Why do you care so much about your health?

2

Replies

  • 970Mikaela1
    970Mikaela1 Posts: 2,013 Member
    I have 3 small kids and need to be around for them for a long time.

    I also want to be able to take them to the water park or the lake and not be embarrassed to take my shirt off !!

    I second that...much easier at the rec center of you're ok with your self image
  • msliu7911
    msliu7911 Posts: 638 Member
    Good question. I haven't asked myself this. Huh.

    I don't have children to want to be around for. (My cats, maybe???) Vanity. I'll toss my hat into the "I wanna look good naked" camp. Also maybe some kind of strange curiosity. If I got this sick, could I possibly get unsick as well?

    Not sure. Good question.

    Vanity. Fair answer.

    I think no matter how much we want to fight it, the media/society has painted this portrait of the perfect body and for so many of us, we are constantly striving to live up to that. I'm one of those people. Am I proud that I'm a "victim" of the media's standards? No. Do I think I should take drastic measures to fit into some cookie cutter image of the perfect bod? No!

    The bottom line is we all have our idea of the perfect body and how we want to look. As long as its healthy, there's nothing wrong with striving to meet that!
  • amandapye78
    amandapye78 Posts: 820 Member
    I lost my dad last August to heart disease and diabetes. Both run rampant in our family (on both sides) and I do not want my children feeling like orphans in their 30's. He was only 59 and will not get to see his grandchildren grow up or see any others that may be coming.
  • amandapye78
    amandapye78 Posts: 820 Member
    I lost my dad last August to heart disease and diabetes. Both run rampant in our family (on both sides) and I do not want my children feeling like orphans in their 30's. He was only 59 and will not get to see his grandchildren grow up or see any others that may be coming.

    Also, I like the fact that my teenage Daughters friends have recently said "your mom is hot"
  • angmarie28
    angmarie28 Posts: 2,883 Member
    Honestly, I just wanna look good naked.
    yep, same here, and look good in a bikini
  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
    My mental health is my reason.
    I'm 19. I've been depressed since I was about 12 and anxious for the past 2 years. It messed up my relationship with food a few times - in both ways. I'm finally getting that if I eat healthy foods and get my sweat on, I feel better. I'm more confident, more productive, have more energy and less mood swings.

    I understand and accept vanity as a reason to take care of yourself - I love me, so I should be the best possible me - but I was surprised at how doing it the healthy way made vanity and health work both ways. I work out because I want to look hot, that's okay, but working out makes me feel like I'm hot! :smooched:
  • bridgelene
    bridgelene Posts: 358 Member
    My mom had a stroke when I was 19 and she was 39. Then she had a heart attack before she was 50. She has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and her blood sugar numbers aren't great. My dad isn't in the picture, but both parents are adopted.

    I don't want to follow in my mom's footsteps, or worse. I already have HTN. I was also recently diagnosed with insulin resistance and also multiple sclerosis, and found out that my HDL is low. Losing weight and becoming more fit will likely help with ALL of that.
  • BurtHuttz
    BurtHuttz Posts: 3,653 Member
    I think that being healthy is something that "good people" do, and I want to fool people.
  • ApexLeader
    ApexLeader Posts: 580 Member
    to live longer so that i may see my enemies enter the ground
  • benol1
    benol1 Posts: 867 Member
    For me its returning to some healthy habits that I had embraced in my early 20s. Back then, I was a vegetarian, vegan and then went onto macrobiotics. I was involved in Aikido for some years. It sort of stopped when I had my first child 24 years ago.

    I am approaching 50 this year and after being warned of high blood pressure and creeping weight and the persistent insistence of my wife - I've decided to bight the proverbial bullet and get back into shape. For health, happiness and longevity. I know from experience the influence of physical well-being on mental well-being and happiness, so I am just exerting some effort to make it happen.
    kind regards,

    Ben
  • alexandrastaines
    alexandrastaines Posts: 40
    My mum's been big all my life, and she's had a lot of downs with her health...tbh, it sounds bad. But I just don't want to turn out like her for my kids when I'm older. By getting healthy, I also want to motivate her and show that if you put in the hard yards...good things will happen!

    I also want to look good naked!
  • liesevanlingen
    liesevanlingen Posts: 508 Member
    Because I have 4 children and I want to be around for them. I like looking good in skinny jeans and feeling sexy again. And I want to be a hot grandmother someday!
  • mlbqd3
    mlbqd3 Posts: 34 Member
    For me I have got to the point where I have peripheral vascular disease. I genetically was blessed with crappy veins and I have sat on my rear for the last 3 years in graduate school. Knowing just enough about this pathology, I am scared to death! I do not want to end up as an amputee or die early. So I am FINALLY doing something about it. AND the very best thing that I can do for this condition is to exercise!
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
    I enjoy being alive.
  • Tat2dDom0105
    Tat2dDom0105 Posts: 661
    I have three reasons:

    1. My son

    2. My daughter

    3. My wife
  • Crankstr
    Crankstr Posts: 3,958 Member
    I want him to beg for mercy.
  • katevarner
    katevarner Posts: 884 Member
    The women in my family actually tend to live long lives, but some of them have not been very healthy. If I am lucky enough to live as long as they did, I want my years to be healthy ones, so I'm taking care of myself now. The men in my family do not live long lives, and I want to prevent the heart disease that has ended their lives early. I also want to be around long enough to enjoy any grandchildren my son gives me, and being healthy enough to enjoy them will be wonderful.
  • mintywank
    mintywank Posts: 5
    Having had type 1 diabetes since I was 8 years old (I'm now 20), keeping a steady low sugar and low GI diet coupled with regular exercise is the only true way to keep my health in check. it sure makes diabetic life a hell of a lot easier, and helps my figure too!
  • bdur76
    bdur76 Posts: 155 Member
    1. Father was obese and died of heart disease at 46.
    2. His Dad was obese and died in his early 50s.
    3. Want to see my five year old grow up, and get to know the man I'm raising.
    4. Love my wife, and don't want to leave her any earlier than I absolutely have to.
    5. After being super obese, lookin pretty good nekkid, ain't a bad thing! :drinker:
  • Athena53
    Athena53 Posts: 717 Member
    I'm 60. I miss a day of work due to illness about once every 3 years. I don't know I have a back, a stomach, knees, etc. because they just do their thing without bothering me. I'm not on any prescriptions. Part of it is good genes and part of it is work and I want to feel this way for a very long time.

    And yeah, I want to look good naked!
  • Flowers4Julia
    Flowers4Julia Posts: 521 Member
    ONE REASON!


    I respect myself!
  • AnjaZ89
    AnjaZ89 Posts: 235
    besides colon cancer (mother's side) and obesity(dad's side) running in my family, I felt horrible when I still had 50lbs extra on my body. I felt tired, depressed and tried to hide my body from others...
    Now I have more energy, don't get out of breath as easily and my blood pressure stopped (but still slightly high) :)

    LOL your blood pressure stopped? jk, I know what you mean. Great job on improving that and on taking proactive measures to improve your health... and somewhat stop the cycle of being predisposed to something and just accepting. :)

    I totally get what you mean when you say you were depressed and tired, as well as wanting to hide. Been there, still sligthtly battling but I'm on my way.

    haha, geez where was my mind? I'm still alive, it only dropped haha
  • efirkey
    efirkey Posts: 298 Member
    I'm just not ready to get old yet
  • sunsnstatheart
    sunsnstatheart Posts: 2,544 Member
    I feel and look better

    I play with my kids more
  • MyProgressISYour1Proof
    MyProgressISYour1Proof Posts: 376 Member
    Let's see....
    November 2006-my mom passed away and she was really obese and had heart disease
    March 2007-gal bladder removed and they thought I had diabetes...
    December 2009-liver problems
    January 2010-heaviest weight ever of 346.6
    February 2010-liver biopsy done
    March 2010-weight loss journey started
    June 2010-first time registered on a scale at 330.6
    June 2010-same day I fell and hurt my knee real bad...sad had to lose weight to help it but they were both bone on bone due to my weight...
    August 2010-stomach flu and an ovarian cyst found
    October 2010-down 60 so far
    January 2011-ovarian cyst had to be removed due to possibility of cancer
    March 2011-down to 238 by my bday
    June 2011-down to 205 and started the gym
    August 2011-down to 185
    December 2011-down to 165
    ...as I found out on here, starvation mode for about a year but lowest was 153.7 but not eating much...
    January 2013-joined my fitness pal at 157.6
    February 2013-148.4 right now
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    Just going to be honest. I've always had a beautiful, fit body and always taken steps to maintain that. This was the next logical step, as I am getting older (ever-so-slightly) and I want to maintain my fitness, for life, with ease. Health is beauty (and happiness), so I take care of my health and enjoy it.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    My mom is 58 and falling apart at the seams. I do not have a genetic ace-in-the-hole. Her life is limited by the barrage of medical issues she has. NO THANK YOU.
  • ohkaynow
    ohkaynow Posts: 3 Member
    It's great to be able to change your reality! You can make yourself weigh less, be more flexible, pick up things you couldn't...being healthy changes the way you interact with the world. When I was a kid I was pretty overweight and I never knew how to change it...it seemed like destiny for me, and made me very depressed. I lost most of the weight over the last 9 years, and it completely changed how I felt about myself and my body. I've seen a lot of my friends go the other way and settle into their office jobs and adopt a sedentary lifestyle...it is very obvious that they aren't happy about it. I want to keep on gaining muscle and feeling better about how I interact with the world.

    Also, it is really nice to go into a store and just grab things in a size small/extra-small. When I was 15 I would have never even imagined being a small, I was definitely in the XL category. :) Ahhh, it's also nice to be able to buy cute bras instead of the function-over-appearance DD bras, too!
  • hdlb
    hdlb Posts: 333 Member
    I have a few reasons.

    1) I've been on the side of the very sick - twice. 2 mediva'c flights, 2 ICU stays, 2 different worries about my not coming home. Once was my heart (at 17 years old) once was just my body shutting down and a pretty serious case of sepsis. I will do whatever I can to never be in those positions again, even though there was really nothing that I could have done to prevent them in the frist place.

    2) I have 3 kids that I need to be here for, for a long long time. And I want them to see a mom that is active, healthy and happy, and I want them to learn good eating habits by example.

    3) I have Cealic disease. Undiagnosed for over 10 years. 10 years of tests, mal-absorbtion problems and generally feeling like crap before exploding into something pretty horrible at the end. Now that its diagnosed, and my body is starting to work the way it should work, I want to see what it can do. I will be as fit as possible, I will be as active as possible, and I will feed my body the way it needs to be fed to get there.
  • XDiet_SlayerX
    XDiet_SlayerX Posts: 88
    My health is like my money. Although you can only spend it once. I wanted to become healthier because I was tired of my old life and tired of the ridicule I would get from people. Although I mostly did it for myself. I also became a CPT to help others accomplished what I did.

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