I always knew I was big but I always felt pretty ok with how I looked… until I got stretch marks. At first I though I had gotten scratched by a cat (I work w/ animals) but It didn’t go away.
2 long, dark red lines on the right side of my stomach. I never had stretch marks like these before, I never really had stretch marks before. These scared me so bad and made me feel hideous. I had to something about it!

Other, somewhat less vain reasons why I want to be health and loose weight:

- I want to have great health in general! Everyone in my family eats horrible and feels horrible all the time. I don't want to feel like that! I want to inspire them into a healthy vegan diet, plus make them a little jealous.
- I want to be natural and healthy looking for my wedding.
- My fiancé` tells me I'm beautiful all the time but I want to give him more incentive to tell me more!
- I want to look sexy for him!
- I want to be strong so I can enjoy the great outdoors!
- I want to be able to kick ass at my new job.
- I want to go jogging with my dog.
- I love shopping at thrift stores and I want to be able to fit into the more common sizes.
- I want my feet to fit into heels without looking fat.
- I want people to stop giving me a second glance in disbelief when I tell them I’m vegan!!!

Yes! I want to have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies. My boyfriend comes from a healthy fit family and me not so much and I have struggled because I didn't have anyone to lead a healthy path and that's exactly what I dont want for MY kids... and I will do everything I can to promote a healthy lifestyle for them!

What a great thread. I'm not on a weightloss journey, but I try to live as healthy as I can.

I grow some of my own veges, have my own chickens, feed my family the most beautiful salads and other healthy meals and exercise everyday if I can.

I am doing this for my children. I want to inspire them and teach them about healthy foods and show them how exercise is fun and a very important part of our lives. I want them to be proud of me for being a fit, healthy and glowing mother.

I also want to give myself the best chance at life, so I will always be around to guide and care for my children. I also want my husband to admire me and the healthy example I set.

I have been overweight on and off for years. Skinny kid that ate what she wanted, when she wanted ... suddenly that caught up with me. Then, 5 years ago I lost four incredibly close family and friends within 12 months. I now realize I put myself on hold whilst I propped up my family members/friends. But I also realize that I was actually quite depressed, so food became my outlet. I truly believe that if you veer towards any extreme in your life, it's because, ultimately, there's something wrong. I hit 190 lbs. I've always loved clothes and shopping for them. Gradually I stopped loving the whole shopping experience.

There are always contributory factors that make one change. It sounds so insular so I am not going to preach, you will have to work out why you want to lose weight for yourself. But what I learnt is that sometimes, it's actually ok to put yourself first.

I didn't have any rules really, but thinking back I guess I just set my head to finally do this:

1. If you want to lose weight (and if you need to desperately, like I did - just over 50lbs) you are most certainly not on a 'diet'. What I did was change my mindset and became determined to change the way I ate, without giving up the good stuff altogether.

2. It may be possible that there are certain food items that you love/adore above all else, and super-indulge in them. (In my case bread, bread, bread ... to a lesser extent, pasta). So. I cut both of these out completely.

What my compromise was? Kept (keep!) potatoes and rice in my diet. Yes, there are times when I crave bread. But I also know that, in my particular case, cutting it out has revolutionzed my life and I will never go back to it. My digestive system has improved 100%. I don't EVER want to get back to the weight I was. What was so awful was seeing good friends and family upset about how big I was, yet feeling unable to tell me to my face how bad I'd got. I knew anyway.

3. Try not to tell anyone (apart from the forum people!) that you're going to try to lose weight. For me, what worked, and still does is never ever referring to that awful 'D' (for 'diet') word. Dieting is not the answer. Finding the right balance for your metabolism/digestive system is. (I was incredibly lucky discovering that by cutting out bread/pasta was a winning combination for me). It may well be that there is something in your diet that you eat too much of (and love) but don't acknowledge.

4. I started eating a proper breakfast. I work long hours, but I turned around the light lunch/heavy evening meal syndrome I used to fall into (snacking at late night was a regular thing, but then turned into a case of habit - I bet all of us, who've been there, understand where I'm coming from here).

Now, I try to eat more in the middle of the day (knowing what to eat lots of without zonking mid-afternoon has been a journey!) and just a light meal in the evening. I don't stress if I eat at 8pm (which I know is late by non-European standards) but equally, I don't make a habit of eating this late.

5. For me, I've found that grazing works (by that I mean anything I like, but in moderation - ahem, without the bread and the pasta for the foreseeable). Also, when I find myself really hungry yet there's no reason, I find that I'm actually thirsty as much as anything.

I've tried not to sound like I'm preaching, then, reading the above back. All I can say is that there is not one person who I'm close to who hasn't been knocked out by how I now look. That's a lovely thing.

What really rocks is that I'm so, so happy - losing weight (and proving to myself I can stick to something!) has changed ... no, revolutionzed my world, so much for the better. I've regained belief in myself. I think I'm probably a bit nicer to be around, too.

If I could help just one person to rediscover what they are capable of doing, then it would make me extremely happy.

Sooze

Because the girl I've been in love with for the last 4 years sees me as nothing more than her "Funny Fat Friend" even though she would never say it that bluntly. I had begun to see myself as that person, and that is when I realized I needed a change and decided to start working out.

Wow... some great responses!!

Here's some of mine...

1. I am turning 40 in a few months. I want to be a hot 40, not a pudgy, dumpy, frumpy one.

2. If I ever get good enough at belly dancing to perform, I want to be trim & have a toned belly... I don't want the rolls to do the dancing.

3. I want to wear things like hip hugger jeans and cropped shirts without the muffin top spillage. (that's just gross)

4. If I am pinstriping at a car show and my picture ends up in a magazine again... I'd much rather be the hot redheaded pinstriper chick instead of the chunky one.

5. I like tying my shoes without having to undo my pants, or getting short of breath because my damn gut was in the way.

6. Sex! When I am in better shape, I feel less conscious of the rolls, even though its the man I've been married to for almost 15 years. Besides, now that I'm in a lot better shape... its so much more fun and acrobatic! And my libido is coming back.

7. Easier to sit in a small welding booth when your ass doesn't hit the sides if you turn around.

8. Easier to get under a car, bend over the front fender to get to the motor etc. if you aren't packing the excess baggage.

9. Airplane seats. 'Nuff said.

10. I want my husband to have a hot wife.

11. In that vein... my sister in law and I decided our husbands should both have hot wives. I don't want to get left behind. Yeah, its a friendly sort of competition we have going. But its good because we inspire each other.

12. I may not have children of my own, but I want to be a good example for my nieces and nephews. If my nieces want to follow in their crazy aunt's footsteps and learn how to play with power tools, weld, etc., I want to be healthy enough to be around to teach them.

13. Diabetes, hypertension, obesity... they all run in my family. The women on my mom's side of the family are all pretty much huge and unhealthy... I don't want to go down that route.

14. Sexy lacy bras

15. I like to be able to dance, walk around, do martial arts, etc. without my knees hurting because there's too much weight being put on them.

16. pencil skirts

17. Muscle tone!!!

18. Knowing I have the potential to be a hard body.

19. I want to not be embarassed to have my picture taken. I'm not that much anymore, but I was before I started seriously losing weight.

20. Regaining my self confidence, wild dressing style, and crazy personality that I had in such abundance in my early 20s. She's coming baaaack!!!

(Probably add more as I think about it)

I'm not sure if I posted here already, but I'm going to again

All my life my self-esteem has been shit, and I've always been very very shy even though I'm not what is considered "fat" I definitely do consider myself that.

After losing 10 pounds, I already am starting to feel more confident so I'm excited to lose thirty more pounds.

I also just want to be healthy. I don't want to get really really fat by my early twenties. If I hadn't started watching my diet and exercise, I know for sure I'd definitly hit 200 (if not more) by the age of twenty.

To Phoenyx: I hit 40 on June 15. I was just bloody determined that I wasn't going to be Fat and Forty. Educating friends and family was one of the biggest steps. Saying 'No' in a calm but firm way, can be an enlightening thing.

One thing I want to say that I think is a pretty important issue is how sizing differs from store to store - MASSIVELY.

Cut a long story short ... I just got paid and decided to splurge a little. All I can say is what crazy, crazy sizing systems there are out there. I went from fitting quite snugly into a UK size 8 up to a UK size 14 in one day of trying on bits and pieces (we're talking 8 or 9 items across different high street stores).

The outcome of my trying-on session today is that there is just no such thing as a perfect '8' or '10' or ... whatever. In fact, with the UK sizing system (and everywhere else, I think, having lived in NYC in the past), in two shops today I discovered I was a perfect (in their sizing terms) Size 11!! In other words, I'd have bought the skirt I'd tried on had it been an '11'. Why don't manufacturers make size '11s' or size '13s' or size '15s'... or size 'anythings' inbetween what's deemed the standard size chart.

Bottom line? The majority of high street stores appear to work to completely diverse size chart agendas anyway.

Would love feedback from others on the whole sizing system:

- which shops make you feel better about yourself on the way they label their clothes
- which shops make you want to curl up and cry?

Susie X

inspiration is one thing. I've got a few.

the hard part is getting motivated!

any tips to encourage someone to go out for a walk?

what inspires me?

I want to stand next to my sister and be the pretty one for once =p or at least have people look at me too.

I want to buy cute clothes when i got shopping with my cousins and friends

I want to have the energy to run with my friends and play around

I want people who haven't seen me in a couple years to say "WOW you look amazing!" ( which happened last night!!!!! )
I want to stay healthy my whole life. Since terrible things run in my family

I didn't see this thread before, I've got quite a bit to rant on.
Why:
I'm the only one of my friends who isn't in amazing shape.
I want to be able to wear nice clothes, right now buying anything nice seems like a waste since I won't really look good in it. Plus, they don't make nice clothes in my size alot of the time. Going into a place like Express (for men, or have they dropped the for men part?) or even sometimes H & M (i know, right?) they don't have my size.
I don't want to sweat like a pig in the summer. Its disgusting. I hate it.
I don't want to act like it doesn't bother me when people make comments about fat people around me. My friends do it alot and even though they don't even pertain to me, I get uncomfortable.
I think it would make my mom really happy.
I hate being the fat one in the family. I have some company, but of all the "kids" (my 2 brothers and my 5 cousins) I'm the only fat one.
I'd like to be more athletic. At 260 I was still an excellent skiier. I can't imagine what I'll be able to do when I'm fit (thats my motivation to get to the gym, if I meet my december goal, I'm buying a snowboard).
Girls. Girls. Girls.
I'd like to not feel embarrassed when I go out. I know I shouldn't, but I do. Its bad. I have very low self-esteem because of my weight. I carry it well at times, especially in certain shirts (light weight shirts with collars do wonders.) I just don't like it.
I want to be healthy.
I don't want people to look at me funny(rolling their eyes) when I say things like "thats too sweet for me" or "thats too greasy" because FAT = you love all sweet and greasy food.
I want to be living not dieting.
Hats. They look funny on my big head. I don't care for them, but it would be nice to wear them If I felt like it.
I love to swim. I dont like subjecting people to my body.
Girls.
This may sound weird but my self image is not a fat man. Its an athletic man. Its how I think of myself and its strange but Its true.

What Inspires Me:
Girls.
Other peoples success stories/before and after pictures.
Mirrors.

Realizing I am in better shape and weigh less than I did 10 years ago. That gives me the incentive to kick it up a notch and shoot for being in better shape than I was 15, and even 20 years ago.

Remembering what it feels like to look as good as you possibly can! Another older but goodie that constantly goes thru my mind when trying to lose weight: "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels"

I started looking at weight loss many years ago. Tried to control it but never really understood how or even the real reason behind it. In July i realized i was very unhappy at work(i'm a hairdresser). I had been thinking about leaving for over a year but the thing that keep me going were the clients i were pleasing. once i realized what kinda of damage the stress from work did to me and my relationships i understood what needed to be done. i had to leave the shoppe. After 3 weeks of depression i knew something had to be done to become a happy person again. But then, i realized i hated MYSELF!
In order to love my boyfriend like i loved him before i needed to love myself! The gym has made me feel liberated, energized, and ready to be ME.
Now i can enjoy living again! What inspires me.. is to be FREE
Stephie

Boy do I know that feeling!!! I was there.

Now the inspiration is seeing the reflection shrinking, noticing, hey! My stomach's flatter, there's muscle tone... that type of thing!