You may not remember what its like to walk up a long flight of stairs without getting winded. It doesn’t mean you’re out of shape in terms of your cardiovascular health. If you’re obese, you’re carrying around lots of extra pounds, which is a huge effort! Strap an 80-pound backpack on a sprightly young athlete, and suddenly he or she won’t be so sprightly!
In his book, Racing Weight, Matt Fitzgerald explains that a person “weighing 160 pounds has to muster about 6.5 percent more energy to run the same pace as a runner weighing 150 pounds.” Imagine how much more energy you’ll have to spare when the weight comes off… And you don’t need to lose that much to notice the difference.
I wanted to share a list of the things HealthyWager winners have said are better now that they’ve lost weight. If any of these sound important to you, jot them down. You might even find it helpful to make your own motivation list. What are your top reasons for wanting to lose weight?
- Fit into your seat on airplanes, at sporting, school and church events, movies and public transit. I stopped getting dirty looks from people in the next seat!
- Feel more comfortable in your clothes
- Fit into old clothes
- Increased energy
- Feeling of youthfulness; have more fun with kids, grandkids.
- Improved self-esteem; feel more attractive; feeling more confident when you walk into a room
- It gets better and better: athletes say that losing just a few pounds makes them feel lighter and faster. Imagine how great you’re going to feel in no time!!
