If you don't have your health, you don't have anything

I want my body to perform well and take me the places I want to go. For about 25 more years. After that, I don't care. Then I'm going to eat whatever I want and sit and do nothing! Or so I think...but I've got a way to go until then.
It's a simply theory I have that in order for my body to take care of me, I must take care of it. I've been a pretty good healthy eater all my life and I've exercised the old fashioned way most of my life (by working.) Since my daily work has slowed down over the last 10 years, I've had to start exercising by consciously exercising (which I don't like that much.)
Then why do I do it? Because I want to go and do the things I want to go and do. I'm pretty independent and I want to be able to take care of myself. I want to keep up with my husband who is pretty much a mountain goat. I don't want to burden anyone. I want to play with my grandkids and be able to move to do it. I want to travel, to serve, to work and I want to have fun. I need a healthy body to do these things. That motivates me to eat well, exercise and keep my body going.
In preparing for my talk in church last week, I learned a lot. Here are some thoughts to share:

Why are we here on earth? The answer is easy, right? It's to receive a physical body, to live by faith rather than sight and to be tested. But why is having a physical body so important? Ultimately the answer affects everything we do: what we think, how we act, where we go, what we eat, what we drink, and what we wear and how we look.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught with great clarity about the importance of our physical bodies: "We came to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists of having a body. The devil has no body, and herein is his punishment. He is pleased when he can obtain the tabernacle of man, and when cast out by the Savior he asked to go into a herd of shine, showing that he would prefer a swine's body to having none. All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not. The devil has no power over us only as we permit him. The moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes power." (Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith)
An essential part of the test of mortality is having and properly using a physical body.
Consider this statement by President Brigham Young:
"The spirit is pure and under the special control and influence of the Lord, but the body is of the earth and is subject to the power of the Devil, an is under the mighty influence of that fallen nature that is of the earth. If the spirit yields to the body, the Devil then has power to overcome the body and spirit of that man, and he loses both...let the spirit, which God has put into your tabernacles, take the lead. If you do that, I will promise you that you will overcome evil and obtain eternal lives. But many, very many, let the spirit yield to the body and are overcome and destroyed." (Discourses of Brigham Young)

Here's some thoughts of my own:
Forget about dieting. Forget about the latest fads and looking good for the approval of other people. Eat for good health, and the weight loss will follow. Exercise for good health and the more toned and slender frame will follow. Change the goal and the desired results will come. Eat and move to gain the approval of God. Treat the body like the amazing blessing that it is. How we feel about our bodies will in large measure determine how we treat them.
Who will be the master of your body? The spirit that is within you, or the flesh?
It's an interesting thought to consider!