Team Lighter Than Air (Closed) - Introductions

scooterboy2003

Good morning Team Lighter Than Air. I cannot wait to get started on our new around the world challenge! We are registered with the game administrator, have our logo designed, have our webpage designed (www.billmills.org/lighterthanair.htm), and are ready to go! Be sure to friend everybody so that we can be in communication.
Team participants are:
Scooterboy2003 - captain
Pangea250 - recorder
whitneylol
Meerkat70
szczepj
Dinob661
maab-connor
deepavignesh

The single purpose of this thread is for us to get to know one another before the challenge starts. What part of the world do you live in? What are your goals for being in myfitnesspal.com? What made you come to the realization that something had to change in your life? In short, tell us about yourself. Inquiring minds want to know!

maab_connor

Hey all. I am MA, or you can call me Maab or Connor, whichever you prefer. I live in Maryland, near the Chesapeake Bay and I work a desk job in Pennsylvania. I came on here b/c, as any good geek can tell you, the best way to lose weight is on the internet! LOL. Basically, I turned around one day and realized that maybe NOT killing myself very slowly - or at all, really - is the way to go. So i'm trying to fix what's broken.

I am crazy and sarcastic, so keep that in mind if I... ever say anything. :laugh:

And let's go kick some booty!!

scooterboy2003

Hello all. I am Bill and an active college professor in rural East Texas. Been teaching computer science at the same school since 1984 after two tours of duty in the Air Force post Viet Nam. Over the years, life got in the way, metabolism changed, I did not exercise as much, and I got heavy. I lost 30 pounds 4 years ago, but it came back in 6 months. Had a physical last summer and the doc told me to take off my shirt. When I asked why, he said "Because I want to see just how damn fat you are!". So, I got motivated and lost 15 pounds, joined myfitnesspal, lost another 34 and am just 6 pounds away from my so called ultimate goal of 195 pounds. I have not seen 200 pounds in over 20 years! I am married, love motorcycles, hot rods, vintage Cushman Motor Scooters, and my new exercise routine of riding a racing bicycle. I am training for my first 30 mile race in 2 weeks. Wish me luck! Thanks for being part of my weightloss plan. This is my third challenge and I have done great in the first two. I expect us to do really well as we fly around the world together.

Pangea250

Hey Team Lighter Than Air! I'm Susan, 45 years old, I'm divorced with 2 kids...Evan is 16 and Alexandra is 9. I live in Barnegat, NJ, just 2 miles from the ocean. (Geez, why haven't I gone running on the beach? Put that on the to-do list!) I am a nurse but haven't worked in the field for some years...it's hard to do the shift work with the kids. Soon, I'll be back. It's in my heart. I keep up with my necessary ration of blood & gore by volunteering in my local EMS squad. Been doing that for 8 years now.

I've been unemployed since May and beginning to get quite nervous. The job market is awful. By job most recently, I've done office management. It's been difficult for a few years - in 2008 I had to quit my job when I found out that the business was a front for an illegal scam. Con man type stuff. I reported it to the Dept. of Treasury who investigated for 3 loooooong years. I ended up being the main witness in the Federal trial in May. All the defendants were convicted on multiple counts of stuff like mail fraud, wire fraud, tax evasion. Fun stuff. I've never been on jury duty, no less testify in a trial. I was on the stand for 3 days. :noway:

I was never overweight my entire life. When I got married in 2000, I weighed 120 lbs. Then I'm not quite sure what happened. The marriage went south along with my self-esteem. Through the divorce & since, I've packed on the weight until at my heaviest, I was 234 lbs. I have dealt with a sometimes crippling chronic depression. It's been at its worst for the past few years. With my doctor, we've tried more meds & combinations of meds than I care to recall. It's gotten just a teeny bit better, but it's still easily 5 times as bad as it has ever been. I kept thinking for years that when I felt better about me, I would lose weight. Then I realized that maybe I had this all backwards. Maybe I needed to work on me for a while and THEN I would feel better. So that's where I am now.

An issue I have that I've never heard anyone else talk about is my perception of my body. Strangely, in my head, I'm not overweight. The problem with that is that every time I see myself in a mirror or pictures, I'm horrified and disgusted. Every time I see me, it's a shock. I try not to look at myself.

I joined MFP in March, determined. I have always hated exercise, but I knew I had to do it. I don't hate it any more. Yay! I still struggle with overeating, but I've gotten better. I've been stuck at the same weight since July, except for a small lose recently. I think it's time I stopped telling myself the excuse that it was okay to stall out during the summer. I need to lose, and I need to do it consistently.

I've been doing C25K and amazingly, I've started to enjoy running. I bought a good treadmill and it's right in front of the TV, so there are no excuses. I do prefer to run outside, of course. But I like the treadmill because if I am not able to work out during the day, I can always get in a run after my daughter goes to sleep. Last week, I won a 3 month membership to Curves. I'm tickled pink about it - I never win anything! I've done the circuit there this week and I like it. I think I needed a change up in my routine.

Wow, this turned into a novel. :blushing:

szczepj

Hey everyone! I'm Jessica, I'm a Junior in College studying Biology/Pre-Med. About four years ago I started to gain chunks of weight for no apparent reason, I hadn't changed my diet or anything like that and finally we went to the doctor. A couple of months later we found out that I had hypothyroidism and I was immediately put on medications. I was told everyone would be okay now, and I'd start to lose the weight. I didn't, I continued to gain weight, my thyroid levels started getting worse and worse. And next thing I knew I was 214 pounds, almost 80 pounds heavier than I had been most of my life! I was tired of being the fat one so I decided to give up my vice Coca-Cola. (Which is now a treat on special occasions!) And I lost about five pounds putting me at around 209. My weight stayed there for awhile and I just got sick and tired of it and started exercising. I started eating just a little bit less (I honestly don't eat much less than I use too, maybe 500 calories less at most) And finally lost 20 pounds, found out as of August my thyroid levels were pretty good and I started dropping the weight very quickly.

So, here I am trying to drop the last 40ish pounds and get close to my pre-hypo weight. (Close, I don't expect to ever be that skinny again)

scooterboy2003

Pangea250: What an amazing story you told. My heart is with you as you struggle to take care of your family and yourself. I cannot imagine being on a witness stand for 3 days. I would probably crater under the pressure of the attorneys. You must be very strong. We are glad that you are on our team and we will encourage each other through the whole challenge. Hope you find work real soon.

meerkat70

Hi everyone. I'm Jane. I'm 40 - turning 41 in October. I'm divorced, have a lovely beautiful daughter from my marriage, and am now in a new relationship. I live in the UK, in a small village, so am lucky to have lots of fields and country walks to walk and run in.

I have been overweight since I was about 18 - I started to lose weight 3 years ago, did really well, but then got distracted by lots of life circumstance and difficulties. I regained some of the weight I'd lost, before I joined MFP at the beginning of August. So far, it's going really well.

I'm very keen on exercise. I have PCOS and a dodgy thyroid, so I find I really need the exercise to kick my metabolism into gear. I try to do an hour or two each day. I used to run, and am doing C25k to get my form back. I'm looking forward to the day when I can run 10k again! I have two dogs who are very active, and get out to walk them most days.

Work wise, I'm an academic psychologist. I teach quite a bit, I have quite a big admin role, I do research, and I write a lot. Work is often very sedentary, so I need to make sure I counterbalance that as much as I can.

Not sure what else to say for now, but looking forward to getting on with the challenge.

Pangea250

Bill: I was incredibly, incredibly well-prepared by the U.S. Attorneys prosecuting the case. We spent probably 40 to 50 hours in prep alone in the month before trial (not counting the multiple interviews in the previous 3 years). I learned to answer the question and ONLY the question. And let me tell you, it was hard to do sometimes. The defense attacked me and my credibility as best as they could. The prosecutors told me this...if the defense has facts on their side, they argue the facts. If they have evidence on their side, they argue the evidence. If they have nothing, they attack the prosecution witnesses.

Once during a mock cross exam before the trial, they threw question after question at me. One was..."So, if this was an illegal enterprise going on, surely you profited as well, right? Did you give back your salary?" And I said no and started to explain why. And the prosecutor told me the thing that became my silent mantra while on the stand: you are not the defendant, don't get defensive.

I will say that testifying in a Federal trial is good for the diet. I lost a few lbs. that week. :bigsmile:

If you are interested...the press release after the guilty verdict: http://www.justice.gov/usao/nj/Press/files/Ottaviano, Ronald et al News Release.html

szczepj

Defense attorneys are vicious! I can't imagine how it was for you! Mine was bad enough!

meerkat70

How was everyone's day today? Mine wasn't very exciting at all (I spent the day interviewing new staff, and then went to the gym - wow, I know how to live!) so hoping to live vicariously.... :-D

szczepj

Well, few days later.. my yesterday was pretty fun! I went out with my friends, had 3 low calorie beers (55 woohoo) and just hung around. Just woke up a bit ago and about to head to the rec to do my Saturday workout.

How's everyone else?

scooterboy2003

don't feel well today. stayed home and rested.

meerkat70

don't feel well today. stayed home and rested.

i'm so sorry to hear this. I hope you're on the mend.



I've just got back from gym. Heading off for a 7 mile walk round a local lake this afternoon. Should be nice. :-)

deepavignesh

Hey everyone, this is Deepa. i am 25 yrs old and live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was born and brought up in India. I am a Dentist. Coz i did my studies in India, I have go back to Dental school in US before i can start practicing. i have always been overweight. my highest has been around 180 all the time. but when i saw the scale at 199.5, i decided it was time to make a change and this time for good!!! my scale doesnt go down fast enough. sometimes i wont be able to lose even a pound for months and i get discouraged and start overeating. this time i have decided not to do that and stick to MFP as long as it takes to reach my goal weight!!!

scooterboy2003

i decided it was time to make a change and this time for good!!! my scale doesnt go down fast enough. sometimes i wont be able to lose even a pound for months and i get discouraged and start overeating. this time i have decided not to do that and stick to MFP as long as it takes to reach my goal weight!!!

deepa, thanks for your note. The scales NEVER go down fast enough, but we are all steadily working towards our individual goals. I am excited about our around the world challenge and think it will be fun. Welcome!

Bill

Dinob661

Hey team!

My name is Dino, I am currently a College student (senior year) at California State University Northridge...(currently in mid-term season! )..about 5 1/2 Months ago now I begain my journey to lose the weight once and for all.... I started out this time at 289.4lbs (10lbs less than my heaviest weight of 299.7)....I told myself I would never get to 300lbs.....to me losing weight was never about looks, I want to be able to enjoy a long full life have kids and watch them grow up and have kids of their own..never the less that was a shock to my system. I put in the work. it was a long and fun journey. I have a ton of new friends here...and 5 1/2 months later I am 204.5lbs. Can't believe how far my journey has taken me..and there is more to come.

I am very competitive, but haven't had to much of a reason to post my results lately until now. but I burn anywhere between 600-1400 calories a day in just pure exorcise because I play basketball avidly and Run for about an hour a day. I promise I wont let you down....and I am proud to be apart of this team

LeeKetty1176

HI Guys !!

im not on your team, but running this little game

just wanted to say Im really impresses with your team web site etc !

good luck and I hope you all get something out of the game.

Lee...

meerkat70

Thanks Lee. Bill and Pangea are doing a great job!

meerkat70

Could someone remind me about the sig logo? I can't seem to find the email / thread post where it was....