To ask what finally motivated you to lose weight?

[PitifulPrincess]

I'm the biggest I've ever been and feel like a big fat blob shoving food in my big fat face

I eat shit, don't exercise and use food as a crutch when I'm stressed which is everyday with 2 kids under 4

I just can't kick myself up the arse and do anything about it!

I'm so sick of looking in the mirror and seeing what I see now, enough has to be enough, I can't get any bigger than this

Please tell me how you motivate yourself to lose weight when it feels like a punishment?!

It’s so hard isn’t it, can you find a nice outfit you’d like to get into to motivate yourself?

Fear. It dawned on me I was risking my health, my mobility, my whole older self.

Being able to fit in clothes was a bonus, knowing I'd reduce my chances of ill health did it for me

I just reached the stage where the belly rolls disgusted me, I felt uncomfortable no matter where I sat, I had lost confidence and I didn’t want to end up like DM, obese with hypertension & pre diabetic. I decided ‘enough is enough’ and the next day I got on the scales and logged onto My Fitness Pal.

I wanted to be able to go swimming, go to the park, ride bikes etc with my kids (I had 2 under 2) and that motivated me more than wanting to look better, which had always been my goal previously.

The more time went on, the more glad I became that I lost the weight for my own long term health and mobility etc as pp have said, but initially, it was wanting to be able to get stuck into things with the kids without feeling self conscious / uncomfortable/ out of breath.

Go for it, you'll never regret it.

Mostly vanity reasons - a holiday and wanting to wear nicer clothes and actually enjoy being photographed with the kids.

Mine is desperately wanting lipoedema surgery on my revolting legs. I need to lose every ounce of fat that isn’t ‘fat disorder’ fat. Also, I go to the gym and lift weights with a PT once a week and think I must be a pretty bad advert for the poor chap.😳
I’ve given myself to the end of the year to lose about 7 stone (gulp!) and have a wardrobe full of my old ‘nice’ clothes to squeeze into. On a VLCD and have lost about half a stone so far. The difference it has made to how I feel is really marked. After the first 4-5 days I feel much more energetic and positive.
Combination of VLCD and the MFP app to count it all. I can replace one or two of the food packs as long as it is high protein and very low carb. Tend to do this about once a week, or if going out.
Good luck OP. The sooner you start seeing a difference, the more motivated you’ll be to continue.

I don't think it was one thing, I think it was a build up unconsciously in my mind and then one day I decided to go for it. I wrote down all the things that would be better if I was slimmer and it was a long lost from physical health to enjoying things more to life generally being easier. I bought a couple of books to understand the science behind the diet and motivate me that way.
I started with a commitment to 2 weeks and I didn't weigh myself because I knew it would demotivate me, instead my initial target was to fit in my jeans. Still going 12 weeks later, jeans are baggy!

A big part of it is changing your relationship with food, lifestyle and exercise so that it doesn’t feel like a punishment to eat good foods and keep your body fit by working out or whatever, but something you’re doing because your body is the best thing you have and taking care of it is showing love for yourself. I know a couple of people who have sung the praises of Noom for helping them with e.g. mindless eating, comfort eating, associations of particular foods, so it might be worth looking into.

In terms of initial motivation, eat your elephant in bite size chunks. Rather than thinking of it as 5/6/7 stone to lose by X date, work towards it in manageable goals with realistic timescales. Congratulate yourself when you get there and set your next target. It stops it being quite so overwhelming.

TBH I’m not that motivated. I’m disciplined. I love all the bad foods and cant be arsed to go to the gym. But I go anyway. 3x a week that’s it. It’s a habit now, it’s been years. But I still inwardly groan at the thought.
I do intermittent fasting as I find it easier to eat nothing than to eat a small amount. I use the zero app. Once I hit “start fast” button that’s it, kitchen closed.

I don’t think it was one thing, it was a gradual end of my denial that I could eat as I did in my 20s and stay slim.

I found a way of eating that allows me to have 3 lovely meals a day, but not the junk I love. It’s sometimes repetitive but I’ve lost 20 pounds so far.

I went to a friends wedding. Wore a beautiful dress and was so pleased with myself. Then I saw her wedding photos and it was like a switch had been flipped. I looked so awful.
I lost three stone on weight watchers, and 10 years later, it's still off (plus another few pounds here and there that I fluctuate on)

I only did WW as a quick fix and now I (vaguely) calorie count on MFP, and pretty much know what's a good diet for me (meaning foodwise, not a DIET diet)

I also, after losing the weight, joined the gym and now do classes approx 8 times a week. I've made friends there and it's a big part of my life. It has become addictive, but in a healthy way.

Best of luck OP, and remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint. You can do it, don't be hard on yourself if you have bad days, just readjust in the following days

Becoming unwell with stomach issues last year - I ended up losing weight unintentionally as I was too scared to eat due to pain and discomfort and this happened across about a year (lost nearly 3 stone). I also decided to make diet changes to be able to eat without pain and since that was eating more salad and veg and less processed stuff the weight has continued to come off easily (I also have to eat smaller portions because of the stomach problems). Now knowing I need an operation I want to make sure I am at a healthy weight so am motivated to lose the last stone and a bit. I feel better in myself now I'm lighter (I've never been bothered by how I look so that was never much of a motivator!). After a year of eating a lot of salad (after hating it for my whole life) I don't like meals without it anymore. Weird how your tastebuds change!

I’ve been binge eating for about a year on huge amounts of chocolate and sweet treats. A few months ago I had to get bigger pants.. no joke my actual pants were to small and digging into me. That’s when I realised I’d gotten fat actually fat not just put on a few lbs.

Then with this amazing weather I’ve literally had to buy a whole new wardrobe because last years clothes don’t fit me. I’ve looked in the mirror with each outfit and taken it back… I disgust myself. So I stared last Monday and I’ve eaten really well. This time I will stick to it 100%

I looked up some of the more serious health risks of obesity like diabetes, heart disease, and each of the different types of cancer. Then I scared myself straight by reading details about them all.

The easiest way for me is slow and steady, keeping track of what I eat and drink, not judging myself for it. My phone measures my steps each day and sends it over to the app that tracks calories. I make the smallest improvements I can and keep building on them.

Weirdly I just sort of...decided to.

I now only eat lunch and tea, have done that for two years, have lost jut over four stone. It's slow progress but I'm a size 12 and I'm close to where I want to be.

When my clothes size started with a 2 not a 1

Health concerns. Traces of fat in my liver. Weight is not my goal, long term health is.

I think it was the realisation that I’m not getting any younger and the only way to look and feel my best is to actively take care of myself from now on.

I’m 33, so still young in some people’s eyes. But I’m not exactly 21 anymore either. My whole lifestyle has been neglectful and shite these past few years and I’ve finally started to make positive changes. I was looking and feeling tired and haggard and I was heading to overweight, and I just thought enough is enough. This isn’t how I want to live anymore. So yeah, all positive steps.

Starting by building small amounts of consistency in healthy habits is a great start.

Pick one and when it's a habit add another

Short walk after dinner
Try and get a little more sleep
Cut out sugar in the evenings

Tiny baby steps is the way to achieve long term health

Some amazing suggestions here. Your not alone @PitifulPrincess i also comfort eat and I know how hard it is to get motivated to lose weight. Goodluck

It just dawned on me one day that life is too short to be overweight and unhappy.
Best decision I ever made.

Don't want to be fat

I’ve also been listening to loads of hypnosis podcasts for relaxation and I downloaded a gratitude journal app that has daily affirmations and prompts.

My attitude to harming myself with food by binge eating is changing. I still want to do it but I’m greatly reducing the harm it can cause if that makes sense? I’ll have a chocolate bar instead of a whole pizza, still go over my calories most days but not by as much as I used to. I’m consistently losing about 3lbs a month, have lost over a stone so far with almost 4 more to go.

I started going for really short walks once or twice a week, then every day, then twice a day, then three times a day plus a long walk at the weekend. You get the idea!

Interesting question, I've been asking myself the same thing. For me, this time, success has been down to a mixture of things:

• having used the covid lockdowns as an excuse to indulge in eating anything and everything I fancied, without the restraint I usually tried to impose, I could absolutely feel how uncomfortable and unwell that level of indulgence left me feeling, so that I felt ready to try something different.

• now in my early sixties, I felt that if not now, then when? The covid experience served to remind me that being fit and healthy would be the best protection against the infirmities of old age. While exercise is good for mood, weight loss is mostly to do with food consumption.

• Mumsnet Low carb bootcamp threads provided a way of eating that stabilised my blood sugar, objectively measured by wearing a continuous glucose monitor for a fortnight at a time.

• Adopted Gillian Riley's test of what to eat as 'how I'm going to feel immediately after eating something, and for the up to 24hrs thereafter' part of her https://eatingless.com

• the Gillian Riley approach really resonated with me in its coverage especially the parts about any restriction ultimately producing a resistance and rebellion so that only really choosing freely what to eat will work long term.

Since Jan 2022, I'm moved from BMI above 40 to a whisker above 29.4 the top of the healthy range.

Like PP, I did not weigh myself at my maximum so never recorded what would have been my maximum weight. At first, my shrinking waistband was proof plenty of my shrinking size. After the first three months, when the new patterns had been established, I started to weight myself every 4-5 weeks. After initially quite rapid loss, on average one kg per week, my weight loss has settled down to a scant pound a month. I expect that it will at some point stabilise and that will be it for me.

Now, I expect to continue eating this way, low carb high fat for the rest of my life. I feels sustainable and overall, feel really good on it. Eating well has turned out to be a boost to my self esteem. I had always though the line of causality to run the other way, that I would eat well when I felt good about myself. It's out it's eating well, taking care of myself, is one really effective way to feel good about myself.

There remains a regret that I never managed to stay slim while my mother was alive to see it. Being slim was almost a religion for her. She was always so proud of me when I lost weight and really tried to say nothing anytime I gained it. There remains an idea that knowing how important it was to her, made it more challenging for me to choose to be slim while she was around to notice.

It would have been ideal for me to have mastered this for myself while she was with me to see it with her own eyes. sigh.

Better late than never.

All your comments made me realise that it really is different for every person and that I can't just wait for motivation to strike, I'm sick of looking and feeling how I do. Today I've been out and stocked my fridge with healthier foods, meal planned for the week and am planning on eating 1500 calories going forward. I don't want to be fat anymore and that should be enough!

I've got a long way to go, I'm currently 17 stone and want to be 12. I wish I could get there overnight but don't we all!