Black Team Week #1 Challenge thread-

Nonibug

Wow, I love reading all the stories and seeing all the before and after (and during) pics! Some of the stories are familiar to me, as some of us have come a long way together:drinker: , but I never tire of reading them. Always inspirational!! We can and HAVE overcome soooo much! Thanks to all who have shared their stories In following suit, I will try and share some of mine.

I was never overweight growing up, I was always the one who could eat anything and never have to worry about it (or so I thought). With my first pregnancy I gained somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 lbs. But it was ok, pregnant women are supposed to gain weight, right? Hmmmfff, not THAT MUCH weight. Over the next 5 yrs I was able to get some of it off (maybe around 50 lbs?) and then along came baby #2. Again, I gained alot with him, but not as much as I had with my first. Over the next year after he was born, I took off all the "baby weight" and then some. Actually got back down to amost pre-pregnancy weight. All was good.

I think I got the mentality back in my head that I could eat like I used to when I was a teenager and not worry about it...? Im not really sure what I was thinking or doing? But gradually over the next oh I would say 12 years...the weight started going up and kept going up. Before I knew what had happened I had went from around 165 to 335 lbs (my highest weight). I lived at that weight for probably about a year or two...? But that too was ok. Apparently in my mind it was ok, because during that time I was diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma and told before my first surgery to make arrangements for my kids. Not just during recovery...forever. WHAT?? I couldnt grasp that. I couldnt accept that my kids were going to lose their mother to a cancer that I had never even heard of!!

Finally after around 7 years of battling the cancer, I decided that I was going to live. And not just live as I was with bad knees, barely able to walk because of my weight and unable to go to my sons football games without extreme pain of climbing the bleachers to watch him play...but LIVE. I decided that this cancer was not going to kill me, but I was basically killing myself. Doesnt make sense to battle so viciously for your life against a disease like cancer that you have no control over, but let something like obesity that I CAN control take my life!

Around the same time, I got the results from Alex's (my youngest son, he was 13 at the time) bloodwork from his doctor. His triglycerides (sp?) were at 237 (normal is around 129) . He was borderline of having diabetes. This was all weight related. I had to change the way we ate, and do it fast. Long story short, in one year Alex had lost 62 lbs and I had lost 130 lbs. All of Alexs blood work was repeated and ALL of his levels were in the normal range. YAY!! We had done it. But it wasnt over yet. This is a lifelong process and I am most proud of the fact that I am teaching my son good habits with eating and exercise and showing him by example now that being healthy is best!

He's still a teenager (15 on the 19th of this month), and he still wants McDonalds at times and I dont deny him those things. But his choices in what to eat have changed dramatically. He would take an apple or a banana or raw veggie any day over chips now. :drinker:

Ok, I think Im done.:blushing: If you made it this far...cheers to you!!:drinker:

~Roni

Girlmom282109

My story is a little like shuntae's. I was always the bigger kid not fat but big. I started playing soccer at the age of 4 so when I got into high school I was bigger then most of the girls muscles wise. I ate what I wanted and knew that I would just burn it off. I would run with the team but could never keep up when we had to do our mile runs. Over time I slowly gained and when I met my husband I was 173 that was in sept of '03. we married in july of '05 I was 185 and when we got preggo with our first daughter I was 193 I never stopped gaining from there. We got preggo with our second daughter and I weighed 203. I gained about 30 pounds with both. When I had our second daughter everyone said I would lose weight if I breast feed her and I knew I wanted to try but that didn't work for me in the next month I gained and when BF didn't work for either of us I stepped on the scale and weighed in at 230 pounds.

When I knew that things HAD to change I saw a picture that was taken when my father was here and I couldn't believe how terrible I looked. I was on another website(cafemom) and some lady talked about how they loved this site (MFP) so I checked it out. that was October of '08. I couldn't believe how easy the weight was coming off. I counted calories religiously and started very slow on the treadmill. (I mean SLOW) 3.5 miles an hour was almost to fast for me and I was WALKING!!! when I got to around 200 pounds I started jogging and have never looked back.

Dec. of '08 I started a thread for the up coming BL and had teams and challenges. There was something about every single one of my black teammates that made me think that we could all help each other out when we needed it the most. team members have gone some new ones joined (glad you did) and some that left have come back! We all have been slapped when we needed it, hugged when we needed it but, most of all we all encouraged each other to keep going.

THANK YOU ALL FOR HELPING ME GET TO WITHIN GRABBING REACH OF MY GOAL!!!!!!

here are my pics.
me right after the birth of my 2nd baby

when I decided to lose weight

at a size 14

and today in a 12

musicmom04

Roni- You are amazing! look at everything you've overcome! i'm so glad you're ok and you and your son are healthier and happier! (and you look great )

Sam- You've done an awesome job! i first heard about mfp on cafemom too (i wonder if it was from the same person)

Girlmom282109

WARNING!!! I am about to toot my own horn!!! :bigsmile: :bigsmile: Look at those HOT LEGS!!! WOO WOO!!!!

Girlmom282109

Roni- You are amazing! look at everything you've overcome! i'm so glad you're ok and you and your son are healthier and happier! (and you look great )

Sam- You've done an awesome job! i first heard about mfp on cafemom too (i wonder if it was from the same person)

It my have been. You know I haven't been back to that site since I found this one.

zippy111

My head is spinning from reading all these stories and trying to keep all the names straight. Well my New Years resolution will be to log on here everyday and start getting to know you. You all seem to have such a great relationship with each other. Aside from Beth and Andrew(who I'm pretty sure know each other :bigsmile: ) you sound like you all personally know each other. I think it's great.

I might get distracted (because I am at working typing this) but here I am.

My name is Donna and I am 46 years old. My story begins19 years ago my DH was deployed to Dessert Storm. All the wives on the base (we were stationed at Griffis AFB upstate NY before it closed down) would get together for moral support ie eat and drink!:laugh: We thought our men were going to be away for awhile. As it turned out, as soon as the air war was over, they sent our guys home and I was like $@&! I had just joined Nutrisystems the week before...didn't think I could take off lbs in a week. When he did come home -we said life was too short- we started out family. Three kids later...ages now 18, 15 and 12.....lifetimer at WW (so I did hit my ideal weight at one time-154) still dealing with the emotional roller coasters that everyone else is.

2009 was a horrible year. I lost 3 very special people in my life including my dad in October to Alzheimer's....more emotional eating...on top that we had to put our not yet 3 year old Golden retriever down (2 malformed kidneys at birth) in Dec. I really miss her...she was my baby. DH was on his 4th deployment in 6 years! College searches for my daughter...aagh!! Teenage years.

I know I am preaching to the choir and when I read some of your stories and what you have to overcome, mine pales in comparison. DH laughs at me when he sees me on MFP. I refuse to get on facebook despite the pressures of my friends/family/collegues but here I am addicted to this and craving the support.

I am a runner. Out 3/4 days a week no matter what the weather with my neighbor at 5:15 AM. It's the only sanity/free time that I have. Average 3 miles with a longer run on the weekends. I run in the Spring Lake 5 miler at the Jersey shore every year and also the Broad Street 10 mile run in Phila.

Originally from North Jersey(Union County) and now live in a suburb of Phila for the past 17 years.

2010 is my year! Watching Biggest Loser with my 12 year old (who could have HFP). Thank you all for friending me. If you read this and have friended me yet, please do.

:drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: I love the challenges! ThankS!

Donna

musicmom04

Roni- You are amazing! look at everything you've overcome! i'm so glad you're ok and you and your son are healthier and happier! (and you look great )

Sam- You've done an awesome job! i first heard about mfp on cafemom too (i wonder if it was from the same person)

It my have been. You know I haven't been back to that site since I found this one.

me either :laugh:

ksproston

Wow. Pass the kleenex. What inspirational and amazing people we have here.

My name is Kati. I live in Illinois, work in Iowa. My DH and I were high school sweethearts. We've been married for 11 1/2 years but dated all through high school. We have 3 wonderful kids. Tenley is 7 and was born on the one year anniversary of 9/11. Dylan will be 5 on 2/19 and Emerson just turned 4 on 1/5. Yep, if you do the math, our youngest two are 10 1/2 months apart. :noway: :blushing:

I battled anorexia in high school. I had a mother who was constantly trying this diet and that diet. Weight was a big deal in our house, or so I seemed. Add to that, I didn't have a lot of money for extra food or eating out with friends. So I would just not eat when we went out. It just turned into an ugly mental battle of being the skinny one.

When I got pregnant with Tenley I gained nearly 70 lbs. I love food. I'd finally had an excuse, reason to eat. I could be fat. I was pregnant. After having Tenley it took me almost 2 years to lose 55 of those 70lbs. That is when I got pregnant with Dylan. With Dylan I only gained 20lbs and I was able to lose most of it almost right away. Then the shocker came. We were pregnant with Emerson. What a joy she is to us, but there's no denying that I was shocked by being pregnant so soon. I gained another 25 pounds with her and only lost about 15 right away.

I never, ever put myself first. E-V-E-R. I was lonely, scared, tired, busy, an emotional wreck. Food was my outlet. Remember, I loved food.

In October of 2008 I read a post on some website, don't remember which site, but the poster mentioned MFP. I checked it out and was hooked. I read through some posts, and had my A-HA moment. By the little I read that day I discovered that it was okay for me to do this for me. It was okay for me to take time for me. I'm loving life. I feel great. I ran 4 5K races last year. The girl who couldn't finish a mile without puking.

I'm doing this for me first. I'm doing this for my kids second. I don't want my kids to go through what I did. I wasn't heavy, but I was far from healthy. I want my kids to have a good body image. I want them to know why we exercise, why we eat healthily. It's not about being skinny. It's about being healthy. Looking good in a two piece isn't a bad benefit. But the way I feel is priceless.

arewethereyet

Wow. Pass the kleenex. What inspirational and amazing people we have here.

My name is Kati. I live in Illinois, work in Iowa. My DH and I were high school sweethearts. We've been married for 11 1/2 years but dated all through high school. We have 3 wonderful kids. Tenley is 7 and was born on the one year anniversary of 9/11. Dylan will be 5 on 2/19 and Emerson just turned 4 on 1/5. Yep, if you do the math, our youngest two are 10 1/2 months apart. :noway: :blushing:

I battled anorexia in high school. I had a mother who was constantly trying this diet and that diet. Weight was a big deal in our house, or so I seemed. Add to that, I didn't have a lot of money for extra food or eating out with friends. So I would just not eat when we went out. It just turned into an ugly mental battle of being the skinny one.

When I got pregnant with Tenley I gained nearly 70 lbs. I love food. I'd finally had an excuse, reason to eat. I could be fat. I was pregnant. After having Tenley it took me almost 2 years to lose 55 of those 70lbs. That is when I got pregnant with Dylan. With Dylan I only gained 20lbs and I was able to lose most of it almost right away. Then the shocker came. We were pregnant with Emerson. What a joy she is to us, but there's no denying that I was shocked by being pregnant so soon. I gained another 25 pounds with her and only lost about 15 right away.

I never, ever put myself first. E-V-E-R. I was lonely, scared, tired, busy, an emotional wreck. Food was my outlet. Remember, I loved food.

In October of 2008 I read a post on some website, don't remember which site, but the poster mentioned MFP. I checked it out and was hooked. I read through some posts, and had my A-HA moment. By the little I read that day I discovered that it was okay for me to do this for me. It was okay for me to take time for me. I'm loving life. I feel great. I ran 4 5K races last year. The girl who couldn't finish a mile without puking.

I'm doing this for me first. I'm doing this for my kids second. I don't want my kids to go through what I did. I wasn't heavy, but I was far from healthy. I want my kids to have a good body image. I want them to know why we exercise, why we eat healthily. It's not about being skinny. It's about being healthy. Looking good in a two piece isn't a bad benefit. But the way I feel is priceless.

I love ya Kati

AND she takes the stairs and makes ME take em too!! :laugh:

arewethereyet

WARNING!!! I am about to toot my own horn!!! :bigsmile: :bigsmile: Look at those HOT LEGS!!! WOO WOO!!!!

Hell to the YEAH!!! WOOT!!!

arewethereyet

So, last February I started the Couch to 5K program as a way to challenge myself a little. Well, well...I liked it...so much in fact that I ran my first 5K on June 28, 2009. And guess what, that wasn't enough either...decided to train for a half marathon which I completed in October. All this from the girl who couldn't do the mile run in school, made excuses about her knees being bad, asthma, family history of bad stuff. Best of all, my amazing boyfriend has been there for me every step of the way. He's loved me and made me feel beautiful from the size 16 I was when we met to the 8 I am in now.

I never knew what I was capable of or who I could be until I just stopped with the reasons why I couldn't do something and just tried it.

OK, enough blubbering now. If you made it through my book, kudos to you!

Hero!!

ksproston

Wow. Pass the kleenex. What inspirational and amazing people we have here.

My name is Kati. I live in Illinois, work in Iowa. My DH and I were high school sweethearts. We've been married for 11 1/2 years but dated all through high school. We have 3 wonderful kids. Tenley is 7 and was born on the one year anniversary of 9/11. Dylan will be 5 on 2/19 and Emerson just turned 4 on 1/5. Yep, if you do the math, our youngest two are 10 1/2 months apart. :noway: :blushing:

I battled anorexia in high school. I had a mother who was constantly trying this diet and that diet. Weight was a big deal in our house, or so I seemed. Add to that, I didn't have a lot of money for extra food or eating out with friends. So I would just not eat when we went out. It just turned into an ugly mental battle of being the skinny one.

When I got pregnant with Tenley I gained nearly 70 lbs. I love food. I'd finally had an excuse, reason to eat. I could be fat. I was pregnant. After having Tenley it took me almost 2 years to lose 55 of those 70lbs. That is when I got pregnant with Dylan. With Dylan I only gained 20lbs and I was able to lose most of it almost right away. Then the shocker came. We were pregnant with Emerson. What a joy she is to us, but there's no denying that I was shocked by being pregnant so soon. I gained another 25 pounds with her and only lost about 15 right away.

I never, ever put myself first. E-V-E-R. I was lonely, scared, tired, busy, an emotional wreck. Food was my outlet. Remember, I loved food.

In October of 2008 I read a post on some website, don't remember which site, but the poster mentioned MFP. I checked it out and was hooked. I read through some posts, and had my A-HA moment. By the little I read that day I discovered that it was okay for me to do this for me. It was okay for me to take time for me. I'm loving life. I feel great. I ran 4 5K races last year. The girl who couldn't finish a mile without puking.

I'm doing this for me first. I'm doing this for my kids second. I don't want my kids to go through what I did. I wasn't heavy, but I was far from healthy. I want my kids to have a good body image. I want them to know why we exercise, why we eat healthily. It's not about being skinny. It's about being healthy. Looking good in a two piece isn't a bad benefit. But the way I feel is priceless.

I love ya Kati

AND she takes the stairs and makes ME take em too!! :laugh:

A quick stair story. The Tuesday before Christmas I had my hands beyond full when I was coming up to the office. I chose to ride the elevator from the 1st floor to the 4th floor. We hit the 3rd floor and the stupid thing made this awful sound, shook, rocked, felt like it had dropped a floor or two. Scared me to death. Thought I'd wet myself. I vowed right there and then to not take the elevator again. Scared the be-jesus out of me!

arewethereyet

Good afternoon Black Team. I must report that I have not exercised in 2 days due to being sick. My 6 year old has also been home ill with me and caring for a rambunctious 2 year old hasn’t left me with any energy to work out. But, seeing ALL of your incredible before and after pics has inspired me to find energy to work out tonight.

Oh, and I have been logging my food now for 4 days straight so I’m happy about that (applause.LOL) My sister gave me these vitamins that help with boosting your immune system. I took 2 this morning after eating my half of a bagel and my tummy did not agree. I think I have traumatized my daughter as she watched me hurl into the trash can. I have had only dry cereal so far today, I can’t even keep water down. Wish me luck on that challenge.

Anyway thanks for all your inspiring stories and listening to my “not” so inspiring day.
~Jan

Awesome Jan!! Hope you feel better!!! You inspire me be BEING here my dear :flowerforyou: Jeannie

ksproston

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We have a really full schedule this weekend with girl scouts, bank, Emerson's party, a party for one of Tenley's classmates, etc. Not sure I'll have a free moment to get on. I hope so, but have a wonderful weekend if I don't get the chance to say it!

Love ya's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

arewethereyet

Wow. Pass the kleenex. What inspirational and amazing people we have here.

My name is Kati. I live in Illinois, work in Iowa. My DH and I were high school sweethearts. We've been married for 11 1/2 years but dated all through high school. We have 3 wonderful kids. Tenley is 7 and was born on the one year anniversary of 9/11. Dylan will be 5 on 2/19 and Emerson just turned 4 on 1/5. Yep, if you do the math, our youngest two are 10 1/2 months apart. :noway: :blushing:

I battled anorexia in high school. I had a mother who was constantly trying this diet and that diet. Weight was a big deal in our house, or so I seemed. Add to that, I didn't have a lot of money for extra food or eating out with friends. So I would just not eat when we went out. It just turned into an ugly mental battle of being the skinny one.

When I got pregnant with Tenley I gained nearly 70 lbs. I love food. I'd finally had an excuse, reason to eat. I could be fat. I was pregnant. After having Tenley it took me almost 2 years to lose 55 of those 70lbs. That is when I got pregnant with Dylan. With Dylan I only gained 20lbs and I was able to lose most of it almost right away. Then the shocker came. We were pregnant with Emerson. What a joy she is to us, but there's no denying that I was shocked by being pregnant so soon. I gained another 25 pounds with her and only lost about 15 right away.

I never, ever put myself first. E-V-E-R. I was lonely, scared, tired, busy, an emotional wreck. Food was my outlet. Remember, I loved food.

In October of 2008 I read a post on some website, don't remember which site, but the poster mentioned MFP. I checked it out and was hooked. I read through some posts, and had my A-HA moment. By the little I read that day I discovered that it was okay for me to do this for me. It was okay for me to take time for me. I'm loving life. I feel great. I ran 4 5K races last year. The girl who couldn't finish a mile without puking.

I'm doing this for me first. I'm doing this for my kids second. I don't want my kids to go through what I did. I wasn't heavy, but I was far from healthy. I want my kids to have a good body image. I want them to know why we exercise, why we eat healthily. It's not about being skinny. It's about being healthy. Looking good in a two piece isn't a bad benefit. But the way I feel is priceless.

I love ya Kati

AND she takes the stairs and makes ME take em too!! :laugh:

A quick stair story. The Tuesday before Christmas I had my hands beyond full when I was coming up to the office. I chose to ride the elevator from the 1st floor to the 4th floor. We hit the 3rd floor and the stupid thing made this awful sound, shook, rocked, felt like it had dropped a floor or two. Scared me to death. Thought I'd wet myself. I vowed right there and then to not take the elevator again. Scared the be-jesus out of me!

:noway: :laugh: OMG.....I guess "He" took care of your elevator days :laugh:

arewethereyet

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We have a really full schedule this weekend with girl scouts, bank, Emerson's party, a party for one of Tenley's classmates, etc. Not sure I'll have a free moment to get on. I hope so, but have a wonderful weekend if I don't get the chance to say it!

Love ya's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have fun Kati!!! :smooched:

arewethereyet

My story is a little like shuntae's. I was always the bigger kid not fat but big. I started playing soccer at the age of 4 so when I got into high school I was bigger then most of the girls muscles wise. I ate what I wanted and knew that I would just burn it off. I would run with the team but could never keep up when we had to do our mile runs. Over time I slowly gained and when I met my husband I was 173 that was in sept of '03. we married in july of '05 I was 185 and when we got preggo with our first daughter I was 193 I never stopped gaining from there. We got preggo with our second daughter and I weighed 203. I gained about 30 pounds with both. When I had our second daughter everyone said I would lose weight if I breast feed her and I knew I wanted to try but that didn't work for me in the next month I gained and when BF didn't work for either of us I stepped on the scale and weighed in at 230 pounds.

When I knew that things HAD to change I saw a picture that was taken when my father was here and I couldn't believe how terrible I looked. I was on another website(cafemom) and some lady talked about how they loved this site (MFP) so I checked it out. that was October of '08. I couldn't believe how easy the weight was coming off. I counted calories religiously and started very slow on the treadmill. (I mean SLOW) 3.5 miles an hour was almost to fast for me and I was WALKING!!! when I got to around 200 pounds I started jogging and have never looked back.

Dec. of '08 I started a thread for the up coming BL and had teams and challenges. There was something about every single one of my black teammates that made me think that we could all help each other out when we needed it the most. team members have gone some new ones joined (glad you did) and some that left have come back! We all have been slapped when we needed it, hugged when we needed it but, most of all we all encouraged each other to keep going.

THANK YOU ALL FOR HELPING ME GET TO WITHIN GRABBING REACH OF MY GOAL!!!!!!

here are my pics.
me right after the birth of my 2nd baby

when I decided to lose weight

at a size 14

and today in a 12

Sam I attribut the last 10 pounds soley to you and this team. Your hard work in posting all our weights, and setting up the thread each week, is what kept me thinking Healthy. Thank you for the bottom of my (lowercholesteral) heart

You look FABulous and amaze me with your workouts!! :smooched:

arewethereyet

I am sitting here crying.........my DH thinks I have lost my mind.......weeeellllllllll maybe!

Roni- I am so sorry you had to endure such hardship, but am thankful your were brought into my life. I think of you when I want to complain of some injury or heartache.........you are an inspiration and I love that you have also helped your son. INstead of Crestor he is eating apples...........HURRAY!!

Marla- I have not read all the way back.........but honey I know your story. I am going to run the c25k program in your honor. you amaze me!

Beth-did I say you was HOT HOT HOT??? well you ARE!!

arewethereyet

More later............I knwo I missed some peeps............I am going to read more in the morning.

NEWBIES>>>>>>>>>>>>>your story is yet to be written!! Remember telling us how you got here reminds US of how we got here.........and keeps us moving forward.



Jeannie

musicmom04

Sam I attribut the last 10 pounds soley to you and this team. Your hard work in posting all our weights, and setting up the thread each week, is what kept me thinking Healthy. Thank you for the bottom of my (lowercholesteral) heart

You look FABulous and amaze me with your workouts!! :smooched:

i agree! all that hard work you put into this team has gotten us to where we are today. thank you for starting a biggest loser challenge a year ago. and thank you for being there with us every step of the way :flowerforyou: