What is your motivation??

Hi everyone. I was talking to a lady today and she asked me what inspired me to lose the weight. Later on I really began to think about this and wonder what inspired us all to do it. I'll go first... My motivation is my son. I have a 3 1/2 yr old aka SEXY MAN (seriously that's what he calls himself) who I was informed about a year ago that they felt he has some developmental delays. It wasn't till about 6 months ago, that they felt that his delays may be of a more permanent nature. Being uninformed, I immediately began to think the worst like mental retardation, inability to function and live an independent life, etc. So, out of just fear of leaving him to live in a world that can be unwelcoming to the challenged, I knew I had to get healthy. Since then I have gone from an all time high of 280 to 230. My ultimate goal is 140, which is a little smaller than I was before I got married. Anyway, that's my motivation and life : ). What is yours??? By the way, Although we have yet to get an official diagnosis ( in May 07), it is not believed that he has the level of severity that I assumed. Be Blessed

Hi Cammy First of all, blessings to you and your family! Getting a diagnosis can be like being in a maze, and your son may beat ALL the odds. I have a special needs sister, now 42 years old, and the things in place for folks now are pretty amazing. My motivation is my health, at the root. I want to live cuz I love my grandsons, my daughters, my husband of course who I spend all my fun time with, but I love the world - how it looks, smells, evolves, works. Yes, there's ugliness and evil, but SO much beauty and joy. Even my work - I play a part in the big picture! More recently, the story goes like this: For years, i try to lose, only to gain it back, yet I have many good habits in place, so I was truly beginning to think this is "me", move on, keep exercising, get over it, etc. I'm not *that fat*, just be happy. Then I saw Dr. Oz on Oprah. That show he had a cadaver, literally sliced open the long ways. The fat around that persons belly - INSIDE fat, called the omentum, was something I had never seen before. Never heard of it even - and I considered myself well read. That veil of fat, the omentum, causes fatty liver, of course stress on the heart. I assume I have a pretty good size omentum going here, and me, with heart/stroke disease risk in my family, who was i kidding? I knew I had to try harder, I knew i could not do this without assistance - I'd been doing that with not much results. in fact, the past few years, I usually GAINED weight at annual check ups. Not much, 3-5#, but creeping up. It was at that point I began looking into wls, got turned down, and here i am at a bariatric doc, soon to go to WW. I'm taking this seriously. I want to live, really live. The world is beautiful, for all its problems, I want to be here.

because of my love for the world, being fat (or being in ANY unhealthy state, like smoking, drug addiction, etc for that matter) can be a real liability to society. I pondered during 911, for example, which would i rather be: the person who was so fat and out of shape that her legs could not carry her quickly down a stairwell of a burning building OR...would I rather be one of the people HELPING others get down those stairs? gee...which is it? On occasion, being fat is not a choice, but for the vast majority, it is a matter of choices and behaviors. I want to choose to be healthy and useful until God deems this otherwise.

Hi Cammy! Children of great parents like you always beat the odds! What motivated me was that: 1.) I wanted to feel better about myself and be more confident like I was before when I lost. 2.) To be healthier for my family and because I believe that it is pleasing to God that He us to be healthy body and soul. 3.) I read a book by: Dr. Peter Daniels who came to our church, about setting life goals. Most people have some goals set in their life, I did not. So I started to think about what I wanted in life the most right now so that I could establish some goals and I realized that right now I wanted more than anything to feel better about myself and to be healthier. So I set that as a life goal and that day began to change things in my life that would move me closer to that goal. 4.) And you all motivate me every single day! It is not a diet, it is my life and I want to LIVE!

Hi Cammy, I actually get that question asked of me a lot. I tell everyone that my motivation was simple....pain. After two knee operations at 350+, there was no way I was going to heal if I had to carry around that much weight. So quite simply, pain motivated me to get to a weight that was more than manageable. I didn't have any other health issues that I was compelled to fix. So just pain. Doing it for your son is a wonderful thing, and thinking ahead to his future was exactly what us Moms do! Donna