Recommitting from the holiday and motivated by pictures~

Well, I got a little off track from the 4th of July holiday and gained a couple lbs back.  Plus I have a minor knee injury so I wasn't able to work out last week so that didn't help.

Anyway, I am back on track today and strongly recommitted because last night I came across some old pictures of myself from 4th of July 2002 and I was so skinny.  I was 20 lbs lighter than I am now and had muscles and everything! 

I initially was motivated to lose in February (have lost 20 since then), because my new drivers license photo was horrible and my face was so fat! 

Has anyone else out there been motivated by seeing photos of yourself?

I have a picture of myself from a vacation when I was younger and at my heaviest, in shorts and a tank top (somewhere around 5'', and 150lbs, give or take 5 [probably give, rather than take]) that I keep tucked away in a drawer.  I look absolutely hideous-- none of it was muscle, and I was all round and blobby, and the fact that I insisted on wearing tiny little clothes really didn't help me look any better. 

When I was having problems with eating out of boredom (and when I lived alone) I would tape copies of the picture to the fridge and the cabinets.  It really helped me stop and ask myself if I was just eating out of boredom or if I was actually hungry.

So, yes, I was motivated by that picture... just in the opposite way you're motivated (by seeing a picture of myself fat, rather than skinny.) 

Oh, yes! Unfortunately not recently -- I could really do with a shock to get me motivated again. August 2005 I went to the beach with my family after returning from a summer studying in France. Upon returning from vacation, I was looking at pictures and was wonder who the heavy, middle age woman was off to the side -- it was me (age 21, 161 lbs). After seeing that picture, I lost 31 lbs over the course of a year and maintained until my wedding (June 2007). In the two years since my wedding, I have gained 20 lbs. Perhaps I need to do as kap286 does -- print off the offending pictures and use them as a reminder.