Which documentaries or videos helped motivate you greatly in taking health/fitness seriously?

@savedsue This is gonna sound pretty fucking morbid… but I am a travel nurse & the last two years I have been working with ICU Covid patients. My last assignment I stayed for about a year. My apartment was right across from the hospital. And the apartment gym would look directly at the unit that I would work on. So I would be at the gym, struggling on the treadmill, in my feelings, wanting to give up, etc... and I would just stare at the hospital building, that unit specifically.. knowing that there are people in there dying that can’t breathe, people so sick, people that would give anything to get up and walk again. People fighting for their lives. So I would tell myself if they can get through that, then I can suck it up & get through 45 minutes on the treadmill. So that’s what keeps me going.

Also just in general people seeing people that are obese, diabetic, very poor health & poor diets, smokers, etc. really makes me see firsthand that I don’t want my life to be like that so though I do struggle, I think of them very often and it helps keep me on track as far as diet and exercise goes

(I know you said movies etc, but I really don’t have one as far as that goes)
 
@kashanali897 I have something similar. I watched my grandma pass from lung cancer. It really made me appreciate running and being active and taking big breaths of air and being able to move my body how I wanted with out weakness .
 
@savedsue For me it’s gotta be survivor. One of my favorite shows. I’ve always wanted to go on it someday, but I knew I wouldn’t be successful unless I got myself in shape. Kinda silly but it’s definitely been a motivating factor for me to keep going lol
 
@savedsue TW: ED

I actually thrive off of visual aids for motivation/staying discilpined.

I had a dangerous and rocky past with BED/anorexia/bulimia and I watched almost everything there was. I can't recommend a particular show (maybe as someone else mentioned a show called "supersize vs. superskinny" - almost all episodes are on Youtube), because it really depends on your mindset/mental health, whether or not those will help you learn and understand and implement parts of them into your lifestyle or if they'll start your journey into obsession and unhealthy behaviours...

For now, I am mostly recovered, I still have episodes where my goblin ED brain kicks in and makes me feel miserable/puts certain hurtful thoughts into my head, but I don't give in anymore.

I'm currently working out a lot and with joy (not to reach a certain number), to be strong and feel more confident about having muscle definition and curves. And I don't have to motivate myself really.

I follow some amateur fitness influencers and "healthy living" people on tiktok, so I have almost daily motivators and little pick me ups, that inspire me to try new things (its good to have variety so your brain doesn't get bored from the always same things) or to keep going.
 
@savedsue Not a video, but if you're into books, stronger by poorna bell was an amazing read for me. Made me realise a lot of societal conditioning around exercising and diet culture really infiltrated my mind and that exercise is something to be enjoyed. I always thought of myself as "not a fitness person" and that really got me wondering why I thought that, so now every time I think about a form of exercise that looks fun that I think I can't do I just wanna try it more to prove myself wrong!
 
@savedsue I'm also not sure if this is quite what you're asking for, but I watched this series on youtube called "Brute Showdown", where 4 women compete against each other. (They're all accomplished athletes in their respective sports). It was suuuper motivating to see how incredibly strong they were and how much ass they kicked, absolutely recommend!
 
@savedsue I’m motivated when I watch sports and whatnot, but I wasn’t really driven to continue to work out.

Basically being told that I was “a bigger girl” by a guy I was sleeping with, who later chased after a girl who was a stick, was a wake up call. I’m not a stick, but I feel less shitty about my body after 2 years of working out. Now to work on my mental health…
 
@savedsue mainly shilpa shetty yoga vedios makes me ready to be fit .. and nowdays when I saw some old fitladies on any reels I get motivated from them also
 
@savedsue Honestly it's reading posts on subs like this one where people detail their fitness journeys that gets me motivated. Yes in the short term watching YouTube videos of people successfully losing 20lbs or whatever is good watching, but reading what someone has written about their struggles, what worked for them, and where they are in the journey makes it more real to me. In my mind YT=entertainment, and I don't take it seriously. Whereas someone in the real world who isn't getting paid per views is sharing actual feedback about their wins and that fuels me to continue.

And also challenges on Fitbit and stridekick. I'm not usually competitive but if I see the same friend win challenges again and again, I'm like damnit Dana I'm gonna take that spot from you next time lol.
 
@savedsue This TEDx talk made me want to eat all the spinach I had in my fridge. It’s about how the speaker, a physician herself, reversed some of the progress of her own multiple sclerosis diagnosis (and symptom management) through diet. I always think of her when I find my plate is absent of any vegetable 😅
 
@savedsue Supersize vs Superskinny, a British show. Really helped me see the dangers of consuming way too much or way too little, and helped me find a middle ground without crash dieting all the time.
 
@clintjohnhampton I loved that show, especially some of the superskinnys were still eating like crap (too much sugar, fast food etc) but somehow managed to be well superskinny because of their portion sizes or active jobs/lifestyle. Which has helped me to understand, how you don't have to eat super nutritious or healthy to be a certain size.

Got out of my disordered eating brain with that show (even though I'd watch it religiously while having the worst ED phases... but one day it clicked and I knew I had to recover and change my mindset towards food)
 
@uk1872 That show was enlightening because both the supersize and superskinny people ate like CRAP! Absolute nightmare diets, only the skinny people ate small portions of junk and the fat people ate large portions of junk. It really inspired me to eat a healthy balanced diet when I saw how people on both extremes were abusing their bodies and looking way older than their ages due to horrible eating habits.
 
@savedsue I don’t know if it fits in what you are looking for, but Cowspiracy and what the health made me stop drinking milk and eating red meat, and Fed Up made me decrease sugar on my diet and start reading food labels
 
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