Team 9

memere101

Hello everyone! I'm so excited to be your team leader. My name is Linda, I'm a 53 year young mom/grandma from Virginia (USA) This is my third challenge group with mallowbar. During the end of last season I went through some really tough family situations and I had a really big set back. But I'm back now, ready to recommit to my health journey. Because in the end no matter what, if I don't take care of myself I can't very well be there for those I love. I hope you all will take the time to participate in our group discussions and we can all become a "family" to encourage and motivate one another.
Tomorrow I will be trying to friend everyone from our group on MFP.
And if any of you are on Fitbit please feel free to friend me on there. I love doing the challenges. (Memereskitchen@gmail.com)
Thanks and have a great evening (or day)
Linda

issy62087

Thanks for being our team leader Linda!

vazquezmom7

Hi Linda! Carmen from Texas, I am 35 year young mom ( ) Although I am a SAHM, with seven kids I am very busy. I started my weight loss journey last year. SW was 185, got down to 155, but then the Holidays came. I know no excuse but you know how it is. I went up to 167, currently 162. Somehow it is harder this time around. Looking forward to meeting everyone and hopefully contributing to the team!

laurab384

Hi everyone! I'm Laura. I've been having trouble finding my motivation lately and I'm hoping this challenge will help keep me on track.

One question - where do we actually post the exercise time? Memere101 - do we message you? or is there somewhere we're supposed to post it? Thanks!

LastChanceRobin

Hi!!
I am Robin, from BC Canada!! I am a mom to 2 boys: 1.5 and 3.5. I will not comment about their insanity, becsuse holy moly, 2 must be eaiser than vazquezmom's 7!!

I am an avid runner and professional photographer. I love the outdoor! I love caneoing and hiking and fishing and hunting!!! I kind of took a fitness nosedive when I started my business and litetally gained 50lbs in less than a year. Ouch. I stopped running (I was doing 10km+ per day several times a week). I didn't realize how much I missed it until I started again. I have been running steadily for the last month and am happier.

I need to lose this weight. For good. My Dad is in the early stages of kidney failure, and as a universal blood type- I may be the best candidate should transplant become the only option. My dad is my person, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I couldn't help him because of my weight.

So! Thats me!!

KrazedBemused

Hi everyone! I'm Casey, married and mother of two children -13 & 10y/o from Northern Territory, Australia. I am 33, 5'9 and have struggled with my weight a majority of my life. After reaching my heaviest 126kg 12 yeas ago, I have lost and kept off over 30 odd kilos/70lbs however have not ever reached my healthy weight range during my adulthood. After years of yo yo dieting - My goal this year was to change small bad habits / create new healthy ones one at a time, not all at once as I knew that would set me up for failure. January I went sober for four weeks and I now have only one or two drinks a week, if that! (Big change from drinking 2 or 3 glasses of wine every night). I began meditating every night since the end of Jan and I love it! And February I really concentrated on reducing my meal portions and calorie intake. March will see me incorporate regular exercise, 2016 is my year of change! I have lost 5.7kg/12.5lbs since the beginning of the year, I hope to lose a further 12.3kg/27lbs by the end of the year.

sodonovan74

Hi everyone, my name is Sinéad, I live in Ireland,(time difference might be a problem!!), I've just turned 42 and have 4 children. When I was younger I was very active and weight was never an issue for me, I was never skinny but toned and in shape from all the sports I played, 9 years ago after my third child was born I went back playing basketball and tore my cruciate ligament, since then I've been very nervous of physical exercise and started to pile on the pounds. I now realise that I don't want to be the FAT mom, I want my kids to be proud of me and learn from my example so they don't do as I do! I'm really looking forward to this challenge, I think we have a super team and I hope I can give it 100% for all of us

Nikion901

Hello everyone, I'm Niki from western New York State, in a suburb of Buffalo. It's about a 30 minute drive to Niagara Falls from my home.

I'll turn 71 in a couple of weeks and have been retired for 6 years ... I took retirement earlier than I'd originally planned to so the year I did that, I started retirement on April Fools Day ... because I thought it was a big joke; that I would retire from a job that was much too sedentary and would work in retirement in a more active profession. The joke was on myself however, because I haven't worked a day of paid labor since then. And, given that I have a considerable amount of weight to lose, I guess I can confess that I haven't been exactly active either ... ... I have a goal of getting to 1-derland by the end of this year, and out of the obese category by my next birthday. Thus an activity challenge will hopefully get my butt into gear so I can move toward that goal better than I have in the past.

Hoping to get to know Team 9 members better during these next 10 weeks and of upholding my end of the work for us to get to the finish line as a winning team.
Niki

memere101

Hello everyone, Happy Friday! I'm looking forward to getting to know you all.
Carmen--wow! You must be busy with 7 kids...how old are they? I have 5 kids (ages 34-19) and 7 grandkids (ages 9-4 months). As my mom would say Never a dull moment!
Laura--You're in the right place for motivation That's what this challenge group is all about, motivating and supporting one another on our journeys. There should be tab added to the spread sheet for each amazing race team, at least that's how it worked last time. If not, or if you anyone has problems with the spreadsheet, just send me a message with your numbers and I'll get it take care of.
Robin--sorry to hear about your dad. Hugs and prayers for you
Casey--Congratulations on making a commitment to such positive changes!
Sinead--It is great that you want to show your kids a healthier you and set an example for them. I guarantee they are already very proud of you And our bodies seem to get a mind of their own after we hit 40...lol
Niki--Together we will make it! Proud of you for making the decision to become healthier! You will definitely be enjoying life more.
Our team is so large that I thought it might be nice for each of us to have a buddy to help us through. I will post a buddy list in a little bit. My hope is that as a buddy you will motivate and inspire each other to get workouts done, make healthy food choices, and remind each other to post weight and race stats on time each week.
We also need to decide on a team name for ourselves. Vote for your favorite:
Heart and Sole
Chunky Monkeys
Dream Achievers

Nikion901

OH -- I love the name 'Dream Achievers' and cast a vote for name # 3 ... dream achievers.

LastChanceRobin

As a runner, I am fond of Heart and Sole!!

KrazedBemused

Dream Achievers

sodonovan74

Dream Achievers, but let's Achieve not dream about it!

laurab384

I like Dream Achievers!

vazquezmom7

My oldest kids call my one year old Chunky Monkey!

@memere101 Oldest is 18 and youngest is 1. My down time is after 9, when I take cover in my room and let DH in charge of the kids. By that time the little ones are asleep and the teens are getting ready for bed. As long as I keep to a schedule, I am good.

I vote for Dream Achievers. And love the buddy system. Hope everyone makes healthy decisions this weekend! :-)

sukkara

Hey Everyone,
Looking forward to the challenges and already love the spirit of the group! This is my first time being part of something like this, so learning along the way
Thanks Linda for being the team captain. And thanks everyone for their intros.
My name is Sumaya, 33. A few months ago I gained over 12 pounds from medications, limited activity and water retention, and I kept gaining weight despite trying to diet at the time. I'm off everything now and have lost 4 pounds in the past 2 months. But this weight seems really resistant.
I'd rather diet than work out. So I like how this challenge focuses on physical activities too.
I vote for "Heart and Sole".
And hope we will all achieve our dreams

memere101

I hope everyone is having a great weekend ❤️ I have added everyone's name to our Amazing Race Team 9 tab on the spreadsheet....please check to be sure I spelled everyone's name correctly. My grandson was distracting me while I was doing it

mindse

Hi y'all, I'm Mindy, 46 and I'm a lawyer in California with two kids. My son is 11 and my daughter is 9. Very excited to be doing my first MyFitnessPal challenge with y'all!

issy62087

Hi Fitness Friends,

I'm Issy, 28 from Long Beach, CA. Arts Administrator, single and no kids. I've struggled with my weight since I was a kid. 208 was my heaviest when I was 16. My lowest was 155 when I was about 20. I've been on a roller coaster the last 8 years dropping and gaining 40 pounds every 2 years. My first goal is 170 by July for a scuba trip with my dad. He's always been very concerned about my weight and health and often very critical. I'd like to be down to 150 by December. I've joined the challenge with my 2 sisters, Danielle and Jennifer and my cousin Crystal.

I vote for Heart & Sole! Go team!

memere101

I hope you all had a great weekend and you're ready to get this party started. Let's all aim for at least 250 minutes of exercise this week so that we can crush our goal! That would be 50 minutes 5 days this week. I know we can all get that done! Don't forget to try out the dance or at least eat something Greek
I will post our buddy list tomorrow.
Be sure to check out the fun exercise challenge thread I just posted in the discussions.
Be sure to send me a message if you have any questions or need help with anything.

issy62087

Day 1. Get it! I just did day two of the arm challenge. Does anyone know how to log that?

memere101

Issy: Great job! You just keep a personal log of the extra challenges that you do.

lang111

I'm Michelle, from cold Michigan. Two kids, ages 16 and 14. We are headed to Oceanside California for spring break, so I have huge motivation to get that little bit of winter weight off. This challenge looks like a fun way to do it. I vote for Dream Acheivers. Good Luck to everyone this week!

doodledoo92

I'm Megan, from Pennsylvania. Mom to 2 cats. This is my second MFP challenge. Looking forward to it!

Nikion901

Good Morning Team 9 ... I'm off to the Races today right along with you all. I had a water weight issue last week that has partly resolved itself over the last couple of days, however, sad to say, my scale weight is up a little bit from last Monday ... here's to planning that week 2 with all it's additional activity and no sugar/white wheat baked products will clean that up and I come in with a big loss on the next weigh-in. I know the weigh-in day is Tuesday and we have until Thursday to get it on the sheet, but my weigh-in Day has been Monday since 2011 when I first started a presence on MFP and tha's one habit I don't want to break.

Here is a quote that I find particularly fitting as I start this week with many more challenges than I had last week ...

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” ~William James

angelious

Hi everyone, I'm Ria 31 based in Hong Kong at the moment so some time differences for certain. I'm looking forward to this first challenge as a big accountability push as work and part time study have taken over my focus for too long. I vote for Dream Achievers !

littlekatryn

Hi everyone!! My name is Katryn and I'm a 34 year old therapist in the Boston area. I recently changed jobs and am starting to try to focus more on taking care of my personal life instead of sacrificing everything for my career. My boyfriend and I recently adopted a puppy, so while there are no kids, I'm definitely working on less sleep than I'm used to. So excited to be on this journey with you all. My overall goal is to lose 60 lbs (I'm 6'), but for this journey it's to get as close to onederland as possible (about 25 lbs) and be healthy about it. Feel free to add me on Fitbit! Littlekatryn@gmail.com.

jenniferstavich

Hi all, I'm Jen 30 and motivated to hit my goals. I've always tried to be healthy but now that I am trying to start a family it means so much more! I'm down to 140 from 156 in thanksgiving. Shooting for 130 and helping my siestas and cousin hit their goals too! Go Iss, cry, & latta!

laurab384

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Here's to starting the week off right!

I had a so-so weekend. We had a birthday party for my son and I had more cake and pizza than I should have. Also we were so busy I didn't get any workouts in.

BUT this week will be better! The sun is out and the snow is melting so I will definitely get out and run today (I prefer running outside over a treadmill.) I think I will be down about a pound for the weigh-in tomorrow. I was hoping for 2 but we'll see.

vazquezmom7

Okay, I thought I was on top of the game but I am somewhat behind. I thought I had seen a spreadsheet to post our time for the Amazing race. But I cant find it. So, today I did 60 min. of exercises, ate some olives, encouraged some team members, have had no sugar, will do the arm and squat challenge later tonight. Am I missing something?

Nikion901

vazquezmom7 wrote: »

Okay, I thought I was on top of the game but I am somewhat behind. I thought I had seen a spreadsheet to post our time for the Amazing race. But I cant find it. So, today I did 60 min. of exercises, ate some olives, encouraged some team members, have had no sugar, will do the arm and squat challenge later tonight. Am I missing something?

No sugar or white flour products ... that's a tough one as there are so many products with hidden sugar in the ingredients ... and who can get by a whole week without a slice of sandwich bread? (I can, I can!

The spreadsheet is on Google Sheets ... the link is
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J3COIkKWYIJgSADCtJaPRFDtlgpieUVKiy73rJv9rPI/edit?usp=sharing

instructions for it on the announcement LINK TO SPREADSHEET AND SUPPORT. I made a bookmark of the sheet so I could get to it more easily.

The way I understand it, not everything goes on the spreadsheet day by day and has to be kept track of some other way, then reported one time at the end of the week.