Good Morning Everyone;

Aside from the obvious benefit of just losing weight, what else motivates(ed) you?

For me it is the following:

1 - A more professional appearance in business situations

2 - The ability to work around the yard without fatigue

3 - I would really like to install pavers for my driveway, but

its hard for me to kneel down and get back up.

4 - I would like to take long walks - health benefit - without

heavy breathing.

There are probably others, but these are a couple to give an example.

Regards

Hal

Yes, I want to be healthier in general, BUT the things I want most from my weightloss go with vanity really.

I am a female and darn it, I want to feel better about the way I look! In my opnion, I look VERY BAD when I am overweight. Because of that, I feel bad about myself. Being overweight kills my self esteem and puts me in a general mental funk.

I am in touch with reality and know I will never be the most beautiful woman in the room, but obese is not for me.

Great idea for a thread Hal. My goals are similar to yours and more health related. I want to feel good again primarily and I know that is really vague, but it encompasses so much.

I want to be free of the aches and pains so that I actually feel good enough to take part in physical activity.

I want to be able to take long walks with my golden retrievers without shortness of breath.

I want to learn to eat to live rather than the other way around.

I'm a miserly sort and have been a chronic saver all my life. I want to live to enjoy old age. I just don't see too many active senior citizens that are obese.

Wonderful thread....

What I want from weight loss...

Yes I want to look better, only because that's boosts my self confidence, not really out of vanity.

I want to be the woman I know I really can be...confident, strong, independent, serene.

I want to be active everyday in some way and not feel like it's going to kill me. I want less pain in my knees when i am active.

I want much improved health...to get off my cholesterol and triglyceride medications. I want to be no longer pre diabetic. I want to be able to do all the things I have wanted to do such as hang gliding, and rock climbing.

I am considering going back to school to be a veterinary technician. I wanted to go a few years ago but knew that it was a physically demanding profession and I would not be up to it....

I want to be able to take my dog on long walks....and to the beach. I want to live to see my nephew grow up.

Lastly, but most importantly, I just want a normal life....I want to participate in life not just watch life pass me by....

Meg

I made a list of all the things I wanted from my weight loss before surgery (here is a link to it) and kept going back to it as I was losing and -- amazingly enough -- everything on that list came true. I just reached my goal about a week ago. At the start, it was so unreal to me that that day would come, but it did.

One thing I didn't realize I would get as a result of losing with the band until after the fact was what another bandster called "freedom from the food prison." I love that expression. Basically, for me, that includes two big things. One, I no longer spend time every day (or ever, for that matter) berating myself about my weight, how fat I'd let my self get and how disgusting I felt. And, two, I'm actually able to enjoy eating out more now because having a nice meal doesn't leave me feeling guilty about going off my "diet" or putting on yet another pound.

There is so much to look forward to during this process. Shopping anywhere you like, feeling pretty, liking your body, being more confident, not having your feet hurt, being more comfortable, and so much more.

So, here is to all of that! Cheers, people!

Best,

Catherine

Mine was really vanity - I was feeling awful, old and tired, but that meant to me that I would be a dowdy old woman by age 45, which didnt fit my image of myself. I coudlnt wear what I wanted, look how I wanted etc. So really, I did it equally as much to look better as to feel better.

and I wanted to really be able to run again.

The vanity one was undoubtedly a major reason but I also really wanted to feel fit and healthy again. I'd gotten to the point where heaving myself up out of an armchair was a major obstacle in my life. I wanted to be able to fit into the seat belts on the plane & bus to work, carry my suitcases across camp without fainting from exhaustion or bursting into tears if, for whatever reason, I had to go back and get something. Most of all, however, I wanted to live to enjoy my old age.

My "aha!" moment was in October 07, when I had been working on the mines for 18 months and had gained 18 kilograms (40lb) in that time to reach my heaviest ever weight. I was working on a spreadsheet, figuring out what I was going to do with all this money I was suddenly earning in the booming resources industry here, and making a "5 Year Plan", when I realised that, if I continued to gain weight at the rate I was gaining, I would have eaten myself to death in 5 years :thumbup: I decided that the money spent to get the band done ASAP was well worth it... and have never regretted that decision!

to get a job in the FBI:cool:

to wear knee-high boots and zip them all the way up:tongue2:

to cross my legs without sitting on my hip:thumbup:

to see my cheekbones without having to smile:blush:

spending less of my time and money on FOOD:drool:

Hello! Here are just a few things that I want to gain thru my band:

HEALTH:

1) go off my diabetes and cholesterol meds

2) get down to the lowest dose of bp meds possible (I have kidney disease and will never be able to go completely off bp meds.)

3) be free of the aches and pains in my feet, knees, hips, and back due to weight

4) exercise regulary and enjoy it

5) not fall so much (apparently heavy people have a poorer sense of balance and/or can't regain their balance if they stumble)

VANITY:

1) be able to look in a mirror and like what I see

2) not be the biggest person in the room

3) stop the self-hate cycle (hate weight = depression = eating = hate weight...)

4) stop having to spend sooooo much $$ on plus size clothes AND food

5) be able to ride in a plane w/o an extender

6) be able to ride all the rides at any amusement park

7) wear shoes with heels

8) stop being resigned to "just being heavy"

9) wear tucked in shirts, sleeveless shirts, bathing suit w/o a skirt

10) not be so reluctant to try new things b/c of my size

Hopefully, to be able to walk more than 100 feet. My knees, hips, and back are constantly in horrible pain whenever I walk. And, Hopefully, live a little longer to enjoy my grand kids.

At 60 years old, I don't have much vanity left anymore, just to be pain free, BUT, looking decent, would be a wonderful side affect.

Well, health is a consideration--but to be frank, I didn't have comorbidities, so it wasn't my primary motivator. (I do have a very sick husband--and do feel it's important for my kids to have ONE parent who is as healthy as possible, though.)

Mostly, it's how I feel in my own skin---and how I look.

I want to feel like myself again. I want to look like myself again.

I've never really experienced any sort of professional or other discrimination based on weight--at least not that I'm aware of. But I've been very good (well, bad!) at limiting myself.

Not any longer, though.

Let's see- let me count the things...

1) Health- feel healthy again- this last year has taken a big toll on my health. I want to get off my cholesterol pills, and give my arthritis a break.

2) Energy- Between weight loss and exercise, to have lots of energy and strength again.

3) Self image and self esteem- to feel good about myself and how I show up in the world.

4) Vanity, of course :thumbup:!!!

OMG I can't wait to get my band (waiting on insurance approval) - I was once at 185 lbs and I felt fantastic and I can't wait to feel that way again! Here are some of my other goals below:

Health -

- I have quit smoking so that's one thing I really wanted to accomplish

- I want to be able to be athletic again and play on sports teams and not be embarrassed to play because I can't keep up like I used to.

- I want to be able to walk up the stairs without my heart pounding out of my chest or getting winded.

- I want my knees and back to stop hurting.

- I don't want to feel tired all the time

- I want to have more energy

- I can't wait to start working out again and enjoy it

- Not run to food as my comfort

- To be able to have children!!

Vanity -

- I can't wait to fit comfortably on a roller coaster again and in a seat on an airplane

- Looking forward to wearing really nice clothes and dressing nicely

- Looking into the mirror and finally seeing something good, unlike now when I hate seeing my reflection

- To wear a bathing suit without shorts over it

- For my jeans to stop rolling under my fat roll

- Cute undies

- To look beautiful on Nov 11, 2011 - our wedding date on the beach!!

- To wear a little black dress

- Above all to be a more strong willed and confident women!!

I love everyone's lists! Great motivators.

Hi everyone,

I'm new to all of this and will be having my surgery sometime in October 2010 (if my calculation is accurate). I had a heart attack in January, which was defiantely a wake-up call for me. This is a great post question and I want to add that I want the following from my weight loss:

I want to:

1) Be able to cross my legs

2) Have more self confidence

3) Be able to jog (or run) if I choose to do so

4) Look sexy in the clothes I wear

5) Be an inspiration to others who have weight issues

6) See losing weight as my own inspiration to accomplish other things in my life that I've put off or didn't think I could do

7) Decrease or banish the effects of my diabetes, high blood pressure, cysts on ovaries and the devasting effects of PCOS, such as thinning hair, growing a FULL beard (I'm female!), high cholesterol, and whatever bad thing is lying in wait inside of my body due to the excess weight (future disease)

Thanks for sharing, everyone - sometimes I feel so all alone in all of this but I see now that I'm not. :smile:

1. I want to feel good about myself.

2. I want to be able to walk my kids to and from school (only .4 miles) without breaking out into a full sweat in the middle of the winter.

3. I want to go back to the woman my husband married. We were looking through some old photos with my 6 year old and she said to my husband "Daddy who is that pretty lady with you in this picture?" When my husband told her that it was me, she looked at me and said "Oh, Mommy I didn't know you used to be that pretty." :smile: I called an registered for the LAP-BAND® seminar the next day.