Hi everybody,

This is a question and a topic that goes out to everyone out there who has decided to make a positive change in their lifestyle and change their body.

Let's face it life is filled with different challenges and different obstacles to overcome, and I'm sure everyone has been pitted with different situations which may have caused stress and raised the question "Why am I continuing to do this?" Since you started this transformation? Do you now see yourself as an outsider? Is this for the better or worse?

I want to know what challenges everyone has faced and how we have all overcome them, this topic I'm sure will provide inspiration for everybody, it may make a few people click and decide to start. Lets see how we go!

Why continue to do this? Silly question. ;) Because I enjoy looking and feeling good! Just last weekend I bumped into a friend who I hadn't seen in over a year. First thing out of his mouth: "Damn, you lost a lot of weight! You look great!" I can't hear that enough. There's a pride about myself I never had before, a raise in self-esteem, and a thousand other improvements that some silly iron plates can give you if you have the vision and the perserverance to get in the gym and use them.

What challenges have I faced? Overcoming the unhealthy environments I must live in every day. Co-workers and family who don't care for their bodies. Friends who don't understand why I'm doing what I'm doing. Overcoming my propensity to procrastinate. Many people who were friends before really aren't anymore; the ones who ran for the hills just because I won't have beer and wings three nights a week may not have really been friends at all. And these few sentences can't do justice to the fight I went through to get where I am in the face of all the pressure to stay where I was. Powering through that mess was a bit painful - but not nearly as painful as living the life I was.

You only get one shot at this spinning mudball we call Earth. Why live it any other way than how you want to?

I have had to face the same stresses and challenges that everyone has to in life.

The fact that i rose the the challenge of transforming my body has tought me to rise to every other challenge that life throws at me. Thats why i continue to do what i do. It guides me in life. :nod:

Changing my body is just one part of changing who I am. I've never questioned why I am continuing to improve myself, but plenty of times I've asked myself whether my current plan is in fact making me into a better person that I used to be. If I start feeling that further fitness is not improving my life any more, then I'll shift my focus onto other things.

It doesn't matter if I'm an outsider, or if I've made myself more different than other people by making the choices that I've made. What's important is that I believe in myself more than I ever believed in myself before. I can do anything if I want it badly enough, and I'm more able to decide how to feel on any given day than the let the day decide for me.

Today a woman at the gym told me she was inspired by me. There is nothing like hearing that from someone you don't know.

What inspired me to change was my child, and now both of my children. I don't ever want them to know what obesity is. I was it at 228 pounds. Fortunately my son was very young then, and now all he knows is that Mommy and Daddy both go to the gym regularly. My son loves to walk on my treadmill, I think it is great. I don't want them to think it is all right to be even a little bit heavy. I want them to be looked at by the world in the best light possible. And let's face it, when you are heavy or obese, people look at you differently. Changing what I ate and how much was the hardest challenge for me. Now combine exercise along with the fact that I know so much more about food than I though possible, I am giving my children a better and brighter future.

Hi everybody,
Let's face it life is filled with different challenges and different obstacles to overcome, and I'm sure everyone has been pitted with different situations which may have caused stress and raised the question "Why am I continuing to do this?"

Just the usual university stuff. Have to avoid the constant pizza and beer that is served everywhere.

Since you started this transformation? Do you now see yourself as an outsider? Is this for the better or worse?

I sometimes still have moments where I think to myself that I'm still covered in lard, and it takes a few seconds for my brain to jump in and say, wait, you're really not. It's definitely for the better. My self-esteem is growing quite rapidly.

I want to know what challenges everyone has faced and how we have all overcome them, this topic I'm sure will provide inspiration for everybody, it may make a few people click and decide to start. Lets see how we go!

My inspiration? I don't know. Feeling great after a workout, not being ashamed to walk holding my back straight and my head high, increased self-confidence, and this is after only six months of weight-training. Above all, I've set a new goal. I'm a bit of a freak, but I feel much more content journeying towards a goal than actually achieving it. When I get there, it feels great for a few moments, but then I feel somewhat empty. As of right now, I'm really enjoying trying to hit my goal of gaining about twenty pounds of fat-free mass, and knowing that I will eventually succeed. And when I get there, hell, I'll aim for another twenty. ;)