What motivated you to loose weight?

my sister's wedding. i had been trying to lose weight already (on my own with no success) and then she decided to move the wedding up and make me the matron of honor. knew i had to do something! i owe this all to her getting married!

I wanted to LOSE weight when I realized that I hadn't been to the doctor in years only because I didn't want him to see how much I gained... not just because of my hectic college and now graduate/full-time working schedule.

I was coerced - er, strongly encouraged - by my wife to join a "Biggest Loser" contest with her and a couple of cousins.

I wiped the floor with 'em and kept on going!

Well there are several different things that motivated me to lose the weight. My first sign that ignored was my hunny telling me that I was getting heavy, but of course I didn't want to hear that from him so I ignored him and kept moving on. My next sign was when I went clothes shopping and couldn't fit a size 16 and was uncomfortable in a size 18. It was at that point where it was starting to really set in. Then my biggest motivation was when I went home for a family gathering and on my way back to Dallas my father called me and had a very long talk with me about my weight. I could tell in his voice that he was very concerned with the amoutn of weight that I had put on and when he told me that he would do anything to help me become healthier then I was ready to get started. (My sister and mother would always say something to me, but when you hear it from the same person all the time you ignore it- at least for me). Hearing it from my father really made me realize that I needed to do something asap. The next day I went to my doctor to get all my blood tests ran and to get on a diet plan quickly. Long story to short, I lost about 46 pounds with her, blood work came back great (like a baby as she says- THANK GOD because we have so many health issues in our family) and she released me from her care. I gained about 10lbs back during the summer and thats when I took it upon myself to find my second family (TUF)- gym I workout at where I got help from almost everyone. The nutritionist set me up with my goals and caloric intake, I have a trainer and I take boot camp classes. Never in a million years did I ever think I would be successful at my weight loss. I have lost more than I expected, down to a size 12 and lost over 15% body fat and loving it! I joined MFP after starting at the gym. I am a runner now, despite my minor injury to my ankle right now, but I am determined to get back and be stronger. Now, I am helping a close friend start her journey on MFP and to make sure she stays on track and is successful.

<--- There's a picture of my motivation right over there. :happy:

Not wanting to feel like I'm just some "squishy" person who deals with it. Wanting to feel better about myself. Wanting to wear clothes other girls get to wear. Being a different person. Looking good. My boyfriend. My self-esteem is super low. Don't want to be thought of as fat anymore, cuz you know people think it, and are just too nice to say it. There are more... but that's all I can think of now.

I have been heavy my whole life and was the fat kid in school. Being obese for pretty much the entire 37 years of my life has given me severe arthritis in my left knee and my right ankle and haveing the orthopedic surgeon tell me that if I don't loose weight and take some stress off my joints I won't make it to 50 which is the age they will start to look at for a knee replacement. I was pushing 265 which was down from the 290 I was in January of 2011. In October 2011 I had my meniscus removed and was put into an unloader brace that I have to wear everyday and walking with a cane I was drinking heavy and started to see the scale climbing. In December I quite drinking in order to keep from killing myself and on January 1st I weighed in at 270 I made a deal with myself that I would not eat any sweets and if I waas hungary between meals I would only eat raw fruits and vegetables until I reached 190. 190 is 1 pound overweight according to the BMI for 6'1". I got back on MFP and started logging my lifestyle change. I realized that I am not on a diet I have made a lifestyle change and I will never go back to what I was. With the arthritis I was told I can no longer do any high impact activities and for cardio I can only swim or bike and do light hiking or walking. As of this last Saturday I weighed in at 200 lbs I feel so much better at this weight and am really enjoying the benefits of not being huge! I swim laps every morning and this guy I see a couple times a week calls me the incredible shrinking man and honestly it feels great!

i went wedding dress shopping because my sister is getting married and i realized i want to look incredible on my wedding day too. but more importantly i want to be able to look incredible everyday and get cuter clothes.

Saw pictures of myself after a vacation and really didn't think I was that big. So they were a huge freaking shocker. I decided that it was time to get rid of that.. I got to a size 12, then got stuck and haven't moved in months, even put some more weight back on. Back on track now with my goal of a size 7/8, working towards a 50 pound loss.

Wearing a size 18 was really hard for me. Last thing I wanted to do was buy clothes, but I had to cuz nothing of mine fit. I'm now into size 8!

My legs rubbing together was a big motivator too.

A video my boyfriend took of me flying his remote control helicopter. I was scared and I wanted to scream, who's that giant ugly girl wearing my clothes? I was embarrassed. I couldnt even see the "pretty face" anymore.

After a life time of weight loss/weight gain, I made the decision 2 years ago that I had spent too much time being fat and miserable. I became very focused on becoming healthy. I lost close to 40lbs and was on track to becoming a full blown exercise junkie. I married the love of my life in October of 2010 and life was amazing! In December of that year I starting having unmanageable migraine headaches. The doctor I was seeing at the time prescribed me a medication called Topamax. Then in January of 2011, I had a bicycle accident and broke my right shoulder. During my recovery time, I lost all motivation to exercise. I didn't realize at the time, but the medication I was taking for my migraines was making me have a chemical inbalance. I would go to the doctor in tears, for no reason. I was depressed, even though my life was pretty much perfect. He prescribed me a anti-depressant to counteract the way the migraine medication was making me feel. Even though I was taking all this medication, I still was missing work because of my migraines, and depression. I finally decided that I had to get a grip on life and took myself off all medication. I decided to see a new doctor in April and he prescribed me a new medication to control my migraines that does not have adverse psychological side effects. This has been my miracle drug. During all the turmoil, I gained the 40 lbs back I had lost and about 20 more to go with it! My breaking point this time was when my husband and I went camping on the weekend of June 1st. We decided to take a short hike down to a waterfall. It turned out that it really wasn't a hike, but a series of steps down to the bottom of this gorge. The whole way down I was apprehensive, because I knew we had to come back up. 398 steps later, I knew I was in trouble. I made a resolution to myself at the moment that if I could make it back up those steps, without dying, I would make a change. Since then I have been very focused on changing my life.. mentally and physically. I want to be a better person for myself and my health first and foremost, but I want to be a better person for my son and my husband as well. Now's the time.. I am not getting any younger and I do not want to waste another day being miserable.

Looking in the mirror and not liking what I saw

I was overweight and thought about losing the weight all the time. But what finally pushed me over the edge to do it was being jealous of my cousin and her skinny little body, only to have her surprise the family that night with the news that she was 5 months pregnant!

So fat that I was jealous of a pregnant woman's body? Yeah, time to do something about this!

4 things in a relatively short amount of time...

1. I realized I was purposely not looking in the full length mirror while getting dressed (it was RIGHT by the dresser)

2. I was a bridesmaid in a wedding and the dress, my go to 'large size' didn't fit... like, as two other bridesmaids and the power of spanx were zipping me into the dress, all I could think was, 'dear god, please don't break the zipper.

3. I had a horrifying dream that all of the bone structure in my face and facial features were disappearing (which, they were) at an alarming rate

4. I got on the scale and nearly broke it