What prompted your decision to lose weight?

Finally having time to work out was a big factor for me. When I'm active at school, I work in between classes and study at night which makes it impossible to schedule gym time. I used to be in great shape, but college pretty much ruined that for me.

I guess my motivation is just feeling better, and being able to find clothes that fit. It's hard enough finding nice clothes when you're 6'4", being overweight doesn't help. Also, it's pretty depressing when you get winded walking up a flight of stairs, or from class to class.

Posted by tptman01 on Jun. 17, 2008 at 11:30PM

Thinking about it, I had a similar experience at a Theme Park a few years back, and again when going to an out door adventure park, lots of tree climbing and a tarzan swing+cargo net defeated me.

Very depressing. I don't think I would be as knackered by the outdoor theme park any more, but I have a long way to go to losing inches still.

Good luck with your weight loss sawolf01, I've lost approximately 2 lbs so far, but my main benefit has been a change in body shape and over all health.

Posted by pewteredout on Jun. 18, 2008 at 06:42AM

Motivation

Well I do an annual charity show. It's sort of semi professional. We rehearse for months and sells couple of thousand tickets to 8 shows and give thousands to charity. I have done it for 15 years

Anyway this year they decided to do a full monty reoutine as part of the show. I ahd done this once before about 5 years ago and was no less fit or shapely than before although I have always been heavy. It just started me thinking and reading Men's Health articles and stuff.

I started in early April and lost about 3kgs (6-7 pounds) before the show. I have lost about 11kgs (25 pounds) now inc some new muscle - about 5 kgs to go hopefully :)

Posted by Noblejoker on Jun. 19, 2008 at 12:39AM

Speaking of amusement parks

It's always been a tight squeeze for me on roller coasters. I had never been turned away. About 3 years ago, I was in Florida on a family vacation. Was about the size I was when I started this site and my weight loss journey (2.5 weeks ago and 8.6 pounds heavier). We went to downtown disney and went into this arcade/entertainment area there. One of the attractions in this multi story arcade was this device where you go to a kiosk and you "build" your roller coaster. You could put a ton of loops in, corkscrew turns, whatever you wanted. When you were done, you went up to this area where there were capsules (pods that resemble roller coaster seats built with a movie screen in front of them and on hydraulics to simulate the coaster you built) waiting to let you "ride" on your rollercoaster.

So I spent 20 minutes building this awesome rollercoaster. As I got into the pod and they tried to snap the shoulder harness down, they couldn't get it snapped and told me I was too big and apologized. It was pretty much the most embarassing moment of my life. Not sure why I didn't make the change then, but the memory of it alone just fuels my already overmotivated self.

8.6 pounds lost, 71.4 more to go.

Posted by sawolf01 on Jun. 19, 2008 at 10:32AM

Speaking of amusement rides, I have a very similar story. Basically the same situation...I got turned away from a ride at Six Flags. The bad part was we walked to other rides that had seats placed outside so you could check and see if you fit before you got in line, and I didn't fit in those either. I think it was partly because of my height, but my weight definitely didn't help. The worst embarrassment was that my friends decided we should all leave the park, so I cut the trip short for 3 of my friends who would have otherwise had a great time. Sadly I didn't do anything about it then, but just as sawolf01 stated, that is definitely part of my motivation. I want to ride a rollercoaster again!

Posted by tptman01 on Jun. 20, 2008 at 12:30AM