why are we doing this?

I was just fed up of being fat. My best friend had lost 3-4 stone and was looking for a training partner. I found out I loved weight lifting. Unfortunately he stopped training a year ago but I'm still at it!

I started off because I wanted to be appealing to the opposite sex. I put some of the weight back on. As I got a little older I'm doing it for my self and it feels right!

Congratulations on your loss!

My reasons were medical initially. Then after those were taken care of, vanity. I love the way I feel and look right now. I like feeling sexy, strong and fit.

I was fed up of not looking good in any clothes. I would look longingly at gorgeous dresses etc, but know that i couldnt wear them because i was too fat. 1 stone down, a bit more to go, but already i look better in clothes than i have in a long time.

I'm too cheap to buy larger sizes in clothes so started losing weight to make sure I don't have to buy bigger. Unfortunately I've now lost so much I'm having to buy smaller.

First off, congratulations on your loss .

I started my journey because, though I was pretty active, my eating habits were terrible. After cleaning up my diet, I decided to start changing how my body looked as well. My reason for starting my journey was because I wanted to live a longer, stronger, more active life but my motivation is my husband. He's very encouraging and loves cheering me on during my workouts lol. We don't have any children just yet but I plan to continue this lifestyle even after having kids.

It wasn't anything big. I've always been obese so I didn't miss my skinny clothes, because I never had any. I didn't get fed up with being fat, because it's all I've known. It wasn't new medication, because I've been on medication for pre-diabetes since I was 13. It wasn't even some big revelation of how I need to lose weight.

I just decided. I noticed I'd put on a few new pounds since moving to my sister's house, so I was looking for free weight watchers information (because weight watchers is expensive) when I found a link for MFP. It didn't take any convincing. I signed up and haven't looked back in the last month.

9 1/2lbs down, 120+ to go

Stress relief is why I started. The only thing that would make me feel better was boxing, then I got into lifting. Haven't unintentionally missed a day yet and that was three and a half yrs ago. The gym is my personal therapy!

There are numerous reasons - firstly, I want to be fit again, I hate not having the energy to run up a flight of stairs. Secondly, I don't like buying new clothes and so I must do something to fit back into the ones I already have. And I also want to lose the weight because I am a bit embarrassed I gained it in the first place. And the reason I would like to emphasise the least is that I remember when I was at my lowest weight, I ran into an old schoolmate who I hadn't seen in a couple of years. His utter astonishment when he said "wow, you've gotten so thin" was very flattering.
I know that the reasons for weight loss should be mostly personal, not about trying to impress other people or to conform to any "standards", but there's still that little piece of me who wants to look good in the eyes of other people. But I'm working on my self esteem and focussing on the more positive reasons why to lose weight (like better overall fitness and a healthier body).

1) to look good most specially in pictures
2) so I can easily fit to any dress I want
3) to be back to healthy life style as I always had before marriage and to prevent sickness of any kind, prevention is better than cure

I've been trying to lose weight for most of my life, but never truly doing my best. It, at first, was because I wanted to be happy with my body and look good wearing whatever I wanted to. Now, it is mainly for health reasons, but also so I can have my family be healthy, and a little bit so that I can look good too.

I really want to know who healthy Deanna is. I've never known her.

I want to feel better and have more energy. I am tired of trying to find clothes I can wear that I don't look pregnant in. People at work were asking if I was pregnant. I was just tired of being fat.

Well, I've gained and lost the same 20 lbs for years, but this time around is different. For me it started when I changed jobs, I went from a job where I worked on my feet and was absolutely miserable (probably partially because I was overweight and unhealthy) to a whole new job sitting at a desk with substantially less stress. I found that the first week I was so uncomfortable sitting down, my stomach hung over my too tight pants, and, not used to sitting all day, in two weeks I gained 8 more lbs on top of my substantial girth, I never felt good I wasn't sleeping well I had all kinds of aches and pains and my favorite thing to do was just sit on the couch and snack which obviously didn't help anything. I ended up buying bigger pants to be comfortable and started walking in the hopes of maybe keeping more lbs from piling on. after a few months I moved in with my dad, together we watched several health and fitness documentaries which really changed my outlook and motivated us both. he has been my frequent gym and walking partner for 6 months, I have not lost much weight but I have gained a lot of muscle and i am much more comfortable in my skin (although there is a long way still to go) not so much muffin top over my jeans now, they're getting too big!

I was fed up of being tired all the time, and ultimately felt that getting progressively more and more overweight was not helping. Ive got two young children and I wanted to set a good example to them, plus give myself the best chance of being around for as long as possible to meet the grandchildren (and great grandchildren), assuming they have them of course. Now Ive dropped 40lbs and gotten into much better shape, its by far and away the best decision I ever made.. I just wish I had done it sooner...