What is the reason you decided to lose weight?

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Replies

  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I have lost weight in 2 different waves over the past 5 years. The first time (from 307 lb to 262 lb) it was because I was concerned about health issues in my future and hated the way I looked in photographs. The second time (262 lb to current 184 lb) it's honestly more for vanity reasons. I know that sounds NUTS because I was morbidly obese even this go round and definitely needed to lose a lot...but I felt great, was generally healthy, and it just made me irritated that despite feeling great and being more active & eating nutritious food I was still so heavy.
  • moonmiko
    moonmiko Posts: 2
    It was weird because I kept thinking I looked the same while I was getting bigger. I'm 5'5" and my highest weight was 165 lbs. I am now 123 lbs. I would like to be 115 but I'm not sure if I could maintain at that weight so I would be content with just losing another three!

    At my local grocery store my friends and I decided to try out one of those blood pressure machines and mine was strikingly high compared to my friends. Then I realized my love for junk food wasn't just a habit, it was a lifestyle. A lifestyle that would eventually lead to more health issues beyond high blood pressure. Eventually I started to eat cleaner - and the weight started to come off very quickly. I started indulging in colorful foods (I love kale, red pepper and chickpea salads!) and stopped drinking soda. I counted calories for the first six months and while I still glance at the nutrition label every now and then, it's really helped me eyeball good size portions in a hurry. Everyone kept commenting on how slim I had gotten and that only motivated me more. It wasn't until I hit 130 that I started exercising too. I can see my legs shaping up and my belly becoming flat!

    I'm very happy :).
  • Anonycatgirl
    Anonycatgirl Posts: 502 Member
    Looking fifty in the face and deciding that I wanted to stay active and healthy as long as possible, instead of turning into my mom and being almost housebound due to medical problems as a senior citizen. (Not saying that losing weight and gaining muscle earlier in life would have saved my mom from all her issues--it wouldn't--but it might have helped keep her active and having a fun life longer.)
  • keeponkickin
    keeponkickin Posts: 1,520 Member
    I was digging my own premature grave. I refuse to die early because of my lifestyle. It had to change.
  • karmac0matic
    karmac0matic Posts: 285
    when i see pictures of myself like with family and whatnot, i hate how my face looks when i'm smiling. it's rather round (luckily i have no double chin) but i have chubby-ish cheeks.

    this time last year, i weighed around what my current goal weight is and i really liked how my face looked, if a little skeletal. i'd rather skeletal than fat, just my personal preference.

    also, my bf finds me way sexier when i'm thinner. he claims it doesn't matter but when his you-know-what is up 5x as often, i can tell ;P
  • PinkyPan1
    PinkyPan1 Posts: 3,018 Member
    I had a heart attack in January and had to make some changes. I quit smoking and changed my relationship with food. I have always hated to exercise and now I wake up and can not wait to get moving. I am 53 and I have been given a second chance and I am embracing it.
  • mgleason01
    mgleason01 Posts: 78 Member
    I reached a point where I was wearing a shawl with every outfit. One day I forgot my shawl and freaked out. My weight and my midsection had gotten out of control. All my clothes were tight and I refused to go up a size. And so the journey began and continues to this day.
  • angelatoth
    angelatoth Posts: 3 Member
    When my weight starts creeping to 150lbs, it's time to take control of my eating habits and get back in the routine of cleaning eating.
  • writer190
    writer190 Posts: 51 Member
    Getting to be a bra size that isn't carried in almost any US stores. :frown: Chest size also began to inhibit exercise. I decided I wanted to consider a reduction, but I wanted to see if weight loss would do the trick first.

    And I haven't liked the way I look in photos for a while.

    Also, I broke my collarbone, and so kind of like RKB said on the previous page, MFP was a nice way to fill the time I have to spend resting, and the weight loss makes me feel productive.
  • Geoj0
    Geoj0 Posts: 145 Member
    i seen my picture in local papers and online at a charity event id organised.. i didnt recognise myself , everyone that was in the pics with me were half my size and i used to always be the skinny one ... plus i had problems physicaly keeping up with them and some were twice my age , there is loads of other events i have to attend since its my charity and some are extreme activities which i can't partake in because of my health.
  • emtbsara
    emtbsara Posts: 9 Member
    In 2009 I went to Hawaii on my dream vacation. When I saw myself in pictures I looked like I could have eaten this little Hawain guy that I had my arm around for the picture! After that I had my second child. I only gained 18 lbs with him and he weighed over 9! In 2013 I went on a trip with my dad. I felt fat in my swimsuit going to the hotel hot tub with my armload of lime-a-Rita's. The next morning, I found the hotel gym and decided to work out everyday for the rest of that week and eat about half of what I normally would. It totally worked and I kept it up when I got home. Next thing I knew I was jogging half marathons and boxing. I'm 5'9" and I weigh 148-150. Feel much better and don't ever plan to go back to those 190 lb days.
  • gmcoulombe
    gmcoulombe Posts: 14 Member
    Because I want to say I did it. I want to be proud that I stuck it out and actually accomplished a goal I set.
    I want to feel good in the clothes I already own and be able to spend my hard earned cash on clothes that are smaller... not bigger.
    I also want to be able to try any activity and not be scared I will look like a fool because I can't physically do it.
    I've always been big but I don't want that statement to be true anymore.
  • Swilla_Swole
    Swilla_Swole Posts: 333 Member
    Click on my profile and you shall see....
  • pawoodhull
    pawoodhull Posts: 1,759 Member
    Because we went to Hawaii for our 25th anniversary and I had to sit and watch my husband do several things I couldn't do and then having the same thing happen in several other vacation locations in the next 12 years until I was 386 pounds and had almost no mobility left. I finally got it through my thick head that my weight really was interfering with my life and I just couldn't lie to myself about it anymore. So 160 off and just 66 more to go to goal!
  • chocolatexxmintt
    chocolatexxmintt Posts: 85 Member
    Because I want to look good and feel good about myself. Having weight on really messes with your self-esteem.
  • lightblueeyes
    lightblueeyes Posts: 13 Member
    As bad as this sounds...for me, it literally was a roller coaster. The roller coaster was not the reason, but it was the wake up call I needed to kick my butt into gear!! I had been saying "I need to lose weight" for a while, but did nothing about it really. I am on high blood pressure medicine and the doc said if I lose weight and eat better - I can get rid of those pills. I started a half-hearted attempt at exercising, but had a hard time sticking with it...just not much motivation. Then...I went to Six Flags with my sister...and my *kitten* was too wide for the seat of my favorite roller coaster. I was able to ride, but I was wedged in sideways - I used to fit into that seat with room to spare!!! Talk about your own personal humiliation!! That was a serious wake up call...not fitting into my favorite roller coaster at Six Flags was the first tangible thing that happened where I could say to myself...ok, it is NOT "just a few pounds". So here I am...I am going to be 40 in October, I am a decent looking gal...at least I was 60 pounds ago. I was never the "fat kid", but I became the "overweight gal" when I took a desk job and the weight slowly crept on. My daily activity had become so sedentary and I did not compensate for that with my diet and exercise. So over the last 10 years...I have packed on about 60 pounds. I am trying to make lifestyle changes with diet and exercise that I can sustain for the long term. I have tried this diet and that diet and lost 20-30 pounds several times only to gain it back when I went off the diet. I have discovered since I started tracking my food here that the foods I perceived as "healthy" are often times loaded with more calories, fat and sodium that I had imagined. My problem is lunch, I work in an area of Atlanta where the population is predominantly lower-to middle class income and there are mostly fast food joints and inexpensive food options...which unfortunately, does not always translate into healthy options. But, I have made some changes already that have given me the motivation to keep it up and I know once I start to see real results...that will motivate me even further.
  • thalia8424
    thalia8424 Posts: 12 Member
    i'm turning 30 in 4 months...looking back on some photos of myself from 10 years ago, 55 lbs lighter than i am currently...that was enough motivation right there. determined to not be just another chubby mom!
  • myfitnesspale3
    myfitnesspale3 Posts: 276 Member
    Cool thread!

    1. because I hit 200# naked - a personal red-line for only 6-feet-tall! 210# with clothes on the Higi station at the grocery-store. Decided to get to a "normal" BMI range.
    2. because my fasting glucose is pre-diabetic
    3. because I read "Grain Brain" in January - sugar and wheat could be neurotoxins, inflammatory, etc.
    4. and then weight seemed more controllable, because I learned carbs cause hunger
    5. because diabetes, dementia and Alzheimer's runs in my family
  • Laura8603
    Laura8603 Posts: 590 Member
    I had just adopted my second child as a single mom and knew I had to be healthy for my kids. Now that I am healthy, my motivation to keep the weight off is pure vanity ; )
  • Sporttster
    Sporttster Posts: 433 Member
    Pants kept getting tighter....and thighter....AND tighter! Blood pressure was creeping up....as was the blood sugar,sitting at 99 right on the border of pre diabetes and it's on my dads side of the family. Out of breath doing the simplest things. Gut growing bigger and bigger. Time for change!! So far in about four months time I've lost 16 lbs, from 235 to 219 ( 6' 1") and with lots of weight training and cardio, everything is lining up healthier. Heart rate is 60bpm instead of 90 resting. Energy is up, tone is way up. Goal is to get to 205-210 range so I've got a couple months to go to hit it yet. Wanna get that flat, toned stomach and up the muscles! Used to have the washboard abs, that's where I'm headed again....

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