Hey everyone...i was just wondering...What motivates everyone to lose Weight? or i should say what motivates YOU? How do you keep going?

I often think back of where I started...40 pounds heavier, tired a lot, feeling yucky about the way I looked.  When I look at myself now I feel great.  I am stronger, lots of energy, and working my way to one of those “hard bodied women”...it brings me a sense of pride of all the hard work I put into making my body function the way it was designed to be.  Everyday I just want to feel good, so that is why I keep going.

Though I’m now pretty much at the end of my weight-loss journey, what motivated me at the beginning was pant sizes.  Over the years, I’d gone from a comfortable 28 to a tight 33, and I was verging on 34.  At 23 years old, I decided this was unacceptable.  Now, two years later, I’m back at my beloved 28, and all is well.

My next project is to get toned up and receive my blue belt in karate.  Woot!

Cheers,
Julie

Hi, Ctina!

For me, it was initially about taking some control back over my life. I’d become lazy and decidedly unsocial. Once I got over the initial hump of sticking with the calorie cutting, and started exercising, people noticed my weight loss. It reinforced what I was doing, but it also shifted the focus to “how I look.” Now it’s not a bad thing to worry about how I look, I know. But actually, sometimes I feel more insecure—now that I’ve lost so much weight—than I did before.  It’s like being aware that people are suddenly looking at me, whereas before I felt more invisible. At the same time, 20 years ago when I was at this size, men would look and flirt. Now all the reinforcement seems to come from people who knew me before.  It’s a series of adjustments, and I have a lot of work to do on self-confidence.

How do I stick with it? Mainly I “use” exercise for a lot of different reasons: to burn off frustration at the end of the work day, to get my weekend started, to hang out with “the gang” at class, and because I have something of a responsibility to be there. I also still like it. It’s become a competition with myself as to how much stronger, leaner, fitter, healthier I can become, and not become discouraged, injured, or too exhausted along the way.  I also am still chugging away at my goal, a modest size ten goal, which eighteen months ago seemed really unrealistic.

Let’s keep that motivation going...who else wants to share what motivates them? as for me what motivates me is knowing that i can get it done through all of the hard work that i am puttin into myself...it’s great…

I was tired of being tired and I also needed to feel like I was in control of my life.  I have only been at this for 2 months but I already feel that I am in control.  I still don’t always make the best decisions especially when it comes to food but I am no longer mindlessly eating and each choice is mine.  And as I go along, I am getting more gooder than badder.

wow two months...that’s great...tomorrow will be 2 weeks for me six days a week...i’m proud of you!!! keep up the momentum...but yes the food thing is going to take a little longer for me to adjust...but i havent gained any so that’s always great news…

Not getting diabetes type2 motivates me. It runs in my family, has taken both my grandparents, as well as other family members and friends. It will eventually take my mom who is dealing with advanced symptoms of it now. There’s nothing like watching someone get toes cut off, heart surgery and taking them back and forth to their dialysis treatments that will get you on that treadmill faster.

As for things to look forward to instead of run away from… Exercise clothes motivates me. I love wearing my exercise clothes when I work out… feel all cute and stuff. I will hopefully get some stella mccartney workout gear soon. A bit expensive for exercise clothes but it’s important that I make it fun for myself and be seriously stylish during my workouts. Bebe sports are another brand I’d love to buy. When I go for my bike rides and weeknights on that track with all the other exercisers I just want to look great. Weird but buying nice workout clothes really puts some of the fun into the workout for me.

And of course, I like the momemtum I’ve built up over the past 4 weeks. This is my 4th week on SMSM and it’s been great. I’m already setting up goals for my second go-round and I’m actually inspiring myself to work outs at this point. No point stopping now! I’ve already lost a bit of weight and feel a lot stronger and more energetic.

Its a great stress relief and I just love getting outdoors.  me time

It’s all about being able to do the kinds of outdoor activities I love.  You rarely see overweight skiers, kayakers, equestrians, hikers, bikers, etc.  I also have some old sports injuries and if I ever let my weight get out of control, I probably wouldn’t be able to walk, let alone do all the other stuff I like.  Being fit to do stuff is what gets me into the gym when I can’t be outdoors.  Caring for my body and feeling good keeps me eating healthy foods in moderation.