I actually though I had body dysmorphia for a while, because I thought I wasn't seeing what everyone else saw. (Even though I did once like how my body looked when I was kickboxing about 4 years ago).

So I cut a lot of my crap food, bought some Jillian Michaels DVDs and actually started to like what I saw. But then over the last few years, I would continuously eat, well and fall off of the wagon, and go back again. So then I joined MFP to get myself some consistency.

murdledoe

I was tired of not feeling well and I was sure most of it was do to weight gain. I didn't have the energy to be active with the family and I hated being on the side lines watching and one thing I really miss is being able to tuck a shirt in and feel good about it. That is my goal. Looking good with a shirt tucked in!

Noogynoogs

Hubby telling me I was getting big lol

ultrafishboy

Being offered the tools and support of MFP. This is doable!

Noogynoogs

I have body dysmorphia - when i an big isee myself super slim in mirrors

bekim123

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a couple of years ago. I had it under control early on, but had been watching my blood sugar levels start going up. That was reason #1, didn't want to increase/add medicine to get the blood sugar levels back in line. Second reason is that all of my size 40 pants were starting to get tight, so rather than start buying the next size, I decided to stop slowly killing myself and get serious about getting healthy. Happy to say now my size 40 pants are a little loose.

evastria

Same as a lot of the previous posters. Found I was outgrowing my clothes, feeling bigger than ever (and I am!). Realising that sitting in with my partner eating a tonne of junk food 4 nights a week IS something I love doing, but the thing I love about it was the company and I wasn't really enjoying the junk.

Now we run together, swim together, go to the gym together and encourage each other. I still each everything I used to but not a load of it, so I've been buying chocolate/crisps etc as and when I want them, and keep fruit and yoghurt in the flat to snack on.

Weirdly, eating much less of my favourite food has made me realise how nice having a treat is!

Also, a big thanks to the myfitnesspal community. Having lurked on the message boards for a while before starting this journey I felt the support here, and new I could do this if I have this entire community to answer to!

hopeflu

The main reason: My 6 year old son and his friends making small comments.My son is so lovely that he says things like 'Mommy, I won't call you fat because it will hurt your heart'.

Also tired of being conscious of being big and 'different'.... especially as I have moved to France and most people here are slim and petite.

ranks39

Well, first off, I donate plasma so I have to be weighed each time I donate(twice per week) and when I saw the scale start to go up and up and up that was kind of disheartening. Secondly, this is the strange part....I was watching "How I met your mother" and saw Neil Patrick Harris and thought to myself, there's no reason I can't have a defined body....so, I started exercising and eating better! Strange story...

sp1nn3r86

Honestly? An episode of supersize vs super skinny. I started watching the shows and realised that.all the habits the overweight people did, I did. Like snacking late at night and eating stuff just to well, eat the stuff. I would get up at like 2am and make a meal. and i realised that that's not normal. And the part of the episode where they take the larger person to the USA and meet a very large person with the most ridiculous health issues. I just was watching one day and thought to myself (while eating a bag of chips mind u) it's not gonna be me.

Motivation to keep going with the weight loss? I'm getting married and don't want to wear a plus size wedding dress. I wanna look how I feel on the inside on my wedding day!

wonderbeard101

Anger. I was mad at myself for a long time for not making the changes that I so badly wanted. The two things that took it over the tipping point were 1) my dad getting sick and 2) seeing pictures of myself and my chins out with my friends.

RiverRun61

I was tired of not feeling well and I was sure most of it was do to weight gain. I didn't have the energy to be active with the family and I hated being on the side lines watching and one thing I really miss is being able to tuck a shirt in and feel good about it. That is my goal. Looking good with a shirt tucked in!

^this^ - can't remember the last time I wore a shirt tucked in!

esaucier17

My largest pair of jeans were getting tight and I said..."Hell NO" and started counting calories and exercising. So far I'm down 26 pounds and feel sooooo much better about myself. I have more energy and my clothes fit and look better :-) Don't give up!