What motivates you?

I am motivated by remember how I felt before and comparing it to how I feel now. I am a confident woman. And I don't ever want to go back to feeling ashamed to walk out of my house. I wear my confidence as a badge of honor, so to speak.

Up until very recently I have been motivated by how my excess weight is starting to disable me. It's become difficult or painful to get up from the floor​ or put socks on or walk any distance.

But something else happened two weeks ago. My husband doesn't cook. He eats what I make and I serve meats and vegetables which I prefer to eat but also bread and rice that he also likes. One day he said I needn't bother with bread since only he eats it. Ok. Then I noticed he was leaving at least a quarter of the rice uneaten. Then I noticed he was eating the hard boiled eggs I keep on hand instead of bagels for his breakfast. I'm suspicious.

Since he hasn't mentioned the desire to lose weight I'm not going to call him out on it, but I sort of have the ridiculous feeling that he has taken up my activity and is going to show me up with his success at it. Well, I'll be damned if I'm going to be out done by an amateur!

Since that time, I have not strayed from my calorie buget one single time. I'm super motivated. I know it's shallow of me, but I'll take it anyway.

I'm motivated by a few things right now:

1. How uncomfortable it is to be overweight (even just a little). My legs don't stay crossed as well, I can't stretch as far b/c my belly gets in the way....things like that. Sitting on the floor was too uncomfortable. I have 2 kids under 4 so I'm always on the floor!
2. When I workout my mental clarity and ability to be positive despite the hard parts of being a Stay At Home Mom (SAHM) are taken care of. I'm a better and more positive human, wife, and mama when I take care of myself with good food and exercise!
3. $. This sounds strange, but being able to continue to wear my pre baby #2 clothes is HIGHLY motivating. We don't have the $ for me to keep needing new (larger) clothes. I want more kids sooner rather than later so my goal is to stay in these clothes or drop a little more before more kids come so I don't keep putting on another 10/20lbs every time. (4 kids total, not a bazillion! Haha!)
4. At this point my own success is motivating me. I'm easily fitting into pre baby #2 pants. I can start to pull out pre baby #1 pants! I'm still nursing so my tops don't fit and won't until that's done

I guess just me.

Oh and tight dresses and Brazilian cut bikini bottoms. Yup.

I bet $125 on Jan 1 that I could lose 10% of my weight by June 30th. Weigh in monthly with intermediate goals.

I've just barely been scraping by, but it keeps me going when I'm tempted to say "good enough" and quit. Half the money goes to the last weight in, so I *have* to get to 150 by the end of June. I'm at about 156, so it's in sight but still requires vigilance and work.