Hi

Thank you so much for the invite to this group - I am definately in the right place!

I am 53 and divorced with two boys, 19 and 16. I would like to have a new man in my life but not sure how to find him.

I am at the stage in life where I am really realising how short it is. On a bit of a treadmill at the moment (life treadmill not the gym), and would love to travel more, have more adventures and generally challenge myself more.

I had always been very slim until a few years ago when I went through a bad patch in life and stopped being active, drank way too much and piled on the pounds and got pretty bloated.

I'm here to not only lose the pounds and get fit but also enjoy myself again.

My hobbies are going to see a good film, reading (just bought a kindle fire), travelling and seeing friends.

Have a great week and nice to meet you all

Josie

My name is Sandra and I'm from Iowa. I just turned 48. I'm divorced with a teenage boy (egads)! Actually he is wonderful I'm kidding!

I have almost lost 50 pounds. I started by running in April and doing strength training and I just added to my regimine what is for sure to be a new love--yoga. I am always a go, go go type of person but my Yoga instructor is amazing and it feels SO good!

i've struggled with binge eating for years and finally started seeing someone about it. He is amazing and has really helped me understand my emotional eating. I am no longer pre-diabetic YAY!

I do have a toxic relationship with ice cream. :-) There are just some things that I have to stay away from. I try and eat as clean as possible and I eat 3 meals, 3 snacks to keep my blood sugar level even because when it dips and I get too hungry that is when trouble starts.

I look forward to getting to know you. please feel free to friend me as well.

S.

Hi There, my name is Anne, and I live in Guelph, Ontario. Thank you for the invitation. This looks like a fun and spirited group. I have been married to my best friend for 21+ years. We have no kids, but we do have one cat who is my little sweetie. I have worked full time for the past 19 years in the financial industry. I have been "dieting" for years, but with my 50th birthday (yikkes) looming in the near future (January), I decided that this was the time to do something about my weight. I did originally join Weight Watchers on line and lost 20+ pounds there. Then a very dear friend, Deborah encouraged me to move to this site. Since doing so, my motivation has been renewed, and the weight loss continues. I have met some wonderful people on this site, and we do have a lot of fun. I try to exercise at least 5 days per week. I want to turn 50 closer to my ideal weight, and enter that decade healthier, stronger, and hopefully wiser.

I enjoy gaming (on my Nintendo DS), watching and reading syfy and horror fiction. My favourite day is spent puttering around the house, cooking and watching old movies on Turner Classic Movies. Hubby and I tend to be home bodies, but we enjoy going out to the occassional movie, shopping and going to restaurants from time to time with good friends.

Thank you for the invite! I am Kim and live in the South East of the UK. I am 41 and three quarters and have 2 teenage boys, 4 cats, a dog, a hamster and a lovely boyfriend! I work as an Estate Agent and absolutely hate my job (sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day). I love going out with my friends and boyfriend. I have only been on here for 5 weeks. I have lost 4lbs, or had until I had a bad week (haven't braved the scales yets!) but am determined to lose the 28lbs I have gained over the past couple of years.
Everyone on here seems so encouraging and friendly.
I normally don't eat back my calories so that I can go out for a large glass of wine or 6 at the weekends but starting to think this may be stopping me from losing weight as I tend to have a bad food day the morning after (which sometimes lasts 2 days!)
Anyone feel free to add me. I look forward to getting to know you all on this site
xx

Thanks so much for the invitation to join your wonderful group.
I am a lady over 40 who is enjoying this site very much (although at this point I am only logging in).

I love new recipes, tips, ideas and support and I love being involved with a group of women. Women friendships are a priority in my life.

I look forward to getting to know you all.

Hi and thanks for the invitation!

My name is Jennifer, 46, and I live in Glendale, Az. There are lots of mountains here so it's a great place to hike. I hike about 3 times a week. Recently started biking and discovered all the bike trails here as well. As a family, we have started biking together....it's awesome!

I'm the mom of 3 boys. My youngest son is 11 and my middle son is 25. My oldest son passed away in April of 2010, he was 25. It's been hard not to be an emotional eater. I've been fighting it. Before he passed, I was exercising almost every day. When he passed, I quit exercising for about 6 months....starting exercising again for a few months then stopped again and started eating more. Found this site through a friend and was horrified how many calories/sugar I was consuming. Decided to give it a try and it's working! I've become more active as well, trying to do some sort of exercise everyday.

I have 2 part time jobs which I absolutely love.

ps....Lori

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I love QT! Every morning I get my unsweetened green tea!

Alice and group ~ thanks for the invite! My name is Patty and I'm 45. I've got two teenage kids (ages 11 and 14). My husband is supportive in my losing weight. He cooks for himself and kids while I go exercise. I try to eat healthy during the week (day) but the weekends and evenings are my downfall. I'm great during the day but come night time, I love to munch on chips, etc and will have my glass of wine on the weekends. Hence, I have the yo-yo effect and will lose 3 lbs and then gain them back. I wish to lose 20 lbs.

Hello ladies,

Thank you for the invite. My name is Silvana, I'm 52 and live in Northern Ontario Canada in a very small isolated town. The nearest city of 80,000 is about 2.5 hours away. I am a mother of two grown sons (ages 29 & 31) and a grandmother or "nonna" to one beautiful granddaughter.

I have every major chronic illness in my family, so my genes are trying ot work against me. I have been active all my life, but at the same time have had to battle my weight. I currently have about 15-20 lbs to lose, and am fortuante to not have any of those chronic diseases that claimed the life of both my parents and my eldest brother.

I am a marathon runner and ran my first Ultra run this past summer with my husband. We celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary on the 12th of July and on the 14th ran a 55km moutain trail run together (our first big run together as hubby is not a runner).

Besides almost every outdoor activity, I love to cook and entertain, read, listen to music and watch movies.

Look forward to getting to know you. :happy:

Hi all! My name is Kim & I live in Columbia Missouri. I turned 40 this year. I'm 5'3" and want to loose about 20 lbs. I've lost & regained about 15 in the last couple of years. Not an excuse but about a year and a half ago I had hip surgery. Prior to surgery I was at 145 but with the pain I had I couldn't walk or do much of anything. Its been a long road and I am working through some issues in physical therapy still. So exercise can be tricky but I am trying!

Anywho--I have 4 beautiful children & home school 3 of them while the 4th is already flown the coop to college.

Short term goals for me--move my body 4x a week, get the soda out of my house(serious weakness for Pepsi), get more VEGETABLES in my menu.

Blessings . . . .

My oldest son goes to college in Fayette, MO. CMU!! LOL!

Hi, I'm Vicky from East Tennessee. I am 53, 5' 6" tall, and currently at 135 pounds. I have been a widow for 6 years. We had no children, but he had 2 who were grown when we got married. So, I have 2 step-children and 5 step-grandchildren ranging in age from 21 to 5 months who all live in FL, so I don't get to see them as often as I would like.

I am retired from the Air Force and now substitute teach, just to make a little extra money...very little, and get out of the house and be around kids. I also volunteer a lot for Relay For Life, as my husband died of brain cancer. I am on the county committee for the event and an active member of a team, so that takes up a lot of my time also.

I am one of those people who have tried all sorts of diets and would lose and gain back. That's why the yoyo part of my username. I got serious about my weight loss in Sept of last year and started using MFP like I should in January. From my highest weight, I have lost 31 pounds, 25 since January, which is what my ticker shows. I have surpassed my original goal weight and would like to lose about 5 more, just so I can have some wiggle room and not feel guilty about overindulging every once in a while. I credit my success to counting calories and running, which I started in earnest in Sept last year. I can now run a little over an hour non-stop...5.3 miles. I'm very proud of that accomplishment as I have never been a runner.

When I was married, I loved to cook and try new things. After my husband died, it took about 4 years before I cooked much at all. I just didn't see the use in cooking for myself. I ate a lot of peanut butter and frozen meals. I still don't cook as much as I should and would love to find some good, quick meals for one.

I am looking forward to interacting with everyone and will spend some more time reading up on who everyone is when I have the time.

Hi I'm Helen. I live in the UK, in West Yorkshire, with my partner, 1 cat and 4 chickens. No children, but I do have a nephew who I try and see as often as possible. I joined MFP in September, but I'd been losing weight since April using Fitday. MFP is easier to use as it has UK specific foods on here and I don't have to enter much from scratch.

I have gradually been putting on weight for the past few years, but started a new job with a lot of travel, a lot of staying over in hotels and hence a lot of eating out and went up from 148lbs to 169lbs in about 2 years, when I realised I was over 12 stone and starting to have to buy size 16 clothes and had gone up from a 36C to a 38D bra I decided I had better do something about it before I got any older and it became harder. I'm 5'9" so I decided 147lbs would be a good target.

I got down to about 150 in the summer and had a bit of a break whilst I went on holiday - well you can't go to Italy and not eat all that lovely food. Then we had a few music festivals and so that meant eating rubbish and drinking beer. I had a couple of months break and started again in September. Since then I've shifted the last 3 stubborn lbs.

My aims are to keep the weight off, keep running 3 times a week and keep eating healthily. I wasn't too bad at the latter when I was at home, I just needed to be more aware of portion sizes. I need to try and eat more healthily when I'm away too, although there is a lot of temptation around with all that nice food. So no more starters, just main course and if it's just me I think I can dispense with the glass of wine. Sometimes. I now try and book into hotels that have a gym, and I'll get up early and go to the gym before going to visit clients.

Phew that was a long one.

Helen

Hi everyone, thanks so much for the invite!!

My name is Janice, I am 47 and live in New Brunswick, Canada. I am married, I have 3 grown children (28, 24 & 20), 2 step daughters (27& 23), 2 wonderful grandsons and 3 cats.

I love to cook, baking is my stress relief. I found out this year that I have a gluten intolerance, so I am having to learn a whole new way of eating and cooking. I have to admit it has been a struggle but I finally feel like I am getting the hang of it (well most of the time anyway). I hope to get some great ideas here that will help me become more healthy. And of course be able to share any of my experiences and tips as well.

My long term goal is to lose about 55lbs - but this time around I am just looking at 5lbs at a time, otherwise I find I get too overwhelmed with the big numbers and not reaching a goal quick enough. I have committed and recommitted so many times now that I am frustrated with myself. But I am at a point in my life that this is very important to me and my family, so it is time for me to get very serious and find my "inner goddess" that I know is hiding under the extra layers on my body!

I am really looking forward to getting to know you!!

Hi everyone! Diana here. I just turned 57 last week. Among my Bunko group, I'm known as the one who can tend to go overboard when it's my turn to be hostess! Most of the group likes to be fairly casual, but to me that's just too boring!! I'm also someone who likes variety in what I eat and my food diary usually reflects that, except for some fairly regular Peanut Butter and Jam toast for breakfast and Quest Protein Bars for snacks. I admit that I actually like to cook. On the nights I'm not into it, my husband and I like to eat out. Balance in life is good, right? I look forward to this group and checking out the posts as I get time. :flowerforyou:

Hello to everyone out there! :-) My name is Teri and I live in Tucson, Arizona. I love the weather here because I can be outdoors 95% of the time. I love cycling, hiking, gardening, reading, and cooking/baking. I have 2 grown children (daughter 28 & son 25) so its just my husband and I and we both love that. I own a health/nutrition company and my husband is a certified personal trainer and martial arts instructor. We both pretty much set our hours and can really enjoy life as it was meant to be instead of "punching a clock" and living by another person's idea of how it should be.

I'm a vegetarian (the only thing keeping me from being a true vegan is cheese & sour cream, which I love). I've been slowly experimenting/converting old family recipes to my eating lifestyle and have found nothing is impossible :-D My son is also vegan so we have a great time experimenting in the kitchen. I've even gotten my husband enjoying the food in a healthier way; although he still likes an occasional burger. Our whole family is super sensitive to what is (and has been) happening to our food. We support our local farmers, shop at the farmers markets, and only buy foods from companies that support GMO labeling and are 100% verified organic. The Food Movement is this country is real and growing. We all need to stand up for ourselves and what is right for our families and future generations.

Did I mention I love being outdoors?? I feel a strong connection to nature and am passionate about protecting it for future generations to enjoy. I'm an advocate for alternative modes of transportation and am working to bring agencies and communities together for safer infrastructures so more people will want to get out and enjoy it like I do. I only drive my vehicle 1-2 times per month if I really need to; otherwise I'm on my bike. I bike everywhere: grocery shopping, banking, post office, library, visiting friends and clients, event training, you name it. I never would have thought I would be on this life path a few years ago. I was in a horrible biking accident 26 years ago and vowed to never get back on a bike. Funny how life heals you and opens your eyes/mind to a world of possibilities.

My husband and I are registered for Tucson's biggest race: El Tour de Tucson (111-, 85-, 60-, & 42-mile events). We're signed up for the 60-mile this year. My goal is to be able to race the 111 in a year or two. The race is always the Saturday before Thanksgiving. This year marks the race's 30th anniversary and it happens to be our anniversary as well. What better way to spend it!! Race day also marks the 2-year anniversary of me getting back on a bike.

I signed up with MFP on January 15, 2012 after researching food journaling apps for a friend who was looking for a way to get back on track with eating. I use food journaling as a method of accountability so when I saw an app that had everything I was looking for, I was excited. I've lost 30 pounds so far (which was my original goal) and would be super happy to lose another 5-10. I believe it is completely possible considering my activity level. I laugh every time I pull something out of my closet that was too small for so long that is now too big.

Feel free to read my profile & my few blog posts and/or send me a friend request.

Hi, my name is Lorri. I live in Baton Rouge, LA. I am married (20 years) and have 2 kids left at home (11 & 13) and a grown daughter who is married with 2 kids of her own. I started MFP (for real) 9/12/12. I told myself for my 44th birthday (June of 2012) that I would lose 44 pounds for my next birthday. Well, I don't really want to lose 44 pounds (129 - would be too skinny for my body), but am planning on losing at least 28 (that wold get me to 145, my weight when I met my husband).
I have tried dieting and exercising to lose weight, but never at the same time. Lol, I'm glad I finally realized that the combination of both at the same time actually works.
I love to cook, but mostly desserts. I am having a hard time cooking meals I CAN eat and my kids WILL eat.
Hopefully, I will get some great info from you ladies