Motivation

mo·ti·va·tion - noun \ˌmō-tə-ˈvā-shən\

Definition of MOTIVATION
1: the act or process of motivating b : the condition of being motivated
2: a motivating force, stimulus, or influence : incentive, drive
— mo·ti·va·tion·al \-shnəl, -shə-n^əl\ adjective
— mo·ti·va·tion·al·ly adverb

 

After several hours of thinking long and hard about what exactly are my motives for me to lose weight and be healthy… I have a few to share. Just to write a post a bit about why exactly I decided that enough was enough and I wanted to lose weight.

1a.  Health – I know that the more a person weighs, the more likely parts of their body will not function as properly as it should/could. I feel like the more time goes on that I am overweight, the more tired I feel every day. I don’t feel upbeat and bouncy like other people and all I ever actually feel like doing (deep down inside) is to sit down and do the things I always do. Play around on the computer. My feet will hurt after walking or standing on them for a period of time, and sometimes my knees will be sore after walking around all day. I don’t normally admit to the smaller pains, but nevertheless they are there. As of now my main concern is my back and the pain I’ve started to have to deal with there.

1b.  Energy – I’m so tired of being tired and not having the energy to get up and about. As stated above, I feel tired pretty much every day. Deep down inside I want to be able to get up and be an active person. Instead I just sit around so much when I’d really rather go do something and interact out in the world. I honestly don’t like being cooped up in the house so much.. but I just feel like whenever I go to do something I can feel myself getting tired. When I get tired enough I start getting cranky and eventually I mope around until I’m back in the house.

2. Image (clothes) – All right, as a woman I have the need to look as good as I possibly can. That is pretty much what many women do right? Even if you don’t feel like going out you’d still want to put on comfortable clothes that you think look nice. I may be partially wrong but I do admit that I have subconsciously been trying to match the clothes I wear. I really want to be able to look for clothes that are for my age group. I don’t know how many people have noticed but in a lot of clothes stores these days it is hard to find plus sized clothes for a young woman. A lot of plus sized clothing is styled for older women (I’m not separating people by ages but I’m sure a lot of people know what I’m talking about) and I really miss being able to wear more clothes that make me feel feminine. I miss wearing shirts that have really colorful patterns and textures, shirts with lower cut neck lines, etc. I walk by the smaller sized clothes and I see so many clothes I’d LOVE to have... if I could only fit into them.

3. Image (body) – For so many years I have not liked the way I looked. Period. The older I get, the more I really start looking down at myself and wondering how in the world did I let myself get this way. I don’t like seeing the way my stomach looks, I hate it when I find more stretch marks showing up. More importantly I hate it that whenever I go to a mall or somewhere with people more around my age, there are so many skinnier girls out there. It seriously makes me wonder of all places in “Overweight US” I have to live in the area with skinny people that appear to be constantly eating and never gaining a pound?

4. Relationship – The past couple of years have been a huge step up in my life compared to how I was before. Not only did I start going to college, but I’ve also gained the first serious relationship. This guy means the world to me, and he doesn’t care if I’m overweight, he just wants me to be happy and to be healthy and loves me for who I am. I want what he wants, and in order to become healthier I have got to shed off a lot of this weight. I want to be able to live a full life with him.

So what are your motives to lose weight? What makes you really want to get into better shape?

Write a list of the reasons why you really want to lose weight, tell yourself that it isn’t just a matter of wanting or needing to get healthy, that you actually have reasons to do this! Keep those in mind or have that list nearby whenever you go to eat or before you exercise, see if that helps motivate you to keep going!