What keeps you going??

if i can inspire someone who is where i was as far as weight health and overall fitness to improve themselves... that is what ultimately keeps me going.

The fact that I've donated all the larger sizes to Goodwill--I CAN'T go back

What keeps me motivated to NEVER GIVE UP!
I'm 57 and I've been through this before. I am sick & tired of being sick & tired. When I am fit physically I am fit spiritually. I have only missed Mass for sporting events like a run/ride that I entered. I am not competitive, my rank is around the 50 percentile and will never be able to compete in my age group. That doesn't matter. When I don't workout, track what I do & eat I become self-loathing. This last period of struggle lasted 9 years. Life is too short to be fat, eating cheeseburgers & drinking beer. I am motivated by my own experience. I don't want to go through this again. Fitness doesn't guarantee longevity. It does make it possible to live in my own skin with zeal & enthusiasm. My mind is clear. My wife thinks I'm obsessed. Yes, I am. But I function better that way. Many alcoholics drink to self-medicate. For me fitness is my self-medication.
Goals:
Short term - Track daily food & exercise with MFP. Workout once or twice daily. Be careful of over training & injury. Rest & eat accordingly. If I workout hard I get to eat more. But I eat with healthy choices. Try to get enough sleep.
Long term - Maintain my weight loss of about 35 pounds. Keep blood work healthy. Accept what ever age brings me and make accommodation to work within my limitations. Have fun. Do more that workout. Run to eat, eat to run but don't live for either. I want to die knowing that although I'm not a farmer or coal minor or construction worker but that I beat the living daylights out of my body and used it the way God intended. I want my last breath to be big & deep.

Although I always seem to be motivated by vacations....I want to live each day by making the better food choices and exercise regularly. In the past, once the vacation is over you do go back to your old habits and slowly, the pounds are back and you're doing the same thing over and over.

After losing 24#, I can finally say I'm out of the 160's now and don't plan to go back. I'm finally wearing those smaller, work clothes that make me feel great. You know, the ones you really get compliments on. If you continue to weigh yourself every day, you can nip those extra pounds from climbing. My strategy, if I gain 2#, back to the basics again.

Motivations to date .......the kudos from close friends--they can't believe I'm not giving in to junk foods at parties, my husband is always saying how proud he is of me sticking to my goals (I want to continue to hear this), Vegas in June, and lots of boating from June-Sept. (I'm always the heaviest female). I want to change this!!!