So I've been working on a fairly committed personal fitness regimen since the first of April. I've dropped 18 pounds in 12 weeks. The goal is to drop a total of 40 pounds before the end of November when I turn 40 years old. My family and I are referring to it as my 40 x 40 challenge. If I make it, I'll still have plenty of weight to shed, but I'll consider it quite an accomplishment.

Lately I've been thinking about what really motivated me to take this on. And the answer to a degree, is mass marketing. I see some of the commercials out there for various medications and listen to the possible side effects and they scare the daylights out of me.

In particular, there's one for cholesterol where "women who are pregnant, or may become pregnant shouldn't handle this medication due to risk of birth defects." That means this particular pill is potentially dangerous to 3 generations of my family?! It was at that point I realized I had to make changes. Truly, not just for me, but for my entire family.

There's more to it than that, but that was a starting point. So my question to the group is, "what's your motivation/inspiration?"

I'm just now starting. Why? My first boy will be here in a month. I don't want to be in the hospital like my Dad was in his 30s. And Life Insurance premiums are less.

I don't really have a fitness regimen anymore. I did before my son was born. It's odd now that I think about it, that my motivation then came from my wife being pregnant and knowing that I was going to have to be there for my son. Now that he is here I've hardly done anything. Gotta change that.

@krellpw Wow. Very impressive. I find weight loss to be even more difficult than starting an exercise routine. I've hit a wall and can't seem to shed any more weight. But I am exercising.

The obvious answer re motivation for me is that I have to see my fat ass on the internet from time to time. I remember one episode in particular when I was sitting with Brad's son, and Troy was shooting us from behind, and I thought, wow, am I really that huge?

But the real thing was my kids being old enough to tease me about being fat. The kids would pat my belly and talk about my big tummy. Bubba would tease me mercilessly. It really got me thinking about what kind of example I was setting. I want my kids, when they are adults to think of exercise as a fun and essential part of being alive. I hope that exercise improves my health and extends my life, though there is more than that.

After taking 15 years off from exercise, I started a fitness routine in January of 2009, getting up at 5:30AM to use Wii Fit for 30-45 minutes before the kids got up. I started running again in February 2009. Running let me plug back in to a sense of myself as an athlete (I played college football). I soon found that I loved running for its own sake. Now it forms the central, precious "me time" that I have in my life. I listen to books, muse, jam out. I now could not imagine missing that time to myself. All the motivation I need.

I've run about 1500 miles in the last 16 months. I've run a couple of half-marathons. My current goal, qualify and run in the Boston Marathon in 2015.

I have gone through several iterations of healthy living over the past decade all motivated by different drivers. I gave up certain habits at 40 for purely health reasons as well as dropped 40 lbs at 38 for purely aesthetic reasons. Now I find myself in a doughy semi healthy state and need to get off my yass yass yass. This time my motivation will be a mix of health and aesthetic.

Two years ago I ran a marathon, and have thought seriously about picking it up again. I ran it with my dad, and he continues to run marathons while his son plumps up.

But my recent inspiration has been to simply have daily 30 minutes of exercise. The daily component being key.

My thought is that if I train for events it only leads me to not train after the event. So instead my new take is simple life long fitness that is programmed each day.

I have to say that when we had newborns and toddlers it was hard to balance work, childcare, family, and fitness. Something had to go. One of us would have had to quit our job, which would have caused us to lose our house, which would have shaken up the family. Or we could give up fitness. It was an easy to make the choice.

@JustJustin - -good for you! Where ever you find that motivation grab onto it and don't let go.

@bobjr79 -- hope you find that motivation.

@Daddy Clay -- you've run 1500 miles in the last 16 months? I'm not sure I put that many miles on my car. Good for you! For me losing this first batch of weight wasn't all that hard. For 6 years since my son was born I've been saying, "If I ate half as well as I require my boy to eat, I could drop 15 pounds." Turns out I was right. By modifying my diet to healthy food and portion control, I was able to lose most of that first batch of weight. Now I find myself at a point where diet's not enough.

I've got to ramp up my exercise. I enjoy the Wii fit, too. Mountain biking is where I get that "me time" you described. But I've got to suck it up and really start exercising regularly. The other part of my 40x40 challenge is to be able to pass the Army Physical Fitness Test. I was in the service years ago and I want to challenge myself to at least get back to that level of fitness.

@Daddy Brad -- totally know where you're coming from when you talk about aesthetics. Even with the weight loss so far, I still look like I could go into labor in a heartbeat. But it's getting better.

@Daddy Troy -- Love the idea of 30 minutes a day and making the fitness part of the routine. Also understand what you mean when you say finding the time is rough. I've tried to employ Daddy Clay's technique of getting up early to do it. But I confess, I'm fairly hit or miss.

I have found one unintentional benefit of the diet. I'm getting more rest. I find that I'm turning in earlier to escape the 10 pm urge to snack while watching TV. The additional rest means more energy for whatever.

Hang in there everyone. Thanks for the feedback.

Well, it's been 6 months; how have you guys been doing ? Any resolutions for the new year?

My motivations are quite plentiful in my life.

First and foremost, I am scared that i am too old to have a new born: I turned 46 a month before our Olivia Lara was born (the Sunday after Thanksgiving). She's my first. My wife is 34. I need to be around for a long time. This has really made me change my diet for the most part.

We lead a fairly active lifestyle; I have three mountain bikes that I keep fairly dirty and my wife has a full suspension that she rides, but also has a hardtail and a road bike; we both white water and sea kayak often; and I enduro ride (GasGas 450 fse fuel injected 4 stroke) about once a week. (We used to play hockey together for years, but the late games finally became too much.) Everything I do works better when I'm lifting and doing intervals on my elyptical trainer, ala "Body For Life" by Bill Phillips.

I've tried Bikram Yoga and loved it. I think it's key for preventing injuries, and it's great to do yoga in the '90 degree heat during the wet Washington state winters. But I can never seem to fit it in, and now with the addition of our Little Livsey Lar, I may be selling some of my kayaks as it is, so who's gonna have time for hot yoga.

I want to ride, paddle, skate, run, swim, and dance with my Little Livsey Lar when she get's older. Thats my main motivation.

@T.Low

Several guys have been documenting progress over that the Weight Loss Challenge (though that doesn't really look to be your objective). I've lost about 20 lbs since the summer -- my fitness level has changed pretty radically. I'm a bit frustrated for the moment, because despite being in better shape that last year, I'm still struggling with injuries as I train for my half-marathon in February.

The best gains I've had have been related to joining a training group that focuses on strength. The trainer has us on the TRX most mornings, but it's a muscle confusion type regimen, so you never really know. Dragging sleds, throwing medicine balls, stuff I haven't done since college when I was playing football. It's been fun. Tempted to jump back into it in the morning, but my achilles is still sore today.

Good luck finding balance once the new baby comes along. It's important to remember that they are only tiny for a very short while. Any compromises you make in terms of your time/activities are temporary and completely worth it. It will all come back to you in time.

Indeed they are tiny for a very short while. Olivia is only 6 1/2 weeks and we are already sad and complaining "they grow up so quickly".

My wife is off for three more months and I am not due back at work until Aug 1, provided I have an industry to return to.

I love getting outdoors, and I love the way a good outdoor workout makes me feel. That is my main inspiration for staying fit.

Even if I can't go hiking/biking/etc on a given day, sometimes just pushing the lawnmower or going for a walk to the post office will perk me up. (Our backyard is very hilly, and our lawnmower does not have self-propelled drive, so cutting the grass is actually a decent workout for me).

I wish I could get inspired to do some gym type exercises - situps, pushups, weights, etc. That sort of exercise can have outstanding benefits, but over the course of my life, I have just not been able to develop a program and stick with it. I really have no excuses- I've got all the conveniences I would need - weight bench, iPod, etc. I just get bored with it.

Roger in Portland
(waiting for the rain to stop, and for my newborn son to be able to support the weight of his own head, so I can strap him in a carrier and take him in the mountains)

TOUGH MUDDER!!! Im telling you if you can register for one that gives you time to workout/train for it. You will stay much more motivated. It is based on teamwork and is not timed. The more in your group the more fun it is. I was always trying to start working out. That lasted for about 2 weeks and then would drop off. I had a friend who hadn't worked out in years so we signed up for the Missouri Tough Mudder and trained together for about 6 months. Having a partner makes you much more accountable for getting off your butt. Luckily I haven't gained any weight since highschool but my composition has changed quite a bit. It helps that I'm a PE teacher and coach football and track. My friend though was 10 yrs older than me and other than a little basketball had done little activity for many years. Through running and some workouts that i made up for us involving tractor tires, fire hoses, free weights etc... he was ablto to finish the Tough Mudder and almost all of the obstacles. It is "tough" but it is very motivating and well worth it.

toughmudder.com

TOUGH MUDDER!!! Im telling you if you can register for one that gives you time to workout/train for it. You will stay much more motivated. It is based on teamwork and is not timed. The more in your group the more fun it is. I was always trying to start working out. That lasted for about 2 weeks and then would drop off. I had a friend who hadn't worked out in years so we signed up for the Missouri Tough Mudder and trained together for about 6 months. Having a partner makes you much more accountable for getting off your butt. Luckily I haven't gained any weight since highschool but my composition has changed quite a bit. It helps that I'm a PE teacher and coach football and track. My friend though was 10 yrs older than me and other than a little basketball had done little activity for many years. Through running and some workouts that i made up for us involving tractor tires, fire hoses, free weights etc... he was ablto to finish the Tough Mudder and almost all of the obstacles. It is "tough" but it is very motivating and well worth it.

toughmudder.com