What inspired you to change?

[KateFitbit]

What was the motivating factor that inspired you to start and stick to a weight loss plan? 

As an overweight kid, then teen, then young adult, I've struggled with weight all my life. I lost around 60 lbs twenty years ago in my early 20s because I wanted to meet a guy on the internet (long story). Though it didn't work out with the guy, I finally lost the weight, discovered exercise, and a wonderful feeling of accomplishment from meeting a goal that seemed unachievable. 

I've found I really need to be obsessive in order to change and stick with a routine and make that change. Twenty years later I'm looking for the next, less fantasy based inspiration. Curious what turned (or is turning) it around for others? 

[WendyB]

For me: I need to walk every morning no matter what. I have done it for 15 years now it just what I do. Sure there have been times when I'm sick and cant and I hate it. But I dont get sick often. I walk rain or not.

But I'm trying to branch out. I was really big into many different DVD's . Then I had a hip replacement. Its been hard to find my niche again as I cant do a lot of what I did before. But I'm finding things I can do and carry on. We are all not the same but we need to find out what works for us

[SunsetRunner]

I wanted to be healthier before I turned 50. I was doing ok with it then took my eye off the ball, stopped tracking my food and ended up 30lb heavier again. I can do what I need to for a while but maintaining it just grinds me down. So here I am at 50, still 45lb overweight 😞

I'm fed up with hurting all the time! I do have health issues but I'm sure if I can lose some of the extra "fluff" then hopefully it will cut down on the aches somewhat. Besides, I really can't keep calling it "baby weight" now the 'baby' is 13 years old.

I got myself a Fitbit for Christmas and so far I'm loving it. I'm hugely competitive so if I need to jog on the spot while the kettle is boiling then so be it - every bit counts, right? At least my family get a laugh out of watching me. Slowly, slowly, the weight is starting to creep off but it's so unfair that I can look at a biscuit and gain 10lb but it takes months and months of hard work to undo the damage. Where's the darn reset button for a do-over? lol

I have a love/hate relationship with the hourly reminders to move but I'm hoping that this will be the thing to really help me change. In the past, I'd go all out for half hour or so then end up sitting down for the next four hours recuperating. Possibly with a little treat I think I earnt.

If I don't make drastic changes now then when will I? Every year it gets harder to move and more things start to hurt. I need to get my health as good as it can be, while I still can do something about it. I want to be a good example to my daughters not end up a burden on them because I took the easy option and just sat around feeling sorry for myself.

[bethanysmum2002]

I have always been classed as overweight, even by kids at school, although I look back to when I was 16 and would love to be that size again.

Back when I was 27 I was weighing in at 101kgs (222 pounds) and had a 2 year old daughter. I saw a photo of myself with her on a merry go round and I was horrified. So starting January 2004 I took up Weight Watchers and over 2 years managed to get down to 72.9kgs (160 pounds) but then I fell pregnant again and ever since the weight has crept and crept up again.

I spent my years putting my girls first and me last. 2 years ago I was diagnosed with depression and looking after myself became such a low priority.

At the start of last year I promised myself I would lose the weight before I turned 40 last year, my birthday came around and I was weighing 105kg (231 pounds) the biggest I had ever been. So then I promised myself I would lose the weight before my eldest daughters 16th birthday this year. I even went out in July and bought a fitbit but that night my nasty little voice in my head started saying look how much money it was and I could have used it to fix up repairs on my house or buy my girls new shoes or anything other than a piece of equipment that I would probably never use because I was hopeless at losing weight - so the next day I took it back.

Come Christmas I had managed in 5 months to lose 2kgs (4.4pounds) and that was it. Then my husband gave me a fitbit Alta HR. I walked into my bathroom and weighed myself - 103kgs (227 pounds) and that is where I started.

I liked having the reminders to move and on New Years Day (a week later) I weighed in at 102.5kgs (225 pounds) and I started my new me program.

I wasn't until the 8th Jan that I discovered the food recording and that elevated things for me.

Now, 36 days after getting my fitbit, I am weighing 98.9kg (218 pounds) and have lost 4.1kgs (9 pounds)

I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but I am a twelfth of the way to my goal of 67kgs (147 pounds)

I am walking 3.5kms (2.17miles) every day and today I started toning exercises in my loungeroom before walk. I am also looking at taking my first boxfit class this Friday.

It is going to be a long road, I am not the young spring chicken I was 14 years ago when I did this, but I need to do this. I know I am not going to be at my goal by my daughter's birthday in June, but now my goal is set by the end of next year for her graduation from high school. I want her to be able to stand proudly beside me, like I will be for her.

[tractorlegs]

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@KateFitbit wrote:

What was the motivating factor that inspired you to start and stick to a weight loss plan? 

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Good thread.

In 2016 I was tired of being obese. I got my Fitbit for a birthday gift early in the year, then basically ate less and moved more - counted calories and walked. In 2017 I successfully maintained the weight loss. But to answer your question? I really don't know. I had always wanted to lose the weight (forever it seems), but I can't think of a big "motivator" that kicked it in 2016 that I didn't have previously. I guess I just got serious about it and made the commitment, but there wasn't a life event that made it happen. Maybe I just got tired of being big lol.  

[SunsetRunner]

My wife 😄 Last year she just had this idea that both of us should go on diet and lose some weight ( in my case - quite a lot ). She started looking for diet plans etc. She was "motivated" by test results, especially mine. My cholesterol and triglycerides levels were sky high. Her results were a lot better but still, she wanted to lose some weight. Moreover, her friend's husband who was my age passed away around that time because of the heart attack and it gave my wife a bit of scare. I admit I had absolutely no motivation coming from me when I started but my wife was very convincing. It was just one of those ideas that one implements without believing it's gonna work but hell with that - let's try. With time things changed a lot ( including my test results 😄 ). Most of the people make plans they will start weight-loss etc. Then it rarely works. Maybe the key was that it was just an unplanned impulse.

[Mukluk4]

I tried to do the same things at 36 that I was doing at 16.  Ended up tearing a groin muscle from my pelvic bone.  I limped through the rest of the basketball season, I literally couldn't climb stairs the next day after a game.  The PT called it something a College Football Lineman usually gets.  Granted, I was playing full court basketball at 340ish pounds (yeah better shape than guys 100 lbs lighter!).

Increased off-season cardio, started spending time in the weight room and now I can run full court leading fast breaks against high school/college kids as a svelte 260ish 41 year old. 

[KateFitbit]

What great responses, thank you. Deciding to lose even 5lbs is hard and requires dedication, but I think it gets a bit easier once something clicks, something tells you, yes, I'm going to do it and go all the way.  I'm waiting for that click again, but reaching out to others and sharing stores does help. 

@WendyB I think you are right about sticking to a routine, especially when you don't feel like it. Good for you after surgery too! The first time I lost a significant amount of weight I found one VHS tape, Kathy Kaehler step aerobics, that I just did for about a year straight. After a month or so, I turned off the sound and listened to my own music. I eventually joined a gym but credit workout tapes for helping me discover that I can and do enjoy exercising. 

@SunsetRunner I'm in about the same boat as you are and understand the thought... if I don't do it now, then when? And it only is going to get harder... I feel that too. Glad to hear your tracker is helping. 

@bethanysmum2002  You are selfless! I'm so glad your husband got you an Alta HR for Xmas and it's working. Your weight loss is impressive. I like that you are making accessible goals, 1/12 of the way to goal is an awesome way to put it! 

@tractorlegs like your response too. There doesn't have to be a big event or bolt of inspiration. Sometimes it's just time. I feel that. 

@SunsetRunner Great story--you are a lucky man. Congratulations on your tests results! 

@Mukluk4 I exercised like a fiend in my 20s and did so much step aerobics that my knees now feel it if I go too far. I'm turning to low impact cardio and weights now, but it's the food part that I really need to change, I didn't have to deal with when as much when I was younger. Sounds like sports and competition helped? Congrats on your 80lb weight loss! 

[SunsetRunner]

Walking to the bathroom and hearing myself wheeze when breathing. I was 420 when I started back in December 2016.

Today? 286 pounds.

• Trying to get to 250.
• I can't remember the last time I was under 300.
• I'm 53 years old.
• I want to be around for my wife.

[SunsetRunner]

@SunsetRunner wow, congratulations! This reminds me that "being there for my wife" motivation appeared too, but when I was almost at the finishing line of the process when last year my father died of cancerS ( yes, with S ) and all I could think was that he just asked for it to happen by not taking any care about his health ( heavy smoking, bad eating habits, stressful job and daily life ). In such course of events, many people go back to old habits ( we have many stories here of people who regained all weight because relative passed away and couldn't handle it ) but it actually got me more motivated and I dived into it fully so much that even during the time preceding the funeral I continued my planned runs despite my moods ( and I found running to be a real reliever ). This was also a turning point when I decided to reduce eating meat and dairy to a bare minimum as my mom as a cancer survivor, she suffered colorectal cancer which is proven to be very connected with high meat consumption over years. If you had somebody in the family suffering this particular cancer then your chance to have it grows dramatically ( some research papers say about 20% chance! ). I didn't think of this motivation until I read your reply 🙂 I also want to be there for my wife in future 🙂

[danielpatrik]

Dear @KateFitbit,

Your story is inspiring. I have always struggled to lose weight. I have been clubbing intermittent fasting and keto diet. And i must say the results are absolutely fabulous. I have lost about 7 lbs in past 15 days or so. Feeling motivated to adapt intermittent fasting as a lifestyle. It also prevents certain health conditions.

And who doesn't want to look better ?

Regards.

[Alysan]

I've always held a weight between 120-130. I foolishly thought I was one of the 'lucky ones' that just couldn't or wouldn't ever gain weight. 

Then I became a stagant, stay at home mother in a new country, and in the course of a year, I started drinking too much wine and sitting on my arse most of the day. I gained about 20+ lbs from what I weighed 2 weeks after giving birth. I just let myself go and didn't really feel moved to do anything about it. I'm 38. 

My husband, who is 9 years younger and super fit due to his job, told me with no equivocation that I was fat and he was much less attracted to me, sexually. I believe that a healthy sexual relationship is vital to maintaining a marriage, at least my marriage. I was hurt briefly by his comments, but ultimately I realized I was in a funk and started to make a change. 

Now that I'm 10 lbs away from my goal weight, I realize how unhappy I was with myself and will never go back. 

[KateFitbit]

@danielpatrik happy you found a plan that works! I can usually handle intermittent fasting for about a day or two before I cave. I like to reward myself after a morning workout, even it's just an egg. 

@Alysan I can relate a lot to your story. Sounds like you chose to empower yourself after your husband comment rather than be hurt by it. That's about the best thing you can do.  

[Daves_Not_Here]

@KateFitbit - great thread, and inspiring responses all around!

I've had two inspirations - (1) the desire to meet my grandchildren, and (2) the realization I was not walking my philosophical and political talk.

Not to sound moralistic, but as I've been observing the disintegration of our culture and marginalization of western values, I've been disgusted by our increasing tendency to promote victimhood while eschewing personal responsibility - to demonize virtue, cultivate pathology, and celebrate the profane.  And then it struck me -- one thing that is 100% within my control is my fitness and weight.  For me, my obesity is a choice.  It's a very easy choice to make, but a choice nonetheless.  And if I make that choice, then what does it say about me as I prattle on about the collective foibles of others, other than I'm literally a big fat hypocrite who has failed to take personal responsibility for my own health.  Not a good look.

Oh yeah, another motivation is to blow the doors off of young punk snowboarders.

[Z-Rex]

It's great to see everyone's motivations for getting healthy. 

I was a little overweight when I was younger and got teased a lot for it. By the time I got into comprehensive and hit puberty I lost the weight and felt more comfortable in myself and it stayed stable for a long time. I'm just coming to the end of my PhD now and I realise over the last few years I've gained a few stone and feel uncomfortable in my skin again. So, I have decided that I want to get back into it and work and feeling better about myself and healthier in general. I want to feel proud of myself in more than just the academic aspect.

[Daves_Not_Here]

@Z-Rex - congrats on your PhD!  Getting the weight off will be easy for you in comparison.

By the way, motivation is overrated for losing weight -- what's more effective is action:  as you repeat weight-loss behaviors, the motivation will follow.

[Akaka]

eek sadly not!  in my experience the phd is easier than the weight loss 🙂

[kanga1]

I saw a picture of myself. My face is so fat, I'm almost as heavy as when I was pregnant, I need to jump on the diet bandwagon.

[oh_suzanney]

I saw a picture of myself at Christmas 2016, and it was horrifying. I was really unhappy with my life, where I was living, my job, I was absolutely depressed, had horrible eating habits and was almost completely sedentary. It was time to regain control.

I received a Fitbit as a Christmas gift that year, and immediately started using the app to track what I was eating. I started taking my dog on longer walks (we both benefitted!). Then I started hitting the gym in my apartment building - just riding the bike for about 20 minutes at a time.

Here I am a little over a year later, and I have a personal trainer, still ride the bike at the gym, but now I do about 45-60 minutes of hills about 3x/week, and I've lost 60lbs so far. And 6 pant sizes. I'm wearing a size of clothes that I haven't worn since high school. But most importantly, I FEEL so much better. I feel strong, I feel empowered, I feel sexy, I don't get winded just from walking through the grocery store, I smile more, I don't hate having my picture taken....

The FitBit motivated me to change my entire lifestyle. Best Christmas gift ever.

[WavyDavey]

I developed diabetes, and didn't like it.