Introductions

marie2375

I thought it might be nice to get to know each other a little bit. I am Marie. I started trying to lose weight almost 4 years ago. Growing up, I was always thin. I gained weight when I got pregnant. After having 3 kids, I decided it was time to try to lose the weight. I joined Bally, took some Zumba classes, then stopped going. A friend of mine got me to start coming back in the Fall of 2009. We used to do the elliptical and treadmill, then walk the track together. I HATED the treadmill so very much. She got a trainer, so I got a trainer. I worked with him for a year and realized that I actually like exercise. I lost 20 pounds without dieting at all. I realized that if I counted calories, I could lose weight faster. So, I started counting calories and lost 15 pounds in a few months. The same friend that got me to go back to the gym talked me into running the Baltimore Marathon with Team in Training. I quit counting calories because, of course, I would not gain weight training for a marathon. Ha! I gained back the 15 pounds I had lost. After the marathon, I was going to take a few weeks off. That turned into 6 months. I started going to the Fitness Rave in Feb of 2012. I LOVE this gym. I started going to Body Jam, Zumba and their boxing bootcamp. I loved the boxing so much, that I joined Ground Control. I worked out there for about 6 weeks. I had to take off December because it is a really busy month for us, then ended up not going back to the gym at all until this month. At the end of last summer, I lost 20 pounds in 8 weeks, through the Johns Hopkins Weight Loss Clinic. I weighed less than I did when I got pregnant the first time. When I stopped going to the gym, I almost immediately gained all of it back, plus about 4 pounds. So, I signed up for the Y Fit Challenge. I have started counting calories and going to the gym again. I really, really love exercise. I don't know why it took me so long to come back to it this time. I have three gym memberships - YMCA, Fitness Rave and Towson Thai Boxe. The Y membership is more for the kids than me though. Right now I do a lot of Body Jam, Zumba and Thai boxing. I would like to eventually get back into weight training and running. I will probably log my food and exercise at fitbit.com. I've been using that for the last 2+ years. I I like MyFitnessPal because I have friends on here, but the food tracker freezes up my computer. If you want to see my food and activity, I think this link will take you to my fitbit page. http://www.fitbit.com/user/22BPSL

I don't have a problem exercising, but food is my kryptonite. I love food. I am an impulsive eater and an emotional eater. I also love junk food. I am great at sticking to a diet, but once I meet the weight loss goal, I drop all the good habits. My plan for this time is to cut calories, but not restrict any foods. I have to get at least 25g of fiber/ day at least 50g of protein without going over my calorie budget. Hopefully this will make it easier for me once I've lost the weight.

So, what's your story?

holdyourdevil

Hello, teammates! My name is Katie (I'm the blond with the purple glasses).

I've been gradually gaining weight since adolescence. I was a little chubby throughout grade school, but I began to really balloon when I went to college. The weight gain was interrupted at times in my life when I was more active--in high school I played rugby and water polo, and a few years ago I did a ton of hiking and outdoors-y stuff, as well as maintained a vegetarian diet for a time. But this is my first time making a real, concentrated effort to exercise regularly and keep track of my food intake.

I really like hiking, swimming, using the elliptical, and working on the circuit machines. I absolutely abhor the treadmill. I have never particularly enjoyed running, but lately I have had a desire to start jogging. I am planning on beginning the Couch to 5K program in a few days. This weekend my girlfriend surprised me with a pair of sneakers I've been coveting for a while, so I won't be wearing my six-year-old Reeboks to the gym anymore (yay).

As far as diet goes, like Marie I am an emotional eater, and 'impulsive' is a nice way to put it. I medicated myself for years with binge eating. My weight gain is largely due to the fact that when I'm dealing with a lot of anxiety or unhappiness, my reaction is to binge on unspeakable amounts of junk and fast food. And I was extremely unhappy and anxious for a few years, to the point where I was eating enormous quantities of terrible food every other evening.

Fortunately that's a problem I've had under control for the past year, but now I'm left with the physical consequences and some very real mental anguish. But things have been going really well for the past couple of months, and I'm motivated by so many things. It helps that my girlfriend is also on a kick to be more physically active, too, so we go to the gym together a lot (she's not really a 'joiner', so I couldn't convince her to do the fitness challenge). I'm also motivated by health concerns. My blood work is fantastic and I'm technically healthy in that sense, but my sister, who runs marathons and is training for a triathlon right now, was diagnosed with diabetes three years ago. Her diabetes doesn't have an apparent genetic link, but it was a wake-up call to see the healthiest, most active person I know be diagnosed with the disease.

Anyway, I'm sorry for writing a novel here. I hope more people introduce themselves; I'd love to get to know our team.