What keeps motivating you?

Sports! Aerial arts, in particular. When I find a certain pose or combination is easier than usual, or I'm able to do something I couldn't do the week before, I know what I'm doing is working and that I just gotta keep working at it. It is a huge confidence booster and a fantastic motivation.

I keep a note on my phone of motivational quotes and sayings that speak to me. These relate to fitness as well as other areas of my life I’d like to improve. When I feel motivation lagging I take a look those quotes and feel better. I have a Pinterest vision board as well relating to fashion, travel, fitness, and motivation.

For me it's feeling like a different person. I really changed from age 30 to 40. I made a big transformation in so many ways even though the most obvious externally was of course my 100+ weight loss. Remembering how I felt before vs. now motivates me.

seltzermint555 wrote: »

Remembering how I felt before vs. now motivates me.

^^^ Mostly this, but including:

*ability to get up and go when I feel like it, and feeling like it a lot

*recovering the urge for nervous movement I had thirty years ago versus the “planted on the couch moving the feeding arm” limited range of motion

* Ability to try - and accomplish- new poses, new skills, new exercises without fear of “she’s too fat/will fail” side eyes

* Smaller and better clothes. Who knew there was a pretty cool fashion sense buried under that extra 90 pounds?

* overcoming the GERD from Hell, the constant exhaustion, and the lack of sleep

* my muscles. I don’t flaunt them but they are a constant, secret source of delight. Well hello there, little guys!

To still be decent at running, jumping, climbing, kickboxing and an occasional break dancing move on the floor. I like sports and am always marveled at by my fitness when I play with guys 20+ years younger than me. At 57 I can still run a 5.5 sec 40 yard dash. By no means fast, but not slow either.


A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

My motivation is my kids. I have two young daughters who need their Dad. My father passed when I was in my early 20’s, and I must do all I can to stay here for my princesses. I am recovering from heart surgery, and failure is not an option!!!

mpkpbk2015 wrote: »

My motivation is I can sleep all the way through the night and not have to get up and go to the bathroom. When I was 227 pounds I had an overactive bladder and had to get up several times a night even when I stopped drinking liquids at 6:30. I also don't have to take reflux meds anymore, and I am no longer pre-diabetic. My biggest motivator is looking at my old pictures and putting them next to my current pictures two years later and remembering how I felt and never wanting to go back and feeing like that way again. See for your self.

Ooooooh!!!!! New picture! Those are some bad *kitten* arms, my friend!!!! You go, girl!!!!!!

ManlyMutt wrote: »

88olds wrote: »

Any hope for working things out with the machine? The thing I really hated about the CPAP was what it stood for. I found it humiliating.

But that said, after the first time I got some real sleep with it, I was in. Fact is the thing saved my life.

I would have never made the changes I’ve been able to make without real sleep. Before the machine I probably hadn’t actually slept in years.

I was SUPER excited to get my CPAP machine! I had been wanting to get one for awhile but without insurance it took me awhile to save up for both the at home sleep study and CPAP machine. I became super frustrated trying everything to sleep with it because I knew how good it would make me feel. I cried when my mind would freak out for no reason. Like why did my mind fight this when I wanted it so bad? I've had friends that went on a CPAP and I could SEE the difference in how they were not just how they explained how much better they felt. It's a huge motivator knowing that if I lose the weight I can feel that way without the CPAP. I agree, I think if I slept better I'd have more energy to workout with more intensity and lose more weight. I have not been able to psychologically convince myself to give it another try as much as I would like to. I tried it for a couple months spent $100's on therapy and still couldn't get it to work. Spending close to $2,000 over all on trying to take to something and not being able to was very frustrating, but it also is a bigger driver on not giving up on weight loss and actually being successful in something.

Which mask style are you using (well, trying to use)? Would changing that be of any help, unless you've already tried the alternatives?

I have sleep apnea, have had various mask styles, haven't really struggled with any of them (just how I'm wired), but they do vary a lot, subjectively.

Have you tried sleeping sitting up (recliner or incline pillow)? That helps some people. Depending on the nature of your obstructive physiology, there are also devices that reposition the jaw, might help.

My motivation? Stay independent as long as practical (I'm 65), be able to have a fun/happy lifestyle as long as possible while I continue to age, keep the low cholesterol/BP and overall improved sense of well-being that came with being at a healthy weight.

I agree with posters encouraging you to keep trying the CPAP. Not only are you sleep deprived, but your heart is on limited time without it. I knew I had sleep apnea since my 20s, but thought that as long as it was really only 1-2x/year that I woke up feeling like someone was drowning me, it couldn't be that bad. I could not have been more wrong. FFW 20+ years, and I found out what it's really doing for me. I have a love/hate relationship with the thing. Some nights I feel like I'm struggling to not be wrapped up in the hose. Other nights, I don't notice it. Some nights, I cannot get the mask comfortable, other nights, it's not an issue. My husband uses one too, so one thing I did was to sleep with one ear plug in and my other ear to my pillow.

I did notice was that good sleep had a cumulative effect: if I got a good sleep, I had a pretty good day, which led to good sleep at night. I also depend on regular physical activity to make sure that my body is good and tired when I lie down. I would keep trying. That thing is trying to save your life.

FWIW, neither my husband nor myself is more than 10 lbs over an ideal weight. No matter how much weight we lose, we won't "lose" the CPAP. It's for life.

Good luck. And please reconsider

Right now a big motivation for me is that it is my last year in my twenties...

My motivator is my health. I was diagnosed with pre diabetes a year ago. I have lost 31 pounds and work out nearly every day. I see my doctor in a couple of weeks and I am anxious to hear my numbers now. If nothing else I feel much better, I am not in pain like I used to be. I believe the reduction in pain is at least in part due to the reduction in sugar. I find if I over indulge with sugar I have pain and stomach issues.

ej_maries wrote: »

Right now a big motivation for me is that it is my last year in my twenties...

My baby sister is turning 30 in June. Where does the time go?

My motivation is how I used to feel. I remember clearly how it felt to be 140 lbs, and I miss it. Pregnancy messed me up good - twice. I hit 150, and getting pregnant skyrocketed me to 235. I got back down to my start weight, AND GOT PREGNANT AGAIN!
🤣🤷‍♀️
Well, I'm back to 157 and I'm very motivated to lose another 17 lbs. I know it is within reach and I'm determined! 💪