#7: My top 5 reasons to lose weight and get in shape

So as you saw in yesterday's post (or if you didn't see it, click here), overall I need to lose 90 pounds, or 40% of my total body weight, to be at the ideal weight for my height. 

In case you're not great at math, that means I am starting out at 226 and want to be down to 135. 

The good news is that I've already lost about 9 pounds so far, which is 1/10th of my total goal. Yay! 

While that sounds exciting, I know I'm not going to burn through the next 80 pounds without some serious motivation. Here are my top reasons for losing the weight, which I will be referring to throughout to remind me just why this is important: 

1. Wearing a bikini and feeling comfortable in it is one of my life goals. Plus that seems like something you should do while it's still age appropriate...but if I'm 80 and somewhat have a body for a bikini, I'm wearing it. Actually some really good motivation now would probably be to just go ahead and buy a bikini and give myself a deadline to actually wear it, and then I'll just have to wear it whether I look good in it or not. 

2. Shane and I want to start having kids sometime in the next few years and I want to be able to lead them down a healthier path. I also don't want to get pregnant and think I can just cram my face with junk food, because I can imagine hitting 300lbs that way and that would NOT be easy to bounce back from. Plus, as my sister pointed out, without some of my current fat out of the way, you probably wouldn't even be able to see a baby bump until like 8 months.

3. Basically everyone on my mother's side of the family has diabetes, and there's also a long track record with cancer. Not that being fit will prevent everything that genetics might throw in my path, but even if it helps just a little bit, it's worth it. 

4. If and/or when the zombie apocalypse comes, I don't want to be the fat girl who trips and instantly becomes zombie bait. If my experience in the 2012 Zombie 5k or all those episodes of The Walking Dead have taught me anything, it's that fat people don't last long. 

5. This is the most pressing reason for the weight loss...in September, Shane and I are going to TomorrowWorld! We are so excited, but it's going to be four days in September in Georgia, and there will be a LOT of (probably very sweaty) people there. Considering the most popular outfit is just a bikini, I need to be able to at LEAST be able to wear shorts while I'm there. 

I know I've got a really long way to go, but hopefully these five reasons will be the kick in the butt I need to keep going when days get rough and cupcakes or ice cream start to look just a little too good.