What motivated you to lose weight?

[Ste23321]

Nothing has helped motivate me so wondering how others got motivated. My health is deteriorating so you would think that would be a big motivator! But it’s not. What motivated you?

Honestly it just got to a point where I was just so incredibly unhappy with the way I looked - to the point where I'd miss events etc because I was so insecure. I'm only 22 and I didn't want to live out 'the best years of my life' stuck indoors. I also have an 18 month old and I was constantly just out of breath, so so unfit. I've lost around 2-3 stone now and maintained my current weight for a few months, now just looking to shift the last stone and tone up for summer but I'm much happier now

Also leaving my toxic relationship with my baby's father helped. Having a negative mindset and being dragged down 24/7 made things so much more difficult - I lost about 75% of the weight after leaving him and I'm in a happier relationship now so feel much more secure in general, being a healthier weight is just a bonus!

Stopping focusing on losing weight and "dieting" but instead consciously trying to get fitter and healthier. I took up running and started eating more healthily. Went from a 12/14 to an 8/10 and stayed there ever since. Not sure exactly how much I weigh now, but I can tell you all my marathon times to the second

Nothing fit and I wobbled.
Went to a PT 4 times a week. Still go 2 years later. Can’t afford it but it keeps me sane and stops me wasting money on cheese and chocolate. Also treated myself to Hello fresh which is small portions, healthy and filling

I've yo yo'd a significant amount of weight (I've lost 7 st twice). I'm at my highest now, snd for the first time it has impacted physical movement. I used to be able to walk for miles - now I can't. Getting up off the sofa requires real effort, and my knees kill me when I kneel.
But more than that I realise I've stopped going out as much. I'll get invited out and make excuses as I don't want people see me this way, plus I'm worried about climbing a lot of stairs on the tube etc. a friend has invited me to join her for dog walks, but I know I won't be able to keep up.
I've recently moved back to London and friends are always asking how I'm enjoying it - well I'm not, as I feel really conspicuous in town where the majority are slim. I also feel like 'the fat mum' at my daughter's posh school.
So all of the above are motivating me. I've cut alcohol down to one bottle a week from three (and will do dry Lent), I'm back logging in to My Fitness pal, I've started back with a personal trainer, and I'm doing an extra loop around the park with my dogs. The only thing is I'm not dropping a stone a week! It's the long game and one does get fed up after a while. Keeping at it at the moment though.

@babyboyHarrison I'm so sorry to ask and tell me to bugger off but what illness did you have that made your blood pressure rise?

Mine went through the roof recently and all they did was put me on blood pressure tablets without wanting to know why. I'd love to stop them and see whether it is still high 6 weeks later but they want me to just keep taking the pills 😔

@Ste23321

Nothing has helped motivate me so wondering how others got motivated. My health is deteriorating so you would think that would be a big motivator! But it’s not. What motivated you?

Watching this thread for tips

OP my health is deteriorating too and I still have only lost 2lb in my New Year effort.

I am trying to think of summer as it's my appearance that upsets me, but it's hard to focus on that because it's depressing.

Then again, if I have to buy more bigger clothes that will be depressing.

Maybe I'll hang up some old jeans I'd like to get into. I am eating better because I decided that I at least have to stop the gain.

For me, it was becoming a student nurse and sitting in lecture after lecture where obesity was highlighted as a risk factor for basically every illness under the sun. It wasn't anything I didn't already know but hearing it over and over again in that context spurred me into action, with a BMI of 48 I was just a ticking time bomb. I'm now 2.5 stone down and won't stop until I'm out of the danger zone.

Raging eating disorder came back thanks to lockdown stress.

Not pretty, but true.

None of my clothes fitted properly and I couldn't afford a whole new wardrobe. I've used My Fitness Pal and lost 1.5 stone in 10 months.

I was huge, in pain and miserable on the inside. 1st tackled my diet, though I did become a bit obsessive with it on a weight loss programme. Got in to weightlifting a couple of months after sorting diet. The diet has slipped and I had another baby but the training is a big part of my life now and I continued through most of pregnancy. I swapped to IF a few years ago and like that way of eating better than point/calorie counting. I have full fat everything and enjoy my 1 main meal a day with protein shake/bar, snack or treat in a short eating window. Fasted training works better for me too.

I'd quite happily accepted that I was now the next size up, but knew could stand to lose a few pounds.

Then I read Dr Jen Gunter's Menopause Manifesto. It scared the bejeesus out of me. She didn't just cover peri and meno, but all the different ways your body will betray you as you age. I could see early signs in myself of things I've watched my own elderly mother suffer with so decided it was time to get my weight and fitness in hand. Since August I've lost and kept off a stone and a half. I now walk at least 3 miles a day (I aim for 6-8) and can usually fit it in. It will be easier in the summer with longer daylight hours. I do Pilates twice a week.

The gist of the book is lose weight and sort out your cardiac heath.

I lost weight using my own willpower and misery diet, where I cut out all of the junk and have 3 sensible meals and healthy planned snacks throughout the day. Nothing is off the table, but gone are the days of demolishing half a packet of biscuits in one sitting. I've also cut down on drinking to social events only. I was starving constantly for the first few weeks and clock watching to when I could next eat, but that went and I find I don't crave the junk the same. I still love all the bad things, but I'm finding I can live without them.

Being vain

I was developing jowls and looked like shit. I lost 4 stone a few years ago and 3.5 had crept back on.
I'm 2 weeks in just eating everything in moderation, counting calories and 7lb down. Still a way to go but it's a start

At the end of December I felt like after 18+ months of working through COVID on a kind of survival mode I finally reached a point where I could step back and start to think a but more long term again. I realised how much of the little physical activity I had pre COVID had been lost with home working, and how much I had been over eating. I decided to make a change and make myself and my health more of a priority.

I have my first ever PT session this week. I went for a walk today and realised I'm even more embarrassingly unfit than I thought, but I'm going to use that as even more motivation to make a sustained change. It's going to be hard but I kind of feel like it's now or never.

I noticed in the early days of the pandemic that a lot of the people who were dying were larger than average. When the medics confirmed that overweight or obese people were much more likely to die from COVID, it prompted me to stick to a diet for the first time in years. I have reduced my BMI from 33 to 22 and I like my body much better.

Three years ago I was in the passenger seat of my husband’s truck. The window was open and I looked into the side mirror. The sleeve of my t shirt was flapping about in the wind but so was my arm! I knew I was massively overweight but tried to ignore it. I couldn’t believe the size of my flabby bingo winged arm. That was it. I lost over 8 stone. I didn’t it quite quickly so there is an excess skin situation but I’m glad I did it. The only problem is it has become obsessive for me. I think about it a lot of the time and I’m very wary of what I eat

I didnt want to lose weight as much as I wanted to be healthier and fitter.
I strived to make small changes to increase my fitness and health levels.
I began walking and realised that walking a third of a mile had me panting and sweating, but I stuck with it.
I also focused on getting my 5 a day and substituting unhealthy foods with healthier alternatives.
Read up as much as I could about what constitutes a healthy diet.
I now walk at least 4 miles a day and have gone from hating walking to enjoying it.
I like feeling my muscles ache.
I swapped rice for riced cauliflower, cereal was out but porridge was in.
Ate a lot more fish and found I love salad.
And when I felt like binging in the evening, I went to bed to read or watch tv.
So far, I have lost 3 stone and feel and look so much better.
I have the attitude now that doing what's good for me isnt always going to be what i want to do and that's ok, because I value my health and my body in a way I never have before.

I wonder this
.

These are fantastic posts. Thank you.

A photo of me that made me look like a square box.

I've lost 3 stones in 7 months, and I'm 2lb away from my goal weight now.

Losing this weight has made me so so happy. It's like I've had a whole new wardrobe delivered to my home that I love, because I can now get into the clothes I haven't been able to.

We have a holiday of a lifetime (hopefully) booked later in the year and I know I'm going to enjoy it a million times more than I would've done.

I used to go to bed thinking of my fatness and get up thinking of it. Now I'm just happy and relieved.

I walk. It's been a wonderful thing, and can now do 5 miles without thinking about it.

I do 16/8... perfect for me.

MFP to educate myself

OP.... you can do it. Once you get on that losing weight rollercoaster, it will inspire you to carry on. I lost 7lbs the first week (water retention maybe, who knows) but that really pushed me forward. I then lost between 1 and 2lbs a week consistently. Go for it!

Oh... and... I did limit carbs. I bloody love carbs but bread and pasta are bad for me.
Rice and potatoes not quite so bad. I cut portion sizes enormously, I had bread only once a week, and maybe pasta occasionally.

None of my clothes fitting nicely, everything was tight or tops looked short because of my stomach. I was nearing 40 and didn't want to be fat nd 40. I joined slimming world and lost 3 1/2 st over a year

When I realised I didn’t leave the house due to the fact that even my “fat jeans” were too tight and uncomfortable

I hate being fat , it's uncomfortable and ugly . I also love fashion. I wasn't massively overweight but losing 2 stone has made life much better ! Also my health , everything is less painful with less weight!

Booking a holiday to Disney, and then feeling sad that I’d likely hate the way I looked in any photos we took. 14kg down; 14 kg to go - holiday is in August…