What is YOUR motivation?

One morning I was sitting on the side of my bed with my 4 month old and I looked at my arms and face and noticed how much of a change I had gone through- for the worse. I cried and told myself I hated myself. That's when I realized that I needed a change. I had already been going to the gym and kind of watching what I eat but after that I decided I really needed to do something. I don't want to wake up everyday for the rest of my life hating myself for the way I look. Even just being back in the gym for a week i feel better about myself, but still know I have a long road ahead of me..

I have typical motivation like everyone else..wanting to look fit and trim….all of that. But I saw a fatty heart on the Dr. Oz show and that was an eye opener. He said people with fat around the waist and chest have fat on their organs.

It isn't about vanity so much any longer. That vision of that fatty heart keeps me on track more than a pair of skinny jeans any day.

I didn't look in the mirror or at a picture and say, "You're fat, you need to lose weight." My motivation was just one question I asked myself over summer vacation from work and that was, "Why not?" I'm home from work, I can take my son to the daycare at the gym where he can socialize. It was better than sitting around, eating because I'm bored, over eating and gaining more weight. Now that I've been back at it for almost 60 days, I still have this attitude of, I can either sit around and get more fat and damage my organs, or I can make a comitment to myself to get up 3x a week, eat better, feel better and maybe lose some weight (:

I have the same motivation. I figured that if I'm going to be home for the summer I might as well make it worthwhile.

Not being able to move, tie my shoes, clip my toenails, do normal toiletries, walk far, walk near, shop without sitting down a lot, breathe, eat normal, stop eating, bend over, pick things from the floor, get up off the floor, wear my wedding ring, play with my kids, ride a bike, wash the car, buy normal size clothes, etc etc

I was tired of feeling sick after eating every meal from all of the processed foods, I want to be healthy for my son, and I dont want to die young of heart disease like my Grandma and Uncle did.

That is awesome and your weight lost is great ☆.´ `. ☽¸.☆ :happy:

I didn't look in the mirror or at a picture and say, "You're fat, you need to lose weight." My motivation was just one question I asked myself over summer vacation from work and that was, "Why not?"

Mine was kind of a "why not?" moment too. I had recently been through a very different kind of overhaul/transformation that took 5 years and included MANY moments of sheer hell on earth. And I survived. And I didn't give up… although many times a DAY I would say that I was. I realized I was capable of doing hard things and to keep it up. I started thinking "why not channel that into weight loss?" If I only lost a pound a week… it would still take less time than the other one did! I already knew that I had faced uglier demons than my weight… and I had experienced greater pain than anything exercise would produce.

Don't get me wrong… I am enjoying (and look forward to) looking better, having more energy, not having to worry about potential health problems (I hadn't really had any yet… but there was always the possibility that it would catch up to me)… but what really got me started was that "why not" moment.

My motivation was an old pair of boxing trunks. During a recent move we 'found' a bunch of stuff we had forgotten about, including my old boxing trunks. It was absolutely disgusting when I held them up and realized I could hardly get one leg in them now. It was such an eye-opener. I have put the weight on so gradually I guess I just never realized how big I had gotten.

I lost the weight and maintained for 1.5 yrs. bought a lot of cute clothes. Stopped logging and weighing myself and now find 18 extra lbs. clothes don't fit. I am sick of waking up every morning thinking about this. Enough.

My motivation is to fit back into clothes and free my mind of all this extra garbage.

My motivation as well... 40 in August!!!

I just want to be healthy. I am already happy. But I didn't want my weight and my unhealthy lifestyle to cause problems for me in the future. I didn't want to be riddled with health problems, I didn't want to be out of breath just doing housework. And I want to be able to keep up with my boyfriend and our family (when that time comes). I can't get sick or not be able to enjoy all the adventures we want to have, not with something I could have prevented by taking the steps I've started taking.

I want to go into public health education when I am done with school, specifically educating women on how to prevent cardiovascular disease...which, as we all have heard, has a lot to do with a healthy diet and exercise. It finally hit me that women probably wouldn't listen to me talk about how important a healthy lifestyle is if I'm talking to them as an overweight woman myself.

Rock on. Hopefully, being able to draw on personal experience will give your message more punch.

My kids are a HUGE motivation for me. I have a six and a four year old and I want to have the energy to run and play with them. I don't want them to be embarrassed of me and I want to teach them what healthy looks like.