Why do/did you want to lose weight?

[BabyDreamer]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

JM,

You are doing wonderful!

Deb

Great question!

I want to lose weight so that shopping is fun! So I can wear cool, funky, gorgeous clothes. I've never been thin and I've always been the girl with a pretty face, you know how it goes "You've got such a pretty face...BUT...". I want my husband to be driven CRAZY by me, with clothes and without. I want my kids to have a healthy, active, fun and beautiful mother. Like my name says, I want to model great exercise and eating habits for my little girls, so that maybe they can avoid this struggle as they grow and become young women. So many reasons, sometimes I wonder why I've waited so long to get serious about making the lifestyle changes necessary to get things done.

JM

[ttdriver]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

If you are thin now, or thinner, tell us how you feel and what benefits there are to losing weight.

Oh my gosh, where do I start?

I was thin until about age 30 .. when the pounds slowly but surely caught up with me. Suddenly, after decades of eating whatever I wanted in whatever quantities I wanted, fate dealt me a mean blow .. I started packing on the pounds.

I discovered Atkins 2002 in January 2002. I thought 'oh what the heck, lets give it a try.' Well, that was 35+ pounds ago and nearly 4 years. I've become an absolute RADICAL about low-carbing. Ask anyone who knows me!

Here I am, on the brink of 50 years old and weighing 94 pounds. I feel absolutely dynamite! I run 30-35 miles a week. I was *never* a runner before Atkins. Atkins made me believe I could become what I dreamed of.

And surely, I have. I don't mean to sound conceited because I am not. I am, however, committed 100% to lowcarbing for the rest of my life. Why? Because I feel better at age (nearly) 50 than I ever have in my life. I have boundless energy!! I can run like someone nearly 1/2 my age! I'm on the brink of running my first marathon!! How about that??

There's nothing NOT to love about Atkins!

Betty

[Moochiecat]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

Well...I'm pretty shallow...lol...and I just want to be able to go into any clothing store in the mall and say "I'll take one of those and one of those and one of those, please!" and know that they'll fit.

...and I just want to know how it is to feel 'normal', and blend in with the general population instead of having people scooching in with their chairs because the fat woman is trying to get through the restaurant...and the fat woman has just stood up and hasn't even started to leave, you know?

My epiphany, the moment it all clicked in my head that I needed to lose weight was when I was forced to look at myself (brace yourself) naked when I was in the middle of a health issue. I had a pain in my lower right side and I was trying to see if there was a swelling or anything. It came as quite a shock to me to really really look at myself. It's amazing how long a person can go without looking at their body from the neck down...denial is a powerful thing.

That's why I took that start picture in such a snug outfit...so I couldn't hide the reality of what my body had become. And I'm smiling so big because I think I knew that this was MY turning point, MY time, MY first step on my journey.

[allierw26]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

I've been fat all my life. I know very thoroughly how humiliating it can be. I'm tired of feeling embarrassed and physically limited because of my weight. I'm tired of looking around a room and thinking to myself, "I bet I'm the fattest person here". I want to be able to go to the regular Old Navy and Gap store, tell Lane Bryant to kiss my skinny butt, and go to Victoria's Secret and pick out something fun and sexy! I want to be able to cross my legs. And walk without my thighs rubbing together. Like Babydreamer, I want to lose weight so I can one day have a healthy pregnancy and baby.

This is a great thread...it really has reminded me why I'm here and why I am sticking with it!!

[cruiser gal]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

I have never been thin, was even born heavy weight! I never let my weight problem affect my personality, and I always figured that people should accept me the way I am. But as I got older, I hated looking at myself in the mirror, or in store windows. My knees started to hurt badly, I couldn't walk more than 5 minutes without having to take a rest, and when I married my second husband, 2 1/2 years ago, I was in a size 22 wedding gown! I looked at our pictures, and really felt FAT! I love to dance, and couldn't even do that much. I was always tired, and people thought that I was older than I actually am - age 52 now. So that was enough for me to change my WOE. I started in January, 9 months ago, and have never looked back! I haven't been this weight for over 25 years, and I feel fabulous! DH can't keep his eyes off of me (nor his hands)! When we bump into someone that hasn't seen me in awhile, and they rave about how great I now look, I can see my DH smiling and feeling proud of me. My daughter who lives in another city, is thrilled about the way I look, she has never seen me like this, and we can start sharing clothing pretty soon!

[pipee_pl]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

I want to be a YUMMY MUMMY!!

Other than that, i am tired of not being able to fit into clothes, especially here in Poland- everyone is so small.
I want to be healthy and happy so that my 2 girls will have a good example to follow.
And finally, I want to rub it in my mother in laws face.--sorry i know that is terrible, but there is a lot of history and i just want to be able to say the biggest "i told you so" to her and her stupid fad yo-yo diets that will never work.

[Alienore]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

I was born five weeks' premature and didn't come home for four months. I was severely underweight until the doctors told my parents to put me on a high-carb diet and sort out my glucose levels.... and the pounds packed on. By the time I was eleven I was about ten pounds heavier than I should have been and Mum plumped me on the scales one night and told me I was fat.

Issues resulted and the weight increased due to me feeling isolated due to family problems that I couldn't tell anyone about. I've been fat or obese for nearly 25 years - if I don't get the fat off and myself healthier I never will be able to do things that others take for granted, like having the confidence in myself to believe that I'm gorgeous or sexy or whatever.

Oh yeah, fitting into smaller clothing would be great too but clothes have never been sufficient of a reason for me to lose weight. As long as I could hide under baggy things that was always fine with me. But I don't want to be THAT person anymore.

I joined Curves last week and tomorrow do my first full workout. I aim to drop a dress size by Christmas, or as near as I can get to it.


Deborah

[jroche5998]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

My breaking point happened last year, right before I started. I was rocking my daughter to sleep and I realized that there was now way I was gonna live to walk her down the aisle unless I did something. My favorite joke was that I was a walking heart attack. I don't know how close that was to the truth, but I do know that it's a lot further away now.

I lose for my kids, I continue to lose for my kids, and I won't ever quit because I hope to live to see my children's children.

And the compliments are fun too.

[mwr1ght2002]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

I wanted to feel HEALTHY. My physical always come back A-OK. But the number on the scale has always been the issue. Believe me I have tried every diet known. THEY NEVER WORKED FOR ME!!!!! ATKINS way of eating actually worked!!

Then the secondary reasons of course are all VaNiTy~For me.

[iwillbethin]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

I was a diabetic when i was pregnant with my daughter and it was inevitable that it was gonna happen sooner or later and I would become full fledge diabetic. I wanted my husband to have a hot wife and i would also like to get pregers again next year and not have to worry about having to be so HUGE! Clothes, clothes clothes. Wearing trendy clothing is another plus!

[Sirine]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

Growing up I was always a little chubby until I reached "18" I weighed 110LBS which was awesome, I got married at 21(still thin) had my baby girl at 23 and weighed 180LBS! I would never leave the house, never did my favorite thing (shop) just sat on that couch and complained...Until I found this wonderful site just looking for ways to lose weight searching on the net...I love Dr.Atkins (God bless him) he sure helped me a lot! I work as a fashion stylist so fashion has always been a big part of my life and to put that on the side because of my weight was not happening! Plus I don't want my daughter growing up thinking it's ok to be that big 'cuz mom was!!!

[sofarsogood]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

I want to stop relying on food to make me feel better.

I want to just be ME and not a chubby woman trying to cover it up by being funny or tough.

I want to wear a bikini for the first time in my life.

I want to look good for my husband.

I want to wear any jeans or pants I like without having a "muffin top".

[Kent]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

I wanted to stop advertising a failure of mine for the whole world to see. It is bad enough when they see me fail or make a mistake, let alone have it on constant display. There was nothing like being forced out of the Guard to stick that sense of failure in your craw.

It was also a way to regain the lost years of youth and life that being 200 pounds overweight robbed.

[tripped]

Re: Why do/did you want to lose weight?

So many things in common with so many on here. I was very thin until my late thirties. Truly I don't know what happened and I'm not going to try and figure it out. My parents have had cascading health problems for the last 10 years, mostly attributable to smoking, neither of them had weight issues. I lost my dad several months ago and I've come to the realization that although I don't smoke, obesity is driving me toward the same health problems.....cardiovascular disease, diabetes, thyroid disorder, high cholesterol. We've dealt with heart failure, strokes, diabetic shock, amputations, failed artery graphs, gout, you name it, 7 different types of doctors, 20+ different prescriptions. And these are only the conditions. The loss of dignity and loss of independence was devastating.


After the loss of my dad, I admitted to myself that I was standing on the tracks waiting for the freight train to hit. So, I've decided to open my eyes and get out of the way. I'm going to avoid at least those health problems that are within my control and I'm looking forward to all the other benefits that go with a great appearance. One of the big ones for me is one that somebody else mentioned where we display our fault for all to see and I believe this has some effect in my work environment.