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My Motivational Checklist

Why do you want to lose weight? I compiled a list of reasons when I first started. Saving money is great, but it's just a side benefit to many of my reasons. After all, your body is the most important thing that you own, it's irreplaceable and you cannot do anything without it. It's #1 thing you think about if you're having a health crisis.

My list is list of bullet points contained within these reasons below. For purposes of helping your formulate your own list, I've provided some additional context:

Better Overall Health

I'll be turning 40 this year and knew that if it was going to be anything like my 30th birthday, I was prepared for a huge psychological gut-punch. At least I saw it coming this time and resolved to turn my body back into the shape I was when I was in my mid 20's. I'm already there.

Also, the best healthcare system in the world is no match for diseases that you avoided because you curtailed your obesity problem early. Watching a close family member battle disease really focuses the mind on the fragility of life and just how short it really is, so you might as well give yourself ever chance to max it out and enjoy it as long as possible. No one ever lived longer because they were overweight, but many lives have been cut short because of obesity-linked diseases.

Obviously, you could also make an endless list of costs associated with different illnesses that you never got, some of which could ruin your life and put enormous financial and/or psychological strain on those closest to you.

Food Cost Savings

I've talked about this a lot, but it's incredible the amount of money that we waste on food. A lot of it is spent on dining out but also on food that we throw away. I'm literally saving thousands of dollars year.

Greater Comfortability/Flexibility

I don't work a job that requires a lot of range of motion, but you'd be surprised at the number of ways in having a more compact body helps.

The only thing worse than sitting next to the fat guy on the plane is being the fat guy on the plane. Even worse is being the fat guy and getting assigned a seat next to another fatty on a long flight. You'll never be able to do anything about the person next to you, but at least you can maximize your own personal space to the extent that you can.

I've always ridden my bike to work, but I've noticed that as my weight approached 200 pounds, adding in a 10 pound backpack of clothes and other everyday essentials, I'd end up having a lot more broken spokes and other damaged parts. My bike breaks down a lot less often now, and my speed is unsurprisingly a lot quicker.

Also, I was just never comfortable being fat. I hated having to kind of bend my leg to the side in order to tie my shoelaces because my gut was getting in the way. I hated laying in bed watching TV and feeling my double chin make it difficult to see while laying on my back. I felt gross and embarrassed sitting in chairs where I couldn't recline because my gut would stick way out. I no longer snore and therefore have a happier wife. All of those problems are gone.

So, that's pretty much my list. Hopefully, it gives you some ideas for why you should start. Write them all down because they're easy to forget from day to day and they'll help keep you motivated to lose the weight and keep it off.

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