Karlottap wrote: »

@Kathrout1973, I would have him on LCHF in a heart beat! Wouldn't it be wonderful if you saw improvements with his conditions that eased his suffering some? It would be hard to cheer that loud in a forum like this, but I would!!!

I will keep you informed of how it affects him - he has only half heartedly started it, but he has been eating crap for too long so its going to be small steps for him but he is definitely up for trying and has also told me not to buy any more crap for him and he is going to be eating like me - we have nicknamed it our Dino diet LOL - he is obsessed with dinosaurs (especially meat eating ones like the T-Rex)

I have two motivation. First control my diabetes without medication. Second be healthy to keep up with the kids and be involved in their active life style. Like this summer I am coaching my son's soccer team...well they are only 5y old but at 235lbs I wouldn't be able to do it now although I'm 34 week pregnant I can handle it kind of easily...if it's not 35degree C

I hate to admit it, but my motivation is just plain old vanity.

I do have health challenges -- I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and it was never properly controlled until recently. I'm also a decade post-menopausal, and though that didn't cause weight gain, it did cause intractable, severe, chronic insomnia. I was put on bio-identical progesterone to help with that, and though it did, it also caused me to gain a lot of weight in about a month or two, most of it on my chest and stomach. And it won't come off. Just won't - and I have never had trouble losing weight in the past. Calorie-restricted diets don't seem to work any more; I get too hungry at night and can't sleep.

But those things aside, I just can't stand the sight of myself. I can't stand oozing out of the top and sides of my bra. I hate the blubber on my belly. MY ARMS WOBBLE!!!!

Vanity. Pure vanity.

My motivation is loaded, everything from health to vanity. I want to reset the insulin resistance, get off the metformin, and get off of the thyroid med. I'm hoping to see improvement in my psoriasis, body pain (Fibro.). I want to look better, I want to wear all my fabulous clothes from 4yrs ago. I want to be able to run around and be crazy active with my son.

We all have some awesome reasons for starting on a healthy lifestyle.
Mine is simple. I was diagnosed with t2 diabetes. I've already got some retinopathy and a1c is high. My dad and grandmother have it and I don't want the complications they have had.
I also want to e able to have more energy. Used to be when I'd get off work I'd fall asleep on the bus. When I got home I'[d fall asleep on the couch. I want to fix that.

Mine have changed over time, as I have slowly improved myself.

Start: tired of being a disgusting, heaving mass, that looks like a pile of laundry covered in mayonnaise.
After losing 30 lbs: starting to feel better, and am convinced that it will continue to get better, so long as I don't let myself lapse back.
After 80 lbs.: holy crap, I almost have a human shape. This is getting good.
After 100 lbs.: *kitten* it, why stop now?
After 115 lbs: okay, that's enough, time to maintain, so I can make sure my numbers are on point, eat all the things, and get back to wrecking weights.

As you can see, as the progress went on, it went from "need motivation", to the process and progress itself being the motivation. Trust me, it sucks at first, but as soon as you realize that each day, there's a good chance that you'll wake up, look at yourself in the mirror, and see more veins starting to try to peek through the skin on your abdomen, you need no other motivation.
Jamie Lewis put it best for me: nothing will ever taste as good as being lean feels.

I used to be really fit - I floated up hills in 100 mile mountain bike races, lifted respectable weights in the weight room, and could effortlessly backpack all the trails. Then I got complacent.

15 years and 60 pounds (now 43) later I woke up and all I could think was, "What the *kitten* did I do to myself?".

I want my life back. Fitness for me means more confidence, more competence, and more liberty.

I am learning to love myself. It's a weird, squirrelly process filled with successes and failures. One of the things I know about me that makes me love myself is that I am an athlete. I can bike 50 miles in the Colorado mountains. I can run half marathons and feel strong afterwards. When I weight train, I lift respectable amounts of weight. I swim a hard, fast long distance.

But my body does not love the carbs I was consuming to fuel all that. My body loves the idea of becoming diabetic.

My motivation is to eat awesome and delicious food (OMG BACON YAAASS) to fuel my beloved workouts, and I've finally realized I love being a strong athlete more than I love bagels and cookies and cake and pizza on a puffy crust.