Great thoughts from both of you. I love your honesty Liz. Lots of people are motivated by how they look (why shouldn’t they be?) but won’t admit it. And Chris, the strides you’ve made would make anyone proud for sure. I’m glad I know you both:)

I always want to get back down to 180, but to me that’s a dream not a goal.

What got me going, was being tired of being 260 and creeping upwards, missing martial arts, and being tired of walking with a limp.

I got rid of the limp, and went back to martial arts in pretty good shape. I was asked by my master where else I had been training when I hadn’t been training for 4 years.

Now my motivation is 2 things. 1) not to embarrass myself in June. and 2) being able to meet any requirements thrown down for my next test and my Black Belt test after that.

Number 2 is the bigger motivator, since I’ll probably be testing in June.

I’d love to say I was motivated by health concerns, but I have always been a pretty healthy person to begin with.

To be completely honest, I was motivated by vanity. I didn’t want to look the way I looked anymore. I wanted to look better.

Why? I’m married to a guy who loves me (even as a size 8 or near size 10), but I wanted to look better for ME.

And then, there’s the toughness factor. I’m small, petite, and a woman. But I don’t like to let people categorize or dismiss me based on that.

So it gives me a rush to be able to do things that bigger women, and even some men can’t do. And again, I’ll be honest, that’s vanity.

The good thing about vanity, though, is it’s an excellent motivator, and in this case, it has the side benefit of making me healthier AND happier. Not so bad, right?

And I’m sure I’ll still be pretty spry and active when my grandkids come along, 20+ years from now!