It was always nice to come to a thread were people talked about what motivated them to want to lose weight. hopefully others will post there reasons as well so we can keep things active in this forum....

here is my story......

Dec of 07 i went to weight watchers and weighed in at 291.3. I was so embarresed. here i was 21 yrs old and almost 300 pounds. I never went back. I was depressed and continued to eat. In jan of 08 went to dr and weighed in at 296. she told me that if i kept this up, as i got older people would look at me and say look at the woman with the pretty face. i wonder how she got to be so massive. I did everything i could to keep from crying. she put me on a 1500 cal diet and told me to write down everything i ate. it worked for a about a week and then i went back to old eating habits. gaining back the 7 pounds i had lost. I realized the only way i could be sucessful was by doing low carb. so now im back on the wagon. its been 5 weeks and already im down almost 30 pounds. im attending a wedding next month and cant wait to wear a really nice for fitting dress

I was going to die, and soon. My blood sugar readings were running 300 - 400 fasting and I was maxed out on drugs. I was 39 years old.

I went low carb and low cal, under doctor's supervision. After the first 60 or so pounds -- don't remember exactly where without looking it up -- I went traditional Atkins.

I was just tired of being fat and tired. I used to play so many sports, and now I couldn't do much of anything. Also, I would go through small weightgain spurts, and was starting one again. I was 260 and going up a little. My clothes I had become comfortable in were getting tight again. I was already wearing a 3X shirt and 44 pants. I did NOT want to go up another size.

I had done Atkins before, but felt too restricted. I was cheating and stuff on it. I lost 15-20 pounds, but gained it back when I stopped. I didn't really want to do Atkins again, but got interested in a Paleo diet. From there, I kind of combined Paleo and Atkins and am really enjoying it.

Well, I've always wanted to lose weight, and tried many times. The difference for me wasn't what made me try again, but that when I tried again, I tried low-carb. It worked when nothing else did.

Like Valerie, there's never been a time for me when I didn't want to lose weight. Its just that every time I went on a diet I'd lose a little, then go off my rocker from deprivation and hunger, and wind up gaining more than I lost. So, every diet I tried, I just ended up fatter. Eventually I decided that diets just don't work and gave up.

I found out about low carbing through Adiposity 101 during my 'diets don't work' defensive stage. It listed low carb as the one potential bright spot, so I started to research it.

I've tried a million times. I'll lose 10 to 20 and then for what ever reason I'll just quit. I think it's in my head. Anyway, watching my mom has got me back on the bandwagon. Mom is 5'5 tall. And weighs 325. She struggles to move around. She has what she and I refer to as "the hang me down thing". That's where her stomach sags down to almost the middle of her thigh. It seems in the last year I've notice that my skin elasticity is bad. I know it's age. I'll be 45 this year. Well one day I was sitting at my desk at work and realized I could feel my stomach laying on my legs. I freaked. I have never felt that. It scared the crap out of me.

I wake up everyday and hope I can stay scared enough to keep on fighting this nightmare. Plus my summer wardrobe is really, really snug!

My BF dumped me (Thank God....I was killing myself with emotional eating).....then I saw a photograph of myself and didn't recognise the person staring back...I saw my mother struggling with being a diabetic...and I noticed that my business wasn't going so well.....all my friends got married and moved on....I had trouble tying up my shoes and I had a rash at the tops of my thighs.
I just felt like a worthless loser.

I realized that I had gained back 55 pounds and again was considered morbidly obese. I wasn in denial up to that point and decided to face the fact that I was 100 pounds over weight and needed to lose it all for once....

that was part of my reasoning too. i was borderline diabetic ( my mother and both grandmothers have diabetes) and i had a mild case of sleep apnea. the only way to avoid both was to lose weight

I've spent the last 15 years trying to lose weight - praying to lose weight. I finally got on thyroid medication, which got the ball rolling. Then I found read Taubes' GCBC, which was the other piece of the puzzle.

I could never get started-it was always next week, next month- Jan 1st etc. I needed a boot to kick me in the butt. And finally it did. I am diabetic. I lost my job, lost my health insurance- my husbands business was in the dumper. I had no diabetes meds or test strips, so I just ignored it. Last spring I started to get severe pains/numbness in my legs and feet and the veins were popping out like crazy. I felt like I was going to die soon. That was the kick in the butt I needed.
My advice to younger people is to just do it- lose the weight -the younger you are the better- dont wait til you have medical complications because eventually you will and they do not just go away. My damage is permanent. Not to mention the hanging skin that doesnt bounce back like it would have had I not waited til I was 54. Good Luck and just get it done.

Denise

(I didn't think going to work in my robe was such a good idea.)

I was getting to the point where I had two outfits that were not so tight as to affect my movements and breathing while trying to work....at home I could just throw on my robe and get comfortable. I already have clothes in a range from 12 to 24 and so not buying one dang more size. As I lose weight this time they are all going, when 24's (already gone) are loose they go to goodwill, then when the 22's (almost) are done, bam, thier out of here....etc....

Because I gained all my weight while dealing with depression. Now I feel good on the inside. But the outside is still reflecting that pain. I want to look how I feel!

Ive Always Knew I Need To Lose Weight And Thought I Was 315lbs And I Just Weighed And I Weigh 331 Lbs Omg I Was So Sad And Wanted To Cry

A girlfriend of mine was complaining to me that the "menopause fairy" dumped 40 pounds on her that she couldn't budge for anything. Honestly, that scared me. I'm approaching that time in my life and adding 40 pounds to my 300+ put me into a panic.

That combined with the fact that I, too, was watching my family members struggle with diabetes really got me going. My younger brother had been pretty successful on low carb, though I'd never tried it - after all, WW was supposed to be the be all, end all of diets though I ALWAYS failed on it. I was desperate to find something that would work and decided that LC would be my last ditch effort before medical intervention.

Thank goodness I bought the book and tried it. Never in my life have I been able to completely adopt a healthy way of eating until now.