What force is stronger for you? ( The benefits if you succeed or what awaits you if you fail)

[almost_where]

When I was at my USW it was without a doubt what awaited me if I failed. Then gradually I have shifted towards focusing on the benefits of hitting UGW. Now I have started to think more about what awaits if I fail/fall off. Just curious what everyone's take is.

[emili]

I am the least hip person on the planet, so in order for me to answer your question, you will need to spell out the abbreviations so I know what you are asking....thank you 🙂

[almost_where]

USW = Ultimate Starting Weight - your highest weight when you started.

UGW = Ultimate Goal Weight - the goal you want to hit.

[EmjayH]

I focus on the changes in the mirror and in my physical capabilities. I'm 4 dress sizes down from when I started this journey and I can run, climb, lift heavier things and even do basic stuff that others take for granted like squat or get off the couch without struggling. 

Lately ive been thinking I'd like to try going really lean. Like fitness model lean with noticeable muscles and abs. I'm a long way from that lol (still nearly 20kg overweight) but nothing wrong with having a dream. Most my friends say I'm crazy and expecting too much. But then they all said I couldn't lose weight also

[EmjayH]

So yeah benefits is my stronger force. Definitely

[Dave001]

At my starting weight of 142kg, I was a miserable, sedentary, blob of lard. I struggled to walk a couple of miles, I could barely reach over my gut to tie my shoes. I was a case study in the morbidity of obesity waiting to happen.

I'm five and a half months in to my journey towards better health. I can walk for miles, I can run 10 miles at <10min/mile. I've thrown out many of my "fat clothes". I'm happy. My health is better. I'm now more likely to get a sports injury than diabetes!

I look healthier. Not just because I'm less fat than I was (116kg now), but because I've the healthy glow of an outside person rather than the insipid pallor of a fat hermit!

To answer the question, I can't answer the question! The benefits of change are the polar opposite of stagnation. Work towards one pole is by definition, travel away from the other. 

[JenniferinFL]

Benefits if I succeed. I'm really looking forward to people not assuming I'm lazy or stupid. That will be huge for me. 

I've always been a reasonably active fat person. I believe I was class III obese when I started. But, at that point I had no issue getting out of furniture or walking for miles. My lab results for cholesterol and blood sugar were always within normal values. I'm actually pretty comfortable. I've always had full range of motion and been able to comfortably shelve and work on the bottom shelves. 

The only thing I haven't been able to do is jog. 

[MagsOnTheBeach]

In the beginning, my motivation was the quick decrease in my health. I don't want to die young or become diabetic or have hardening in my arteries.

Once I made life changes, my motivation has been both scale victories and non scale victories. If my scale stalls, I can focus on things like running faster, being stronger, having energy, wearing smaller clothing, being a creative healthy cook, and being a happier person.

So my starting weight to start, but now I get my super power from actively working on losing current pounds.

[Melissa.M]

For me I just woke up one day and I had, had enough something just clicked I started that morning and didn't stop until I met my goal I didn't even weigh myself until 2 or 3 weeks into my weight loss I just couldn't face the numbers. But once I did the numbers were a huge motivator seeing the scale move was the best feeling ever I know we arnt supposed to focus on the numbers but they were my biggest motivation and still are. I never want to go back to where I was I feel like I wasted so much time being overweight and I don't plan on wasting anymore time. I read somewhere that that your lifestyle can help determine the last 10 years of your life and wether you spend them healthy or sick I want to be healthy 😊

[Daves_Not_Here]

Not a direct answer, but related to the topic of what actually motivates people to successfully make lasting life changes.

I would strongly recommend to all a book dedicated to this topic:  Change or Die, by Alan Deutschman.  It has no 1 or 2 star reviews of its 88 reviews on Amazon.

Deutschman describes how we humans struggle to sustain beneficial life changes, even when failing to do so will certainly result in death.  Through a number of very compelling case studies, he demonstrates that neither desire of benefit nor fear of failure are sufficient for people to adopt long-term change.  They are enough to get you started but it's almost certain you will "fall off the wagon" without more.

The example of people who lose and regain weight is one of the cases he cites.  Only a very small fraction of the overweight population loses weight and keeps it off.  Do these people somehow have greater willpower or character than most?  Turns out, they don't.  What they do have, either by accident or design, are three R's - "Relationships, Repetition, and Reframing", which are not intuitive but well described in the book.

I have personal experience with this - I weighed 170 in college but my natural tendency as I have aged is to lard up to 235 pounds.  Eight years ago, I went from 235 to 170 and kept it there for 4 years.  Only after I lost the 3 R's did I return back to 235.  Some lessons are not learned until repeated!

[tractorlegs]

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@almost_where wrote:

When I was at my USW it was without a doubt what awaited me if I failed. Then gradually I have shifted towards focusing on the benefits of hitting UGW. Now I have started to think more about what awaits if I fail/fall off. Just curious what everyone's take is.

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For me it is equal. The benefits of my weight loss are substantial, but the fear of what could happen had I stayed heavy was equally strong. 

[SunsetRunner]

@tractorlegs looking back I don't think I gave it much of a thought. Getting closer to my goal I started thinking what next as I couldn't be on a weight-loss diet forever. I became very dedicated to the process and never occurred to me I may have failed but the same the goal seemed to be so distant that I didn't give a thought to the fact I may have succeeded as well 🙂 Of course, I've been told by my doctor that if I wouldn't do something, the next thing awaiting me could be a heart attack and it did give me a bit of fear but not enough to make it my main motivation.

At some point, I went on the holiday for 3 weeks. When I came back I couldn't stop hearing from everyone that I look different, like a new person, asking what my secret is etc. - it really became tiring after a while 🙂 This was a moment when I realised I really reached my goal. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to keep it and what's next ahead in terms of staying fit and healthy 🙂

[tractorlegs]

Great post @SunsetRunner.