What Finally Motivated You to Lose Weight?

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  • haydiz70
    haydiz70 Posts: 56 Member
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    I was having health issues - out of breath, high blood pressure, knee problems, etc. But what really did it was seeing a photo of my son's birthday party and not recognizing a fat lady in the pic. It was me. Ha! That was a total wake up call because I had no idea I was THAT overweight.
  • larali1980
    larali1980 Posts: 162 Member
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    vespiquenn wrote: »
    courtniekrebs wrote: »
    Mine started with an Ultimatum from my BF. Be at 135 by June or we're done. I started at 175 and now am at 155. Here recently two of my really good friends are competing in figure/bikini competitions so that's inspired me to work hard and have a goal and not just do it for a stupid guy.. LOL

    .. You need a new boyfriend. That is a horrible thing to do to a person.

    Yeah I agree. That is manipulative and shallow in the worst way. OMG.

    I guess my husband would prefer it if I was thin (like I used to be when we were dating), however, he knows better (and respects/ loves me too much) to say it!
  • xXxWhitneyxXx
    xXxWhitneyxXx Posts: 119 Member
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    vespiquenn wrote: »
    courtniekrebs wrote: »
    Mine started with an Ultimatum from my BF. Be at 135 by June or we're done. I started at 175 and now am at 155. Here recently two of my really good friends are competing in figure/bikini competitions so that's inspired me to work hard and have a goal and not just do it for a stupid guy.. LOL

    .. You need a new boyfriend. That is a horrible thing to do to a person.

    This. Jesus your BF sounds like an *kitten* ... sorry.
  • brittyn3
    brittyn3 Posts: 481 Member
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    I'm just miserable when I'm not working out/being healthy. I feel bad about myself, I feel uncomfortable in clothes, I'm disappointed in my weight gain, etc. I gained half the weight back that I lost. As frustrating as it is to see numbers on the scale I vowed to never see again - it's amazing watching them tick off. I've learned a lot about myself in the past year and being healthy makes me much happier than eating whatever I want and sitting on my butt.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
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    For me, it was a combination of things. Some were chronic: lower back pain from too much weight and the onset of minor arthritis, blood pressure getting a bit high, cholesterol getting a bit high. Some were annoyances, like finding airplane seats too narrow for comfort. But probably the single most important motivation was wanting to climb hills faster on my bicycle, which is a lot easier at 148 pounds than it was when I weighed 215!
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
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    I got into a serious relationship (we've since married) and realized that I wanted a long, happy, healthy life with him. I was never overweight per BMI but I was heavy for my frame and totally unfit and slowly creeping higher every year and I realized that spending the rest of my life drinking wine and eating cookies almost every day and never exercising wasn't going to help me stay strong and active and healthy as I aged. I want us to be able to hike and ski and travel together when we're old, not spend our weekends on the couch, and I don't want to end up with bad knees/back or illnesses I could have prevented by taking better care of myself.

    It's been about three years since I lost 25 lbs and started exercising like I mean it, and my life is so much better for it. We hiked for eight days in the Andes for our honeymoon and walk everywhere and eat mostly vegetables and I feel so much better than I did when I was scraping the top of a "healthy" weight and scarfing snacks and stuff. I'm running 35-40 miles a week, I'm lifting weights, I'm eating nutrient-dense food almost all the time, and I'm doing as much as I can to keep up with my gym-rat husband so we can be those old jerks climbing mountains and stuff when we retire.
  • courtniekrebs
    courtniekrebs Posts: 79 Member
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    No we are still together. I just found another focus. If by June I'm not good enough oh well. My friend did a bikini competition and its inspired me to work hard. It's now about me and not what he wants
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    courtniekrebs wrote: »
    No we are still together. I just found another focus. If by June I'm not good enough oh well.

    oh hunny.

    leave now. i dont care how *kitten* hot you become, a piece of you is not what HE deserves......

    my ex might be a lot of things, but he always loved me and wanted me, no matter my weight.....
  • twhaley1990
    twhaley1990 Posts: 140 Member
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    The first time was in high school when I hit double digits in pants size. The second time was after college when I wanted to lose 5 lbs and get healthier for my acting career, which actually resulted in a 15 lb weight loss
  • motterotter
    motterotter Posts: 701 Member
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    courtniekrebs wrote: »
    No we are still together. I just found another focus. If by June I'm not good enough oh well. My friend did a bikini competition and its inspired me to work hard. It's now about me and not what he wants

    Stop . You will always be better than a shallow immature man who makes you feel not good enough because of a number on a scale
    Looks like the number that really matters to you is the number he did on your self esteem
    Its your decision to stay with him but someone like that does not respect you for who you are and that is what comes across as the most obvious thing in your post
    Look it can be hard to have self respect you have to accept that health includes mental health and that means you have to love and respect yourself first
    When the whole of society looks down on you for being overweight and the overwhelming message is you are less of a person if you weigh more its very hard to have a positive attitude
    But when you have someone you love telling you his love is on one condition then you have to know its his way of controlling you
    Lose weight for yourself to be healthy lose the loser bf for your self esteem


  • bspringer544
    bspringer544 Posts: 155 Member
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    SweetestLibby wrote: »
    My sister has had Type 1 diabetes since she was 12 - as a result she has been through kidney failure twice (her's plus transplanted kidneys). The hardest thing I have ever had to endure was to be told that I was a match for my sister but at 5 foot 4 and 215 pounds I wasn't healthy enough to donate. I need to get healthy - if not for me then for her.

    It took 2 years but I lost 100 pounds. I decided that I wanted to be more muscular for I gained 5 pounds of muscle to make it 95 pounds lost. I maintained there for 2 years and in the last couple of years I've picked up 25 pounds with life changes. I'm down 5 with 20 more to go. My sister hasn't been healthy enough to go through the transplant process again but I want to stay healthy just in case she is.

    That's a painful wake up call! I wish you both luck and good health!
    courtniekrebs wrote: »
    Mine started with an Ultimatum from my BF. Be at 135 by June or we're done. I started at 175 and now am at 155. Here recently two of my really good friends are competing in figure/bikini competitions so that's inspired me to work hard and have a goal and not just do it for a stupid guy.. LOL

    Dump the guy. Do it for yourself. Find a better fellow who appreciates you for you.

    My motivations:

    1. Hitting 220 for the first time. Boo!
    2. I've always wanted to participate in obstacle runs, specifically Spartan and Run for Your Lives.
    3. I like hiking in the mountains and it would be nice to do so without carrying the equivalent of my dog in extra weight...
  • jessicaerfer906
    jessicaerfer906 Posts: 6 Member
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    I had lost almost 80lbs between getting engaged and my husband returning from deployment to Afghanistan. I was able to focus on myself - workout and cook healthy. But I was a hermit. Never spent time with friends, only focused on weight loss. When he returned, we pretty quickly went though IVF and I got pregnant. The lack of serious exercise saw the number creep back up. I also had an OB that, every time she saw me, would comment on my weight. It made me feel awful about myself and my pregnancy. She ended up basing my car on my weight and I had to have an emergency c section after tons of interventions that she blames on my weight but were from the cord being around my sons neck. It had nothing to do with me. My physical recovery was would and I couldn't walk for months without pain. My mental recovery is ongoing. As a result of my depression, I sought comfort in food, my old friend. I gained everything back and then some in 2 years.

    I am sick of being fat and unhealthy. I hate the way I look and the way I feel. My motivation is to be alive for a long time to watch my son grow in to a man and become a grandparent myself. But the emotional struggle tied to my pregnancy and birth make it a fight every day to not sit on the sofa and find comfort in ice cream. I started with a trainer and restarted with MFP recently and am focusing on small victories like getting to the gym and not eating from my sons high chair tray.

    I want to lose 120 but it won't happen quickly. There's nothing wrong with that.

    Feel free to add me as a friend!
  • onicaodelle
    onicaodelle Posts: 2 Member
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    TheChrissyT wrote: »
    I just really want to be who I feel I am on the inside. I am full of life. I am adventurous. I am strong and outgoing. I have always had a lot of love to give, but I've never given any of it to myself! I had a bit of a mental collapse involving a great deal of awful events that were out of my control coinciding, and I killed myself through it trying to make everyone else happy (and failing), and I broke. I hated myself, my life, my looks, everyhing. I was desperate to not feel the way I was feeling anymore so I started doing affirmations, listening to self help youtube videos, anything.... slowly I started to come out of the dark and on my way decided that I couldn't keep trying to pour from an empty cup, and decided that my health and happiness matter too. Being healthy mentally and being healthy physically are linked for me. I cant be one without the other so I decided I would do both. 70lbs later, I'm half way through to where I want to be and I truly feel like I'm shedding off what I never was and exposing who I've always been.

    Thank you for letting me know it's not just me.
  • mom2my4boys
    mom2my4boys Posts: 148 Member
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    I had a horrible dream one night that I up and died of a heart attack, leaving my husband alone to raise our 4 boys. That combined with spending a couple years taking care of my mother for completely preventable weight related medical issues. At the same time I had recently turned 30 and realized that in the past 10 yrs I had gained 100 lbs. (I've been overweight since childhood, I was 200 lbs before having 4 kids) I thought to myself that at the rate I was going i'd be close to 400lbs by 40. That just wasn't gonna happen!!!

    That was 2 1/2 yrs ago. I've gotten as low as 172lbs, struggled (mostly working out HARD and eating 1300 calories and stalling out now i'm trying out working out HARD and eating 2000 calories and i'm loosing much faster!)

    I hope this time is the time it sticks for you :smile:
  • airangel59
    airangel59 Posts: 1,887 Member
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    May 2012 got diagnosed with Type 2. BMI 44%
    June 2012 found MFP
    March 2014 hit goal (but have subsequently lost 15 more pounds) BMI 20.4%
    No more Type 2, no more hypertension, no more high chol/triglycerides....off the 5 meds I was on for all this.

    It is do-able. One day, one pound, one step at a time.

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  • SisterSueGetsFit
    SisterSueGetsFit Posts: 1,211 Member
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    courtniekrebs wrote: »
    Mine started with an Ultimatum from my BF. Be at 135 by June or we're done. I started at 175 and now am at 155. Here recently two of my really good friends are competing in figure/bikini competitions so that's inspired me to work hard and have a goal and not just do it for a stupid guy.. LOL

    That guy is a loser. Dump him first.
  • PamOliva
    PamOliva Posts: 101 Member
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    My primary motivation was getting right with my relationship with food. I was miserable that food controlled me and knew I would always yo yo if I couldn't fix that. I spent the last year working on that so when the weight started going away it would stay away. I cannot over-emphasize how important that was for me. I learned to trust myself around food. I regained my power & confidence.
  • kiddiebqueen17
    kiddiebqueen17 Posts: 100 Member
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    My inner thighs started rubbing together when I walked... and it was ruining my clothes.
  • Cdona111
    Cdona111 Posts: 13 Member
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    I too was on diet after diet starting in junior high. In my early 20s I got motivated and lost 50 pounds. Not super skinny but good for me. Then years went by. I got married and had 2 kids. Stay at home mom. Bam, I was 100 pounds over my adult "low".

    I still couldn't get motivated. Then I started having heart palpitations and had some bloodwork done and discovered I was prediabetic. That was it for me. After watching my mom and grandma deal with diabetes I said "Hell no!!!!"

    I reduced carbs, cut out ALL sweets and started walking. I've lost 45 pounds and my cholesterol, etc has gone way down. I still need to lose another 50 pounds and have plateaued but I will fight pre-diabetes tooth and nail!!!

    Take charge of your health now. Don't end up in your 40s (or sooner - who knows how long I held it off by losing the weight in my 20s) staring down a serious health problem.
  • RetroPolkaDot
    RetroPolkaDot Posts: 83 Member
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    My mom has type 2 diabetes. She went on insulin this past summer. That scared me and made me get serious about my weight and health before it became too late.
    I was tired of feel tired and frumpy.

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