Back...again

loombeav

Hello all. I'm not really new to MFP but haven't consistently logged or participated in some time. When I 1st joined 10 or so years ago one of my biggest reasons was to set a better example for my kids, unfortunately I have not done a good job of that. My kids are now 18 and 12 and both of them are considered overweight. My oldest asked me a week ago about losing weight and how to go about doing so. After a long talk about eating healthy, staying active and making smart choices we set a 20lb goal for each of us. For myself that is just the tip of the iceberg, all told I needed to lose about 75lbs; I have been slowly and steadily losing for about 6months now and am down 20lbs already. My oldest, 18 yr old, needs to lose 20 to be at the top end of his ideal weight and my youngest, 12 yr old, needs to lose 20 to be right smack in the middle of her ideal weight. We have set ourselves individual non food rewards for when we meet our personal goal and a non food reward for when all 3 of us meet our group goal. We have joined the Y and plan on doing some group classes together and cardio at least 3 days a week. We are going to have some challenges though. My oldest calls himself a vegetarian, I refer to him as a junketarian as left to his own devises he will only eat bean burritos, macaroni & cheese, eggs and shredded hashbrowns. The rest of my family and me eat a varied diet. I work at a hospital FT, which means 12hr shifts 3x a week, on day shift. Both of my kids are still students and the oldest works PT nights at a local retail store. My youngest has some significant health problems, that losing weight would definitely help her feel better but due to her meds and her condition this will be extremely difficult and often she is too sick and/or tired to truly participate in strenuous activity.

I am looking for advice, motivation and support to not only keep me on track but also to help hold me accountable for my kids. I do not want them to fall into the same traps that I have of yoyo dieting and obesity.