There is no "other" choice here because I didn't want to offend.

I want to lose weight for all of the reasons I listed but my health is by far the most important reason.

Edited January 7, 201016 yr by btrieger

so many reasons!! Mostly, the three little girls I have. 11, 10 and 7. :smile2:

I'll bite. I have lots of reasons, but I want to look good, dammit! :smile2:

I really want to be able to play with my kids and not get tired. I want to have energy and not be a couch potato. I want to go to the beach and not get looked at (in a bad way). I want to have self-confidence to assure myself that I didn't get the job/promotion because I was unqualified, not because I am fat. I want to walk places and feel like people are looking at me because I'm hot, not because I'm fat. I am only 32 and felt like I was 60!

... I am only 32 and felt like I was 60!

Doesn't it kill you when somebody says, "you're only as old as you feel" and you feel a lot older?

I want to strangle the originator of that line.

I want to look good too ! I admit, looking good is very important to me. I do not have to be model beautiful, but darn it, I wanna look my personal best, and obese does not cut it. Of course the other 2 options are good too, just not the one I picked as number one at this time. I'm sure I could come up with several OTHER reasons too.

My health hadnt really suffered yet, well not in ways I knew about. I got to a BMI of 35 and I guess bloodwork would have shown evidence of bad diet, I wasnt fit, etc but overall, I was healthy.

However, I was VERY concerned with future health and I had really begun to realise how quickly I was going to get old as I entered my 40's. I really did this as prevention and insurance for a healthy and long life in the future.

But I have to be completely honest and I voted that way - my most immediate concern was I hated the way I looked. This was VERY much a cosmetic surgery for me. I dont see it as much different to having a boob job or major body reconstruction. Feeling good about myself has given me a life that I'd only ever experienced from the sidelines before. I had what mattered and was happy, but this is what was missing.

Why am I losing Weight?

I would love to say the politically correct things like health and family, but the reality of it is…that career advancement, fitting into airplane seats, I hate Big and Tall stores and vanity have more to do with it than anything else.

Currently it is because I want to look good but I got the band because of health reasons. I was prediabetic and had other medical issues. I was tired all the time, had joint pain, shortness of breath from walking short distances, uncomfortable in my own skin. I saw my future in the lives of older family members who are suffering from heart disease, diabetes and other ailments and didn't want to end up like that. But NOW I want to feel attractive for myself.

I don't know about health being the PC answer but I am surprised by the results.

I figured it would be 5 to 1 for health.

While reading a couple of other threads a lot of people were claiming that they wanted to look good and being healthy was just a side effect. So, I made the poll to see if this held true and I guess it does.

I wish the best to everyone no matter the reason we are doing it.

I want to lose weight so the being overweight is not your first thought in the morning and your last thought at night and thinking about it every hour in the day, that is being overweight. All of us who have a weight problem can relate to this. I believe our train of thought throughout our lives is so different from someone who never had weight issues. I want to be healthy, look good and most of all FEEL GREAT!

I want to lose weight for a TON (no pun intended) reasons...

I want to look good again on the outside... I feel good on the inside... but on the outside I don't look like it....

I want to catch the eye of someone.. just because you want to flirt to feel good sometimes...

I don't want someone to care about me because of the size of my body, but the size of my heart....

But having the right body that you want, whatever the size, makes you act different in front of people...

I favor the long skirts and big sweaters.. I want to wear the short skirts, long boots and form fitting shirts... for confidence... I want people to hear what I say, not wonder why I weigh more than I really should.

I want to lose weight because I want to conquer this demon.. I want to be in control of what I look like, not the carbs in the cabinent....

I want to do this for me... for my confidence... for my ego... for my self esteem.....

I don't want to do it for anyone else... I think my kids would love me any way that they could have me.. but I think about taking those hikes up diamond head mountain in Hawaii without taking a rest. I did that that with my 14 year old daughter when she was young... now I want to do it with my two young boys... I want to give them experiences that they will never forget...I NEVER want them to think they didn't get something because mom was too tired....

So, the answer is, for me, myself, and I with special motivation provided by the kids....

yes yes yes to all of the above!! Having said that the deciding factor for me is and was health! I started feeling pain in my feet, ankles and knees that was weight related and being in my early 40's couldn't see living the rest of my life in pain. So I had to lose the weight and KEEP IT OFF.Lapband was the answer!

I have lupus and after each episode it became harder and harder to get around. I was afraid there would come a day when I couldnt get out of bed. Being overweight makes it so much more difficult.

I actually am one of the few people who never hated being overweight. I think I look just fine. And it helps to keep away the insincere people.

I want to lose weight so the being overweight is not your first thought in the morning and your last thought at night and thinking about it every hour in the day, that is being overweight. All of us who have a weight problem can relate to this. I believe our train of thought throughout our lives is so different from someone who never had weight issues. I want to be healthy, look good and most of all FEEL GREAT!

I think this is an important point. Its why i got a band to NEVER diet again. If I got thin counting calories and fussing over Protein, I would not consider myself "cured". I worked very hard to get over the good food/bad food mentality and whilst eating healthy is important, I now choose to do it for reasons other than calories.

it all ties in with something I saw yesterday at the beach, it was awful. There was an old Greek lady, very old, very fat with her daughter on the beach. She required help to get across the sand. In trying to spread her towel, she staggered, and fell over backwards. She was like a turtle, couldnt get up, didnt have the strength or mobility. Her daughter had to haul her up. Then she went into the Water and promptly collapsed again, swallowing water. Her daughter was refusing our help, and other people's but eventually had to admit her mother was in trouble. We got her out of the water with great difficulty as she weighed a ton and could barely walk, she had water in her lungs, was vomiting etc. Still the daughter was saying "she'll be right". Doug rang an ambulance anyway, without her permission, becuase it was obvious she needed it. The ambos arrived, and struggled to get her off the beach, and off to hospital.

I was thinking I sooooooo dont want that to be me. Probably 50% of my motivation is how I look and the other 50% is ensuring that I am going to be strong and healthy when I'm 70, still running, still able to enjoy life. I never want to end up like that poor Greek lady.

Those things are to me sensible and healthy motivations to eat well and I find I dont need the rules when I think like this. I choose for health and the rules are automatically satifsifed. I just dont like to approach it with I *MUST* do this, I *WILL* do that, I dont feel guilt when I dont but I eat well to respect myself and ensure my future, not to satisfy a program.

In that way, I feel I've been able to achieve what you're saying. I dont think about weight and my body and what I'm not going to eat every second of the day anymore, and that's as much a part of your health as your physical state is.

Jumping in head first on this one...I was tired of being the "biggest" person in every room I entered. I was tired of being the "really big girl", "yah, but you are so tall"!

This is my reality. I am not a shallow person and have NEVER worried what people thought of me. This changed when I started seeing my daughters reaction to people looking at me. That is when it HAD to change for me. No questions asked. She is turning 10.

She ask me to stop smoking for her birthday when she was turning 7. That was all she wanted, because she was worried about who was going to raise her when i died of cancer. She knew that smoking kills, but at 7, she couldn't know the problems I was bound to have because of obesity. I stopped smoking the eve of her birthday in 2007 cold turkey and this is just the next gift to both her and me.:thumbup:

I want to look good again on the outside... I feel good on the inside... but on the outside I don't look like it....

I want to catch the eye of someone.. just because you want to flirt to feel good sometimes...

But having the right body that you want, whatever the size, makes you act different in front of people...

I favor the long skirts and big sweaters.. I want to wear the short skirts, long boots and form fitting shirts... for confidence... I want people to hear what I say, not wonder why I weigh more than I really should.

I want to lose weight because I want to conquer this demon.. I want to be in control of what I look like, not the carbs in the cabinent....

I want to do this for me... for my confidence... for my ego... for my self esteem.....

I can totally relate to all the things I left in. Although I am happily married, I would like to know that I am still attractive to the opposite sex.